Is the Bank of England for real here?

[TheWhalrus]

So, just now the Bank of England announces that to combat inflation, employers should be looking to not increase staff salaries (www.theguardian.com/business/2022/feb/04/bank-of-england-boss-calls-for-wage-restraint-to-help-control-inflation). So at a time of massive inflation, we're apparently not supposed to be trying to earn more or aspiring for a higher salary in order to maintain our own living standards? Rather the Bank of England expects us to knuckle down and accept these circumstances because they can't control inflation.

Has this guy (annual salary £575,538) been smoking something? Or does he really have no grasp at all of reality?

To clarify: YANBU = BOE taking the p*; YABU = BOE being sensible.

And you know companies will follow his advice whilst giving their board members beyond inflation increases ….

So out of touch with the world aren’t they

Am mightily sick of these highly privileged fuckers telling the plebs how to suck up the shit

Try it yourself, Pal

It’s one of those economics points which makes perfect sense if you are talking about it in a lecture theatre or an academic journal. Unfortunately, when choosing between heating is already a reality for people and it’s about to become so for millions more, it’s not just tone-deaf, but crass and offensive.

^choosing between heating and eating

I wonder if parliament listens to this advice and MPs go without their usual way over inflation annual payrise 🤣🤣🤣

"Wage restraint" is not going to affect anyone on the minimum wage, which is the most hard-up group. For the rest of the population, inflation is caused by too much salary chasing too few goods, by definition that means there is too much spare spending money floating about.

YANBU. As I posted on another thread yesterday, controlling inflation with interest rates and then telling people not to ask for a pay rise to cope with increasing food costs, increasing energy costs and increasing mortgage costs, and increasing cost of being in debt because their income doesn't cover their essentials is cruel and tone deaf from highly paid bankers and politicians.

I shrink BoE is saying individual people can’t change jobs for a better paid one or aspire to a higher salary just that if every employer everywhere increases pay for everyone the effect on inflation will be harmful and result in a higher prices inflation loop that is hard to get out of. That’s my understanding. So yes your pay goes up by say 5% but every thing you buy and do and spend time visiting also goes up by 6% ( as they are also paying their staff more) so everyone ends up worse off collectively.
Isn’t that the argument?

I think BoE isn’t saying not is!

As a poster on another thread put it (and I agree) in relation to being lectured on wage restraint by a person who earns £575K

"Fuck off you cunt"

YANBU. While that may not have been the intention, it didn’t land well. I mean, telling people not to ask for a pay rise? In the current climate? Really? Really?!

I tead this and I agree. Tens of billions lost to fraud, ppe etc- brushed under the carpet. To tell people not to ask for more is tone deaf. People are tired, angry and sick of hypocrisy and this statement feeds that narrative. He was not wise to say it.

Yet another rich person telling us what to do while not following their own advice. How much does the governor Andrew earn? Will he be getting a pay rise this year?

He's right though, irrespective of how much he earns. And his salary is (a) a drop in the ocean of the British economy (b) he's actually worth it, compared to many, many other people in positions of power.

But that is basic economics. Its not surprising but it is painful.

@daimbarsatemydogsbone

As a poster on another thread put it (and I agree) in relation to being lectured on wage restraint by a person who earns £575K

"Fuck off you cunt"

Haha, yes; this exactly.

It’s pure economics thinking combined with “I’m all right, Jack” and not remotely thinking about the poor fucking people who are going to, quite literally, have their lives ruined by all this.

It's actually astonishing that he would come out and say that when he is £575k a year.

I suspect my employer will just use this as an excuse to not give any pay rises

@Blankscreen

It's actually astonishing that he would come out and say that when he is £575k a year.

I suspect my employer will just use this as an excuse to not give any pay rises

Out of interest, how much do you think he should earn for what he's doing?

Word of caution... I totally understand the frustration and the who the hell he thinks he is cenario!
But (for economic sense) if wages rise then the cost of goods will rise and with this inflation will go up.... before we know it, we are in a downwards spiral where wages and the cost of goods will be tail chasing.

I would have thought not giving people pay rises would cause people to cut back on their spending. It not good for businesses if people don’t have spare money to buy non-essentials. Surely?

I'm sure it makes sense but it is just so galling to be told that by someone who makes so much money.

Here’s the thing, there are a variety of ways of imparting information in any situation. Someone in his position is expected to “read the room” and respond accordingly. This is a very tense and unstable time politically and now is the time to be a calming stable force to counteract that instability. What is more stable than the Bank of England? A better way to say it might have been “Hold tight, ride out the inflation this year and things will level off next year.” What he has done is make a group of people who previously might have had no intention of asking for a payrise feel aggrieved and put upon on the very day that energy prices rose massively. How can he not have foreseen that it would annoy people?

When someone earns in one year what it would take some to earn in 15 years, I think he should stfu!