Inflation

[Cousin Jack]

Russia, China, the USA, Saudi, India, the UAE,
......
Is there anyone left that we don't need to be afraid of?
Perhaps we could become am ally of Iran?

[Felix]

Radio news was saying the Chancellor may be announcing soon a cut in fuel duty soon.

[slowsider]

Russia, China, the USA, Saudi, India, the UAE,
......
Is there anyone left that we don't need to be afraid of?
Perhaps we could become am ally of Iran?

Would they trust 'us'? It took 40 years for them to get their money back.

[Count Steer]

Russia, China, the USA, Saudi, India, the UAE,
......
Is there anyone left that we don't need to be afraid of?
Perhaps we could become am ally of Iran?

You missed out the EU Jack. According to some nugget in Number 10 our desire to be free of it is the same as Ukraine's desire to be free of Russia.

[Screwdriver]

I'd get used to 10% inflation if I were you, the FED has backed right off, so unless something changes I'd get used to it for this year and next.

It looks increasingly likely that Russia, China, Saudi, the UAE, South Americia - basically anyone that isn't from the USA/Europe, might end up sitting down together and working out a monetary and energy policy. If that happens then the USA and EU are finished.
If it led to oil not being traded in dollars then the USA will be crippled and they could do something very silly.

Interesting how many wars started to "kick out the evil dictator" because they dared start talking about trading oil not-for-dollars. Saddam Hussain, Muammar Gaddafi among others. The USA relies on oil being traded for dollars to prop up its gargantuan national debt.

And what do they do? Hand Russia to China. This sanctions business could not be better news for the CCP. The Yuan will become the new dollar. There's no doubt in my mind China will be driving OPEC to start accepting Yuan.

What is the USA national debt currently? About 30 trillion dollars. How much is that?

Well if you stack one silver dollar on top of another, how high is 30 trillion times that?

Probably just hit the moon? Nope

Knock the JWST out of orbit? Nope

A 30 trillion dollar pile would graze the orbit of Mars from here. I mean. Fucking Hell!

[Horse]

EU
According to some nugget in Number 10 our desire to be free of it is the same as Ukraine's desire to be free of Russia.

Beggers belief, doesn't it?

[Cousin Jack]

Russia, China, the USA, Saudi, India, the UAE,
......
Is there anyone left that we don't need to be afraid of?
Perhaps we could become am ally of Iran?

Would they trust 'us'? It took 40 years for them to get their money back.

Fair point. Companies get slated for delaying payment by months, countries can delay for decades.

[Pirahna]

EU
According to some nugget in Number 10 our desire to be free of it is the same as Ukraine's desire to be free of Russia.

Beggers belief, doesn't it?

The only similarity is that both were ordered by Putin.

[irie]

Russia, China, the USA, Saudi, India, the UAE,
......
Is there anyone left that we don't need to be afraid of?
Perhaps we could become am ally of Iran?

Would they trust 'us'? It took 40 years for them to get their money back.

Fair point. Companies get slated for delaying payment by months, countries can delay for decades.

The pound has lost over 90% of its value since Iran paid upfront for the tanks. So the £400m paid to the UK in the early 1970s is in current days terms worth less than one tenth of that. Because Islam prohibits the charging and receiving of interest one supposes that in purchasing terms Iran received less than 10% of the £ it paid 50 years ago. But perhaps there's an Islamic wheeze to get around what the Quran says.

[Greenman]

If only it was that simple.

I agree with both of your attitudes and the fact is you can go out there and get it, but if you are from a working man background 'getting it' means earning enough to get by, there is a big difference between a working man with this sort of attitude and a man from a wealthy background! - the latter will have more oppertunities given to him/her and will most likely be the one to progress into big money professions, whilst the working man, with his limited education, will be given the least money possible to keep him/her happy.

It's standard economics, keep the poor man poor and capitalise from their weaknesses!

Why do you think we are in the state we are now, the rich just ignore the fact that the working man is the backbone of any country, and when shit hit's the fan, they can't take it and haver to go to war, war with the few, involving the many, the many innocent working people who just want peace!

Two things.

It's entirely possible to get from any background to being not poor (whatever that means to you), there are certain roles outside of your grasp if you didn't go to the right schools or don't have the right connections, and without doubt there is an old boys network. I lost out on jobs because the other people went to the right schools, I've been close to some really big roles, but then I always lose out because I have no upper class connections, so I found another way to get to where I want to be, and that's entirely possible.

Secondly, the working man isn't the backbone of the country, he doesn't give a shit, he doesn't build businesses, take risks, create jobs or anything, he takes his money and doesn't care if the company burns down in the night as long as he can get another job down the road the next day.

There are obviously exceptions but you get the leaders you deserve, I learned this from an old boss who was an arsehole with a lot of people but not with one or two of us, so I asked him why and he said that despite being a massive pain in the arse, I did a good job, and he knew that he could rely on me when the chips were down and I wouldn't leave him in the shit, but that a lot of others would, so he treated them accordingly.

I agree that some, well, probably most of the working class do have the 'just give me the money and run' attitude but many don't.

Just look at NHS workers for example, where would we had been without their passion for their job when covid was rife?

Look at lorry drivers, and how much disruption they caused when they went on strike! We had to employ workers to drive the lorries from over seas, else we would of been fucked!

There are many other examples.

I see a lot of top managers in my I.T profession (normally council directors) that are great at talking the talk, sharing copy and pasted ISO regs from other websites etc have but zero capabilities at actually carrying out the work, the work is done by lower paid members of the team.

Your in a managerial position, surely you must know the number 1 factor to a successful business is to have happy and competent employees to do the ground work, without the lower paid workers of this country we would all be fucked!

[JackyJoll]

I agree that some, well, probably most of the working class do have the 'just give me the money and run' attitude but many don't.

Just look at NHS workers for example, where would we had been without their passion for their job when covid was rife?

Look at lorry drivers, and how much disruption they caused when they went on strike! We had to employ workers to drive the lorries from over seas, else we would of been fucked!

There are many other examples.

I see a lot of top managers in my I.T profession (normally council directors) that are great at talking the talk, sharing copy and pasted ISO regs from other websites etc have but zero capabilities at actually carrying out the work, the work is done by lower paid members of the team.

Your in a managerial position, surely you must know the number 1 factor to a successful business is to have happy and competent employees to do the ground work, without the lower paid workers of this country we would all be fucked!

Yes- Everyone is not going to be the boss.
Yes- We need people to do menial work. It will always be low paid.

But- Those facts do not stop an individual bettering his or her position.

(And before you bastards all start, nursing is not menial work and I’d like to see it well paid!)

[Greenman]

I agree that some, well, probably most of the working class do have the 'just give me the money and run' attitude but many don't.

Just look at NHS workers for example, where would we had been without their passion for their job when covid was rife?

Look at lorry drivers, and how much disruption they caused when they went on strike! We had to employ workers to drive the lorries from over seas, else we would of been fucked!

There are many other examples.

I see a lot of top managers in my I.T profession (normally council directors) that are great at talking the talk, sharing copy and pasted ISO regs from other websites etc have but zero capabilities at actually carrying out the work, the work is done by lower paid members of the team.

Your in a managerial position, surely you must know the number 1 factor to a successful business is to have happy and competent employees to do the ground work, without the lower paid workers of this country we would all be fucked!

Yes- Everyone is not going to be the boss.
Yes- We need people to do menial work. It will always be low paid.

But- Those facts do not stop an individual bettering his or her position.

(And before you bastards all start, nursing is not menial work and I’d like to see it well paid!)

I never said they did. I was just making the point that the people that actually do the menial work that you probably take for granted every day are the ones that keep the world turning.

[Horse]

I was just making the point that the people that actually do the menial work that you probably take for granted every day are the ones that keep the world turning.

The most important people in any office or factory building are those who clean the toilets.

[JackyJoll]

I never said they did. I was just making the point that the people that actually do the menial work that you probably take for granted every day are the ones that keep the world turning.

So what? Same goes for any job, or it wouldn’t be a job.

And why do you think that I probably take more for granted than you do?

[weeksy]

Meanwhile, back on topic, inflation is still rising and it looks like it's here to stay, the Fed doesn't have the fortitude to risk triggering a recession, so rampant inflation is here - unsurprising I suppose given it's own interests.

House prices, energy, petrol, cars, food, etc, will continue to go up in price, until a change of strategy happens, the run isn't over yet.

Inflation on some things is up 30%, on some it's 200% or even 300% - but the true overall numbers are being hidden, or at least cherry-picked, to avoid having to admit where we're really at.

So we're where I said we would be a year ago, high inflation (we're now at hyper-inflation on some things like energy and petrol) and (also as I predicted) the Fed aren't going to do anything about it other than lip service - but if you weren't listening a year ago then you're probably not now either

And what other than listening is the plan ? We can't affect inflation can we ?

[Horse]

And what other than listening is the plan ? We can't affect inflation can we ?

Ditto for Great Reset / Lizards / etc.

Apart from knowing about it, what are we actually supposed/ expected to do?

If [insert theory here] can organise world events, global-scale manipulation, I'm not sure that Joe & Josephine Public can do much about it.

[weeksy]

No, as an individual you can't often change global issues - I sometimes use the same argument when we're discussing climate change, what's the point of me doing anything as an individual.

You could have hedged against it or made preparations against inflation, instead of waving it off as doom-mongering, a conspiracy, lizard men, paranoid nutters, or whatever other fantasies you have - again you can have the same discussion about global warming.

I'm just giving you a decent steer on what the weather might look like tomorrow, but if you want to stand out in the rain then that's up to you.

Most of us are happy just to have a cheap Decathlon rain jacket

Sure, we'd like an Arc.... but realistically we're on a jacket at best

[Horse]

No, as an individual you can't often change global issues

You could have hedged against it or made preparations against inflation, instead of waving it off as doom-mongering, a conspiracy, lizard men, paranoid nutters, or whatever other fantasies you have

I'm just giving you a decent steer on what the weather might look like tomorrow, but if you want to stand out in the rain then that's up to you.

Actually, i can, do and have made changes, whether in longer-term planning or day-to-day responses*

And I don't blame the lizards, believe the lizards exist, or ignore what might happen**

There are some basics which, however, cannot be denied:

- if interest rates are low, they're likely to go up
- prices sometimes fall (eg tech, after early adopters pay a premium), but rising is more likely
- the government/social services/charities may help if you're in trouble, but looking after yourself is a better plan
- keeping a reserve or buffer is a good idea - after roof, food, etc are taken care of when 'spare' money isn't an option

* I've listed several that are easily done, either in this thread or another recent one

** My point - deliberately not stated explicitly in the previous post - is that attribution of cause (or conspiracy) can potentially result in the whole message being ignored. Knowing who to blame doesn't help when dealing with a situation.

Oddly, there's a 'biking' parallel here. Often, us training types are told that riding with consideration for what might go wrong, and having a plan to deal with it, is boring.

[weeksy]

I'm struggling to decipher that, but I think you're agreeing that inflation is an issue and that you took steps to help soften the blow.
It looks like we're on the same page and some way off the "But I'm helpless against it" crew.

LOL i never said i was helpless against it... i said i don't actually give a fuck as i can't affect it. I think there's a difference... you may not


Helpless implies despair, fear, terror and running round with head in hands..

[weeksy]

I got fed up with letters in the post deciding my future.

But they did still decide your future as you decided to study, learn, work more hours and push yourself up the ranks into higher management. So even though they didn't influence your decisions in the way they used to, they still directly decided your future....

Mmmmmmm. Deep.