Headline should in fact read: "In supermarkets across Europe, corporate greed is leading to a surge in food theft."
And that theft is entirely justifiable as these corporate grocery chains are effectively stealing from all of us with this greed disguised as inflation bullshit.
“The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.” -Anatole France
Less energy available -> less goods produced -> goods and resources diverted from civil to military production -> supply can't keep up with demand -> prices raise -> inflation
Raising the interest rates is just dumping the issue on the people in order to keep demand in check.
Did I get this completely wrong or does it make sense? (unironically asking)
Feels to me like this is largely a consequence of the geopolitical situation + rampant speculation on the markets. The financial autocrats already decided that we are the ones who are going to take the hit.
Not disagreeing with your sequence of events, as reduced energy production and wars do send prices higher. But, there's another sequence to consider that I think is simultaneously happening:
economic production makes a widget representing 100,000th of overall economy > prices set based on 100,000th of all money in existence > the banking system quadruples existing money in the system > the widget's price (eventually) quadruples as people realize there's a ton more money chasing the same number if goods.
And, at least according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve bank's numbers, the US Dollar money supply has increased some 13x since the 2008 financial crises, and 5x since the beginning of 2020. Ballooning the world's reserve currency like that will have disastrous inflationary effects /at some point/. The fact its happening now, while tragic, seems wholely foreseeable.
It was inevitable. Whole chickens now cost €7.99/kg, up from €1.99/kg last year. Eggplants are priced at €3.99/kg, compared to €0.99/kg previously. Even basic apples now cost €2.99/kg, up from €0.99/kg. The cause of this increase is not due to war, but rather it is a result of pure speculation driven by greed.
That's not how speculation works. Speculation is buying an asset and holding onto it based on the hope that prices will rise, then selling. No one is hoarding a huge supply of whole chickens and eggplants in a warehouse somewhere. There may be some speculation happening with commodity grains because they can be stored for a while. But meat and fresh produce spoil quickly, and cold storage is expensive.
As for greed, people were just as greedy a couple years ago. So that's not a plausible explanation.
Here in the UK you could by a (cheap) whole chicken for £3 until recently, would be at least 1.5kg. Now a basic chicken is £3.66 at tesco for a 1.2kg chicken
But likely the supermarket won't actually have many of these and the only choice will be the 'middle' price chicken for £6
Not my experience in France. I see some price increases, but nothing outrageous. And €7.99/kg for whole chicken was last year's price in my area (near Paris).
Not sure such a thing is possible with the scale and technology of modern society. Instead what I think you’ll see is increasing civil disobedience slowly clawing its way up the class ladder until we either have sufficiently freaked out elites to backpedal on some of these policies, or we go full cyberpunk.
Had to start a revolution when the ruling class has ensured that every small town police department is equipped to the teeth with military equipment and everyone is under 24/7 surveillance. The French didn't have this problem in 1789.
Wouldn’t the armories of those small police departments then be where such revolutions would begin springing up, either with or without the support of the small town police?
Getting “gecontroleerd” in the self-checkout supermarkets in the Netherlands seems to be happening to me way more frequently than it ever did previously (sometimes every visit). I’ve never missed scanning an item, which is something as far as I understand used to be a flag for more frequent checks.
After you scan all your items and click to pay, you get a “random” check notification and can’t pay until one of the employees comes over and scans a certain number of items in your bag.
It’s pretty frustrating and it used to happen quite infrequently.
Readit News
And that theft is entirely justifiable as these corporate grocery chains are effectively stealing from all of us with this greed disguised as inflation bullshit.
This article lays out arguments for and against this theory:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/03/business/economy/price-go...
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pantries and welfare exists. stealing is not necessary. most of these sort of people cant cook well and resort to packaged bs
Dead Comment
Raising the interest rates is just dumping the issue on the people in order to keep demand in check.
Did I get this completely wrong or does it make sense? (unironically asking)
Feels to me like this is largely a consequence of the geopolitical situation + rampant speculation on the markets. The financial autocrats already decided that we are the ones who are going to take the hit.
economic production makes a widget representing 100,000th of overall economy > prices set based on 100,000th of all money in existence > the banking system quadruples existing money in the system > the widget's price (eventually) quadruples as people realize there's a ton more money chasing the same number if goods.
And, at least according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve bank's numbers, the US Dollar money supply has increased some 13x since the 2008 financial crises, and 5x since the beginning of 2020. Ballooning the world's reserve currency like that will have disastrous inflationary effects /at some point/. The fact its happening now, while tragic, seems wholely foreseeable.
As for greed, people were just as greedy a couple years ago. So that's not a plausible explanation.
Where did you buy a whole chicken last year for €1.99/kg?
But likely the supermarket won't actually have many of these and the only choice will be the 'middle' price chicken for £6
That's what happens when you push people too far.
https://www.la-croix.com/France/Inflation-vraiment-hausse-vo...
It’s pretty frustrating and it used to happen quite infrequently.
Dead Comment