http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/Warning-Of-Food-Price-Riots-skynews-2424687063.html?x=0 A senior economist at the worldwide bank HSBC...has warned of civil unrest in Britain if food prices continue to soar. Probably un-called for alarm, I don't see supermarkets with empty shelves, nor do I see essentials such as milk or bread having even gone up in price in the last 12 months. Most retailers find a way to absord these increased costs anyway, so I don't expect any big price rises. If there is, I'm sure we can all economise a bit and stop throwing out tonnes of food every year.
Personally, I can see UK heading for a 'summer of discontent'. Whether there are riots or not I wouldn't like to call. It's not just food price inflations it's everything, coupled with wage stagnancy and deep cuts in public spending who knows I hope this much talked about 'fuel stabilizer' becomes reality soon as the recent hefty increases will impact just about everything. If anyone is interested here is the latest output from the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/34/53/47277766.pdf It's only a short report but it says it all. Reading it again, I wonder if HSBC might just have something??
how I see it is everybody is under pressure I keep contract prices at the same level for 3 years even reduced some to ensure retention but at the same time highly profitable events are also holding theres to 5 years ago levels pleading poverty if cost remained stable no problem but thats far from the case and taking extra profit from the work force is common place and not justified when your doing well under cover of "the resession"
Diesel is now £1.42 a litre here... and climbing. this will affect the cost of transporting goods, and the end result, will be a huge influence on retail prices. Can the arabs, please kill each other well away from the oil fields...???
The whole notion of economic growth is a nonsense if we are already past peak oil, we are all members of a technological society where the number of people on the planet would never have grown so large without the technology and we can't have the technology without energy and materials. A vital feedstock for industry is petrochemicals i.e. hydrocarbons, oil is a lot more valuable as a material in long term than it is as a fuel, dumbest thing ever was the idea of burning it in internal combustion engines and that comes from a man who loves his cars Things in this world could get very ugly very fast, remember the old saying, any society is just three good meals away from anarchy, maybe a bit more than that in reality but you get the point. I hope I am wrong this time like I was wrong in the 70's and 80's about expecting to be a pile of nuclear ashes by now
oss, I share your concerns. Just what is the level that oil prices must reach before the highly developed economies tip into a very deep depression. I realise this is solely an economic perspective, but I see economic devastation happening far before environmental devastation. Bizarrely, those who can, to some degree or other, influence the oil price, know only too well that the energy/cost required to find and extract a barrel of oil must never be allowed to exceed the energy/cost contained in the barrel.
