Comments by "TJ Marx" (@tjmarx) on "UK inflation hits 45-year high - as cost of living soars" video.
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This isn't quite accurate.
Inflation is a complex issue, but it ultimately means for a ranges of reasons the currency, in this case the pound, is being devalued at a specific rate per cycle period. That period can be anything from a day to a year.
When they're talking about these inflation numbers they mean per quarter.
Getting inflation under control is about stabilising or lifting currency value, reducing demand, increasing productivity (not growth) and regulating supply. Think of it like this, there's too much cash in the market so the value of that cash reduces.
If you pull cash out of the market (that's how higher interest rates help), then you stabilise the value or lift it. Inflation is the rate a currency loses value.
Cost of living is a bit more complex than just rate of inflation. How much a thing costs has many factors, not just supply and demand. The inputs to business costes contribute too because ultimately a business exists to make as much revenue (specifically profit as a share of revenue) as the market will bear. That's where competition comes in, creating a force to reduce price in order to maintain market share.
All this means that the process of reducing inflation will reduce costs for business but it will likewise dramatically reduce demand. Where demand dips and the businesses expenses dip too, prices drop.
You're not going to see 2019 prices again, but the prices for most consumer goods and services will drop with inflation to much more affordable levels. Some consumer goods won't drop, but they're going to be niche goods or have more complex causes for higher prices beyond general inflation.
I know that aas "long" but it was important to provide that brief explanation in order for you all to understand why prices will in fact come down.
Edit: It's essential for everyone to understand that lifting wages just pushes more cash into the market and increases costs for business which must be recouped, that makes the problem worse not better. You can't simply lift wages to get out of inflation, that makes it structural and then you're in inflation for a long time, a decade or more. No one wants that.
The only way to combat inflation is to spend far less and save far more. It's right to lift benefits, those aren't people contributing to inflation in any meaningful way. But for the middle class and above, stop buying so much junk you don't need. Stick to the bear necessities and save the rest. That's how you do your duty for country.
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