Inflation

[TimberWolf]

They didn't need to look at inflation. It was obvious to just about every analyst that bank lending was out of control over two years ago and it was well-publicised in the media. HMG should have acted then with credit controls but as usual they act after a cataclismic event that could have been mostly avoided with pre-emptive action.

I recall being sceptical about a fellow contractors stated intention to buy an expensive house back in 2001, thinking prices were already too high. Turns out they kept going up for another 6 years though. Granted mortgage credit did go especially nuts in the last few years with people going self-cert etc. The bubble went on so long I took my eye off the ball, and when my buyer dropped out 3 years ago I didn't try hard enough to get out of property more recently.

 

[oracleslave]

this lot have been safely despached to the dustbin of political history where they belong.

 

[TimberWolf]

Did I make just make it up or did Brown once say that he was proud of the fact that Labour hadn't screwed up the economy this time?

 

[Cyberman]

Did I make just make it up or did Brown once say that he was proud of the fact that Labour hadn't screwed up the economy this time?

His famous words were 'No return to boom and bust' !!

 

[PM-Junkie]

Did I make just make it up or did Brown once say that he was proud of the fact that Labour hadn't screwed up the economy this time?

It's his redefinition of the word "prudence" that had me giggling.

 

[vetran]

Council tax should be in inflation

Council tax should be in inflation

Five bloody percent rise!!!!!!!!

How do they justify that eh?

Bet their pensions haven't just turned to dust!

String em all up, stabbity stab.....


oh feel better now.

 

[Gonzo]

Good point. House price inflation seems to have been far more damaging than the price of a loaf of bread.

I'm not sure about including house prices in the index calculation, but taken on its own it should have been ringing alarm bells in government anyway.

And am I right in thinking the calculation included mobile phones and other technology that always becomes cheaper as the technology develops? That would have skewed the index down even further.

Here's a document from National Statistics explaining the composition.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/elmr/04_08/downloads/ELMR_Apr08_Gooding.pdf

I was quite excited to find it, but it wore me out with boredom.