What should the inflation target be?

Gorgeous_George

Gordie's last throw of the dice will be to revise the inflation target that the Bank of England aims to control with interest rates.

What will the target be next month (16 June 2008)?

GG

ManAtHome

Will it make any difference now the commercial banks are controlling interest rates?

epz_2

It doesnt matter, unless they seriously crank up interest rates the cost of stuff people people have to buy like food and petrol to get to work will keep going up.

frankly i dont care what some fiddled target is i care i have significantly less cash than 6 months ago (i spend a lot on petrol)and blame labour.

now dont get me wrong i know they didnt cause peak oil but the claimed credit for the low inflation thanks to china while cranking up taxes for public sector pay rises so i chose to blame them when things go bad

Gorgeous_George

You are right. The high price of crude oil is the Government's fault - not.

You need to find a way to use less petrol.

GG

ManAtHome

Part of it is their fault - quid goes down relative cost of oil goes up (I know the headline bit is due to bailout ben's actions, but the pound has still been sinking, just not quite as fast as the dollar).

[edit] Oh, and there's that tax stuff...

WTF?_2

ManAtHome wrote: »

Part of it is their fault - quid goes down relative cost of oil goes up (I know the headline bit is due to bailout ben's actions, but the pound has still been sinking, just not quite as fast as the dollar).

[edit] Oh, and there's that tax stuff...

Indeed - and their 'emergency liquidity measures' just provide even more cash (funny money) for the market players to invest in the commodity bubbles of food and energy.

The Western governments pursued years of inflationary policies (which resulted in the housing booms in Western countries) and their 'medicine' of ..wait for it .. yet more inflationary policies is just exacerbating the oil and food boom.

epz_2

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

You are right. The high price of crude oil is the Government's fault - not.

You need to find a way to use less petrol.

GG

Ive got a 90 mile daily commute though pretty hellish congestion, the alternative is 3 cattle market trains and a 1.5 mile walk and i ain't buying a new car

63p a litter is tax, and i can blame them for that as i need to pay them it, especially as they are !!!!less gits who use it to create more bureaucratic waste

Gorgeous_George

I used to have a round trip of 140 miles to work.

It was my fault - I chose to live too far from where I worked.

GG

Jennifer_Jane

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

I used to have a round trip of 140 miles to work.

It was my fault - I chose to live too far from where I worked.

GG

Hmmm, hard to move though these days, isn't it. Not easy finding jobs/selling houses. Of course, technically it's a choice but I think this argument is facile and sounds a wee bit smug. I'm a great fan of yours, GG, and clicked on the link specifically because I saw you had posted. On this occasion, however, I differ.



Regards
Jen
x

Gorgeous_George

Jennifer_Jane wrote: »

Hmmm, hard to move though these days, isn't it. Not easy finding jobs/selling houses. Of course, technically it's a choice but I think this argument is facile and sounds a wee bit smug. I'm a great fan of yours, GG, and clicked on the link specifically because I saw you had posted. On this occasion, however, I differ.



Regards
Jen
x

Thanks Jen. Best we get back on topic then.

What should the inflation target be?

FWIW, I don't know. There is no point having a target that cannot be met. Interest rates are not great for controlling inflation but, undoubtedly, inflation must be controlled. But at what level?

GG

Benefits_Blagger

epz wrote: »

frankly i dont care what some fiddled target is i care i have significantly less cash than 6 months ago (i spend a lot on petrol)and blame labour.

now dont get me wrong i know they didnt cause peak oil but the claimed credit for the low inflation thanks to china while cranking up taxes for public sector pay rises so i chose to blame them when things go bad

herein lies the problem, if for the past 11 years people had cared about fiddled figures and the reason for the economic boom then maybe we wouldn't be where we are today.

as you say, you had more money in your pocket 6 months ago, but as you say, you didn't care then, but you do now, but it's too late, you're fooked