this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2023
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UK Economy
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I reckon that base rate increases are helping to contribute to inflation now, because people are demanding higher salaries to pay for mortgages and rent. Which is the opposite of the intention when raising rates.
Whilst the BoE are following the book, I don’t think Hunt knows what he is doing as chancellor.
Inflation, tax and partygate will lead to Labour taking over at next election. Almost seems inevitable now.
Add to that that one of Sunak 5 promises was to halve inflation by the end of the year...
The gov and the BoE just don't have many leavers or controls over it but love to claim credit when all goes well.
They could help people with mortgages, but they aren't & won't, the longer it goes on the longer our mad system of 2 - 5 year fixed term mortgages run out the clock and people just can't pay because their rate goes from 1.5% to 6%; they move to interest only (trying to put off the problem), repossessions go up, selling up, renters get screwed as investment props go bad, housing crash (but not as low to actually be a correctionon of the inflated market) etc. etc. etc.
How long before we're playing 'Negative Equity' bingo?
And "halving inflation" is a weasly commitment anyway because inflation is an annual figure. So by the end of the year we'll be comparing to December 2022, when inflation was 10% and prices had already increased a lot.
In other words, he was really saying: "In 12 months, I promise that prices will only be 5% higher than they are right now."
Doesn't really seem very ambitious when put like that, does it?