5 ms·

How is the UK falling apart? Inflation rates are lower than in Germany.[0] The pound is 3ct weaker than it was last year and just as strong as 2019. [1] I’m

by zahrc 4y ago

How is the UK falling apart? Inflation rates are lower than in Germany.[0] The pound is 3ct weaker than it was last year and just as strong as 2019. [1] I’m not an economist, so I am genuinely curious how you measure that. [0] https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/09/30/record-inflation-which-country-in-europe-has-been-worst-hit-and-how-do-they-compare https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/09/30/record-inflation-wh... [1] https://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=GBP&to=EUR&view=5Y https://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=GBP&to=EUR&view=5Y

timellis-smith 4y ago
In addition it's worth pointing out that the UK has the second lowest debt / GDP ratio of the g7 https://countryeconomy.com/countries/groups/g7 https://countryeconomy.com/countries/groups/g7
- benj111 4y ago
  The govt is busy fixing that oversight though.
mmarq 4y ago
The pound is much weaker than 10 years ago (1.25 va 1.13), inflation has been significantly higher in the entire period and in the past year as well. Real salaries in the UK are lower than in 2007, only Italy had a comparable performance. Political instability is so evident that I shouldn’t even have to mention the number of governments we had in the past 5 years. In the UK we have shortages of medicines (such as chicken pox vaccines, dioralyte satchels and paracetamol for babies just to name the few I couldn’t find in the past 10 days), supermarkets even in central London are often half empty. This isn’t happening anywhere else in Europe. But you will certainly post that the FTSE index in the past 5 hours had a better performance than NASDAQ and claim economic egemony.
- blibble 4y ago
  > The pound is much weaker than 10 years ago (1.25 va 1.13) against the dollar, yes you may want to check the Euro against the dollar too > inflation has been significantly higher in the entire period and in the past year as well again, you may want to check the eurozone at least the UK has the ability to raise interest rates, the eurozone does not > supermarkets even in central London are often half empty this was certainly the case during early days covid (when we were still part of the EU) I've not even seen it reported during the last year (your comment history is certainly... focused on complaining about the UK)
  - mmarq 4y ago
    Of course, all comparisons were UK vs EU and GBP vs EUR. For GBP vs EUR, you just need to change the dates of xe.com link in the comment I replied to (past 10 years instead of a strategically chosen start date). The pound today is much weaker than 10 years ago against the euro. For inflation comparison you can check the ONS or https://data.oecd.org/price/inflation-cpi.htm https://data.oecd.org/price/inflation-cpi.htm . You can see for yourself that UK has performed worse than the eurozone for the entirety of the past 10 years. On shortages, I’ve just been told by both my child’s paediatrician and his GP to stockpile certain medicines because they experience shortages on a daily basis, medicines disappear for weeks, such as the chicken pox vaccine. Calpol was nowhere to be found today, I may have more luck tomorrow. I can’t send you a picture of the Sainsbury’s I’ve just went to, but I had to go to Tesco to buy milk. I’ve never experienced anything like this, the closest thing I can think of is This War of Mine or the siege of Sarajevo.
    - blibble 4y ago
      > Calpol was nowhere to be found today, I may have more luck tomorrow. I can’t send you a picture of the Sainsbury’s I’ve just went to, but I had to go to Tesco to buy milk. I’ve never experienced anything like this, the closest thing I can think of is This War of Mine or the siege of Sarajevo. this has to be hyperbole or a parody, right? if you think supermarkets being out of milk on a Sunday evening is the sign of the apocalypse then the world ended quite a while ago
- amaccuish 4y ago
  Whilst I agree in general with your summary, the chickenpox vaccine isn't a part of the general vaccination program, so the lack of it is only a concern to a very small number of people.
  - mmarq 4y ago
    The fact is that if I go to France or Germany or Spain or Italy or the Vatican or Switzerland and I put 50-100€ on the table, my child gets the chicken pox vaccine, while in the UK he doesn’t because we have shortages. Have I mentioned that my partner had to change her birth control pill because the old one is not distributed in the UK anymore (and, again, it is still distributed in Germany and Italy and Spain etc…)?

by zahrc 4y ago

timellis-smith 4y ago

In addition it's worth pointing out that the UK has the second lowest debt / GDP ratio of the g7 https://countryeconomy.com/countries/groups/g7 https://countryeconomy.com/countries/groups/g7

benj111 4y ago
The govt is busy fixing that oversight though.

mmarq 4y ago

The pound is much weaker than 10 years ago (1.25 va 1.13), inflation has been significantly higher in the entire period and in the past year as well. Real salaries in the UK are lower than in 2007, only Italy had a comparable performance. Political instability is so evident that I shouldn’t even have to mention the number of governments we had in the past 5 years. In the UK we have shortages of medicines (such as chicken pox vaccines, dioralyte satchels and paracetamol for babies just to name the few I couldn’t find in the past 10 days), supermarkets even in central London are often half empty. This isn’t happening anywhere else in Europe. But you will certainly post that the FTSE index in the past 5 hours had a better performance than NASDAQ and claim economic egemony.

blibble 4y ago
> The pound is much weaker than 10 years ago (1.25 va 1.13) against the dollar, yes you may want to check the Euro against the dollar too > inflation has been significantly higher in the entire period and in the past year as well again, you may want to check the eurozone at least the UK has the ability to raise interest rates, the eurozone does not > supermarkets even in central London are often half empty this was certainly the case during early days covid (when we were still part of the EU) I've not even seen it reported during the last year (your comment history is certainly... focused on complaining about the UK)
- mmarq 4y ago
  Of course, all comparisons were UK vs EU and GBP vs EUR. For GBP vs EUR, you just need to change the dates of xe.com link in the comment I replied to (past 10 years instead of a strategically chosen start date). The pound today is much weaker than 10 years ago against the euro. For inflation comparison you can check the ONS or https://data.oecd.org/price/inflation-cpi.htm https://data.oecd.org/price/inflation-cpi.htm . You can see for yourself that UK has performed worse than the eurozone for the entirety of the past 10 years. On shortages, I’ve just been told by both my child’s paediatrician and his GP to stockpile certain medicines because they experience shortages on a daily basis, medicines disappear for weeks, such as the chicken pox vaccine. Calpol was nowhere to be found today, I may have more luck tomorrow. I can’t send you a picture of the Sainsbury’s I’ve just went to, but I had to go to Tesco to buy milk. I’ve never experienced anything like this, the closest thing I can think of is This War of Mine or the siege of Sarajevo.
  - blibble 4y ago
    > Calpol was nowhere to be found today, I may have more luck tomorrow. I can’t send you a picture of the Sainsbury’s I’ve just went to, but I had to go to Tesco to buy milk. I’ve never experienced anything like this, the closest thing I can think of is This War of Mine or the siege of Sarajevo. this has to be hyperbole or a parody, right? if you think supermarkets being out of milk on a Sunday evening is the sign of the apocalypse then the world ended quite a while ago
amaccuish 4y ago
Whilst I agree in general with your summary, the chickenpox vaccine isn't a part of the general vaccination program, so the lack of it is only a concern to a very small number of people.
- mmarq 4y ago
  The fact is that if I go to France or Germany or Spain or Italy or the Vatican or Switzerland and I put 50-100€ on the table, my child gets the chicken pox vaccine, while in the UK he doesn’t because we have shortages. Have I mentioned that my partner had to change her birth control pill because the old one is not distributed in the UK anymore (and, again, it is still distributed in Germany and Italy and Spain etc…)?