The government claims inflation is ‘under 3%’ but,
according to The Independent of Saturday 17th of May, food prices have gone up
by 6.6 % but that basic food items have gone up by 20% in the twelve months to
May 2008! Sainsbury’s profits are up 28% to £488million.Tesco profits are
up 11.8 % to £2.8 billion and Premier Foods up by 216% to £280 million.
British Gas prices are set to rise by 40% this year when profits have risen by
501% to £570 million. The article says that "the food business insist
they are struggling to keep costs – and prices – down…"
On the same page a report states that bankruptcies are
up by 12% to 13.080 this quarter, that the number of people facing repossession
is at its highest level for 16 years and that the number of people declared
insolvent went up to 25,264 in the same period.
I guess the ‘liberal’
supporters of capitalism like The Independent are embarrassed by these
facts. But then, if moneybags were embarrassed by huge profits, they
wouldn’t be moneybags in the first place.
