[Yug]

On Sky News just now.

Shell announced a jump in profits last year of 53%, to a record £68.1 billion, fuelled by the "surge in energy prices".

Well fuck me sideways! Who would have guessed that when you ramp up the charges for your services the profits from those increased charges would rise too?

Fucking profiteering spiv cunts

[Youngian]

By breaking into houses to install meters they can chisel even more cash out of those who can least afford it.

[mattomac]

I’m not the most economically savvy but effectively if inflation was to half that wouldn’t lower prices to half the level they were when inflation kicked in?

Because that’s how they are presenting it, it’s a bit of an error on their part but then 20 points behind what have they got.

[Youngian]

If a product rose to £1 last year due to 10% inflation which has fallen to 5% this year, it will cost you £1.05 instead of £1.10.
If inflation doesn’t fall as the economy contracts we are in even deeper do da. But it will and Sunak is not going to shut up about it. Even Hunt may pop his head up. He’s hoping the public won’t remember his participation in this government if he fulfils his LOTO ambitions.

[mattomac]

Well if Liz Truss can do it.

[Yug]

Half listening to Sky News, I hear that the number of days lost to strikes is the highest for more than 30 years (I didn't quite catch the exact number, just 30-mumble), and the government is whining about high wages fuel inflation.

Out-of-touch over-privileged rich kids in government have absolutely no idea about the real world.

While it might be true that high wages *do* indeed drive up inflation, when you *need* a massive pay-rise just to be able to afford to pay the bills and eat something at least once a day the wages aren't exactly high.

It's all relative. I'm taking home per month nearly three times the amount my Dad paid for his first house! Yet I am regarded as low-paid and, without inheriting property, have no chance of getting onto the "property ladder".

We really need to be governed by people who at least occasionally come into contact with the real world.

Edit to add

Regular pay has grown at the fastest rate in more than 20 years, but is still failing to keep up with rising prices, official figures show.

Pay, excluding bonuses, increased at an annual pace of 6.7% between October and December 2022, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The ONS said the increase was the strongest growth seen outside of the Covid pandemic.

However, when adjusted for inflation, regular pay fell by 2.5%.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64629438

The government has it totally arse about face. Inflation is driving wages this time.

[davidjay]

Wages aren't driving inflation. Profits are.

[mattomac]

They can bleat all they want they’ve done nothing to curb inflation, even a small whisper to business leaders about the need to curb pay would perhaps have had some effect but no.

Pay has for the last decade not kept up with inflation, when that’s 1-2% that’s manageable, but the difference has always been increasing.

The gap between a pay rise now and inflation is potentially say in my current job around 6%, that’s a job that at times in the the last decade that saw no incremental rise and a pay increase around 1-2%

I realised the only reason I probably hadn’t felt it as much until the rent went up was because I was working more at home and I luckily live above the boiler so effectively one room can be a sauna for hours, not to mention the temptation to eat out is easier in the office than at home.

I’m scared about another rise and will probably talk to my landlord about putting it off until work agree or not to on the pay rise the University has offered. In the meantime I am seeking leave from London.

[Yug]

Once again, who could have guessed that artificially inflating prices would drive up profits? Especially on things people cannot do without.

British Gas owner Centrica has posted huge profits after oil and gas prices soared last year, sparking renewed calls for energy firms to pay more tax.

Its profits hit £3.3bn for 2022, more than triple the £948m it made in 2021...

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64652142.amp

These cunts make WW2 spivs look like fucking angels.

[Bones McCoy]

I'm sure there's a Schroedinger's market going on as well.

I see headlines about record profits and the FTSE topping 8000.
I receive pension updates asking for additional contributions and explaining how my investments have fallen 10% in the last year.

[Yug]

If they've done the lazy thing and invested in central London property their investments may well be falling. Just ask Alan Sugar about that.

[davidjay]

I'm sure there's a Schroedinger's market going on as well.

I see headlines about record profits and the FTSE topping 8000.
I receive pension updates asking for additional contributions and explaining how my investments have fallen 10% in the last year.

Look back at what I said last year on that very subject. I really cannot for the life of me see how they can lose money investing in something that never goes down in value.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I got this letter from my French electricity supplier (Google trans)

Hello Mr Armsteen,

Since February 2022, the Government has implemented a tariff shield in order to limit the rise in electricity prices. This tariff shield is extended in 2023.

Without this measure, your electricity bill would have doubled(1) this year. Its application makes it possible to limit the increase in your Regulated Tariff for the Sale of Electricity (Blue Tariff) to 15% including tax on average and to avoid an additional increase of 0.18 euros including tax per kWh. This increase applies from February 1, 2023.

For example, a household that consumes between 4,000 and 6,000 kWh(2) per year thus avoids an additional increase of between 720 and 1,080 euros including tax.

For more information on the price shield, visit our website.
Learn more
Learn more
In the context of the energy crisis, you have also been called upon to reduce your electricity consumption this winter, and, according to RTE, the operator of the electricity transmission network, national consumption has fallen by more than 8%. (3) compared to usual consumption.

We would like to thank you for your contribution, and to emphasize that the actions carried out by all in favor of energy sobriety also make it possible to reduce the impact of the price increase on your budget.

My English electricity bill has considerably more than trebled.
All to pay the shareholders...

[Dalem Lake]

Do you having an equivalent of a standing charge in France? Mine's 90p a day for gas and Electricity and I don't see why it needs to be so high. Charging over £300 a year just for the benefit of having an energy supply takes the piss, particularly as my provider, British Gas is making ridiculous profits.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Yes we do, I'll have to look it up. I think it's quite high.

[Yug]

There's no money available to give junior doctors or civil servants a meaningful pay rise. But a "slimmed-down" ceremony to stick a silly hat on a scrounger's head will cost the tax-payers around £100 million. The cost will come from the government's ceremonial fund. But the government doesn't have any money of its own, it all comes out of our pockets.

The slimmed-down ceremony has been chosen to reflect a Britain enduring hard times. We can expect the length of the historic ceremony to be cut by half and number of VIP guests at Westminster Abbey slashed. But the event will still be packed with pomp and pageant and cost the country around £100MILLION.

My bold.

This country needs to take a serious look at what these people actually do for the money they're given, then tell them to fuck off, and spend the money on something useful.

[Bones McCoy]

It's all a bit "Let them eat cake".

Except the cake is made of turnips.

[Abernathy]

“Slimmed down?” Fuck knows what a full-fat ceremony would have cost.

Are we supposed to be grateful?

[Yug]

“Slimmed down?” Fuck knows what a full-fat ceremony would have cost.

Are we supposed to be grateful?

Yep. It's a boot in the face for everyone struggling to pay their bills, but we're supposed to be grateful for this show uf solidarity with the ordinary people.

[Yug]

And so they fucking should

Britain’s biggest banks under pressure to pass on higher interest rates to savers

Britain’s biggest banks are under pressure to pass on higher interest rates to savers after figures showing they have made an extra £7bn by refusing to do so, and as they stand to benefit from a tax cut announced by Jeremy Hunt.

On the day the Bank of England is expected to announce a further rise in interest rates, the Unite trade union said banks had already made billions of pounds in extra profit from the dramatic rise in borrowing costs.

Banks make money by charging higher interest on loans than deposits, using the central bank base rate as the reference point. However, the industry has come under fire from across the political spectrum for passing on the rise to borrowers amid the cost of living crisis at a faster rate than for savers..

https://amp.theguardian.com/business/20 ... -to-savers