Whats the real rate of inflation?
 

Clearly inflation is far far higher than the 2.4% the government claim, looking at what prices have risen over the last few years we have;

Council tax up about 8-10%/year
Gas up something like 30%/year at least
Electric up 25%/year
Petrol up 10%/year
My food bills have certainly gone up, say 5%/year
Water bill has risen about 10%/year

Bread about to go up again, and clearly the list is much longer!

Real inflation must be nearer 10% than 2.4%?!

Excuse my ignorance, but are house price increases linked to inflation as well?

What's "real"? All depends on what you take as your indicators.

The following may be useful
National Statistics Online - which shows the trends of the "basket" and http://www.statistics.gov.uk/article...asket_2006.pdf showing what's in the basket

And my wage increase this year %0:Whatever_ Like it or not this flood of poles is keeping wages down for everyone apart from the fat cats.

Currently about 6%

No.

There used to be two measure of inflation - the underlying rate and the meaure including house prices. These were based on the RPI - the retail price index.

However - the government had set a target of 2% on the underlying rate, partially as it was one of the entry criteria for the Euro.

Inflation started to increase beyond 2% and it didn;t look like come back under anytime soon - So, Gordon Brown pulled a masterstroke to reduce it.

He changed the way it was calculated. Under a new system based on the CPI (consumer price index) he managed to reduce inflation and bring it down under 2% without actually it actually changing.

Now of course, even CPI inflation is over 2% - so it won;t be long before we have some new maths to compensate ;)

Of course in the meantime, employers can feel justified when offering "inflation busting" 3% rises, because the CPI is sitting at 2.6% - when under the old RPI measure it would be around 3.5-4% and if you include house prices, around 6-8%

Good old Gordon :)

Just paid for my yougest lad's car driving test £48.50:eek: and that's NOT including the theory test:eek: and the hire of the driving school car for two hours:eek: :eek:

When I bought my eldest's test about three years ago, it was around £30, I think.

And passports have almost doubled in price.:mad:

Alcazar

Different things are cheaper. Things like computers, mobile phones, tvs, stereos, even cars are all cheaper to buy these days (loans have been more accessible too, just think of the consumer spending if loans were tightened up!!)

People in the financial community have long dismissed the government's basket of inflationary goods,

I think the real inflation rate including mortgage payments was something like 3.7% this is the highest it has been for eight years.


The RPI rate, which includes mortgage payments rose from 3.6% to 3.7% - the highest level in more than eight years.

have you also noticed how much MOT's keep jumping up each year-by that i mean the max figure garages can charge for one-going up again near end of this month as well.

Don't forget though that one of the reasons the ordinary interest rates rose was because student tuition fees kicked in.

I couldn't believe the Bank of England when this happened. I thought it was some kind of spoof.

In other words your mortgage has gone up because you are struggling to find money to put your kids through university ?

A couple of years ago I bought some gravel to be informed I was lucky because I just missed the imposition of the quarry tax which meant the stuff would rise in price by about 10%

Every news story now includes some attempt to put up tax either directly or indirectly.

Drive a 4x4? You could be taxed for your parking place, more tax for your excise license....because it is a GAS GUZZLER....err.. which means that you already pay hideous amounts more tax than the ordinary car user anyway because fuel is taxed the way it is.

This government is apparently according to a recent publication worst than a stalinist regime. The USSR even at its worst was only concerned with political affiliation. This is a government that wants to weigh your rubbish and prosecute you for thought crime.....mmmm anyone read a book like that?

I can't be the only one noticing all this stuff surely

The last thing the goverment wants is for us to know the real inflation rate, even if we do realise that the way they calculate it is a fiddle.

Les :(