Why has my daily bread risen by 25%
As is to be expected when living in France, I have a wide choice of both artisanal bakers and various supermarkets all roughly equidistant when choosing from where to buy my local loaf.
My favourite baker lies in the outskirts of one of the two largest towns in our area, but to get there requires a drive through the main street of the highest village in our department, which has a church and café/bar but no baker. Some time ago this much repaired main street became subject to the digging of new drains, installation of modernistic street lights and as it has now turned out a somewhat bizarre traffic calming restriction.
Over many moons the village became practically unpassable as a result, and my bread was bought elsewhere, where with varying types and sizes of loaves and their suppliers I became somewhat oblivious to the surging prices.
Yesterday, the road works were finally accomplished and I returned to my baker of choice. The exact increase in price for my preferred loaf, was from 90 euro centimes to €1.15 for the self-same loaf. Economists will find this information worthless as I have no firm timescale that I can affirm, during which this increase of 27.78 % occurred. In the third world, however, the effects are already obvious.
I can, however, with absolute certainty ascribe the blame, as it has been repeatedly pointed out over many years on this blog. The fault lies with our political classes, who governing on a planet with finite resources delusionally pretend that they can create infinite amounts of money that may then provide for all. As S & P warned the USA yesterday, that is an impossibility. Quantatitive Easing, the so-called market activities of the ECB, etc., are ruining the western world with the sole intent, it seems, of keeping those who have brought us to this point of bankruptcy in power.
Read Atlas Shrugged to get one view of where that will take us.
My favourite baker lies in the outskirts of one of the two largest towns in our area, but to get there requires a drive through the main street of the highest village in our department, which has a church and café/bar but no baker. Some time ago this much repaired main street became subject to the digging of new drains, installation of modernistic street lights and as it has now turned out a somewhat bizarre traffic calming restriction.
Over many moons the village became practically unpassable as a result, and my bread was bought elsewhere, where with varying types and sizes of loaves and their suppliers I became somewhat oblivious to the surging prices.
Yesterday, the road works were finally accomplished and I returned to my baker of choice. The exact increase in price for my preferred loaf, was from 90 euro centimes to €1.15 for the self-same loaf. Economists will find this information worthless as I have no firm timescale that I can affirm, during which this increase of 27.78 % occurred. In the third world, however, the effects are already obvious.
I can, however, with absolute certainty ascribe the blame, as it has been repeatedly pointed out over many years on this blog. The fault lies with our political classes, who governing on a planet with finite resources delusionally pretend that they can create infinite amounts of money that may then provide for all. As S & P warned the USA yesterday, that is an impossibility. Quantatitive Easing, the so-called market activities of the ECB, etc., are ruining the western world with the sole intent, it seems, of keeping those who have brought us to this point of bankruptcy in power.
Read Atlas Shrugged to get one view of where that will take us.
Labels: Atlas Shrugged, Bread
posted by Martin at 8:29 AM
2 Comments:
Have they got rid of the regulated price for bread now in France? Do we have a free market for bread at last? Is this one of the benefits of the EU?
You haven't mentioned the very high price for fresh milk in France (compared to here where it is £1 for 4 pints at Sainsbury).
Robert,
The everyday supermarket baguette is still price controlled as far as I know.
The family baker, I believe, is also subject to price limits on his standard output but on his speciality output (in the case I mention he calls his loaf "pain" he clearly seems able to charge what the market will bear.
I am not sure about the price of a litre of resh milk and how it may have moved? About a year ago local farmers held back supplies from the supermarkets in protest at their pricing policies. Near us Farmers outside the supermarkets were exchanging a litre of fresh milk for a box of UHT.
I will let you know what the price of a litre of fresh milk is today when I next visit the supermarket.
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