Originally Posted by
MadAmster
The current cost of living crisis comes at a time when huge profits are being made. Shareholders are doing well out of their dividends. There's a big cause of inflation right there. Tesco, one of the companies making those huge profits is one of the signatories to the letter to the Chancellor complaining at the rise in employer NIC and in the minimum wage. Tesco, and many other companies are perfectly well able to "suck up" a fair chunk of these extra costs and still make a reasonable profit. Problem is, they won't.
IMO it's well time big business got stamped on to make them realise profits and dividends can't get ever higher. The limit has been well passed. Everything they do to increase revenue/profit/dividend ends up hurting the "man in the street".
Look at Burton. Once the brewing capital of the country. Large brewing firms and many allied companies supplying materials or taking brewery waste to make things like Marmite. Those breweries employed many thousands of well paid staff as did their suppliers etc. Then the multinationals came along and changed things. Pushing lager rather than real ale as it's cheaper to make and gives a higher profit margin. A lot of the brewing capacity has left the town as have the bottling stores etc. Thousands of well paid jobs gone. Replaced by low paid jobs in warehousing and the like. The town and surrounding area has become poorer. All so a handful of rich folk can get ever richer. To hell with an entire area being made poorer. They simply do not care.
That is why I have a major dislike of them. I have it all, I want more and I don't give a damn who gets hurt by it.
... and, yes, the pension funds will have had shares as well but even them possibly being better off does not justify the impoverishing of Burton and the surrounding district.
There's not poverty and hunger in the world because we can't grow/raise sufficient food for everybody, it's there because we can't satisfy the ugly greed of the richest 5%.