USA Prices v U.K. Prices

[baggieal]

In the US at the moment as come over here a lot due to business. Apart from a slight increase in petrol there’s no notable interest in supermarket prices or other prices.

Whilst in the U.K. every price is going through the roof putting more and more into food and energy poverty.

Yes the US import less agricultural products but many companies in the U.K. are clearly and massively taking advantage and the p iss!!

Told some American friends what we pay now in energy prices and they nearly fell over the floor.

Consumers in the U.K. will hit back as many will refuse to buy non essential purchases!!

Don’t get me started on that hypocrite Sunak who does not give a flying f uck for those who are desperate!

Seriously thinking of putting my middle finger up at the U.K.!

[9goals2hattricks3pen]

Driven through France petrol prices same as UK. Now in Italy petrol 1.84 euros a litre

[Omegstrat6]

Swings and roundabouts I guess. Fuel and energy costs have always been much cheaper in the States whereas grocery prices and rents were always about 23% cheaper on average in the UK (though this gap seems to be quickly decreasing!) Much maligned as it is, we also have an NHS so don't have to fork out for private health care insurance although I think that over all Americans pay less tax than we do?

[baggieal]

Swings and roundabouts I guess. Fuel and energy costs have always been much cheaper in the States whereas grocery prices and rents were always about 23% cheaper on average in the UK (though this gap seems to be quickly decreasing!) Much maligned as it is, we also have an NHS so don't have to fork out for private health care insurance although I think that over all Americans pay less tax than we do?

Yes they pay less tax and wages for teachers, firefighters etc are double!! The point was nothing has increased in the States but everything has increased in the U.K.!!

Many would say the NHS should be privatised as waiting two years for cancer operations is disgusting!!! Soon the NHS will go private as will many doctors surgeries as already going that way!

[Omegstrat6]

Sorry, get what you are driving at now! There are reasons for current increases in UK compared to America though. Modern global trading means that, normally, fluctuations in the economy and cost of living rises are seen both here and in the US but the current situation is a bit different in that much of the hikes we are seeing revolve around supply of natural gas. The US produces nearly all the natural gas it uses itself and so isn't dependent on availability/costs of it from other countries. The UK , on the otherhand, produces only around 44% of the gas we use and whilst we get only about 3% from Russia (we import a lot of ours from Norway) global demand and the Ukraine situation is impacting on global costs. The majority of the UKs crude oil is also imported from Norway alongside the United States whereas the US is the world's biggest exporter of oil. Government taxation on petrol/diesel is also higher here. All these feed into the increases we are seeing in transport and production costs as well as domestic energy bills. Just a pity we have people like Sunak who have no real empathy or understanding of the impact of all this on the vast majority of the population! Still, as long as it doesn't affect him or his rich mates...

As for the NHS, can't ever see it going completely private sector-and nor should it but it very clearly needs both further investment and an overhaul. It may be a service and have no need to make a profit but business principles should still apply. There is no logical reason that it should not run as efficiently as any business with the right management and right investment. The mistake, in my view, was in deciding to outsource so much of its services to the private sector in the first place rather than deal effectively with the rot and mis-management/poor productivity that had built up over the years.

[baggieal]

Sorry, get what you are driving at now! There are reasons for current increases in UK compared to America though. Modern global trading means that, normally, fluctuations in the economy and cost of living rises are seen both here and in the US but the current situation is a bit different in that much of the hikes we are seeing revolve around supply of natural gas. The US produces nearly all the natural gas it uses itself and so isn't dependent on availability/costs of it from other countries. The UK , on the otherhand, produces only around 44% of the gas we use and whilst we get only about 3% from Russia (we import a lot of ours from Norway) global demand and the Ukraine situation is impacting on global costs. The majority of the UKs crude oil is also imported from Norway alongside the United States whereas the US is the world's biggest exporter of oil. Government taxation on petrol/diesel is also higher here. All these feed into the increases we are seeing in transport and production costs as well as domestic energy bills. Just a pity we have people like Sunak who have no real empathy or understanding of the impact of all this on the vast majority of the population! Still, as long as it doesn't affect him or his rich mates...

As for the NHS, can't ever see it going completely private sector-and nor should it but it very clearly needs both further investment and an overhaul. It may be a service and have no need to make a profit but business principles should still apply. There is no logical reason that it should not run as efficiently as any business with the right management and right investment. The mistake, in my view, was in deciding to outsource so much of its services to the private sector in the first place rather than deal effectively with the rot and mis-management/poor productivity that had built up over the years.

Good post and agree! The US don’t import food on the scale that we do due to so many climates and export a lot of it too ie orange juice for example.

Getting to the point now though where a lot of people although don’t have the cash to throw away are going private. Waiting 12 months or worse for a cancer op or find 5 grand!! Know through a friend today her friend ( early 40’s ) was diagnosed with ovarian cancer a month ago and she’s just died today! A private clinic has just opened near us so would you pay let’s say £100/£150 for a child to be seen immediately or join the queue in A and E and still pay for car parking? I know what I would do and so would many others! Pop up clinics will grow for sure! GP’s are never going to resume service pre pandemic for sure!

You are right about the mismanagement of the NHS though but that’s not going to get better! Same with the energy companies thanks to Sunak - higher bills mean higher VAT and CEO’s will cream off millions in bonuses!!

[9goals2hattricks3pen]

In the US at the moment as come over here a lot due to business. Apart from a slight increase in petrol there’s no notable interest in supermarket prices or other prices.

Whilst in the U.K. every price is going through the roof putting more and more into food and energy poverty.

Yes the US import less agricultural products but many companies in the U.K. are clearly and massively taking advantage and the p iss!!

Told some American friends what we pay now in energy prices and they nearly fell over the floor.

Consumers in the U.K. will hit back as many will refuse to buy non essential purchases!!

Don’t get me started on that hypocrite Sunak who does not give a flying f uck for those who are desperate!

Seriously thinking of putting my middle finger up at the U.K.!

Just been watching a bit in the news about how US inflation is at 8.5% and gas prices are soaring
Interviewed a woman who was complaining she couldn't afford fresh veg anymore and a guy who couldn't pay 'sky high rents'

Agree about teachers wages. My son teaches in CA and earns considerably more than his sister here and works a lot less hours

[mickd1961]

Just been watching a bit in the news about how US inflation is at 8.5% and gas prices are soaring
Interviewed a woman who was complaining she couldn't afford fresh veg anymore and a guy who couldn't pay 'sky high rents'

Agree about teachers wages. My son teaches in CA and earns considerably more than his sister here and works a lot less hours

Inflation may well be high in the USA 923 but energy prices and fuel have always been very low over there so in real terms I suspect a litre of fuel is still hugely below U.K. prices?

[baggieal]

Just been watching a bit in the news about how US inflation is at 8.5% and gas prices are soaring
Interviewed a woman who was complaining she couldn't afford fresh veg anymore and a guy who couldn't pay 'sky high rents'

Agree about teachers wages. My son teaches in CA and earns considerably more than his sister here and works a lot less hours

Here in the US now and just filled a big car up with 50 dollars which is just over 40 pounds - it would cost double in the U.K. Supermarket prices don’t seem to have increased like the U.K.

Been around the pool with a fire fighter who said he earns around 100 grand a year with overtime so twice the wage of the same job in the U.K.

Everything and everyone is being ripped off in the U.K. You can’t even say the NHS is outstanding anymore with huge cancer waiting lists and GPS are non existent!!!

[DaveP67 is back!]

In New York today petrol was $5 a gallon fuel duty is 25% compared to 50% in the uk so take the duty difference away and we are not miles apart, oil is of course brought on the open market so the cost to the consumer is what it is plus what government does. Eating out in New York is comparable to London so not cheap, a beer is around $7 or 8 a pint!
Swings and roundabouts I feel, however our lot in number 10 should cut fuel duty in line with the US.