[HN Gopher] In supermarkets across Europe, inflation is leading ...
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In supermarkets across Europe, inflation is leading to a surge in
food theft
Author : LordAtlas
Score : 32 points
Date : 2023-03-28 16:44 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.lemonde.fr)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.lemonde.fr)
| glonq wrote:
| It's all fun and games until the poor start building guillotines.
|
| That's what happens when you push people too far.
| uejfiweun wrote:
| Not sure such a thing is possible with the scale and technology
| of modern society. Instead what I think you'll see is
| increasing civil disobedience slowly clawing its way up the
| class ladder until we either have sufficiently freaked out
| elites to backpedal on some of these policies, or we go full
| cyberpunk.
| ryan93 wrote:
| Evidence of destitution in England? The basics are very cheap,
| even the "poor" there just want prepackaged food.
| aimbivalent wrote:
| No, no it's not the trillion billions of central bank bond
| purchases since 2008 that have already inflated venture capital,
| crypto, stocks, housing so much that the Hindenburg must feel
| inadequat.
|
| No, of course it's "greed and "gouging", so that when the price
| of eggs goes up more the state can finally put it's boot on the
| neck of small/medium businesses and farmers to the cheers of the
| public.
|
| You are being divided and conquered.
| cr1895 wrote:
| Getting "gecontroleerd" in the self-checkout supermarkets in the
| Netherlands seems to be happening to me way more frequently than
| it ever did previously (sometimes every visit). I've never missed
| scanning an item, which is something as far as I understand used
| to be a flag for more frequent checks.
| nerdypirate wrote:
| Looks like inflation is causing a little bit of a shoplifting
| frenzy at European supermarkets! While the act of stealing is
| never the right solution, we can't blame people for wanting to
| feed themselves and their families during tough times.
|
| But let's face it, theft is ultimately bad news for everyone. It
| could lead to higher prices or tighter security measures, which
| would only make things worse.
|
| Instead of pointing fingers, let's think about how we can tackle
| the root causes of inflation and ensure that everyone has access
| to the essentials, like food and shelter. Maybe it's time for us
| to rethink some of our economic policies and address issues like
| income inequality and supply chain disruptions.
|
| In the meantime, supermarkets can reduce waste and donate excess
| food to those in need. And we can all support community
| organizations that are helping people get by during tough times.
|
| We should work together to find sustainable solutions that ensure
| everyone has what they need to thrive, and put an end to this
| supermarket crime wave!
| Der_Einzige wrote:
| This looks like it was GPT generated
| rs999gti wrote:
| > the root causes of inflation
|
| https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-ecb/ec...
|
| https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/money-printing-and-inflation...
| RedComet wrote:
| The theft seems to correlate with the floods of migrants entering
| these countries as well.
| eur0pa wrote:
| It was inevitable. Whole chickens now cost EUR7.99/kg, up from
| EUR1.99/kg last year. Eggplants are priced at EUR3.99/kg,
| compared to EUR0.99/kg previously. Even basic apples now cost
| EUR2.99/kg, up from EUR0.99/kg. The cause of this increase is not
| due to war, but rather it is a result of pure speculation driven
| by greed.
| rad_gruchalski wrote:
| > Whole chickens now cost EUR7.99/kg, up from EUR1.99/kg last
| year.
|
| Where did you buy a whole chicken last year for EUR1.99/kg?
| pastacacioepepe wrote:
| Less energy available -> less goods produced -> goods and
| resources diverted from civil to military production -> supply
| can't keep up with demand -> prices raise -> inflation
|
| Raising the interest rates is just dumping the issue on the
| people in order to keep demand in check.
|
| Did I get this completely wrong or does it make sense?
| (unironically asking)
|
| Feels to me like this is largely a consequence of the
| geopolitical situation + rampant speculation on the markets. The
| financial autocrats already decided that we are the ones who are
| going to take the hit.
| rfwhyte wrote:
| Headline should in fact read: "In supermarkets across Europe,
| corporate greed is leading to a surge in food theft."
|
| And that theft is entirely justifiable as these corporate grocery
| chains are effectively stealing from all of us with this greed
| disguised as inflation bullshit.
| Georgelemental wrote:
| Were they somehow not greedy before? What changed?
| g8oz wrote:
| Opportunities for price gouging increased due to supply chain
| disruptions.
|
| This article lays out arguments for and against this theory:
|
| https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/03/business/economy/price-
| go...
| Am4TIfIsER0ppos wrote:
| > supply chain disruptions
|
| Government meddling in the market though lockdowns,
| embargoes, and other limiting of supplies.
| midasuni wrote:
| If not government you mean China, sure. Massive supply
| chain problems.
|
| The Russian government invading a sovereign country
| didn't help either.
| Forestessential wrote:
| the headline should read, "Bad behavior is excused for the
| poor".
|
| pantries and welfare exists. stealing is not necessary. most of
| these sort of people cant cook well and resort to packaged bs
| quickthrowman wrote:
| "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor
| alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to
| steal their bread." -Anatole France
| hotpotamus wrote:
| In my experience, bad behavior is excused for the rich. I
| suspect the poor have finally caught on.
| ryan93 wrote:
| Feel free to move to one of the countries without many
| rich.
| aimbivalent wrote:
| Whenever socialist policies, in this case the central planning
| of credit and interest, don't work out and cause the exact
| disaster that has been predicted for decades in advance,
| actual, unironic communists like OP just turn around and blame
| the rich.
|
| This is the Soviet Union playbook to a T, except they would
| always blame "wreckers" or reactionaries.
|
| Unfortunately, people have an attention span for politics of
| about two weeks so they always keep falling for this.
| pastacacioepepe wrote:
| > Whenever socialist policies, in this case the central
| planning of credit and interest
|
| You are conflating centralization with socialism. Mario
| Draghi is the centralist banker behind QE and he is a fervent
| neoliberal. He has nothing to do with socialism.
|
| > This is the Soviet Union playbook to a T, except they would
| always blame "wreckers" or reactionaries.
|
| Crazy how distracted I've been lately, I've lived in a
| communist economy without noticing. I must have missed the
| proletarian expropriation somehow.
|
| Jokes aside, it's interesting how people like to call the
| current system socialist when it doesn't work, capitalist
| when it does.
| temp10298385 wrote:
| I strongly disagree that QE policies and central banking are
| socialist. In fact, I would argue that QE, as it has been
| enacted since its inception after the collapse of Japan's
| credit bubble, is closer to the opposite since it strengthens
| capital's control over labour. The mechanisms of which are
| asset price inflation, financialization, austerity which
| reduces spending on public goods, poor wage growth, and so
| on. These are all examples of capital increasing its power
| while labour loses power. I agree the policy choice is
| terrible, but I don't see how they can be construed as
| socialist.
|
| Also, keep in mind that the theoreticial justifications for
| these policies do not originate in socialist/marxist
| economics. Nor are the technocrats that implement them
| motivated by socialist theory.
|
| It seems the only connection that exist is that central
| banking is central (so is the military) and that marxist-
| leninist regimes make heavy use of centralism. Central
| banking predates all such regimes, by the way. But that seems
| like a superficial connection that does nothing to elucidate.
| I disagree heavily with QE but labeling it socialist does not
| help in understanding it so that I may effectively oppose it.
| [deleted]
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(page generated 2023-03-28 23:02 UTC)