Put Off By Price Rises

[Terryff]

I think you might find that it was irresposible lending that created this, not people failing to walk around like happy clappy people denying the existence of a problem.

That and everyone using credit when they were not good for the payments.

.....and trying to buy themselves up the "class ladder" that no longer exists.

And listening to clever people that said "buy this, you really need it" when they did not.

Etc. Etc. Etc.

Capitalism, you either love it or loathe it.ÿ

 

[Andrew Everard]

ARW77:Be grateful that you're not living in a country like India or South Afica and wanting to buy a decent car! lol


HIGH-END: Satya Bagla (right), Managing Director,
Exclusive Motors Pvt. Ltd, with Chris Buxton, Regional Director,
Bentley Motors (Middle East, Africa and India), at the launch of
Continental Flying Spur Speed in New Delhi on Friday.

Bentley bets on India and China

 

[crusaderlord]

Originally i posted to enquire if the price rises were going to put people off buying upgrades - but a full blown debate on capitalism is equally good

 

[Andy Clough]

Well, the topics on here are nothing if not diverse.

Sadly, I doubt any of us have succeeded in solving the economic crisis. I'll stick to running the website.

 

[Terryff]

Don't spend what you have not got.......sorted.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, I know that but the point I was making is that unless you're looking at redundancy any time soon then why sit quibling that the cost of something you're treating yourself to has gone up 30% when you can afford it anyway?

The price rises aren't so savage that they've suddenly pushed something you could afford previously well beyond reach.

I'm looking at buying a whole new system myself at the minute so I don't like it either but unfortunatly the way things are at the moment it's either put up or shut up.

I don't have money to burn by any stretch of the imagination but I think I'd even go as far as saying I'd rather pay the bit extra if it meant helping the company I'm buying the kit off to stay afloat so they're still around the next time I want to upgrade!

 

[professorhat]

Wasn't the whole point of the thread to ask who is bothered by the price rises? So it seems you aren't and that's fair enough, but personally if I was thinking about buying something for £1,500 and it had just gone up to £1,800, I would be thinking again about buying it. After all, at some point the pound will sort itself out and this may well then trigger a series of price reductions.

Besides that, it might be easy for you to magic £300 out of the air, but for a lot of people, this may well delay the purchase by quite a few weeks / months. Some people may be annoyed by this and I think that's fairly justified personally. Okay, you can't change it, but that doesn't mean we can't discuss it does it?

 

[JoelSim]

Rule number one. Never let an Accountant run a piece of business.

 

[idc]

silly:chainrock:

Recessions are ultimately good for long-run health of the economy, albeit painful in the short run. They are adjustment processes, whereby companies cut excess costs, innovate and find ways to do more with less - which in the end is the key to economic growth.

I agree 100%, those that come out through this the other side will be stronger, more efficient and competitive, a little pain for long term future gain, the good products will always sell.

Chebby's original post that resulted in the above quotes was about a healthy company cutting 7% of its workforce. Chebby, were 7% of the management, especially the board of directors cut at the same time as well? I work in an organisation of 7000 employees and there are many talented workers and many useless managers. The ones that suffer are often the talented workers, many of whom has chosen not to rise up the management slippery pole. I have seen many useless managers shifted sideways and into made up departments, still utterly convinced of their worth.

The big difference I want to see is the end of massive payoffs and redundancy payments and pensions for senior management. The kind of payoffs that mean that they can just retire to the golf club. I want to see them taking risks, real risks. They justify high wages with alleged risk, but what risk? There is more risk becoming an employee of such companies where redundancy means a couple of months wages and then nothing.

 

[Anonymous]

professorhat:

Wasn't the whole point of the thread to ask who is bothered by the price rises? So it seems you aren't and that's fair enough, but personally if I was thinking about buying something for £1,500 and it had just gone up to £1,800, I would be thinking again about buying it. After all, at some point the pound will sort itself out and this may well then trigger a series of price reductions.

Besides that, it might be easy for you to magic £300 out of the air, but for a lot of people, this may well delay the purchase by quite a few weeks / months. Some people may be annoyed by this and I think that's fairly justified personally. Okay, you can't change it, but that doesn't mean we can't discuss it does it?

Quite right but at the end of the day if that extra 30% is just too much then it's very simple- just buy what you CAN afford!

I couldn't just majic random numbers of cash out of a hat but if I REALLY wanted something and cash is a little tight then that's easy too- just save a bit longer.

 

[Ravey Gravey Davy]

JoelSim:Rule number one. Never let an Accountant run a piece of business.

Absolutely in accord. I would also make it Rules 2-10 as well.

 

[crusaderlord]

i agree very much with idc on this.

when an individual sets up a new business he takes the risk (whether limited in terms of setting up a ltd company or unlimited for sole trading / partnership). equally if successful there is a nice reward hopefully.

the issue with the current corporate management structure now is that people are drafted in with no risk as they dont have to invest their own assets into the company and equally if they fail they have a large pay out agreement on hand as well. the ones that do suffer are the workforce who lose their jobs with little or no pay-off.

now look - ive gone and joined the other debate !

 

[Andrew Everard]

Aye, y'knew where y'stood with t'old mill-owners.

 

[laserman16]

Andrew Everard:
Aye, y'knew where y'stood with t'old mill-owners.

LOL, Glad you can remember them.At the moment a job in a mill would do me.Thanks everyone, at least I've had a good chuckle over this thread.

 

[chebby]

Andrew Everard:
Aye, y'knew where y'stood with t'old mill-owners.

Not always. The one you picked (Saltaire) was built by Sir Titus Salt. He was the epitome of Victorian era philanthopy and to quote from the site you lifted your pic from....

"....850 houses were built for his
workers. Saltaire also had its own park, church, school, hospital,
library and a whole range of different shops. The houses in Saltaire
were far superior to those available in Bradford and other industrial
towns. Fresh water was piped into each home from Saltaire's own 500,000
gallon reservoir. Gas was also laid on
to provide lighting and heating. Unlike the people of Bradford,
every family in Saltaire had its own outside lavatory. To encourage
people to keep themselves clean, Salt also arranged for public baths
and wash-houses to be built in Saltaire. " etc etc.

He also actively campaigned against the poor law, supported chartism, supported adult suffrage and gave away most of his £500,000 fortune to good causes.

He went to great lengths to ensure the mill was as noise and dust free as possible and to minimise it's impact on the local environment.

 

[idc]

I just want a corporate management structure where they have to eat muck and broken glass and be grateful for it! There will be trouble at t'mill

 

[JoelSim]

Contrary to what Gordon brown thinks, boom and bust are cyclical. It just so happens that on this occasion the scale of the bust in the US and the trading of risk has been left to grow far too large. If there had been a smaller dip a few years back then this wouldn;t have happened. A huge correction has taken the place of several smaller corrections.

 

[Andrew Everard]

chebby:Andrew Everard:
Aye, y'knew where y'stood with t'old mill-owners.

Not always. The one you picked (Saltaire) was built by Sir Titus Salt. He was the epitome of Victorian era philanthopy...

Yes, that was exactly why I chose that one.

 

[idc]

Andrew Everard:

Aye, y'knew where y'stood with t'old mill-owners.

But not so much so with t'call centre owners..................

 

[JoelSim]

idc:Andrew Everard:
Aye, y'knew where y'stood with t'old mill-owners.

ÿ

But not so much so with t'call centre owners..................

ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ

I'm a name not a numberÿ

 

[PJPro]

Getting back on topic, I've had my regular itch regarding headphone amps. For some reason, I always end up at HiFi500 looking at Stello. I was shocked to see that the HP100 is now $1000. OK, so it's an updated model....but even so.

Gonna have to find another way to scratch that itch. And it's in the post!

 

[AEJim]

Fortunately our fabulous government have slipped in their 2.12p rise on fuel duty today (considerably handy that Obama is visiting to dominate the headlines) - if we were anywhere else I would consider it an April fool given the recession we're in...

Ah well, that will help our manunfacturing and haulage costs no end - expect more company closures = more people on dole = more taxes required to pay for the benefits etc. etc. = more price rises on the goods we all buy and the cycle continues...

ÿ

Cynical rant over ÿ

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[Andrew Everard]

AEJim:Fortunately our fabulous government have slipped in their 2.12p rise on fuel duty today (considerably handy that Obama is visiting to dominate the headlines) - if we were anywhere else I would consider it an April fool given the recession we're in...

Which is no doubt why, according to the news last night, Obama's brought everything he needs with him, including fuel for The Beast.

BTW, has anyone else noticed that the BBC always refers to him as 'President Obama', rather than 'US President Obama', whereas it's 'German Chancellor Merkel' and 'French President Sarkoszy'?

Does the BBC know something we don't? Is Gordon about to hand over the keys to the UK to our new President in a ceremony to be held at that windswept hangar out in Docklands tomorrow?

 

[Terryff]

Would that make a huge amount of difference?

 

[Andrew Everard]

Probably only for the better...