I don’t think so —- it’s all a bit hyperbolic . Yeah tough times but most inflation forecasts have it going doing to near 0% by the end of 2023 — guy needs to breathe.
Are they the same inflation forecasts that last year said it was 'only transitory'? And that inflation would "peak at 5%"? We're now at 10.1%. Meanwhile the private sector (Citi Bank), who tend to know what's actually going on in comparison to the public sector because their responsibility is to investor's profits rather than catering to politics and public perception, have now got inflation hitting 18% in early 2023. I would love to see how you square going from 18% to 0% in the space of 9 months. Especially when energy bills are forecast to go over £5000 in January unless the government intervenes.
Pubs are warning of over 70% closure rates due to rising energy costs. 457,000 people are employed by pubs. If 70% of those jobs go that's 319,900 jobs lost, not to mention all the knock on effects. How many brewery jobs will be lost? Delivery jobs? Taxi driving jobs? How many communities will be damaged through losing one of the main socialising spaces? This is just one sector of the economy. Similar stories are being reported in restaurants, takeaways, manufacturing and retail.
On top of this we now have barristers, postal workers, railway staff, teachers, refuse collectors, journalists and hospital staff all on strike. More professions will likely be joining the list in the coming months. How is any of this hyperbolic?
There is a very real feeling that this is the calm before the storm and how it plays out is very much going to depend an awful lot on who gets elected next month and what they choose to do about the energy price rise in October.