So, Where's Inflation at Then?

In two successive days, we've had news of increased costs: Increased Gas prices to the tune of 20% and increased food costs of 5%.

So why is the Bank of England maintaining the CPI is only in the region of 4%?

Months ago I blogged that food prices had increased just after Christmas by around 10%, fuel prices are still creeping upwards, Car Insurance has increased this year by 25%, thanks to the stupidity of a government that thinks enforced insurance will reduce premiums.

So with all of these double digit price increases in the real world, prices are vastly outstripping the official measure of inflation. Isn't it time the CPI was reviewed or scrapped and replaced with a better measure?

The recession continues apace, inflation ticks ever upward and our government demand an ever higher tax take.

Anyone want to place bets where this is going to end?

Possible Jobseeking Opportunity Ahead.

We had one of those meetings today... the sort of meeting that leaves you with a heavy heart and "Oh Shit" running round your head.

Yes, we're not doing too well in the current economic climate and jobs will have to go. Last in, first out means I'm in the firing (literally) line.

Its no suprise: sales fell off a cliff when the VAT rise came in. Overnight sales dwindled to a trickle. Plus with no-one buying new sportscars, there's no new blood for us to sell accessories to. The fiscal malaise has spread all over Europe, except it seems for Scandinavia.

So that's it: tonight I'm jobhunting as previous experience tells me its easier to get a job whilst still in a job.

Wish me luck.

UPDATE:

Two people in the office got the bad news today. We expect our area to hear something tomorrow.

UPDATE 2:

Three people axed, luckily not me amongst them.

Welding for free. (Well, almost free).

I had a play at welding the other day, for the first time.

Thanks to the Freegle network I mentioned before, I managed to bag a free mig welder. Of course with Freegle you don't get brand new units: this one wasn't working due to some tinkering inside and the CO2 line had ben removed.

For someone like me with plenty of practical experience, it wasn't a problem: a prod around with a multimeter showed me where all the wires should be reconnected to and a reel of gassless mig welding wire gets round the problem of not being able to use a Carbon Dioxide bottle. Finally ebay produced a very cheap (and very essential) welding mask.

So now I'm able to do welding for an outlay of less than 20 quid. Bargain. I do love the internet.

Plus the welder and the mask are saved from ending up in landfill, so double bonus.

And I've bagged some free bits of metal to practice welding on too.

No state intervention, no Faux Charity, no Quangoes involved: just people using the power of the internet and their own initiative to reduce energy consumption and land fill use. "Big Society" at its best.

Of course if you want to weld even cheaper, youtube has videos of how to use bits of old microwaves to create an arc welder. There are plenty of second-hand microwaves on Freegle or you just put out an ad for one.