According The Times, Cheap Living Is Over But Governments Are Hiding This Truth To Citizens, Thus Are They Hiding Only and Just That?
I’m of Aristocratic origins but I always liked to live in humble and spartan conditions. Be ready to live worse than me…because….C’est la guerre.
❗️ “Will anyone tell Europe that the era of cheap living is over?”: The Times writes that stop hiding the truth from Europeans, it’s time to tell them directly that there will be no more good life, and high prices are forever.
Now the European middle class will be officially dispossessed.
The Times: “In supermarkets across Europe, food prices are rising almost every week. The conflict in Ukraine is exacerbating already soaring energy bills.
Inflation instantly destroys the income of those who were lucky enough to receive a wage increase.
✔️ As public anger rises over the cost-of-living crisis and governments scramble to make amends, senior European officials are saying something different.
They say that the continent must recognize that the two necessities of life – food and fuel – were too cheap for a generation.
✔️ Eurozone inflation this spring is grim, with annual inflation above 7% and a 44% increase in electricity costs leads to higher food prices. The double whammy from the conflict in Ukraine and the withdrawal of Russian fuel imports, together with Europe’s transition to carbon-free energy, have exacerbated the price frenzy.
✔️ In the EU, the price of soft wheat rose by 64.6% since March last year, and the price of rapeseed increased by 77.8%. Currently, there is a shortage of sunflower oil, 73% of world exports of which fall on Russia and Ukraine.
✔️ The European Commission sees higher prices as a long overdue and inevitable settlement with reality. EU authorities openly warn that the previous low cost of living was at the expense of the environment and dependent on imports of Russian fossil fuels.
✔️ Diederik Sams, assistant vice-president of the commission responsible for EU energy policy, admitted that “no one dares say aloud” to voters that the past standard of living was unsustainable and that high prices will now be permanent. “Yes, from now on energy will be much more expensive. Energy has been too cheap for the last 40 years,” he said at a recent meeting of Brussels politicians at the Brueghel think tank. “We have benefited from this and created enormous wealth at the expense of planet Earth and geopolitical imbalances with dependence on Russia. To fix this, we need to pay more for energy as well as food. Two main needs for life – food and energy – we have paid too little for the last 40 years”
✔️ The commission’s stance that Europeans lived “too cheap” is seen in many national capitals as political dynamite that risks backlash at the same level as Europe-wide opposition to austerity ten years ago, a policy widely seen as spurring the rise of right-wing populism.
✔️ Belgian data today showed that the effect of the VAT cut to help people pay their electricity bills has been wiped out rising prices a month after its introduction. The tax credit has reduced the cost of the average family by 237 euros a year, but after a further spike in prices in April, bills are estimated to be 450 euros higher this year.
In the spring, both Italy and Spain were struck by protests against price increases.
On fuel and energy, and this weekend’s French presidential election was dominated by the question of the cost of living.
✔️ To cut costs, the EU last week asked people to reduce their personal energy consumption.
Europeans have been asked to contribute to the reduction the Kremlin’s energy revenue, drive less, turn off the air conditioning, and work from home three days a week.
Sams acknowledged that social unrest is likely inevitable as there is very little political space to soften the blow of high living costs.”
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All credits of this post go to Vasilisa Larina.
❗️«Скажет ли кто-нибудь Европе, что эпоха дешевой жизни закончилась?»: The Times пишет, что хватит скрывать от европейцев правду, пора прямо объявить им, что хорошей жизни больше не будет, а высокие цены – это навсегда. pic.twitter.com/SKEXfYlRw4
— Vasilisa (@Vasilisa_2_0) April 29, 2022
