«Britain’s supermarkets run on tight margins. The average supermarket profit margin is under 3% – about as low as any industry gets.»
Supermarket do not make any goods (except perhaps in store bakeries for over-priced novelty breads) but simply re-sell them so a a comparison with other industries that make goods is cleverly misleading. A 3% profit margin by merely re-selling already made goods is pretty sweet.
He is correct. Interest on debt is already about 8.5 percent of government spending and will increase rapidly as deficits are larger than economic growth and older, low coupon debt is refinancing into higher yielding borrowings. This is not sustainable.
«It would be one thing if there was evidence that the ‘town centre first’ policy works. Politicians would have to judge the benefits of lower supermarket prices against the risk more out-of-town shops would lead to less high street footfall.»
There is something pretty huge missing here: the interests of owners of residential and commercial property in town centres and of the banks that have lent them large sums, and those interests are very important to right-wing UK politics.
Another big thing is the interests of town taxpayers because all those supermarkets pay local taxes to town councils and if the supermarkets moved exclusively to the suburbs town councils would have to increase local taxes on residential property owners who are the target constituency of all right-wing parties.
The author seems to me an "abundance" (thatcherite deregulation and anti-labor policies) advocate but some proposed deregulations like this one would hit hard many "sponsors" of "abundance" oriented think tanks and parties which is not what "abundance" is meant to achieve.
«the interests of owners of residential and commercial property in town centres and of the banks that have lent them large sums, and those interests are very important to right-wing UK politics.»
As an aside: because shoppers also pay the rents of the shops they buy goods from and also pay the interest on the mortgages of both residential landlords and commercial property owners, many lower class people in England end up paying 60%-80% of their after tax wages in total to both residential and commercial property owners and to finance business owners. That is also why so many production businesses have been offshored: in England property and finance rentierism is far more profitable than producing something.
«the point of boosting growth is to put more money in people’s pockets so they can afford more stuff.»
Which people's pockets? For example very popular growth in property prices and rents have been putting a lot more money in the pockets of "Middle England" voters and hey have been able to afford more stuff since Thatcher and Blair. All that money has been redistributed from the lower classes though as they don not matter politically.
«Britain’s supermarkets run on tight margins. The average supermarket profit margin is under 3% – about as low as any industry gets.»
Supermarket do not make any goods (except perhaps in store bakeries for over-priced novelty breads) but simply re-sell them so a a comparison with other industries that make goods is cleverly misleading. A 3% profit margin by merely re-selling already made goods is pretty sweet.
“we are already close to maxing out the national credit card.” Really! I was beginning to take you seriously until reading that.
He is correct. Interest on debt is already about 8.5 percent of government spending and will increase rapidly as deficits are larger than economic growth and older, low coupon debt is refinancing into higher yielding borrowings. This is not sustainable.
«It would be one thing if there was evidence that the ‘town centre first’ policy works. Politicians would have to judge the benefits of lower supermarket prices against the risk more out-of-town shops would lead to less high street footfall.»
There is something pretty huge missing here: the interests of owners of residential and commercial property in town centres and of the banks that have lent them large sums, and those interests are very important to right-wing UK politics.
Another big thing is the interests of town taxpayers because all those supermarkets pay local taxes to town councils and if the supermarkets moved exclusively to the suburbs town councils would have to increase local taxes on residential property owners who are the target constituency of all right-wing parties.
The author seems to me an "abundance" (thatcherite deregulation and anti-labor policies) advocate but some proposed deregulations like this one would hit hard many "sponsors" of "abundance" oriented think tanks and parties which is not what "abundance" is meant to achieve.
«the interests of owners of residential and commercial property in town centres and of the banks that have lent them large sums, and those interests are very important to right-wing UK politics.»
As an aside: because shoppers also pay the rents of the shops they buy goods from and also pay the interest on the mortgages of both residential landlords and commercial property owners, many lower class people in England end up paying 60%-80% of their after tax wages in total to both residential and commercial property owners and to finance business owners. That is also why so many production businesses have been offshored: in England property and finance rentierism is far more profitable than producing something.
«the point of boosting growth is to put more money in people’s pockets so they can afford more stuff.»
Which people's pockets? For example very popular growth in property prices and rents have been putting a lot more money in the pockets of "Middle England" voters and hey have been able to afford more stuff since Thatcher and Blair. All that money has been redistributed from the lower classes though as they don not matter politically.