Belling the Cat named Inflation

@mayur-ywQKfu • Oct 22, 2024

Oct 22, 2024

879

Inflation is on the rise, the price rise is on the prowl and the common man is dying. Well... not until Crazy Engineers are alive... 😎

Does it sound like a crazy introduction to a serious discussion? It does. But looking at the ever growing prices, rising prices and swelling fiscal deficits, I think only a crazy idea can save the world now. And I want to know what the CEans think about it. I'd like to know how YOU could suggest ways to curb the inflation.

Let me start. In my opinion, rising prices are a function of the demand and supply. If the supply is less and demand is more, the prices are bound to rise. They will continue to rise until either the demand is met or an alternative means with abundant supply is found to satisfy the additional demand. Now let us apply the same principle to the two commodities that contribute to the inflation the most.

1) Fuel. Rising crude oil prices have been one of the major contributors to the inflation. As the fuel becomes interlinked (to logistics, power generation etc.) the prices of the dependant variable also rises. With oil supplies becoming scarce and remote, the prices continue to rise and the common man bears the brunt.

Alternative? Green fuel at cheap rate. Sadly, it is still under development.

2) Food. With focus towards agriculture becoming lesser and lesser, the produce from the agricultural sector has been thinning and the prices ever rising. Add to that the absence of technologies to aid better yield in most countries.

Alternative? Using better technologies to increase per capita and per hector yield.

What else?
PS: By the way, I also feel that reducing the tax burden on common men can help reduce the rising prices. 😒

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sookie

@sookie-T06sFW • Jul 6, 2010

Hi,

For second option [Food] I guess(can ignore if don't agree..it is completely my own funny opinion) instead of involving through Government and their prices, it would be better if a group of individuals like a colony people make a food committee head type who will be responsible for dealing directly with people who produce food items then I guess those people will also get benefits and the common men also. The only thing we will do in this process is eliminating the middle layer - "The Government" so that they don't get chance to 'eat' hard earned money of poor people 😔. Yes I know it may lead to illegal activities then in that case Jury is always there.

Waiting for hear more suggestions for this problem. :-|
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Kaustubh Katdare

@thebigk • Jul 6, 2010

I like Sookie's post and that's what I've always had in mind. Crook government officials stock the food and 'release' it when the prices are higher. If people's societies/group could deal directly with the farmers, it would eliminate lot of problems.

But this option seems less implementable; people are ready to pay more money to get services. The middle class just loses out on savings when the prices are higher. The people who get most affected by inflation are the poor, they don't have the luxury of forming societies & groups.
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sookie

@sookie-T06sFW • Jul 6, 2010

The_Big_K
But this option seems less implementable; people are ready to pay more money to get services. The middle class just loses out on savings when the prices are higher. The people who get most affected by inflation are the poor, they don't have the luxury of forming societies & groups.
Very true, but I guess more important part is played by poor only. They can get opportunity to be employed by those who are ready to pay more money for services. Instead of paying to some one else that money can be paid to poor who can help them in providing services. 😕 I guess at the end all that matters is "BETTER MANAGEMENT" Also,for people like me, nothing seems UNIMPLEMENTABLE until I give(or have enough authority to give) a try.
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Manish Goyal

@manish-r2Hoep • Jul 6, 2010

very true sookie

I will give you example of my town

we generally buy eatable items such as fruits ,vegetable directly from farmers ,there is no middle layer so it generally costs 20rs per kg for any item but in large cities where prices are decided by some money minded people we generally see large differences in prices
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silverscorpion

@silverscorpion-iJKtdQ • Jul 6, 2010

The_Big_K
I like Sookie's post and that's what I've always had in mind. Crook government officials stock the food and 'release' it when the prices are higher. If people's societies/group could deal directly with the farmers, it would eliminate lot of problems.

But this option seems less implementable; people are ready to pay more money to get services. The middle class just loses out on savings when the prices are higher. The people who get most affected by inflation are the poor, they don't have the luxury of forming societies & groups.

I'd recommend reading "I too had a dream" by Dr.Verghese Kurien. In it, he expleins how the so called middle layer was eliminated in the milk sector and how the farmers who produced the milk also became its direct sellers with no one in between. It's the story of AMUL in Gujarat.

In that book, he also mentions trying the same model with other consumables like rice, oil etc.. But they failed, sadly. After some research, the reason was found as: Milk is highly perishable. So, it has to be sold quickly. So there's no time to stock it and speculate. But rice, wheat, oil etc. are non perishable. They have a shelf life. So, they can be stored, and can be released as per convenience. That is the problem.

So, in case of food items like rice and wheat, even if we remove the 'government' thing from the supply chain, there will be someone else, perhaps big supermarkets or retail chains, who will do the same job of storing it and speculating. So, what I'd suggest is, the farmers should form a union or something and we, the common people should get our supplies only from that union, and from no one else. This way, the producers can benefit and also, the price will be lower and can be kept in check.
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Saandeep Sreerambatla

@saandeep-sreerambatla-hWHU1M • Jul 7, 2010

Yeah , I Second SS on this!
You know my friend and i had a similar idea , like going to a small village where they grow tomato , and collect it and sell. But we had many warning from the local leaders on that. But if this is implemented then both the farmers and consumers will be in profit zone!
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Mayur Pathak

@mayur-ywQKfu • Jul 8, 2010

I just have one problem with Sookie's advice. How will you deal with the so called committees? Will it not give rise to the 'land lord' era? Earlier we had 'Jamindaars' who controlled a lot in terms of daily routine life in villages. It might lead to anarchy down the line. And the poor will still suffer.
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sookie

@sookie-T06sFW • Jul 8, 2010

mayurpathak
I just have one problem with Sookie's advice. How will you deal with the so called committees? Will it not give rise to the 'land lord' era? Earlier we had 'Jamindaars' who controlled a lot in terms of daily routine life in villages. It might lead to anarchy down the line. And the poor will still suffer.
Cool, you can always find problems inside another problem and that is not leading anyone to the solution of anything right? You will simply make a network of problems yourself. Look at the solutions side of every problem, you will end up with the BEST solution. I can give solution for this also and again you will say this is the problem and that is the problem and then series of problems will continue and as a result ultimately closing the thread and discussion and keeping the problem as it is. Fair enough?

By the way, can anyone tell me who encourages "landlords" and "Zamindaars", I guess in today's world of educated and self-awared people, such era is not going to bloom much. Rest depends on individuals, I can't take the guarantee of every individual but can assure from my part.😁

P.S Grant excuse if anyone got offended here. Can't help :-|
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Mayur Pathak

@mayur-ywQKfu • Jul 9, 2010

sookie
Cool, you can always find problems inside another problem and that is not leading anyone to the solution of anything right? You will simply make a network of problems yourself. Look at the solutions side of every problem, you will end up with the BEST solution. I can give solution for this also and again you will say this is the problem and that is the problem and then series of problems will continue and as a result ultimately closing the thread and discussion and keeping the problem as it is. Fair enough?

By the way, can anyone tell me who encourages "landlords" and "Zamindaars", I guess in today's world of educated and self-awared people, such era is not going to bloom much. Rest depends on individuals, I can't take the guarantee of every individual but can assure from my part.😁

P.S Grant excuse if anyone got offended here. Can't help :-|
Let us all be realistic Sookie. By no means I wanted to offend you. I go with Biggie's comment that the solution is difficult to implement. I'm NOT TRYING to find a problem in a problem. I'm trying to find a better solution with realistic approach and possibility of reducing the prices. Anyway!

Can we talk about other things now? What about the oil prices? I feel the taxation burden is too much on us. I have always been against taxing services and I still feel VAT and Service tax should make way for some thing else. I believe in 'pay per use' and I think government should tax only those things where it intervenes or facilitates. How about just a facilitation tax rather than a value added tax?
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