#GDP contraction

[jaideepkhanduja]

Germany's Recession: Impact on Consumer Spending and Economic Outlook

Germany, the largest economy in Europe, has fallen into a recession due to the energy price shock of last year, which has had a significant impact on consumer spending. According to official data, the output in the country has decreased by 0.3% in the first three months of 2023, following a 0.5% contraction at the end of 2022. The Federal Statistical Office has revised its earlier forecast of…

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#Consumer Spending #Economic Downturn #economic history #energy price shock #gas supply uncertainty #GDP contraction #Germany recession #Global Crises #high price increases #inflation rate #rebounding economy #Unemployment

[niveditaabaidya]

Ukraine’s GDP Contracts By 10 5% In Q1. #ukraine #economy #gdp #tech #ne...

#youtube #Ukraine’s GDP Contracts By 10.5% In Q1. ukraine economy gdp tech news live usa canada eu europe Ukraine’s gross domestic product has shrunk

[cathkaesque]

The local population in countries that export bananas typically eat different varieties grown primarily by small farmers. The ones for the Americans and the Europeans, Cavendish variety bananas, are grown in huge, monoculture plantations that are susceptible to disease. The banana industry consumes more agrichemicals than any other in the world, asides from cotton. Most plantations will spend more on pesticides than on wages. Pesticides are sprayed by plane, 85% of which does not land on the bananas and instead lands on the homes of workers in the surrounding area and seeps into the groundwater. The results are cancers, stillbirths, and dead rivers.

The supermarkets dominate the banana trade and force the price of bananas down. Plantations resolve this issue by intensifying and degrading working conditions. Banana workers will work for up to 14 hours a day in tropical heat, without overtime pay, for 6 days a week. Their wages will not cover their cost of housing, food, and education for their children. On most plantations independent trade unions are, of course, suppressed. Contracts are insecure, or workers are hired through intermediaries, and troublemakers are not invited back.

Who benefits most from this arrangement? The export value of bananas is worth $8bn - the retail value of these bananas is worth $25bn. Here's a breakdown of who gets what from the sale of banana in the EU.

On average, the banana workers get between 5 and 9% of the total value, while the retailers capture between 36 to 43% of the value. So if you got a bunch of bananas at Tesco (the majority of UK bananas come from Costa Rica) for 95p, 6.65p would go to the banana workers, and 38p would go to Tesco.

Furthermore, when it comes to calculating a country's GDP (the total sum of the value of economic activity going on in a country, which is used to measure how rich or poor a country is, how fast its economy is 'growing' and therefore how valuable their currency is on the world market, how valuable its government bonds, its claim on resources internationally…etc), the worker wages, production, export numbers count towards the country producing the banana, while retail, ripening, tariffs, and shipping & import will count towards the importing country. A country like Costa Rica will participate has to participate in this arrangement as it needs ‘hard’ (i.e. Western) currencies in order to import essential commodities on the world market.

So for the example above of a bunch of Costa Rican bananas sold in a UK supermarket, 20.7p will be added to Costa Rica’s GDP while 74.3p will be added to the UK’s GDP. Therefore, the consumption of a banana in the UK will add more to the UK’s wealth than growing it will to Costa Rica’s. The same holds for Bangladeshi t-shirts, iPhones assembled in China, chocolate made with cocoa from Ghana…it’s the heart of how the capitalism of the ‘developed’ economy functions. Never ending consumption to fuel the appearance of wealth, fuelled by the exploitation of both land and people in the global south.

[zvaigzdelasas]

14 Feb 24

15 Feb 24

[tanadrin]

*very* frustrating to hear a couple of sociologists talk about the fall in Russia’s life expectancy in the 90s as if it was all abstract higher order effects like “social dislocation.” the goddamn gdp contracted for nearly 10 years straight! austerity is *incredibly bad* for health and education and the economy and a ton of other shit! this was not the bounty of capitalism that a few people happened to miss out on or old people dying of nostalgia or something.

#even if you are ideologically committed to the idea capitalism rules #the post soviet economic transition was not handled well!

[vren-diagram]

The Nordic model has been characterized as follows:[16]

An elaborate social safety net, in addition to public services such as free education and universal healthcare[16] in a largely tax-funded system.[17]

Strong property rights, contract enforcement and overall ease of doing business.[18]

Public pension plans.[16]

High levels of democracy as seen in the Freedom in the World survey and Democracy Index.[19][20]

Free trade combined with collective risk sharing (welfare social programmes and labour market institutions) which has provided a form of protection against the risks associated with economic openness.[16]

Little product market regulation. Nordic countries rank very high in product market freedom according to OECD rankings.[16]

Low levels of corruption.[19][16] In Transparency International's 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden were ranked among the top 10 least corrupt of the 179 countries evaluated.[21]

A partnership between employers, trade unions and the government, whereby these social partners negotiate the terms to regulating the workplace amongst themselves, rather than the terms being imposed by law.[22][23] Sweden has decentralised wage co-ordination while Finland is ranked the least flexible.[16] The changing economic conditions have given rise to fear among workers as well as resistance by trade unions in regards to reforms.[16]

High trade union density and collective bargaining coverage.[24] In 2019, trade union density was 90.7% in Iceland, 67.0% in Denmark, 65.2% in Sweden, 58.8% in Finland, and 50.4% in Norway; in comparison, trade union density was 16.3% in Germany and 9.9% in the United States.[25] Additionally, in 2018, collective bargaining coverage was 90% in Iceland, 88.8% in Finland (2017), 88% in Sweden, 82% in Denmark, and 69% in Norway; in comparison collective bargaining coverage was 54% in Germany and 11.7% in the United States.[26] The lower union density in Norway is mainly explained by the absence of a Ghent system since 1938. In contrast, Denmark, Finland and Sweden all have union-run unemployment funds.[27]

The Nordic countries received the highest ranking for protecting workers rights on the International Trade Union Confederation 2014 Global Rights Index, with Denmark being the only nation to receive a perfect score.[28]

Sweden at 56.6% of GDP, Denmark at 51.7%, and Finland at 48.6% reflect very high public spending.[29] Public expenditure for health and education is significantly higher in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden in comparison to the OECD average.[30]

Overall tax burdens as a percentage of GDP are high, with Denmark at 45.9% and both Finland and Sweden at 44.1%.[31] The Nordic countries have relatively flat tax rates, meaning that even those with medium and low incomes are taxed at relatively high levels.[32][33]

The United Nations World Happiness Reports show that the happiest nations are concentrated in Northern Europe. The Nordics ranked highest on the metrics of real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, perceived freedom to make life choices, generosity and freedom from corruption.[34] The Nordic countries place in the top 10 of the World Happiness Report 2018, with Finland and Norway taking the top spots.[35]

x

I think a lot of people are missing that the Nordic model is:

generally very friendly to businesses

composed of largely organically set standards (workers rights secured by collective bargaining and trade-unions, not by a centralized authority) (as opposed to a centralized bureaucracy)

Largely structured to provide citizens with benefits that make workforce participation easier. The ordering of the social safety net and welfare state make it relatively easy to upskill and hold a job.

[workersolidarity]

🇮🇱 🚨

ISRAELI ECONOMY CONTRACTS AMID GENOCIDE IN GAZA AND BLOCKADE IN THE RED SEA

The Israeli economy is in freefall as the country continues its genocide in the Gaza Strip and Israeli families sharply curtailed household spending in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to data published on Monday.

The Israel's $500 Billion economy contracted 19.4% in the fourth quarter over the previous three month period, according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics.

Israel's economy still grew 2% overall for 2023, however it stands in contrast with the 6% growth rate tallied for 2022, but still higher than the OECD average of 1.7% for 2023.

At the same time, per capita GDP slipped 0.1% against an OECD average of +1.2% growth. GDP data also showed Israel's inflation rate dropping to a 2-year low of 2.6% for January.

According to the data, private spending declined 26.9% in the fourth quarter of 2023, while exports fell 18.3% and investments in fixed assets fell 67.8%, even as government spending increased an eye watering 88.1%.

Annual Private spending in 2023 fell a total of 0.7%, while exports fell 1.1%, investments in fixed assets fell 1.9%, and government spending rose 8.3%.

The shekel also fell 0.6% against the greenback, while the Tel Aviv 125 share index rose 0.6% after the announcement of the latest economic data.

#source

@WorkerSolidarityNews

#israel #israel news #israeli economy #israel economy #israeli media #israel politics #israeli politics #occupied palestine #occupied territories #occupation #israeli occupation #palestine #palestine news #palestinians #war on gaza #war #war news #middle east #israel palestine conflict #arab israeli conflict #politics #news #geopolitics #world news #global news #international news #breaking news #current events #gaza #gaza strip

[argumate]

China's domestic demand is very weak because – as almost everyone now acknowledges – households retain (in the form of wages, interest and transfers) a very low share of what they produce. That is why they consume a very low share of what they produce.

That is also why China relies so heavily on its trade surplus to support its manufacturing sector, which represents an extraordinarily high share of China's total GDP. Without the net foreign demand contributed by its trade surplus, the economy would slow sharply.

But the international competitiveness of China's manufacturing sector is itself dependent on the low share of GDP retained by Chinese households. That is because of the huge direct and indirect transfers from the household sector that subsidize manufacturing.

This creates a quandary. In the medium term China must increase domestic demand, which it can only sustainably do by reversing these transfers and increasing the share of GDP retained by Chinese households.

But as it does so, it's manufacturers can no longer maintain their international competitiveness, and so China's trade surplus will drop, partly because Chinese will consume more but mainly, in the short term, because China manufacturers will sell less.

The solution to China's deficient domestic demand, in other words, can only come at a short term cost to its manufacturing sector, and given the sheer size of its manufacturing sector, that would be extremely painful for the overall economy.

This is not just a Chinese problem – it is a problem for all manufacturing surplus economies. The Japanese have been wrestling with this for over 30 years, Germany and South Korea are currently struggling to resolve it, and the US suffered in the early 1930s.

In every case an economy that must raise the wage share of GDP to rebalance domestic demand cannot do so without a short-term manufacturing contraction, made worse by the fact that in [China] the manufacturing share of the economy is disproportionately high.

Pettis of course, I'm in awe of this guy

[rederiswrites]

Ok, I swear, this one's for the people who DON'T follow K-pop, and only know BTS as some Korean boyband that uses a lot of autotune. Just to highlight some things I'm currently enjoying the hell out of from their careers. Lemme start with some context.

So in Korea, Idol is a job above and beyond just performing onstage. You are meant to be a product. An object for adoration, specifically trained and cultivated to create the sort of parasocial relationship that sells out shows and merchandise. It is fucking rigorous. It usually involves substantial economic hardship unless and until you're one of the handful of groups that makes it big. It's also blatantly predatory, and idols are chosen when they're literally kids, at most 18 usually.

Your contract with the label frequently specifies that you're not allowed to swear, smoke, date, or generally do anything not squeaky clean anywhere you might be seen, which, since they've got cameras shoved up your ass and bolted to your bed, is everywhere. Merely touching a person of the opposite sex can set off a whole scandal and get you (or the poor unfortunate you breathed near) a huge pile of hate. They're also perfectly aware that they're "just" idols, just boybands or girl bands, to a lot of people, and not considered serious musicians, even in their own country.

Idols also have a pretty short shelf-life. Korean beauty standards are, as far as I can tell, even more youth-obsessed than in the US. The oldest female artists are like, 34. There's like, one woman over 30 for every twenty under 20. Men's careers often founder on their mandated military service, which is roughly two years (depending on branch). They've got to serve that by the time they're 30.

BTS got extensions, because they're a statistically significant percent of the entire South Korean GDP. But now the elder members have got to do their service, no way around it. Kim Seokjin (Jin) went in a couple months ago, Jung Hoseok (J-Hope) a few days ago. So the group is on hiatus, there's no helping it.

That was the background. What happens now is the fun part.

The Korean government played politics, bouncing back and forth on "should idols big enough get exemptions" for years, specifically namedropping and using BTS as a political toy. BTS themselves didn't comment on any of it, and played their cards very close to their chest and said nothing about their military service. Then they did a huge concert in Busan, Korea, where they resurrected an old rap cipher which involves chanting "Fuck you I don't care, you can't control my shit", performed it with such fire that it looked like they were legit about to start a riot, and then the next week announced that they were going on hiatus and Jin was entering the military.

Since then, let's see: nearly every member has at least posted a shirtless photo, and the three youngest members have done entire photoshoots (and in one case a music video) shirtless. Jimin released a single titled "Set Me Free"--not terribly subtle--and a photoshoot he made a point of saying he'd designed from the ground up, which is SOAKED in queer symbology. I have to emphasize that these choices are all MUCH more significant than they would be in the US. Min Yoongi put an entire album full of rage and violent imagery and painful intimacy and swearing, and smoked and shot people and performed self-harm in his music videos. J Hope released an album full of dark driving rhythms utterly unlike his previous work, and broke sales records as a solo star at Lollapalooza, even while still singing and rapping primarily in Korean.

Some of the members are quieter, clearly a bit unmoored without the thing that has shaped and dictated their entire adult lives, but they're also shrugging off the idol image with deep relief. Namjoon is philosophizing and being extremely frank about mental struggles and crying on camera. Jungkook is having regular almost uncomfortably intimate lives, where he just sings along with the music or folds his laundry or even just smiles sleepily at the camera for a while. Who the hell knows what Taehyung does. Exactly as he pleases, probably, but definitely while wearing thousands of dollars of fashion and looking like the prince of the dark sidhe.

I was looking forward to this. Not to the military service, of course. As a non-Korean, I'm well aware that it's none of my damn business, but of course I don't like it. But I was looking forward to these guys slipping the leash and having lives and careers beyond the chains of idolhood. And it's been pretty awesome so far.

#BTS #K pop

[probablyasocialecologist]

To achieve sustainability, so-called developed countries need to abandon the objective of GDP growth and scale down less necessary and destructive forms of production to reduce energy and material use. We need a planned and selective contraction of economic activity aimed at increasing well-being and equality. Or, as recently argued in this journal, we need “ecosocialist degrowth.” Degrowth is founded on and justified by a solid critique of market instruments, the optimistic reliance on price mechanisms and private-sector solutions, which are central to so-called “green economy” approaches. Indeed, the lack of social-ecological planning and the reliance on socially unjust and often ineffective market instruments is precisely what has led us into this mess in the first place. Degrowth formulates an alternative to the capitalist market that seeks to escape the capitalist growth imperative, which continuously impedes mitigation efforts by driving rising energy demand. Degrowth is built around a fundamental democratization of the economy and collective “self-limitation” (per André Gorz), or the setting of collectively defined societal boundaries and entitlements that define the conditions for a good life for all. All of this is going to require democratic planning. In fact, collective self-limitation can be understood as the strongest expression of democratic, societal autonomy, manifested in social liberation from the pervasive “heteronomous” logic of accumulation. It is the drive to accumulation that compels capitalist societies to pursue continuous expansion and that prevents adherence to democratically determined collective rules. Degrowth is an expression of societal freedom or autonomy, in the sense of an act of collective self-government, thus resisting “the functional regulation of conduct according to given principles, such as the so-called law of the market or the mantra of austerity and growth.” So, how might planning beyond growth look?

#degrowth #planning #ecosocialism

[beardedmrbean]

Traditionally incoming Argentinian presidents give an inauguration speech inside of Congress to other politicians. Javier Milei, a former “tantric sex instructor” turned libertarian economist, symbolically gave his speech with his back to the Congress facing towards the people. 

“For more than 100 years, politicians have insisted on defending a model that only produces poverty, stagnation, and misery,” President Milei said. “A model that assumes that citizens exist to serve politics, not that politics exists to serve citizens.” He also promised an “end a long and sad history of decadence and decline” and promote a new era based on peace, prosperity, and freedom.

Since his headline-making election victory last month, media portrayal of Milei has ranged from dismissive to condescending, often depicting him as an eccentric “far-right populist.” Yet, since taking office, Milei has shelved many of his campaign’s more contentious proposals and begun implementing a radical but, by international standards, orthodox reform plan to revitalize Argentina’s faltering economy.

Milei inherited a challenging situation. Argentina’s economy has shrunk by 12 per cent over the last decade, annual inflation reached an extraordinary 160 per cent in November, while the poverty rate increased to 40 per cent in the first half of 2023.

Argentina has a fascinating economic history that led up to this point. In the 19th century post-independence Argentina adopted a liberal constitution that helped deliver an impressive economic expansion.

By the early 20th century, Argentina was one of the world’s richest countries, driven by agricultural exports. Real wages were comparable to Britain and only slightly below the United States. Millions fled destitution in southern Europe for a new life in Argentina. Buenos Aires has been labelled the “Paris of South America” because of spectacular neoclassical architecture built during this era.

This turned to disaster over the subsequent decades because of collectivist rule – from military dictatorships to avidly socialist leaders. Argentina nationalised industries, subsidised domestic production, limited external trade, and introduced an unaffordable welfare state. This has become known as the Peronism, named after 20th century president Juan Domingo Perón, a leftist populist leader who supressed opposition and controlled the press.

This agenda accelerated in recent decades under self-identifying Peronist leaders, turning Argentina into one of the world’s most closed and heavily regulated countries. The latest Human Freedom Index places Argentina at 163rd in the world for openness to trade and 143rd for regulatory burden. This has culminated in an economy on the precipice of economic disaster.

Not wasting any time, Milei has proposed a mega package of over 350 economic reforms to open the economy and remove regulatory barriers. This includes privatising inefficient state assets, eliminating rent controls and restrictive retail regulations, liberalising labour laws, lifting export prohibitions, and allowing contracts in foreign currencies.

There has been a notable absence of some of most radical ideas – such as legalising organ sales or banning abortion. He has also put on hold plans to dollarise the economy and abolish the central bank. Instead, at least by international standards, the agenda contains several orthodox economic reforms.

Many of the measures – such as cutting spending to get the deficit (currently at 15 per cent of GDP) under control, opening the country up to international trade, and liberalising the airline industry through ‘open skies’ policy – would be required to join the European Union. The government is eliminating capital and currency controls and allowing the peso to devalue – measures that the IMF’s managing director Kristina Georgieva said these are important to stabilise the economy.

There are undoubtedly significant challenges ahead and some darker elements to agenda.

Milei has been, uncharacteristically for a politician, honest that “in the short term the situation will get worse”. The removal of price controls, for example, will increase inflation until demand and supply can stabilise to end shortages. But, he says, “then we will see the fruits of our efforts, having created the foundations of a solid and sustainable growth over time.”

The government is facing significant opposition, with the union movement organising mass protests and threatening a general strike. The government has responded by proposing questionable new anti-protest laws, that include lengthy jail sentences for road-blocking and requirements to seek permission for gatherings of more than three people in a public place. Milei, who could struggle to get much of his agenda through Argentina’s Congress, is asking for sweeping emergency presidential powers until the end of 2025. This raises serious questions about democratic accountability.

Nevertheless, there are some positive early signs. Since Milei’s election Argentina’s flagship stock index has risen by almost one-third and the peso’s value has not collapsed. Argentina could soon benefit from a major new shale pipeline pumping one million barrels of crude a day (helped along by reforms that allow exports of oil and sales at market prices) and the mining of the second largest proven lithium reserves in the world.

Argentina has long served as a solemn reminder that prosperity is neither inevitable nor unassailable. Misguided policies can transform mere challenges into a profound crisis. Milei is offering a glimmer of hope: redemption may just be possible. Let’s also hope that Britain’s leaders can similarly take the path of reform, ideally before things get as bad as Argentina.

Matthew Lesh is the Director of Public Policy and Communications at the Institute of Economic Affairs

#nunyas news

[organizeworkers]

UPS Teamsters Are Ready to Strike

The UPS contract fight therefore comes at a pivotal moment for US labor. What happens here could shape the direction of the movement for years to come — not only because this contract covers several hundred thousand workers who move 6 percent of US GDP daily, but also because the issues at stake in this fight are representative of those faced by workers across the economy.

This contract fight is about two visions of work in the twenty-first century. One is promoted by workers: equal pay for equal work, dignity and autonomy on the job, and a stable work-life balance. The other is promoted by Wall Street: hypersurveillance, low pay, subcontracting, gig work, and “flexible” scheduling practices that hurt workers and benefit bosses.

#workers #unions #organizing #labor #strike #ups #teamsters #tdu

[sukimas]

Kela (in total, not just college; Finland's social security program) costs ~16.9 billion euros per year. Finland has ~5.6 million people. Therefore, Kela costs about 3015 euro (or 3285 dollars) per person. A United States equivalent of Kela (properly managed) would cost 1.09 trillion dollars per year.

The total cost of the US Social Security program for the year 2021 was $1.145 trillion or about 5 percent of U.S. GDP.

Even assuming scaling administration costs, US Social Security provides nowhere near the number and amount of benefits Kela does. There is no reason that its cost should be 105% of what Kela's is (scaled for size).

The United States isn't impossible to make into a welfare state because the money is not available. The United States is impossible to make into a welfare state because its administration should be the laughingstock of the world for how poorly it is managed and run. We can only manage to stop paying more for less if we actually realize this and start taking steps to reduce the administrative bloat that is present in all of our institutions, from the local high school to the Federal Reserve.

A better world is possible! Know this: it is only so if you know the causes of this world's failures, instead of shadowboxing against Elon Musk. Billionaires should not exist- but neither should a Social Security system that costs 105% the price of one that also provides health insurance and university. This isn't just from employee number scaling, either- the Social Security Administration of the US has 60,000 employees. Kela has 6,000. The US has a population 59.3x the size of Finland, with a social security administration only 10x larger. By all accounts, Kela should cost more per head!

The United States is not a "failed state"- that means something very different- but the things it has achieved in the past (interstate highway system, post office, incredible freight rail, scientific innovations) are not achievable now. Institutions drag their feet and chase ghosts instead of looking to their more successful contemporaries. The US is not a failed state, but it is certainly a failure of a state.

I'll leave the post on this anecdote: The Washington DC Metro's Silver Line- connecting the capital of the nation to the international airport regularly used by the President of the United States, and arguably the singular piece of publicly funded infrastructure of most import to Congress- received a funding contract for line completion in 2014. The line was scheduled to open in 2018.

In actuality, the line opened in November of 2022.

#civilization and its discontents #us politics #long post

[zvaigzdelasas]

The Supreme Court of Panama began deliberations on Friday that will decide the fate of First Quantum Minerals’ (TSX: FM) giant Cobre Panama copper mine, the only mining operation in the Central American country.

The top court is expected to rule on several constitutional challenges to the contract signed in October between the Canadian miner and the Panamanian government, which would allow the operation to keep going for the next 20 years.

The outcome of these deliberations is being keenly watched by the global copper market, investors and Panamanians, as the whole country has been paralyzed by widespread anti-mining protests over the past weeks.[...]

The land and sea protests have blocked the delivery of crucial supplies to the mine, which forced First Quantum to halt operations again this week[...]

Protestors claim the mining contract was fast-tracked with little public input or transparency. “It was published digitally, but its download was not allowed (…) We are talking about a country where 40% of the population lacks internet,” award-winning Panamanian journalist Mary Triny Sea, wrote on Friday. Campaigners have also made corruption allegations against lawmakers and the company, which has denied any wrongdoing. [...]

Opponents say Cobre Panama is located within a key biodiversity area of global significance. “A road built for the mine goes through the heart of the Panama Atlantic Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, which connects wildlife habitats in seven countries of Central America to southern Mexico,” Amy Upgren, director of international programs at the American Bird Conservancy said in a statement. “Ecological corridors are critical for animals to be able to move to find food, habitat, and mates,” she noted.[...]

the mine accounts for about 5% of its GDP and makes up 75% of Panama’s export of goods[...]

Analysts at BMO Capital Markets believe that First Quantum is in a financial position that allows it to weather the storm in the short term.[...]

Challenges, she added, would arise if Cobre Panama remained halted for 80 days in 2024, as this would draw First Quantum’s cash down to zero at the bank’s current commodity and cash outflow assumptions. A closure for the first half of the year, beyond the May 2024 Presidential election, would result in a $267 million cash shortfall[...]

President Laurentino Cortizo would be in a tricky spot if the court rules the contract with First Quantum unconstitutional, as his government passed a bill on Nov. 2 banning all new mining concessions and extensions. That would prevent the two parties from negotiating a new deal.

24 Nov 23

[qqueenofhades]

I am not into economics AT ALL so i was hoping you could explain what's causing all this inflation?

Several things:

The war in Ukraine has had a huge knock-on effect on energy prices, because of Russia's status as one of the world's biggest oil and gas producers. Putin uses this supply as political blackmail and has done so for years, and while Europe is attempting to wean itself off Russian energy, that means there's disruption and change in the supply, fluctuating prices, uncertain sources, etc. When energy is more expensive, EVERYTHING is more expensive. This is part of why high inflation is hitting all developed economies right now, not just America. Though of course, you wouldn't know that to listen to Republicans, who insist that this is all, personally, Biden's Fault.

Two years ago, we were in the middle of a massive pandemic, the economy was crashed through the floor and shedding jobs like crazy, nobody was going out or spending any money, etc. To bring that back from the dead (since we didn't learn anything about how much of a shell game it actually is) you obviously have to inject a lot of cash, and when supply-and-demand lurches from one extreme (none) to the other (a lot), inflation will automatically rise with it. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as it means your economy is once more on the move rather than being totally stagnant, but it does also automatically result in prices going up, because people want to recoup the money they just lost in the downturn.

At least in the UK, where the Tories have been acting as if it is the 1980s all over again and running out the Trussonomics mini-budget that wrecked the pound and caused her to claim the dubious title of shortest-serving Prime Minister in history, conservative economic policies (tax cuts for the rich! Tax cuts for corporations! SUFFERING FOR EVERYONE ELSE) have likewise meant that people have no prospects for real-time growth of their wages or ability to afford commodities that have spiked in value. This contracts the economy further and raises inflation, as producers try to compensate for not selling as much product by raising the prices for the products they do sell. Which people still can't afford, etc.

Again: inflation, especially after a period of contraction/crash as drastic as the COVID pandemic, is a pretty normal event, and since the US economy is posting strong numbers otherwise in regard to job creation, deficit reduction, and GDP, this means that getting it on its feet again is going better than anyone would have expected. But because there is the war putting a massive pinch on energy markets, which in turn affects everything else, the natural swings and fluctuations of a recovering economy have been pushed past their normal boundaries.

So yes. You will notice this is a complex and global network of factors, and not just something Biden can't be arsed to fix on his own, but shhhh. Don't confuse Republicans with facts.

Edited to add @thebisquid's very important point that a lot of this is just also rampant corporate greed: they're hiking prices and blaming inflation, even though that really has nothing to do with it, just because they can.

#anonymous #ask #politics for ts

[cathkaesque]

There’s a lot of research on banana production out there, especially from this great organisation called Bananalink which supports banana workers’ unions in the UK supply chain. Most the facts here are from these two pages on their website. I just wanted to ground some of the discussion around bananas in the production process, labour and environmental conditions, and who benefits from this process.  The above diagram might not be very clear so I've reproduced the text below:

1. Banana production takes approximately nine months. It starts with the preparation of the soil including the clearing of land, drainage, installation and fertiliser application. Then planting and field work, such as weeding, pest and disease control, and irrigation, take place. Bananas are harvested while still green [you can watch a video of this process here]

2. The harvested bunches are transported to a packing shed where they are divided into smaller market-friendly bunches, inspected, sorted, washed, treated, labelled, and boxed for export. Bananas that do not meet the quality standard are usually sold locally at a much lower price or used for livestock feed.

3. Some bananas are pre-packed into bags according to the specifications of individual retailers. Pre-packing is used to differentiate bananas such as Fairtrade organics or small bananas from the bulk supply of loose bananas. It can be an opportunity for the grower to add value, but it also offers advantages in controlling quality and reducing wastage.

4. Bannas are then transported by truck to ports, placed in sheds, and packed in refrigerated ships or refridgerated containers. Bananas take between six to 12 days to get to the UK/Europe. They are shipped at a controlled temperature of 13.3 centigrade in order to increase their shelf life. Humidity and ventilation are carefully monitored to maintain quality.

5. When the bananas arrive at their destinaation port they are first trucked to warehouses where they can be kept in cool conditions and then ripened - using ethylene - when they are needed for delivery to retailers. Bananas may also be bagged at this stage. They are then delivered to retailers' regional distribution centres before final delivery to individual stores.

The local population eat different varieties of bananas grown primarily by small farmers. The ones for the Americans and the Europeans, Cavendish variety bananas, are grown in huge, monoculture plantations that are susceptible to disease. The banana industry consumes more agrichemicals than any other in the world, asides from cotton. Most plantations will spend more on pesticides than on wages. Pesticides are sprayed by plane, 85% of which does not land on the bananas and instead lands on the homes of workers in the surrounding area and seeps into the groundwater. The results are cancers, stillbirths, and dead rivers.

The supermarkets dominate the banana trade and force the price of bananas down. Plantations resolve this issue by intensifying and degrading working conditions. Banana workers will work for up to 14 hours a day in tropical heat, without overtime pay, for 6 days a week. Their wages will not cover their cost of housing, food, and education for their children. On most plantations independent trade unions are, of course, suppressed. Contracts are insecure, or workers are hired through intermediaries, and troublemakers are not invited back.

Who benefits most from this arrangement? The export value of bananas is worth $8bn - the retail value of these bananas is worth $25bn. Here's a breakdown of who gets what from the sale of banana in the EU.

On average, the banana workers get between 5 and 9% of the total value, while the retailers capture between 36 to 43% of the value. So if you got a bunch of bananas at Tesco (the majority of UK bananas come from Costa Rica) for 95p, 6.65p would go to the banana workers, and 38p would go to Tesco.

Furthermore, when it comes to calculating a country's GDP (the total sum of the value of economic activity going on in a country, which is used to measure how rich or poor a country is, how fast its economy is 'growing' and therefore how valuable their currency is on the world market, how valuable its government bonds, its claim on resources internationally…etc), the worker wages, production, export numbers count towards the country producing the banana, while retail, ripening, tariffs, and shipping & import will count towards the importing country. A country like Costa Rica will participate has to participate in this arrangement as it needs ‘hard’ (i.e. Western) currencies in order to import essential commodities on the world market.

So for the example above of a bunch of Costa Rican bananas sold in a UK supermarket, 20.7p will be added to Costa Rica’s GDP while 74.3p will be added to the UK’s GDP. Therefore, the consumption of a banana in the UK will add more to the UK’s wealth than growing it will to Costa Rica’s. The same holds for Bangladeshi t-shirts, iPhones assembled in China, chocolate made with cocoa from Ghana…it’s the heart of how the capitalism of the ‘developed’ economy functions. Never ending consumption to fuel the appearance of wealth, fuelled by the exploitation of both land and people in the global south.