Credit Crunch

This morning on breakfast news there was an interview with a woman, it was something to do with the Labour conference, and she was talking about the credit crunch and how it was effecting her and her family, prices for things have been going up, interest rates are rising and how bad it was, etc., all reasonable points but her main point seemed to be that she was now having to think more carefully about her food shopping, where she is going to do her shopping and only buying the basics, which is surely a good thing?

I think it’s a good thing, if people are ‘only buying the basics’ then they won’t be wasting so much and they will be thinking about what they are eating more, it might even start a few more people thinking more seriously about where they’re food comes from and why it costs what it costs. If you are thinking more about what you’re buying then hopefully people will be cooking more, or at least thinking about what they are cooking.

I know the credit crunch isn’t a good thing, and some people are finding it hard but I really can’t understand why having to think about your food shopping is a bad thing. When she was asked by the presenter if she’d had to make cuts backs she said yes, they had. When she was pressed on this she said they no longer eat out or buy take-a-ways as often as they use to. Also not something that I think of as a ‘bad thing.’

Each year the number of people, mostly older people, who die from lack of heating increases. That is a bad thing, that is a terrible thing, and that is only going to increase with fuel costs rising. Surely that should be the main focus for how the credit crunch is effecting people, not whether or not people can afford take-a-way for dinner.

Food prices are a concern, and they are affecting many people, but I can’t help taking it all with a pinch of salt. There was no way food prices could stay as artificially low has they were/ still are, if it costs more to produce something than you can sell it for then that product is either going to be discontinued or, when it is something that is needed, the price will have to rise, surely that is just common sense.