Inflation has hit 7%. That means the cost of everything you buy is now spiralling out of control. But guess what? There are rich white people paid hundreds of thousands each to control inflation. And the fact they’re clearly not doing their fucking jobs properly while the rest of us suffer is another example of the class war we’re currently fighting.
Inflation: the rich white people who are supposed to control it
As journalist Paul Lewis tweeted:
The 9 members of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England are paid £2.5m a year between them and 'Monetary Analysis and Monetary Policy Committee' costs £40m a year (all 2020/21 figures). Its job is to keep inflation at 2%. A year ago it was below that. Now it is 7%.
— Paul Lewis (@paullewismoney) April 13, 2022
Yes, that’s right. There’s an actual committee at the Bank of England (BoE) that’s in charge of controlling inflation. It’s called the monetary policy committee. Here they are:
If there was ever a group of white bankers in work clothes, then this is it. Take Michael Saunders – previously an economist-turned-banker for HSBC and Citigroup. Then there’s Jon Cunliffe, who has worked high-up in the civil service and the EU advising governments for decades. Catherine L. Mann is also an economist-turned-banker, having worked for Citibank.
WTF is the BoE doing?
The BoE monetary policy committee is supposed to, in its own words:
set monetary policy to achieve the Government’s target of keeping inflation at 2%.
Clearly, it’s not doing a very good job of that at the minute. In fact, these rich white people keep getting inflation quite drastically wrong. They predicted in December 2021 that it would hit 6% in April – not the 7% we actually already reached in March. Even in February, the committee was saying inflation would be 6% in March; wrong again.
You’re probably wondering just WTF these nine people are actually doing to earn the £156,500 a year they get paid for a three-day week. Good question – especially for the overall BoE boss, Andrew Bailey, who receives nearly £575,000 a year.
They’re clearly not doing a lot. But why would they?
Class war
While rich white people are in charge of keeping rising prices under control, the result will always be the same: they won’t. That would involve putting up interest rates. Why won’t the BoE do this? Because of the economy. As Costas Milas wrote for the London School of Economics (LSE), the BoE won’t act because:
a series of interest rate hikes could “derail” economic recovery.
That’s not economic recovery for most of us, by the way. It’s economic recovery for the richest people. As The Canary has repeatedly reported, the most well-off in the UK generally feel the least strain financially – and low interest rates just make them even richer and the poorest even more in debt.
Once again, we’re seeing the state (this time via the BoE) waging class war on many of us. The only people severely affected by spiralling inflation are the poorest – the rich, on the other hand, laugh all the way to the bank.
Featured image via the Bank of England – screengrab
