prices 31%higher than EU average

galway2007

So it is proven once again that the Irish people are still being ripped off by private sector employers, and there products cost 31% more in Ireland.
Can any person give me a reason why???
We keep hearing that we have got competitive due to wage reduction in the private sector, but if those wage reduction did happen why have prices not fallen???
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/living-standards-fall-but-prices-still-31pc-higher-than-eu-average-2462606.html
It is time that this private sector rip off is stopped and if needed there should slash there employee wage by 30%
If this is allowed to go on we will have no tourism and we will have no foreign investment in Ireland
I ask again how long more will the private sector be allowed to screw the Irish people like they have for the last 10 year so they can keep there massive profits and wages
No wonder people are saving there money and I hope people keep doing that until those that are ripping us off reduce there prices or are forced to close down

Riskymove

taxes and levies etc are a significant factor in these price differentials

e.g. car prices, cigarettes etc

Fat_Fingers

You trying to wind people up with another Private vs public? Please, we had enough of it so far.

P.S. take it easy with font size.

ei.sdraob

Our high energy costs are one reason for the high costs, lets not have another PS bashing thread :cool:

despite all the inflation CSO recorded continuing inflation in energy sectors :mad:

of course the people of this country are not aware of the scam

galway2007

Fat_Fingers wrote: »

You trying to wind people up with another Private vs public? Please, we had enough of it so far.

P.S. take it easy with font size.

NO NO NO I would not do that
It has got worse we are now being ripped off even more since the recession started
Since 2007 the gap had widened and yes the state has some input in to it
The point is how so we get people back working when we are not competitive????

gurramok

"Health and education were each 56pc dearer in Ireland than elsewhere in Europe;"

Have they ever decreased in the last 10 years?

padma

galway2007 wrote: »

NO NO NO I would not do that
It has got worse we are now being ripped off even more since the recession started
Since 2007 the gap had widened and yes the state has some input in to it
The point is how so we get people back working when we are not competitive????

You want to cut peoples wages by 30% so companies get even bigger profits and widen the gap even further between rich and poor, doesn't make sense. In the dream that employers will create more jobs because they are getting bigger profits. Don't think so. 30% less wages means money will only be spent on the bare essentials, thus negating the need for all luxury goods and money spent on entertainment etc etc etc, thus further putting a knife in to businesses already struggling to survive.

zig

tbh, im happy to hear those figures. Its further proof that we're not all living in this cloud cuckoo land where we believe we're entitled to more than everyone else in Europe. I wonder does that take into account the fact that we're being ripped off with the combination of VRT and motor tax, not to mention our rip off insurance costs.

padma

I'd say it's about time the government reigned in on those insurance companies extorting people.

PeakOutput

galway2007 wrote: »

NO NO NO I would not do that
It has got worse we are now being ripped off even more since the recession started
Since 2007 the gap had widened and yes the state has some input in to it
The point is how so we get people back working when we are not competitive????

lack of competitiveness is more then 50% the fault of the goverment, there are definitely business owners out there who are still charging way over the odds but on the whole its the goverments policies and employees ridicolous expectations that make us uncompetitive

PeakOutput

padma wrote: »

I'd say it's about time the government reigned in on those insurance companies extorting people.

have you seen the accounts of any of the large insurance companies from the last 3/4 years?

padma

PeakOutput wrote: »

have you seen the accounts of any of the large insurance companies from the last 3/4 years?

I haven't to be perfectly honest.

Cookie_Monster

while higher wages, transport costs, taxes, rent, rates, energy costs, disposal costs and bureaucracy costs add a lot to the cost of products but shops over here still gouge prices a good bit more than other markets.

Tesco, for example, have a profit percentage that's the second highest in their world operations only after Korea.
Garages are the same, when you get quotes from the North they are generally significantly cheaper.

keithclancy

Interesting that the last bit was skipped over:

However, the report finds that Ireland remains one of the richest countries in the EU in terms of GDP per capita adjusted to reflect purchasing power in different countries.

At the time these statistics where taken, Ireland had a high GDP hence high prices. The spending power of the individual is what drives the price.

In Germany for example, stuff is cheap because your take home pay after duductions is basically half your gross.

Dan_Solo

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Tesco, for example, have a profit percentage that's the second highest in their world operations only after Korea.

Is that North or South Korea?:D

gimli2112

Stopped reading when OP spelled "their" as "there"

Dan_Solo

gimli2112 wrote: »

Stopped reading when OP spelled "their" as "there"

I stopped caring about your nitpicking spellcheck pedantry when you left out the full stop.

zig

gimli2112 wrote: »

Stopped reading when OP spelled "their" as "there"

Id say you get through reading these forums quite quickly if thats enough to make you stop reading a post.

lasnoufle

galway2007 wrote: »

So it is proven once again that the Irish people are still being ripped off by private sector employers, and there products cost 31% more in Ireland.
Can any person give me a reason why???

I can: it's because people are still happy to pay the price. Stop buying, stop showing companies that you don't have a clue about what value is, and the prices will fall, simple as that.

snubbleste

Link to original eurostat report?

We are one of the richest countries in the EU still. There are a lot of countries in E. Europe that drag the EU average down significantly, hence you'd expect Irish prices to be way above the average.

zig

lasnoufle wrote: »

I can: it's because people are still happy to pay the price. Stop buying, stop showing companies that you don't have a clue about what value is, and the prices will fall, simple as that.

Unfortunately its not as simple as that when there are certain things you have to buy, i.e. food, petrol,insurance.

However you are correct regarding the luxuries, like booze. And in fairness, people have voted with their cash in that regard, i.e. pubs getting desperate for business, so price of pints are finally dropping nicely.

gurramok

keithclancy wrote: »

Interesting that the last bit was skipped over:

At the time these statistics where taken, Ireland had a high GDP hence high prices.

Try GNP to be reflective of reality.

paddy145

I think it worth noting that residential: electricity prices for a typical household (Band DD 5,000-15,000 kWh/annum incl. VAT)) have improved compared with the second half of 2009:
Irish prices are now 7% below the Eurozone average. This compares with 2% below for the last semester and are now on a par with the EU27 average versus 7% above last semester.
.

lasnoufle

zig wrote: »

Unfortunately its not as simple as that when there are certain things you have to buy, i.e. food, petrol,insurance.

However you are correct regarding the luxuries, like booze. And in fairness, people have voted with their cash in that regard, i.e. pubs getting desperate for business, so price of pints are finally dropping nicely.

I don't agree with the first part, it's exactly what I'm talking about, "happy" is maybe the wrong word, but you're, let's say, "not unhappy enough" to stop buying things.

Of course you have to buy food, just take cheaper stuff until the food chain gets bored of losing money and adjusts their prices. Of course you can say you're worth more than the cheapest stuff - good for you, but at the moment in Ireland, you get ripped off exactly because you think that.

Now of course, this would have to be done at a large scale to have any significant impact, and I'd say the Irish in general have this "worth more than that" mentality too much so that's a lost cause, and the only way to drive prices to more reasonable levels is to cut through people incomes - if they don't get that money, they won't spend it! It's what's happening at the moment, I'm checking how much I spend on food these days and it's significantly lower than last year. Now of course I'm not saying I'm happy that people get less money, but well if there's no other way to educate them...

gurramok

paddy145 wrote: »

I think it worth noting that residential: electricity prices for a typical household (Band DD 5,000-15,000 kWh/annum incl. VAT)) have improved compared with the second half of 2009:
Irish prices are now 7% below the Eurozone average. This compares with 2% below for the last semester and are now on a par with the EU27 average versus 7% above last semester.
.

You sure about that? http://www.energy.eu/#Domestic

As I can see from that link, 5th highest for the consumer in the whole of the EU27.

In the top 2 of industrial electricity pricing in the whole of the EU27. For an economy thats bust, that needs to come down.

paddy145

gurramok wrote: »

You sure about that? http://www.energy.eu/#Domestic

As I can see from that link, 5th highest for the consumer in the whole of the EU27.

In the top 2 of industrial electricity pricing in the whole of the EU27. For an economy thats bust, that needs to come down.

Those prices are November 09 which was what I was comparing the current price to, but you are correct in saying the industrial prices are still well above average (approx 5% above I think)

PeakOutput

padma wrote: »

I haven't to be perfectly honest.

well they are public companies you can have a look cause at least one of them has been barely scraping by the last 2/3 years. they could of course have force redundancies but then they would be villianised for that too

ei.sdraob

gurramok wrote: »

You sure about that? http://www.energy.eu/#Domestic

As I can see from that link, 5th highest for the consumer in the whole of the EU27.

In the top 2 of industrial electricity pricing in the whole of the EU27. For an economy thats bust, that needs to come down.

Interesting how Denmark despite having invested decades and billions into wind has one of the highest energy costs. Now our fools want to repeat the same mistakes at a time when this country is broke.

Geuze

Here are some links to the Eurostat data:


See page 5 of this report:

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-SF-10-062/EN/KS-SF-10-062-EN.PDF


Food, beverages, and tobacco prices:

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Comparative_price_levels_for_food,_beverages_and_tobacco

Elec prices, 2010

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-QA-10-046/EN/KS-QA-10-046-EN.PDF


Gas prices, 2010:

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-QA-10-047/EN/KS-QA-10-047-EN.PDF

PeakOutput

ei.sdraob wrote: »

Interesting how Denmark despite having invested decades and billions into wind has one of the highest energy costs. Now our fools want to repeat the same mistakes at a time when this country is broke.

read the energy dependancy table when you scroll down on that same page

edit; their prices to industry per unit are also cheaper then irelands and the consumer price includes taxes and vat, i beleive denmarks taxes and vat are higher then ours, in fact wiki says denmark is the most taxed nation in the world

gurramok

Tobacco, health, education, council rates and price of cars(VRT) are govt controlled. Commercial rents due to greed of the bubble years. Residential rents are high due govt intervention(Rent Supplement)

Alcoholic beverages is a combination of cartel operations in the pub trade and high excise/VAT but yet prices have probably fallen in the off trade over the years.

Gas & electricity to a certain extent are both govt controlled & prone to external factors.

Supermarket pricing is high(or was) due to cartel operations of the big multiples.

See the trend in alot of sectors? Lack of competition due to lack of regulation and along with greed is down to FF policies encouraging such greed.