So there won't be an interest rate cut?

Apparently the inflation rate is too high to have an interest rate cut. I suppose that makes sense. 

There will be a lot of mortgage holders who will be disappointed on Tuesday if our Reserve Bank does not cut the interest rate by yet another 0.25%.  I have heard people say they are "relying" on it.  That seems rather foolish to me.

I also wonder whether anyone will realise that the nice little hand out people got to pay their electricity bills has something to do with it. That nice little hand out kept quite a lot of things artificially low while the government boasted about the way the push for renewable power was going to save the economy and make us a world leader in both renewable power and manufacturing.

It is not going to happen. 

I am on a very low income but I could have managed without the hand out. Many people I know could have managed without the hand out. Yes, it was nice to have but I did not need it. I am careful with my money and will go on being careful. Yes, my power bill was up but it was not as high as it could have been. I was cautious about using the heating but there were times when it was essential to use some power for that. I will be even more cautious about using the cooling from the same system in summer but not everyone can do that.

Now I am wondering how many people went out and bought something they did not really need or simply went on buying their "coffee" because the extra seemed to be there. Was inflation fuelled by this? No, that would only have been a very small part of the equation. I only need to look at prices in the supermarket to realise that many things are noticeably higher in price - and often noticeably smaller with it. A little while back I bought the ingredients for the fruit cakes I give my cousin and Middle Cat at Christmastime. The cost, even when "on special", was almost thirty per cent higher than it was last year. Basics like milk and bread are much higher. We have a potato shortage at present and there were some in the supermarket for more than seven dollars a kilo. Nobody can afford those sort of prices. 

A friend is coming for lunch today. It is a fairly regular event. She always insists on bringing her own sandwich - a result of unexpectedly staying one day when she happened to have her own sandwich with her. I would be more than happy to provide the sandwich but she prefers to feel "independent". I will make her multiple mugs of tea but there are people I know who would struggle to do that - or they will do it and then drink water for a couple of days because the price of tea and the power to boil the water is too high.

This week I bought some new sheets - having put a rear paw through one of the old ones. I hesitated over this - one set or two? I bought two sets because I could and because they were labelled as "half price". They are not half price of course. The store will still be making a profit but I wonder how much they paid for them if they can apparently afford to do this. Now I hope I will not need to buy sheets for a very long time and I am grateful I could afford to buy two sets. Have I added to the inflation figures? Hmmmm...

Will the lack of an interest rate cut actually reduce inflation? I think it might take more than that. I do not envy the Reserve Bank board members their decision making process.