Communication Breakdown
Communications from the world of, er, communications. And other stuff.
Wednesday 19 March 2008, 12:04 PM
Portable memory makes the 'inflation basket'
Every year the "inflation basket" - the theoretical shopping basket of standard products that can be used to measure inflation - gains and loses a few items. It's a good indicator of where we're at, societally speaking, and this year one of the most notable additions is the portable digital storage device - including "camera memory cards, sticks etc., those used
in mobile telephones and USB memory keys".
Also in are the the fruit smoothie, the muffin, the next-day-delivery bouquet, peppers, "small type oranges", the "non-chart" (i.e. classic) CD album and, er, "livery charges".
Out of the basket goes 35mm film (that took a while), the CD single (ditto) and the frozen ready-made vegetarian meal. Also, the "stubbie" lager bottle (too tiny for Binge Britain?) has been replaced by the 330ml bottle.
Tellingly, TV repair is also out of the "basket", as people are just replacing rather than fixing their broken sets (probably upgrading to HD while they're at it), as are the microwave oven (too cheap to count now) and, but of course, the washable carpet ("Spending on washable carpets is low and decreasing. Class is already well represented with a number of other carpet items").
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