By Harguan Kaur
If you’re anything like me, you love a quick bargain. Two for the price of one? Sign me up! With the added cost of living pressures, we need everything we can get.
But what does the phrase ‘cost of living pressures’ even mean? And what does it mean for the future? And why does this article have chocolates in the name? Oh boy, we’ve got a lot to get through, but lucky for you, I am ready to scavenge the internet (and the economics textbook) in search of answers!
Picture this, you’re a person and, like the average teenager, don’t have much money. You are craving your absolute favourite chocolate bar which costs just one dollar. You skip (yes, skipping is imperative to this scenario) over to the chocolate aisle only to have your heart SMASHED into a thousand little pieces. ‘Chocolates – two dollars’ the label reads and devastated, you fall to the ground and sob in a little ball.
This heartbreak is due to these ominous ‘cost of living pressures’. They’re the accumulation of a variety of factors that can cause an increase in prices of goods and services around us, or a decrease in the amount of money we have to spend. It refers to factors like high inflation, decreases in the value of the Australian dollar, high taxes or bracket creep. Don’t worry if you don’t understand these terms, I will be talking about them in future articles.
While these pressures ABSOLUTELY SUCK! And I haven’t had a chocolate bar in AGES… They are actually very important in making sure our economy doesn’t go BONKERS and start charging one-hundred-trillion dollars for a loaf of bread. So maybe it’s worth it. I mean how long could it last?
Well…economists are predicting that inflation will return to a lower level by the end of 2024 (yippee!)
But, cost of living pressures aren’t likely to dissipate ‘till 2028…so maybe no chocolate bars for now?
But at the end of the day the important thing to remember is that: it’s all gonna be okay…hopefully.
While prices may seem crazy right now we must have faith in the Reserve Bank of Australia Governor and hope they keep our economy safe, for all the kids in the future who wish to have a one dollar chocolate bar again.
