Welcome to the Inflation Station – On Chilli’s And Other Economic Swindles
I recently read a post by a fellow blogger buddy, Fai9alR, in which he discusses and exposes Chilli’s for the gross inflation of the items on their new menu. He made a point of comparing the prices between Chilli’s old menu from a few years back (can’t be more than 3 years cause I remember seeing this menu in my sophomore year in university) and the current one. And, as it turns out, on an average order, Chill’s prices today have jumped by around half the amount they were on the old menu.
Half! As in 50 EXTRA percent of your wallet. That’s so inflated it could rival a huge Disney Land parade float.
And, you know what the worst part is? This is not just about Chilli’s. This is going on everywhere in Kuwait and on every consumer level. So much so that Kuwait has now proudly risen to nearly 4% average inflation rate, and it only stands to get higher. And, really, the problem seems to have become so complicated that its becoming harder and harder to point the finger at anyone.
I mean, the government seems to think that it can combat inflation by raising the pay of Kuwaiti nationals ever so frequently, but, apparently, that seems to be having an opposite effect on the inflation issue.
And, I can figure at least two reasons why that might be happening:
- Companies are being greedy and deciding that they’d like to cash-in on the Kuwaiti increases so they raise their prices so that they end up raking in even more loot. This is, of course, a violation of consumer rights and needs to be investigated with every company that does raise their prices.
- The government doesn’t seem to realize that more than half of Kuwait’s consumerist population is not Kuwaiti. That means that they are still subject to the crazy expenses that come with living in Kuwait and that their employers (who do sell consumer goods/services/property) need to raise their pay in order for them to, you know, live and stuff. But these companies can only stay afloat as well as raise their largely non-Kuwaiti employee salaries by–that’s right–increasing the price of their goods/services/property.
My opinion? The government needs to completely re-strategize. Clearly, this pay increase deal isn’t doing jack for inflation. In fact, it’s making matters worse for everyone–Kuwaiti and expat alike. On one hand its making companies greedy and charge crazy prices, and on the other its actually forcing some companies to raise their prices in order to both make sure their predominantly non-Kuwaiti employees can manage and to stay afloat at the same time.
The government needs to come up with a more proactive plan that deals with the issue itself, not just try to hush the Kuwaiti community by giving them more money that’s only going to end up flying just as fast due to all the immediate inflation.
Because the bottom line is that paying more than half of the amount I used to pay at Chilli’s is not acceptable. Nor is paying double the price of an item I’m having shipped here through Shop ‘N’ Ship (Aramex).
Or, really, paying anything more than what is fair and managable to every single consumer in Kuwait.
All my love! (Above cartoon by Nikah Kosar)
I totally agree with you, the way things are going right now the purchasing power of the Dinar is going down, and its gonna affect us in the long run internationally, so we need to find a way to fight the inflation.
On the other hand I think the government should be giving benefits instead of cash for the employees, thing like better health care or free private education for the employees children etc.
Agreed. Those kinds of solutions are proactive and perhaps won’t affect the dynamic of the companies when it comes to price levels. But also, I feel like the government needs to deal with the companies themselves at one point. They need to stop the ones that are raising their prices unfairly (perhaps Chillis?) and help the ones that can’t stay afloat without price increases.
U mean u want are government to actually do something about it?
u mean gather information, study the information, make a plan, and carry out the plan?
But that would cut into their tea time !!!
Nooo, of course not.
I want them to wait until the technology for telepathic thinking is invented and then they can just read the thoughts, concerns, and issues which everyone in the economy is facing without so much as lifting a finger.
So, you know, I guess we’ll all get a solution somewhere within the next hundred years or so. Which, if you ask me, is still not nearly enough time for the government to finish their tea ;P
This was such a good read. Very solid post. I agree with everything you said. But I think the one and only reason companies raise their prices is GREED. I have never come across/or heard of any company that raised its salaries after an Amiri grant in order to secure the welfare of its non-Kuwaiti employees. They’re only about profit, nothing else.
Thank you so much! I’m so happy you liked it!
And, as far as the point on raising prices for non-Kuwaiti employees goes, I just figured that was a natural side-effect of the inflation beast. Based on examples in other countries which have suffered inflation, this is usually what happens. It turns into a vicious cycle of transforming want into need, need into want.
But perhaps, you’re right. I’d have to look at the issue more comprehensively and with a lot more examples of companies that are inflating in order to come up with any one definitive problem.
I think the government made a lot of mistakes when it came to initally managing the economy and keeping an eye on sustaining consumer rights and now the whole thing has just kind of snowballed into one big, complex issue for which more than one side is responsible.
well said, its really horrible how they r just raising peoples salaries while in the same time raising the prices, so stupid i dont know what the hell r they thinking
Yeah, it really is a very pointless strategy that seems to be doing more harm than good… If any good at all even.
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