What if the reduction in prices of 6,000 imported products to effectively combat the cost of living was illusory? Should we not also and above all talk about the increase in income in a country plagued by social inequalities?
What if we are all mistaken in thinking that the cost of living will be lower by lowering the prices of everyday consumer products? The exemption from dock dues and VAT as well as the reduction in distributor margins on 6,000 of the 40,00 items in stores means that the prices of the other 33,000 products will not fall. Worse, they will surely increase to compensate for the shortfall of traders.
We are also mistaken in forgetting that the cost of living also concerns all non-food products and all services. They are unreasonably more expensive in all our peripheral territories than in France.
Airline tickets, air and sea freight, vehicles and their spare parts, construction materials, household equipment, medicines are sold at prices beyond a socially acceptable threshold. The miraculous profits of the traders of these products are the rule, with complete impunity.
Anything we don't produce locally is too expensive. But in addition, local producers are sometimes forced to charge unattainable prices due to the permanent difficulties they encounter. Farmers, fishermen, artisans and industrialists cannot satisfy demand by increasing the volumes of their production to sell it cheaper.
Quite simply because the dominant economic model favors imports to the detriment of production. Ultimately, everything we buy, regardless of where the goods come from, is too expensive. Banking on the sole drop in prices on some food products looks like a trap. Especially since food only accounts for 15% on average of the household budget, far behind transport and housing.
Earning a few euros at the self-service checkout will not be enough to switch to another economic model. Business leaders, economists and policy makers know that the solution lies in acting on the other segment of the cost of living, namely income. Since prices will not fall significantly, wages, pensions and social benefits must be increased if we want to alleviate social poverty.
In summary, the cost of living is felt mainly because incomes are too low. Instead of focusing on the timetable for implementing an incomplete protocol, it would be time to launch the debate on how to stop the widespread impoverishment of Martinique. Which requires radical challenges.
France
