Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 28th February)

Inflation cuts value of money by 67% in 30 years - and prices on everyday goods like bread, eggs and beer rise far faster
The purchasing power of money has eroded at an average rate of 3.7% a year over the last three decades, thanks to inflation. Provided British pay packets keep pace, people have enough in their pockets to maintain their standard of living. But research  reveals that everyday goods like bread, eggs and beer rise far faster than inflation. Also, inflation now is well above annual wages increases: 1.3% (excluding bonuses) last month - a decrease from 1.4% a month ago. DAILY MAIL

British Gas price hikes help boost annual profit 11% to more than £600m

The profit rise comes as British Gas chief Phil Bentley leaves with a £10m combined share, salary and pension package. British Gas’s parent, Centrica, reported operating profits of £2.7bn – up 14%. British Gas raised its gas and electricity prices this winter by 6%. Much of the profits are thanks to a particularly cold winter. GUARDIAN
(...and the rest of the profits are thanks to a particularly cowardly history of our governments bending over to the UK's profiteering energy cartel.)

Tesco to pay £6.5m fine for fixing milk and cheese prices

Tesco, Asda and Sainsburys were operating a cartel to keep dairy prices high. The Office of Fair Trading estimated that the collusion led to shoppers paying 2p more for a litre of milk and 2p more for 100g of cheese. Although Tesco has always denied collusion, it finally lost a decade-long court battle. Supermarkets and dairy processors have paid £39m collectively in fines for this price fix. TELEGRAPH

(I’m just grateful they haven’t been selling us horse milk…)

Leading printer companies are shrinking the ink in their cartridges

Newer cartridges contain a fraction of the ink a similar product contained a decade ago. For example, the Epson T032 colour cartridge (released in 2002) is the same dimensions as the Epson colour T089 (released in 2008). But the T032 contains 16ml of ink and the T089 contains just 3.5ml of ink. It's a similar story with Hewlett Packard (HP) cartridges. Cut open a HP inkjet cartridge and you'll find what is going on. The size of the sponges inside, which hold the ink, have progressively reduced over the years. The rest of the cartridge is now simply empty space. In Epson cartridges the ink tank has been systematically reduced in size. GUARDIAN
(“We are well aware of the problem. We keep getting these angry letters that fade out two-thirds the way down the page,” said the Director of Customer Care at Epson…)

MPs face anger over the 80,000 women denied the new pension: Forced to wait longer to retire and missing out on £144 payout for rest of life

Women born between April 6 and July 5, 1953, will lose out. The women are caught between two policy changes: the raising of the state pension age, and the introduction of the new single-tier State pension. DAILY MAIL

41% of house owners 'forced to sell at a loss' since 2007

The UK housing market has stalled in the global financial crisis. The Land Registry figures show 41% of houses bought after 2007 were sold at an average loss of 11%. Over the same period, 56% of homes were sold with an average profit of £45,199. In London almost three-quarters of houses sold made a profit despite the tough economy, compared with less than half in Yorkshire and the Humber, the North and the East Midlands. TELEGRAPH

Theatres and agents told to stop hiding fees on tickets

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled against four theatre ticket providers - three agents and the Old Vic theatre - for quoting misleading ticket prices on their websites. It found that compulsory fees were not being included up-front, and sprung upon the buyer only later in the online buying process. It said in statement: "In future we expect these to be advertised from the start." TELEGRAPH