Cost of living crisis.

[Lako42]

4 hours ago, Greg2607 said:

 

 

If the government doesn't step up and put suitable support in place, farming in the UK will disappear behind some large conglomerate that comes and hoovers them all up.

 

 

 

 

This is exactly what this group of current tories want. 

 

They want rid of small businesses and they want massive corps to monopolise markets. 

 

It's all part of suppressing the peasent. 

 

 

An American farming giant operating farms is the dream. They can all buy shares before a deal is dobe as well. 

 

 

****ing crooks 

[Wymsey]

As expected.

At least there's a 'cap' to this..

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/highest-possible-council-tax-rise-8183244

[Jon the Hat]

13 hours ago, foxes1988 said:

What are you suggesting that the Chinese will start teaching our kids/ driving our trains/ ambulances all remotely.  That doesn't sound very logical to me, then again with this government sounds like their kind of plan 

No this was referring to a specific example re a manufacturing company.  Although worth noting if we lose enough commercial activity there won’t be enough tax to pay for essential services.

[Jon the Hat]

6 hours ago, Greg2607 said:

how anyone can be against "re-wilding" and think that farmers are doing ok is beyond me... The company I work for is very strongly aligned to the National Farmers Union and Farmers are really struggling with the loss of EU Subsidies. 

 

If the government doesn't step up and put suitable support in place, farming in the UK will disappear behind some large conglomerate that comes and hoovers them all up.

 

It really isn't a sustainable model for UK farming at the minute. Not with Supermarkets dictating prices and ignoring the input costs. 

 

 

Supermarkets should be stepping up and paying them enough to survive and thrive.  They won’t though, so yes it is essential the government steps in - as they clear promised they would - to ensure our self sufficiency doesn’t get any worse.

[ozleicester]

11 hours ago, Tommy G said:

All fair points. My original point was that we are shocked that big corporations make billions of profits, the profits are, in relative terms, in line with turnover and market expectations with exception of oil and gas companies over the past 12 months. 

 

 

total bullshit... see graph

Profits are exploding, and wages falling

As mentioned, farmers need help, how can they get it... by taxing corporations and wealthy earners more

[ozleicester]

1 hour ago, Jon the Hat said:

Supermarkets should be stepping up and paying them enough to survive and thrive.  They won’t though, so yes it is essential the government steps in - as they clear promised they would - to ensure our self sufficiency doesn’t get any worse.

 

19 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

Which works fine as long as you can sell your products and services at the price which makes this worthwhile, and don't lose all your sales to competition in China.

Are these farmers selling to China?.. or surely when the supermarkets put up their prices no one will be able to buy from them.

 

Edited 24 February 2023 by ozleicester

[ozleicester]

[Jon the Hat]

35 minutes ago, ozleicester said:

And cheap products.  Don't forget the cheap products.

[grobyfox1990]

7 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

No this was referring to a specific example re a manufacturing company.  Although worth noting if we lose enough commercial activity there won’t be enough tax to pay for essential services.

There’s enough liquidity (debt and tax income) and essential services already aren’t being paid for. Much like why trump rode to victory in 2016, I have no idea what brits are scared of now. People are struggling to afford their heating housing and food, being scared of activity moving to a dystopian, covid-anxious China is a very 2014 problem 

[ozleicester]

Company profits, not wages, have driven the soaring inflation in Australia, an analysis from the Australia Institute has found.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/feb/24/an-economic-fairytale-australias-inflation-being-driven-by-company-profits-and-not-wages-analysis-finds?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[Tommy G]

9 hours ago, ozleicester said:

total bullshit... see graph

Profits are exploding, and wages falling

As mentioned, farmers need help, how can they get it... by taxing corporations and wealthy earners more

''See graph'' picks one graph from the internet  profits and wages... is this worldwide, Australia, UK? Which sector? All sectors? All business sizes, does it include profits of oil giants or exclude? So many questions and so little context - don't try to confuse a details man, it won't work. 

[ozleicester]

25 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

''See graph'' picks one graph from the internet  profits and wages... is this worldwide, Australia, UK? Which sector? All sectors? All business sizes, does it include profits of oil giants or exclude? So many questions and so little context - don't try to confuse a details man, it won't work. 

See post above yours

Complains of lack of details, then says im trying to confuse a "details man"... seems you are already confused.

the graph, wherefer it is from is simple clear and factual

Edited 24 February 2023 by ozleicester

[Greg2607]

1 hour ago, ozleicester said:

See post above yours

Complains of lack of details, then says im trying to confuse a "details man"... seems you are already confused.

the graph, wherefer it is from is simple clear and factual

but not contextualised. 

 

[Babylon]

Not really cost of living, but can I also add pensions are a total ****ing scam. How on earth is it even remotely legal to push people towards saving in personal pensions, under the banner of being able to get it when you are 55, and then changing the rules because you don't want people leaving the work force. 

[leicsmac]

Yeah, context is important when presenting arguments.

 

However, there appears a real problem with income inequality and cost of living in many places right now, that's been made clear in this thread (even though the plural of anecdotes isn't data).

 

While Oz didn't add nearly enough beef to his argument, that doesn't mean there isn't a problem that needs addressing, even though the solution is likely rather more complex than just "tax tax tax".

 

 

[Tommy G]

11 minutes ago, Babylon said:

Not really cost of living, but can I also add pensions are a total ****ing scam. How on earth is it even remotely legal to push people towards saving in personal pensions, under the banner of being able to get it when you are 55, and then changing the rules because you don't want people leaving the work force. 

Completely agree - this is aggrevating and im early 30s, can't imagine what the rules will be when I'm mid to late 50's 

 

There will be a pension crisis on our hands as a nation, I'd like to see some stats of how many people have opted out of workplace pensions this year due to the cost of living crisis. A one year opt alone could could real damage to the size of people pots come retirement - more so private sector. 

[filthyfox]

Local Government staff have been offered £1925 pay increase for the year.

For me, thats 6%, and I'm happy with that- I was expecting 3%.

 

Now for the Unions to take MONTHS deliberating over it!

[Bellend Sebastian]

1 hour ago, Babylon said:

Not really cost of living, but can I also add pensions are a total ****ing scam. How on earth is it even remotely legal to push people towards saving in personal pensions, under the banner of being able to get it when you are 55, and then changing the rules because you don't want people leaving the work force. 

It's the increase from 55 to 57 you're talking about, yeah?

 

It's not them stopping people from accessing their pensions at 55 to keep them in the workforce, it's to maintain the ten year gap between the retirement date for the State Pension (which has to keep going up as we're all living longer and there aren't enough people of working age to pay for it). They've kept it at ten years for as long as I can remember, although I'm unsure of the exact reasons why.

 

Imagine being one of the people that thought they could take their pension at 50 and then they changed it to 55. It didn't affect that many people in reality as not that many folk could really afford to retire that early, but if you were planning around that, which some people were, boy you're going to be sore.

 

The increase to 57 has been known about for many years, but if memory serves me right the increase from 50 to 55 was done at relatively short notice

 

 

[Greg2607]

1 hour ago, Babylon said:

Not really cost of living, but can I also add pensions are a total ****ing scam. How on earth is it even remotely legal to push people towards saving in personal pensions, under the banner of being able to get it when you are 55, and then changing the rules because you don't want people leaving the work force. 

I think it's more to do with the balance of the population who are working to fund those pensions.  As people live longer, and with declining birth rates, the number of people in work versus retired will go from something like 1:10 to a 1:4 ratio in the next 30 years. 

 

as @Tommy G said, there will be a massive pensions crisis for anyone currently working & retiring in about 20-30 years. 

 

Our generation has had much higher bills to contend with, have less savings, have kids later in life (and therefore can't save as much till later) and the pension provision in the private sector is woefully poor unless you happen to work in Financial Services. 

 

it's a global issue though. every country in the world is facing the same issue. 

 

it'll be at least 60 to access a private pension by the time we retire and 70 for a state pension. 

 

Edited 24 February 2023 by Greg2607

[Tommy G]

1 hour ago, filthyfox said:

Local Government staff have been offered £1925 pay increase for the year.

For me, thats 6%, and I'm happy with that- I was expecting 3%.

 

Now for the Unions to take MONTHS deliberating over it!

I think 6% will end up being the average for public sector so you're about right. Excl bonus the private sector will be less I suspect, althought not many data points to prove that

[grobyfox1990]

33 minutes ago, Greg2607 said:

I think it's more to do with the balance of the population who are working to fund those pensions.  As people live longer, and with declining birth rates, the number of people in work versus retired will go from something like 1:10 to a 1:4 ratio in the next 30 years. 

 

as @Tommy G said, there will be a massive pensions crisis for anyone currently working & retiring in about 20-30 years. 

 

Our generation has had much higher bills to contend with, have less savings, have kids later in life (and therefore can't save as much till later) and the pension provision in the private sector is woefully poor unless you happen to work in Financial Services. 

 

it's a global issue though. every country in the world is facing the same issue. 

 

it'll be at least 60 to access a private pension by the time we retire and 70 for a state pension. 

 

FS pension plans aren't markedly better than other industries, public sector pensions are still the standout even if they have moved away from final salary.

 

I am early 30s and I think it's wishful thinking to think anyone my age will get a penny in UK state pension, you're on your own.

 

I think the pension crisis in this generation is overblown, baby boomers lived through a time of immense economic gain and will be able to pass leftovers on to dependents. It's the generation that is entering the workforce now that will need to get organised quickly.

[Greg2607]

8 minutes ago, grobyfox1990 said:

FS pension plans aren't markedly better than other industries, public sector pensions are still the standout even if they have moved away from final salary.

 

I am early 30s and I think it's wishful thinking to think anyone my age will get a penny in UK state pension, you're on your own.

 

I think the pension crisis in this generation is overblown, baby boomers lived through a time of immense economic gain and will be able to pass leftovers on to dependents. It's the generation that is entering the workforce now that will need to get organised quickly.

i'd argue against this.  my company pays 12% into my pension and we are not one of the strongest in the market.  Places like HSBC are contributing upto 15% and then the employee pays in 7.  

 

given that the legal minimum is 8% including the employee contribution, that's a significant difference over a working life.  I'll give an illustration below... 

 

Based on a £45,000 salary with 8% contributions each year for the next 30 years would be a pension pot (ignoring any growth that would occur) of £108,000.... 

 

same assumptions but with a 20% total contribution (my 8% + my company's 12%) is around £270,000.

 

With the effects of compound interest, you could see a pension pot that's wildly different. 

 

 

[grobyfox1990]

14 minutes ago, Greg2607 said:

i'd argue against this.  my company pays 12% into my pension and we are not one of the strongest in the market.  Places like HSBC are contributing upto 15% and then the employee pays in 7.  

 

given that the legal minimum is 8% including the employee contribution, that's a significant difference over a working life.  I'll give an illustration below... 

 

Based on a £45,000 salary with 8% contributions each year for the next 30 years would be a pension pot (ignoring any growth that would occur) of £108,000.... 

 

same assumptions but with a 20% total contribution (my 8% + my company's 12%) is around £270,000.

 

With the effects of compound interest, you could see a pension pot that's wildly different. 

 

 

HSBC is paying 15%?! Which division is this in? Retail/commercial bank? Front office or all staff? All locations? I've worked in FS my entire career, never come across a 15% employer contribution. I worked closely with the pensions advisory team at my old firm when auto-enrol came in (example of fantastic UK legislation btw) and FS were not offering double digits, albeit this was a good few years ago. You are also absolutely minting it on 12%.

[Greg2607]

1 minute ago, grobyfox1990 said:

HSBC is paying 15%?! Which division is this in? Retail/commercial bank? Front office or all staff? All locations? I've worked in FS my entire career, never come across a 15% employer contribution. I worked closely with the pensions advisory team at my old firm when auto-enrol came in (example of fantastic UK legislation btw) and FS were not offering double digits, albeit this was a good few years ago. You are also absolutely minting it on 12%.

hence I have absolutely no plans to leave! lol. 

 

in terms of HSBC, I interviewed a guy from there yesterday (i work in recruitment) and yeah, he is paying 7% and they pay 15%. 

 

similar at Santander & Nationwide. 

 

These are people who work in there wealth management division, so it may be different in different parts of the business, but i'm not really sure as I don't talk to people across every division. 

[Royston.]

The cost of living thread isnt depressing enough, lets throw in some pension discussion