Cost of living crisis.

[grobyfox1990]

31 minutes ago, SK3Blue said:

I read that Aldi and Lidl were the worst offenders with 22% increases over 6 months, blatant profiteering. 

 

Where did the angry mob go in this country? We should have taken to the streets in protest at what's happened under this government.

Never ever gonna happen. It’s a badge of honour to ‘keep calm and carry on’ in the uk rather than the French method of all out carnage 

[yorkie1999]

On 16/06/2023 at 14:05, ozleicester said:

40 years of the rich exploiting the poor more than at any time in the modern era.

it is time to burn shit down and take back some level of equality

Or, everyone only buy essentials and bring the selling market to it's knees for luxury items. It's a bit like selling a footballer, if we sell Maddison for 50 million, every club we try and buy a player from is going to shove up their prices because they know we've got 50 million to spend. I don't know about anywhere else, but i've not seen a sudden increase in people being kicked out of their homes and the shops are all full which says that people can still afford it. If a loaf of bread doubles in price, we moan about it, and still buy it.

[grobyfox1990]

Good analysis from the FT again, oh to be born in the 60s and 70s....

Meanwhile, the number of people who own their homes outright has climbed sharply as baby boomers have retired, from about 26 per cent in the late 80s to 35 per cent by 2021/22. In every region of England and Wales except London, there are now more homes owned outright than there are homes of any other type of tenure (such as rented or owned with a mortgage).

That causes two problems. First, the power of monetary policy to cool the economy is blunted somewhat (compounded by the fact that many more people today are on fixed-term than variable mortgages, which slows down how higher rates filter through.) Of course, tighter monetary policy can work in other ways too, such as through the currency and by dissuading companies from investing and hiring.

But that brings us to the second problem — that people may begin to see this tightening cycle as uneven and unfair. The pain of sharply higher mortgage rates is falling on the shoulders of fewer people this time around — and mortgage-holders are overwhelmingly working people, which means they are more exposed to any Bank of England-induced downturn in the labour market too. In contrast, two-thirds of those who own their homes outright are retired.
It is easy to see how this could reignite intergenerational resentments. In the decade of super-loose monetary policy, young people lost out because house prices moved further out of reach, while delivering rising levels of wealth for older homeowners. In this new era of sharply rising rates, younger working people with mortgages may come to feel that they are once again absorbing the pain on behalf of society as a whole.

Edited 27 June 2023 by grobyfox1990
typo

[Zear0]

3 minutes ago, grobyfox1990 said:

Good analysis from the FT again, oh to be born in the 60s and 70s....

Meanwhile, the number of people who own their homes outright has climbed sharply as baby boomers have retired, from about 26 per cent in the late 80s to 35 per cent by 2021/22. In every region of England and Wales except London, there are now more homes owned outright than there are homes of any other type of tenure (such as rented or owned with a mortgage).

That causes two problems. First, the power of monetary policy to cool the economy is blunted somewhat (compounded by the fact that many more people today are on fixed-term than variable mortgages, which slows down how higher rates filter through.) Of course, tighter monetary policy can work in other ways too, such as through the currency and by dissuading companies from investing and hiring.

But that brings us to the second problem — that people may begin to see this tightening cycle as uneven and unfair. The pain of sharply higher mortgage rates is falling on the shoulders of fewer people this time around — and mortgage-holders are overwhelmingly working people, which means they are more exposed to any Bank of England-induced downturn in the labour market too. In contrast, two-thirds of those who own their homes outright are retired.

There's no point to this post, just a rambling rant at my view on the whole situation.

 

As you write above, the population affected by the BoE monetary policy of raising interest rates hits a relatively small % of populs it'll obviously not have the effect it wants to.  I get the rationale for them doing this is to make people have less spare cash to spend, but the logic just doesn't hold up.  We all know it's not "normal" inflation where we're all so flush on cash that companies rise prices due to a demand shortage.  It's demonstrably caused by supply side shortages and profiteering.  This will surely have neglible impact on inflation and just cause hardship.

 

My other gripe relates to the actual fiscal policy which these clowns in charge are just ignoring.  Sunak said yesterday his number 1 priority is to halve inflation, f**king do something about it then you pillock.  Him and CHunt support the BoE's approach to squeeze people, so they obviously support the theory, but are also dead against other means of giving people less spending power like, you know, taxation?  It's one of those weird political positions that raising interests is some inherently fine free market approach that aligns with their extreme views on capitalism whilst taxation is some disgusting socialist policy that should be avoided at all costs.  As someone with a ridiculous large mortgage due for renewal next September, I'd happily take the tax thanks.  Granted if taxation was used and then handed back to the population it would do naff all, but given we've just hit the despicable position of having nation debt greater than GDP (for the first time since 1961 when we were forking out for WW2 still), maybe using it pay off the debt would kill two birds with one stone?  But no, let's absolutely rinse a minority of the population to produce more profit for the banks...

 

Guess in this moan I just don't get why if excessive free capital and cash is driving inflation (I don't believe it it), why they're not looking at capping profits, taxing wages instead and reducing import tariff rather than just hitting nterest rates.  I mean, I know exactly why they're not and it's driving me up the wall that they're getting away with it.

[grobyfox1990]

6 minutes ago, Zear0 said:

There's no point to this post, just a rambling rant at my view on the whole situation.

 

As you write above, the population affected by the BoE monetary policy of raising interest rates hits a relatively small % of populs it'll obviously not have the effect it wants to.  I get the rationale for them doing this is to make people have less spare cash to spend, but the logic just doesn't hold up.  We all know it's not "normal" inflation where we're all so flush on cash that companies rise prices due to a demand shortage.  It's demonstrably caused by supply side shortages and profiteering.  This will surely have neglible impact on inflation and just cause hardship.

 

My other gripe relates to the actual fiscal policy which these clowns in charge are just ignoring.  Sunak said yesterday his number 1 priority is to halve inflation, f**king do something about it then you pillock.  Him and CHunt support the BoE's approach to squeeze people, so they obviously support the theory, but are also dead against other means of giving people less spending power like, you know, taxation?  It's one of those weird political positions that raising interests is some inherently fine free market approach that aligns with their extreme views on capitalism whilst taxation is some disgusting socialist policy that should be avoided at all costs.  As someone with a ridiculous large mortgage due for renewal next September, I'd happily take the tax thanks.  Granted if taxation was used and then handed back to the population it would do naff all, but given we've just hit the despicable position of having nation debt greater than GDP (for the first time since 1961 when we were forking out for WW2 still), maybe using it pay off the debt would kill two birds with one stone?  But no, let's absolutely rinse a minority of the population to produce more profit for the banks...

 

Guess in this moan I just don't get why if excessive free capital and cash is driving inflation (I don't believe it it), why they're not looking at capping profits, taxing wages instead and reducing import tariff rather than just hitting nterest rates.  I mean, I know exactly why they're not and it's driving me up the wall that they're getting away with it.

Bloomin hell, there was definitely no point in my post other than a rant, but there certainly is a point to yours!!!

 

It's annoying because what you say makes complete sense, and we all know why it isn't being delivered....

[Górnik Leicester]

1 hour ago, Zear0 said:

There's no point to this post, just a rambling rant at my view on the whole situation.

 

As you write above, the population affected by the BoE monetary policy of raising interest rates hits a relatively small % of populs it'll obviously not have the effect it wants to.  I get the rationale for them doing this is to make people have less spare cash to spend, but the logic just doesn't hold up.  We all know it's not "normal" inflation where we're all so flush on cash that companies rise prices due to a demand shortage.  It's demonstrably caused by supply side shortages and profiteering.  This will surely have neglible impact on inflation and just cause hardship.

 

My other gripe relates to the actual fiscal policy which these clowns in charge are just ignoring.  Sunak said yesterday his number 1 priority is to halve inflation, f**king do something about it then you pillock.  Him and CHunt support the BoE's approach to squeeze people, so they obviously support the theory, but are also dead against other means of giving people less spending power like, you know, taxation?  It's one of those weird political positions that raising interests is some inherently fine free market approach that aligns with their extreme views on capitalism whilst taxation is some disgusting socialist policy that should be avoided at all costs.  As someone with a ridiculous large mortgage due for renewal next September, I'd happily take the tax thanks.  Granted if taxation was used and then handed back to the population it would do naff all, but given we've just hit the despicable position of having nation debt greater than GDP (for the first time since 1961 when we were forking out for WW2 still), maybe using it pay off the debt would kill two birds with one stone?  But no, let's absolutely rinse a minority of the population to produce more profit for the banks...

 

Guess in this moan I just don't get why if excessive free capital and cash is driving inflation (I don't believe it it), why they're not looking at capping profits, taxing wages instead and reducing import tariff rather than just hitting nterest rates.  I mean, I know exactly why they're not and it's driving me up the wall that they're getting away with it.

This is bang on the money.

 

Increasing interest rates isn't hitting those who have money, it's inherently designed to hit those particularly towards the bottom, who have the least disposable income anyway, under the pretense that we're ALL affected. Those towards the top (dare I say the mates of those in government) aren't going to feel a thing with these interest rate rises - hence Sunak's patronising "hold your nerve" statement the other day. 

[leicsmac]

The next election cannot come quickly enough.

[Trumpet]

55 minutes ago, Górnik Leicester said:

This is bang on the money.

 

Increasing interest rates isn't hitting those who have money, it's inherently designed to hit those particularly towards the bottom, who have the least disposable income anyway, under the pretense that we're ALL affected. Those towards the top (dare I say the mates of those in government) aren't going to feel a thing with these interest rate rises - hence Sunak's patronising "hold your nerve" statement the other day. 

Completely wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They’ll be scooping decent returns on their savings.

[Tommy G]

1 hour ago, leicsmac said:

The next election cannot come quickly enough.

I'm not sure how that will affect the BofE setting interest rates......I wouldn't trust Starmer to run a bath either.

 

I'm not sure a GE would bring a sea change that everyone is expecting. 

[Tommy G]

27 minutes ago, Trumpet said:

Completely wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They’ll be scooping decent returns on their savings.

I don't think anyone ''rich'' define that how you want, will have all their capital tied up in savings. There's smarter ways to make money than whack it in a savings account at a rate thats a 1/2 to 1/3 of current inflation. Plus as an additional rate tax payer you'll then get taxed 45% on any savings income, pointless. 

[leicsmac]

3 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

I'm not sure how that will affect the BofE setting interest rates......I wouldn't trust Starmer to run a bath either.

 

I'm not sure a GE would bring a sea change that everyone is expecting. 

You might be right.

 

But I - and I would hope a lot of people - are willing to take the chance.

[weller54]

Want to improve our Countrys' prospects and outlook?.. 

Then support rejoining the EU and put an end to this bloody nightmare!!! 

[Daggers]

2 hours ago, leicsmac said:

You might be right.

 

But I - and I would hope a lot of people - are willing to take the chance.

The worst Labour admin is always better than the best Tory admin.

 

What have they improved in 13 years?

 

 

[Izzy]

10 minutes ago, Daggers said:

The worst Labour admin is always better than the best Tory admin.

 

What have they improved in 13 years?

 

 

@FerrisBueller

[FerrisBueller]

38 minutes ago, Izzy said:

@FerrisBueller

This almost felt like being famous…

[SpacedX]

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jul/01/rip-off-britain-cost-of-living-crisis-uk-retail-profits

[st albans fox]

10 minutes ago, Line-X said:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jul/01/rip-off-britain-cost-of-living-crisis-uk-retail-profits

Govt isn’t bothered about companies making big profits - it’s a de facto tax on us via corporation tax 

 

the pandemic has enabled retailers to sharpen their supply chains and cut out some of the middle men. hence their margins have increased. Having double digit inflation has allowed them to stretch the, even further. They will argue that they took a hit on the currency with truss in charge but that was for a quarter and has been covered several times over by now. 

[ozleicester]

Instead of raising interest, (which in some  way serves to cut spending, but just puts money into the corporates and shareholders and unjustly targets the poor.) ....why dont the government implement some form of "high spenders tax", that way the extra revenue goes to government coffers and then can be spent for the good of all instead of just  dumped in wealthy bank accounts while the poor starve.

[Buzzard]

Our 2 year fixed ends in December so managed to secure another 2 year fixed with Halifax at 5.89%. 

 

Our current deal is at 0.99% so a pretty hefty increase but at £260 more it's still just about affordable. don't know how any new buyers coming off their first rate with a 30 year mortgage are going to cope.

 

With the benefit of hindsight, taking out a 10 year fixed at something around 2.5% 2 years ago would have been the smart thing to do, but I suppose at the time, we'd had a period of long rates and I could have been kicking myself if we'd had another 5 years of it being rock-bottom. 

[adejo92]

On 10/07/2023 at 15:19, Buzzard said:

Our 2 year fixed ends in December so managed to secure another 2 year fixed with Halifax at 5.89%. 

 

Our current deal is at 0.99% so a pretty hefty increase but at £260 more it's still just about affordable. don't know how any new buyers coming off their first rate with a 30 year mortgage are going to cope.

 

With the benefit of hindsight, taking out a 10 year fixed at something around 2.5% 2 years ago would have been the smart thing to do, but I suppose at the time, we'd had a period of long rates and I could have been kicking myself if we'd had another 5 years of it being rock-bottom. 

 My 5 year fixed ends around September next year. Hoping the rates go down significantly by then, but i fear they won't.

 

Current rate is 2.19%!

Edited 11 July 2023 by adejo92

[Górnik Leicester]

On 10/07/2023 at 15:19, Buzzard said:

Our 2 year fixed ends in December so managed to secure another 2 year fixed with Halifax at 5.89%. 

 

Our current deal is at 0.99% so a pretty hefty increase but at £260 more it's still just about affordable. don't know how any new buyers coming off their first rate with a 30 year mortgage are going to cope.

 

With the benefit of hindsight, taking out a 10 year fixed at something around 2.5% 2 years ago would have been the smart thing to do, but I suppose at the time, we'd had a period of long rates and I could have been kicking myself if we'd had another 5 years of it being rock-bottom. 

We're one of those first time buyers. Our 5-year fixed (3.39%) ends in June 2025. In some ways, the fact that we're used to paying a *slightly* higher rate due to us only putting down a 5% deposit means we'll be not as drastically hit when our rate inevitably goes up. In the meantime, it's just a case of trying to pay off a couple of hundred quid extra a month to chip away - no point sticking any more in savings at the moment as the banks are being terrible at increasing the interest rates there. 

[adejo92]

1 hour ago, Górnik Leicester said:

We're one of those first time buyers. Our 5-year fixed (3.39%) ends in June 2025. In some ways, the fact that we're used to paying a *slightly* higher rate due to us only putting down a 5% deposit means we'll be not as drastically hit when our rate inevitably goes up. In the meantime, it's just a case of trying to pay off a couple of hundred quid extra a month to chip away - no point sticking any more in savings at the moment as the banks are being terrible at increasing the interest rates there. 

A lot of places say the rates will drop throughout 2024.

[Zear0]

10 minutes ago, adejo92 said:

A lot of places say the rates will drop throughout 2024.

Pretty much identical situation as yourself so here's hoping.

[FoyleFox]

Octopus have just sent me a DD / usage review, going into our account to review, and it has the following statement

 

"From October to March you will receive a monthly credit towards these costs of £66, rising to £67 from December due to the Energy Bills Support Scheme".

 

The Gov page has the following "The Energy Bills Discount Scheme runs for 12 months from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024".

 

I hadn't realised we were due to receive these payments again this winter, or have I misunderstood.

[ozleicester]

3 minutes ago, FoyleFox said:

The Gov page has the following "The Energy Bills Discount Scheme runs for 12 months from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024".

Socialism, coming to a town near you.