Cost of living crisis.

[leicsmac]

7 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

Imagine my shock 

 

 

In other news, water found to be wet, the Earth to be an oblate spheroid and Dennis Wise to be a scumbag. More at 11.

[UniFox21]

10 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

In other news, water found to be wet, the Earth to be an oblate spheroid and Dennis Wise to be a scumbag. More at 11.

In all seriousness, I think it's going to hamper my generation for a significant period of time.

Rental prices continue to increase, so I can't save as quickly for a house, which is also fundamentally unachievable with current mortgage rates 

[leicsmac]

19 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

In all seriousness, I think it's going to hamper my generation for a significant period of time.

Rental prices continue to increase, so I can't save as quickly for a house, which is also fundamentally unachievable with current mortgage rates 

Can only speak for myself here, but as someone coming back to the UK soon and looking to get on the housing ladder I think I must be out of my mind.

[BKLFox]

43 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

Imagine my shock 

 

 

Bit of a pointless survey overall

Based on responses from 14,821 British adults between 8 February and 1 May 2023. In general, young adults aged 25 to 34 were at greater risk of financial vulnerability than those over the age of 75, the data showed. Renters were more likely to report difficulty paying housing costs.

 

I think i could hazard a guess that young adults between 25-34 will have more day to day outgoings than an adult of 75 & therefore will have less surplus cash, its hardly breaking news.

[leicsmac]

9 minutes ago, BKLFox said:

Bit of a pointless survey overall

Based on responses from 14,821 British adults between 8 February and 1 May 2023. In general, young adults aged 25 to 34 were at greater risk of financial vulnerability than those over the age of 75, the data showed. Renters were more likely to report difficulty paying housing costs.

 

I think i could hazard a guess that young adults between 25-34 will have more day to day outgoings than an adult of 75 & therefore will have less surplus cash, its hardly breaking news.

I'm pretty sure no one on here would think it's breaking news. What is more a matter of contention is the seeming lack of practically anyone with the power to actually do something about this level of inequality.

 

WRT the bolded, I'm not entirely sure why that's relevant other than to reinforce the point that, yes, that age demographic is getting hit hard because of the increases in those day-to-day outgoings.

[weller54]

48 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Can only speak for myself here, but as someone coming back to the UK soon and looking to get on the housing ladder I think I must be out of my mind.

I wish you the best of luck!!... 

You'll need it. 

[BKLFox]

33 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

I'm pretty sure no one on here would think it's breaking news. What is more a matter of contention is the seeming lack of practically anyone with the power to actually do something about this level of inequality.

 

WRT the bolded, I'm not entirely sure why that's relevant other than to reinforce the point that, yes, that age demographic is getting hit hard because of the increases in those day-to-day outgoings.

Well i'd say its relevant in that the age groups are so far apart that it means nothing in the big scheme of things, if it said 25-34 were at greater risk than 35-44 then it has some relevance but to pit a 25yr old & all that they would be doing living life & covering bills v's a 75yr old sat in an armchair is moot.

[leicsmac]

2 minutes ago, BKLFox said:

Well i'd say its relevant in that the age groups are so far apart that it means nothing in the big scheme of things, if it said 25-34 were at greater risk than 35-44 then it has some relevance but to pit a 25yr old & all that they would be doing living life & covering bills v's a 75yr old sat in an armchair is moot.

Fair enough.

 

Speaking personally, I'd think that any demographic compared to any other that is struggling due to likely circumstances beyond their direct personal control, regardless of what obligations they may or may not have, is noteworthy and should be addressed.

 

Just for the sake of clarity, I'm referencing entire demographics here, not individuals within them for which personal circumstances may well play more of a part.

[Izzy]

2 hours ago, leicsmac said:

In other news, water found to be wet, the Earth to be an oblate spheroid and Dennis Wise to be a scumbag. More at 11.

@Facecloth

[FoyleFox]

30 minutes ago, BKLFox said:

Well i'd say its relevant in that the age groups are so far apart that it means nothing in the big scheme of things, if it said 25-34 were at greater risk than 35-44 then it has some relevance but to pit a 25yr old & all that they would be doing living life & covering bills v's a 75yr old sat in an armchair is moot.

There are significant differences when you look at life cycles and 25 to 75 is, as you say, a completely different situation.

Most people 25 - 50 have significantly different expenses to people outside that range. It's prime family expense years. That's the killer!

 

I have always had more disposable income than my friends, as I don't have children. In the last couple of years, all of their children have reached an age of independence, and they now have more disposable income as they're not paying for school uniforms, school trips or any of the other massive list of associated costs. And they can now have 2 holidays because they don't need to go in the school holidays when the price is double.

[Facecloth]

4 hours ago, leicsmac said:

In other news, water found to be wet, the Earth to be an oblate spheroid and Dennis Wise to be a scumbag. More at 11.

 

1 hour ago, Izzy said:

@Facecloth

Water isn't wet 

[leicsmac]

21 minutes ago, Facecloth said:

 

Water isn't wet 

Yep, you are right, it's just the word used to describe the interaction between a solid and a liquid like water.

 

I should have said "Pope found to have an affinity for Catholicism" instead.

[weller54]

[Sol thewall Bamba]

6 hours ago, UniFox21 said:

Imagine my shock 

 

 

Hardly surprising is it. 

[dsr-burnley]

9 hours ago, leicsmac said:

Fair enough.

 

Speaking personally, I'd think that any demographic compared to any other that is struggling due to likely circumstances beyond their direct personal control, regardless of what obligations they may or may not have, is noteworthy and should be addressed.

 

Just for the sake of clarity, I'm referencing entire demographics here, not individuals within them for which personal circumstances may well play more of a part.

But how do you address it?  People bringing up children have greater expenses than people who have no children or whose children are grown up.  This is not new.  Ask your parents, your grandparents, your great-grandparents, as far back as you can go, and it has always been the case that bringing up children is expensive. 

 

And who has the children?  Again, overwhelmingly, it is the young.  Few old people are bringing up children.  

[dsr-burnley]

10 hours ago, BKLFox said:

Bit of a pointless survey overall

Based on responses from 14,821 British adults between 8 February and 1 May 2023. In general, young adults aged 25 to 34 were at greater risk of financial vulnerability than those over the age of 75, the data showed. Renters were more likely to report difficulty paying housing costs.

 

I think i could hazard a guess that young adults between 25-34 will have more day to day outgoings than an adult of 75 & therefore will have less surplus cash, its hardly breaking news.

And as a further guess, I would say that people aged 25-34 are more likely to lose their jobs than people aged over 75.

[leicsmac]

1 hour ago, dsr-burnley said:

But how do you address it?  People bringing up children have greater expenses than people who have no children or whose children are grown up.  This is not new.  Ask your parents, your grandparents, your great-grandparents, as far back as you can go, and it has always been the case that bringing up children is expensive. 

 

And who has the children?  Again, overwhelmingly, it is the young.  Few old people are bringing up children.  

The same way you would address inequality between any other demographics on a noticeable scale - government incentives/intervention to help. And it's not like childbearing couples haven't gotten help from such government action in the past, is it?

 

And I'm sorry, but having such inequalities in place throughout history does not mean that they are somehow immutable, same with the financial systems that drive them.

[ozleicester]

Once again the real issue is being ignored... its not young Vs old... it is rich Vs poor that needs to be addressed. 
 

[gerblod]

In general, the English and Welsh population have been royally shafted by their own government, the banking fraternity and the entrepreneurial classes.

Those of us who grew up in the era where the Attlee government had instigated and enacted the firm basis of nationalised services and the Welfare State had the best of times - now we're seeing the worst of times.

Take a single instance of mine - I recently moved into a flat. I was intent on finding out what I was paying for services. The electricity supplier, E.ON Next, had set up a Direct Debit of £110 pm. It seemed exorbitant to me, especially as I was in credit of £154. So I trawled through the bills and established just how much I'd been using and applied their latest (subsidy free) tariffs to them. Before I'd finalised the spreadsheet, I received a mail stating that they needed to change the DD to £176pm. My calculations showed that I was using around £70 worth a month.

Everyone who has a tight budget doesn't need a middleman (which is all E.ON and their competitors are) sequestering chunks of their essential funds to keep for their own lucrative investment. We all know what's going on - they're scamming us and it's allowed by those who have the power to stop it.

Same with private renting landlords. I stopped watching watching 'Homes Under The Hammer' when I realised that the majority of those buying the properties were intent on building a 'portfolio' of properties. The start up might be difficult, but once the ball is rolling it's more and more easy to own scores (and more) of these oversubscribed places. The rot started with Thatcher selling off council homes and failing (?) to build more.

Now renters are passing on mortgage increases to their tenants.

The entrepreneurs rarely suffer while essential workers struggle. When people are removing their own teeth because they cannot find an NHS dentist it's an indication of how far that initial Welfare State has been eroded.

There are too many instances of this national malaise of inequality to enumerate.

I think of how Corbyn was vilified and lampooned for his apparently crackpot ideas. But I don't see anyone currently in power rushing to stop the inexorable greed of those organisations who have control of what we have essential need of..whether it be a roof over our head, heat for our homes or food for our bellies. Brave New World indeed.

[dsr-burnley]

1 hour ago, leicsmac said:

The same way you would address inequality between any other demographics on a noticeable scale - government incentives/intervention to help. And it's not like childbearing couples haven't gotten help from such government action in the past, is it?

 

And I'm sorry, but having such inequalities in place throughout history does not mean that they are somehow immutable, same with the financial systems that drive them.

Something like family credit and family allowance, you mean?  

[dsr-burnley]

19 minutes ago, gerblod said:

The entrepreneurs rarely suffer while essential workers struggle.

To be fair, we don't really want entrepreneurs to suffer.  It's an interesting idea that commercial businesses should close so that all their employees can do something else, such as becoming essential workers, but if we all work for the government, who's going to pay the tax to pay our wages?

[leicsmac]

2 hours ago, dsr-burnley said:

Something like family credit and family allowance, you mean?  

Or a reasonable approximation thereof, yes.

 

Obviously needs to be more effective given current evidence, though.

 

I've said before though, I'm entirely unsure the current economic and monetary systems a lot of nations rely upon are capable of dealing with the changes coming anyway, and there may be some big choices to be made. That's just a guess, though.

[Foxdiamond]

6 hours ago, gerblod said:

In general, the English and Welsh population have been royally shafted by their own government, the banking fraternity and the entrepreneurial classes.

Those of us who grew up in the era where the Attlee government had instigated and enacted the firm basis of nationalised services and the Welfare State had the best of times - now we're seeing the worst of times.

Take a single instance of mine - I recently moved into a flat. I was intent on finding out what I was paying for services. The electricity supplier, E.ON Next, had set up a Direct Debit of £110 pm. It seemed exorbitant to me, especially as I was in credit of £154. So I trawled through the bills and established just how much I'd been using and applied their latest (subsidy free) tariffs to them. Before I'd finalised the spreadsheet, I received a mail stating that they needed to change the DD to £176pm. My calculations showed that I was using around £70 worth a month.

Everyone who has a tight budget doesn't need a middleman (which is all E.ON and their competitors are) sequestering chunks of their essential funds to keep for their own lucrative investment. We all know what's going on - they're scamming us and it's allowed by those who have the power to stop it.

Same with private renting landlords. I stopped watching watching 'Homes Under The Hammer' when I realised that the majority of those buying the properties were intent on building a 'portfolio' of properties. The start up might be difficult, but once the ball is rolling it's more and more easy to own scores (and more) of these oversubscribed places. The rot started with Thatcher selling off council homes and failing (?) to build more.

Now renters are passing on mortgage increases to their tenants.

The entrepreneurs rarely suffer while essential workers struggle. When people are removing their own teeth because they cannot find an NHS dentist it's an indication of how far that initial Welfare State has been eroded.

There are too many instances of this national malaise of inequality to enumerate.

I think of how Corbyn was vilified and lampooned for his apparently crackpot ideas. But I don't see anyone currently in power rushing to stop the inexorable greed of those organisations who have control of what we have essential need of..whether it be a roof over our head, heat for our homes or food for our bellies. Brave New World indeed.

Brilliant post

[deep blue]

23 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

Brilliant post

I second that.  Gerblod's post is spot on.

 

One point in particular - it just doesn't make sense for any essential public infrastructure in the country to be in private hands.  The overwhelmingly Tory press will counter such an idea by using the "commie" and "financially unsound" smears and this seems to work with a substantial part of the populace, as shown by the voting patterns over the years.

 

And yet it's not at all a political mantra but pure common sense that you keep in public and national control essential infrastructure and services.  That's surely borne out by our current dilemmas on so many fronts.

[Foxdiamond]

11 minutes ago, deep blue said:

I second that.  Gerblod's post is spot on.

 

One point in particular - it just doesn't make sense for any essential public infrastructure in the country to be in private hands.  The overwhelmingly Tory press will counter such an idea by using the "commie" and "financially unsound" smears and this seems to work with a substantial part of the populace, as shown by the voting patterns over the years.

 

And yet it's not at all a political mantra but pure common sense that you keep in public and national control essential infrastructure and services.  That's surely borne out by our current dilemmas on so many fronts.

Another excellent post