[Politics] Cost of Living Crisis

[wellquickwoody]

Edit. Can’t be arsed.

Please do, I need an excuse for watching paint dry.

 

[Seasider78]

Sky News reporting

‘Shell have reported record profits of $11.5bn (£9.4bn) for the second quarter, more than double last year's figure of $5.5bn (£4.5bn)’

‘Meanwhile, British Gas owner Centrica enjoyed £1.3bn operating profits in the first six months of 2022, five times the amount from the same period last year of £262m’

https://apple.news/A4CCPa9vdQ_q5H3BgKN1FLg

Obscene against a backdrop of people struggling to put food on the table and facing unaffordable energy bills.

 

[nicko31]

Sky News reporting

‘Shell have reported record profits of $11.5bn (£9.4bn) for the second quarter, more than double last year's figure of $5.5bn (£4.5bn)’

‘Meanwhile, British Gas owner Centrica enjoyed £1.3bn operating profits in the first six months of 2022, five times the amount from the same period last year of £262m’

https://apple.news/A4CCPa9vdQ_q5H3BgKN1FLg

Obscene against a backdrop of people struggling to put food on the table and facing unaffordable energy bills.

Sadly Sunak's windfall tax will fail

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...oil-and-gas-giants-slash-uk-windfall-tax-bill

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

That's quite a rant - not sure where to start.

Let's get one thing out of the way - this is not politics of envy, it's the exact opposite. As someone who's reaching retirement age in four months, I too have a lot of benefits to look forward to. My concern is whether those benefits are entirely sustainable.

Yes, you know a lot of people of a similar age who have died: so do I. Most people in their 60s and 70s will have a similar story but they're dying in lower numbers. The simple and uncontestable fact is that, for the first time ever in British history, we have more people over 65 than people under 18. And now that immigration is declining (they tend to have more kids) and people live longer and longer, that gap is going to widen - this is not sustainable. As I said, it's not an issue now but it will be in 30, 40 or 50 years time unless something radical is done.

No party is going to exclude 70+ from voting but the simple fact is that this is the age group that vote in big numbers and they get the benefits. This is also the group that benefited from free university education, cheap homes (my parents bought a 4-bed house in Brighton for £58,000 in current prices). NHS dentists and final salary pensions. You benefited from this - as did I. It seems unfair to lumber the younger generation with tuition fees, exorbitant rents and all the rest - and then tell them they have to pay more as there are more pensioners to support.

The Conservative politician, David Willetts, wrote an interesting book about 10 years ago. It was called The Pinch and it was basically about how young people get a raw deal as the baby boomers have reaped the benefits. Unfortunately, the book is a bit light on solutions but it's certainly not something that's gone away.

Finally,there's your bizarre claim that the elderly (or the aged, whatever you want to call them) are being pushed back into work. Again, it's the exact opposite: there are many stories of extremely experienced, capable and knowledgeable 50 and 60 somethings who are turned down for jobs. Ageism is rife in many industries: as someone who was made redundant at 59 and who has only managed to grab three job interviews in seven years, I know full well how hard it is to find work.

Interesting post (as was the one to which you replied).

There are several issues. You and I are around the same age. To us time seems to move very fast compared with when we were young (I have a theory about this - for another time). And change is happening faster than it happened in the past (this is weird and I have no explanation - but it may simply relate to population growth, health, longevity and the need to adapt to survive). Humans are exploding with ideas and innovation....

But it can all seem frightening. As we grow older we feel the need to shore up our security (the 'conservative' imperative) and sense acutely any perceived threats to this.

Consequently it is hard to see the direction of change for what it is.

And....the free market economy vies with the imperative of governments to shape and control change.

Almost none of us can see the big picture and those who can, and who gain influence, tend to try to game the change for their own benefit.

Solutions? None. Wars used to cause resets and rethinks. Catastrophe of other sorts may have similar effects. Covid? Well the world seems to have shrugged that off.

As always, we live in interesting times.

 

[Weststander]

Interesting post (as was the one to which you replied).

There are several issues. You and I are around the same age. To us time seems to move very fast compared with when we were young (I have a theory about this - for another time). And change is happening faster than it happened in the past (this is weird and I have no explanation - but it may simply relate to population growth, health, longevity and the need to adapt to survive). Humans are exploding with ideas and innovation....

But it can all seem frightening. As we grow older we feel the need to shore up our security (the 'conservative' imperative) and sense acutely any perceived threats to this.

Consequently it is hard to see the direction of change for what it is.

And....the free market economy vies with the imperative of governments to shape and control change.

Almost none of us can see the big picture and those who can, and who gain influence, tend to try to game the change for their own benefit.

Solutions? None. Wars used to cause resets and rethinks. Catastrophe of other sorts may have similar effects. Covid? Well the world seems to have shrugged that off.

As always, we live in interesting times.

Speak for yourself

Be interested to read that theory, one day.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Speak for yourself

Be interested to read that theory, one day.

Oh, go on then.

My theory is that our perception of the passage of time is related to its percentage of the amount of time we have been alive.

Example, when I was age 7, a month felt like 'a month' which was at that time 1/84 th of my life.

When I was 63, a month was only 1/756 th of my life. So a month now 'feels' like 84/756 th of what a month 'felt' like when I was 7. That's approximately 0.11 x 30 days. Just over three days.

So a month passes me by now in the blink of an eye (what felt like three days when I was 7).

As I said 'yesterday', is it Spring already? 'No', I was told by the nipper. 'It's ****ing summer, you silly old ****er', without the ****ing swearing, obviously.

And, **** me, I'm 64 not 63

 

[Super Steve Earle]

Oh, go on then.

My theory is that our perception of the passage of time is related to its percentage of the amount of time we have been alive.

Example, when I was age 7, a month felt like 'a month' which was at that time 1/84 th of my life.

When I was 63, a month was only 1/756 th of my life. So a month now 'feels' like 84/756 th of what a month 'felt' like when I was 7. That's approximately 0.11 x 30 days. Just over three days.

So a month passes me by now in the blink of an eye (what felt like three days when I was 7).

As I said 'yesterday', is it Spring already? 'No', I was told by the nipper. 'It's ****ing summer, you silly old ****er', without the ****ing swearing, obviously.

And, **** me, I'm 64 not 63

That sounds sort of right, but I would have put it the other way round and related to the amount of time we have left.

Works in the same way as you might look forward to a good experience and it seems to take forever to come round, whereas a hospital operation you are dreading comes round in a trice. Similar to me going on the London Eye. I absolutely hated it and I'll swear I was up there for hours. Mrs Earle loved it and said it was over too quickly.

 

[nicko31]

Inflation 10.1%, be amazed if rates don't go another 50 basis points in September

 

[WATFORD zero]

Who would have thought that giving a self-serving lying bunch of incompetents a huge majority and free reign to do what they wanted for nearly 3 years would result in raging inflation, a massive drop in GDP, various industries in crisis. Why didn't someone point out this may happen ................. oh

And the ironic thing is that the last 6 weeks of no government whatsoever hasn't come close to doing as much damage as when the previous one was still active

 

[nicko31]

Who would have thought that giving a self-serving lying bunch of incompetents a huge majority and free reign to do what they wanted for nearly 3 years would result in raging inflation, a massive drop in GDP, various industries in crisis. Why didn't someone point out this may happen ................. oh

And the ironic thing is that the last 6 weeks of no government whatsoever hasn't come close to doing as much damage as when the previous one was still active

The real pain of the cost of living is already being felt by small businesses up and down the country, maximum exposure to uncapped energy bill and rises of 250-300%, ZERO support

Another 3 weeks until the Tories latest internal squabble is over and maybe then something might happen, so far all we have from Truss is "profit shouldn't be a dirty word" and "British workers lack the skill and application of foreign nationals", great...

Many businesses can't wait and are already letting staff go and worse still shutting up shop for good

 

[Icy Gull]

The real pain of the cost of living is already being felt by small businesses up and down the country, maximum exposure to uncapped energy bill and rises of 250-300%, ZERO support

Another 3 weeks until the Tories latest internal squabble is over and maybe then something might happen, so far all we have from Truss is "profit shouldn't be a dirty word" and "British workers lack the skill and application of foreign nationals", great...

Many businesses can't wait and are already letting staff go and worse still shutting up shop for good

Avoiding blaming anyone in the UK. Covid followed within a few short months by the megalomaniac Russian invasion is the perfect storm to feck the world economy. Any government would be on their knees imo

 

[nicko31]

Avoiding blaming anyone in the UK. Covid followed within a few short months by the megalomaniac Russian invasion is the perfect storm to feck the world economy. Any government would be on their knees imo

Don't worry

Clarity and leadership. Coming soon...

 

[Icy Gull]

Don't worry

Clarity and leadership. Coming soon...

Of course it is

 

[WATFORD zero]

Avoiding blaming anyone in the UK. Covid followed within a few short months by the megalomaniac Russian invasion is the perfect storm to feck the world economy. Any government would be on their knees imo

Well they certainly would be if they had shot themselves in both feet economically before the further hits of Covid and the Russian invasion had started

Just lucky that the awarding of those Covid contracts were so well focused to manage the economic impact.

 

[beorhthelm]

grim numbers, not even a chink of sun rays from core rate which ticked back up. another indicator PPI (producer prices) has been rocketing up, leveled off so might see a turn. dark winter ahead either way.

 

[bhafc99]

grim numbers, not even a chink of sun rays from core rate which ticked back up. another indicator PPI (producer prices) has been rocketing up, leveled off so might see a turn. dark winter ahead either way.

So long as property prices keep rising then the UK is fine, though?

 

[nicko31]

grim numbers, not even a chink of sun rays from core rate which ticked back up. another indicator PPI (producer prices) has been rocketing up, leveled off so might see a turn. dark winter ahead either way.

Petrol / Diesel prices have eased of late, but the real worry is natural gas which is close to new highs.

 

[Stuart Munday]

Our shopping bill is up 20% and with gas and petrol increases I’m not sure how inflation is only 10%.

 

[WATFORD zero]

So long as property prices keep rising then the UK is fine, though?

UK house prices fall by £5,000 in August

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uk-house-prices-fall-by-5-000-in-august-5k85zfttb

 

[beorhthelm]

Petrol / Diesel prices have eased of late, but the real worry is natural gas which is close to new highs.

yes, oil price dropping (hints of new supply from Saudi) which will help, european gas hit new high today.