AIBU to believe that the cost of living crisis is a load of nonsense

OP your post has made me think. I qualify as very poor in this country, and I only use my credit card for online purchases and then pay it off straight away, but I like to have it there for emergencies. Now, I don't give a shiny shit about Oasis, but what if there was an event that I wanted to go to that was a truly once in a lifetime thing? I'd certainly be tempted. Wouldn't you?

I hope you get them, I am not an Oasis fan but some of my happiest moments have been at gigs seeing my favourite bands. It lifts your spirits and lives in your memory forever. There is the thrill when you get the tickets, the countdown to the gig, the energy and anticipation when you arrive, the slight boredom while the support act is on and then the most amazing adrenaline rush as the main act takes to the stage! Nothing like a good live gig

This!

We're doing ok and if I wanted to go to a gig could afford the tickets - Oasis not really my thing but everyone is different.

But COL is still hitting us all in some way, even if fortunate enough to be able to still manage.

My food shopping has doubled in the last 4 years, and gas/electric is higher than it's ever been. Every year seems to be another bill increase - Council Tax was a big one this year and sky was cancelled as increased 14%. My salary hasn't!

Oh for God's sake. "Those who scrounge" indeed.

At what point will people realise that politicians and governments are corporatists in thrall and hock to the global economy. That money is made and lost through gambling - GAMBLING - on the stock market, and if you think that insider trading doesn't happen think again. Bread and circuses prevent we proles from revolting, carrots and sticks promise us jam tomorrow yet it never materialises, in fact we're lucky if bread and scrape is on the menu.

As a PP said, wealth creation no longer starts with 200.00 and access to a phone box. Even the Internet isn't the box of delights we're led to believe by Instagram.

Incentive to "work hard"? For many people that incentive is to scrape by keeping a roof over their heads and feeding themselves, and the money they are taxed could go on heating but we have a stupid system by which the government allows businesses to benefit from paying the lowest wages they can afford then taxing the low paid and handing a bit back via the benefits system. It's nuts.

We have bigger problems than Oasis.

And another thing while I'm on my rant, those ticket buyers aren't just funding two ageing musicians, they are paying sound and light technicians, stage managers, the production industry in general etc etc which is part of the whole economy. There's a big picture which you haven't really thought through at all, have you?

People aren't paying for the lifestyle of multi-millionaires (or, in this case, their massive alimony payments). Indirectly, yes, that's a consequence, but what they are paying for is the chance to see a band they love live, do something they will remember for ever. It's not my choice, I don't dislike Oasis but I am not a fan to the extent I would want to go to a gig, but I get why those who are want to go.

Most of the people complaining about the COL on here seems to be middle class parents telling us all they are barely surviving on £100k a year and crying about how they haven't had a holiday in 3 years. I don't see you posting about how there can be a COL when people are still sending their children to private school, eating out or spending money going to see a West End show, but plenty are still doing that.

I think this has to do with a perception about Oasis fans. I've got a feeling you imagine the 14 million are all either living on benefits or low income. They MUST be paying for this on a credit card, how else could the paupers who like this sort of thing afford it? I can only imagine that's it, since you haven't expressed any issue with people spending money on, say, tickets for the Olympics in Paris, which will also have attracted millions of people wanting to go and will have also cost a fair bit.

As someone else has pointed out, Oasis have a worldwide fan base. A good percentage of the 14 million will be coming from overseas. Those from the UK will likely have been in their teens/early 20s back when Oasis first burst on the scene and might now live in a nice 3 bed semi with a low/no mortgage, but even if they weren't, what they spend and how they managed to do it isn't your business.

I'm not sure how many dates they are doing, but I would say a good number won't be spending a thing as they will not manage to get tickets. You can then cheer because they will have been saved from themselves.

Maybe the same people are affected by the COL, and maybe they are putting the tickets on a credit card. Most months, they might struggle to afford any kind of luxurys. Perhaps amongst all of this shit, they also want some joy in their lives and are prepared to go short for a month for the sake of seeing an iconic British bands reunion.

I can’t find the words to reply to this post.
Clearly has no idea about how an economy works even at a basic level.
I know a few people in the queue. I know several who need to use food banks. The former all have plenty of disposable income. The latter are in poverty or close to it. Only those with comfortable lifestyles are buying tickets to anything right now.
I am not here to argue politics.
I think the view that Oasis fans are all from a Royle-family fan base is a little, er, outdated.
They became so huge because they might have started with young, working class fans but eventually they worked their way through every demographic in terms of attracting listeners.
I think the ticket prices are nuts but according to the laws of demand and supply the market will
stand for it.
Understand that everyone has a political viewpoint but you’d have to be blind to think issues like child poverty are not a real problem.

Yes selective spend

Record high in what way? Highest ever in. Uk? Doesn't = they are high just higher than previous norm. UK is not in the top 17 of highest taxed.countries..Ireland is nomadcapitalist.com/finance/countries-with-the-highest-tax-rates/

We put everything on our credit card and then pay it off at the end of the month, its not necessarily the case that you use your credit card cos you can’t afford something

Wow, thats a lot of money you're wasting on frivolous holidays.

Instead of spending that money on flights and hotels why don’t you use it to invest in yourself? Use it to learn a skill - or a new language, or anything - to make yourself more employable.

In the long term it will pay off by increasing your income - much more so than spending a couple of weeks in a tourist trap while deluding yourself you're experiencing 'real local culture'.

What a facile snobbish take on life. Just to use the Oasis analogy, personally I have always been bemused by their appeal but I totally understand why people will do all they can to see their favourite band/artist. I have been to gigs that live in my memory for many years after the event. Conversley there have been gigs that I have had to pass up because I simply did not have the funds. I never got to see Bowie when loads of my mates were going because I simply did not have the cash. We tend to buy what we can afford but of course sometimes we will borrow or go into debt to do this. As for the cost of living crisis, it is real, I am dreading this winter, it will be the third one I have struggled through. Food is costly and I am good at cooking and menu planning and I sometimes feel shocked when I am paying for food. The money I have no longer does the things it used to do.

Unlike the tories where you work bloody hard and get… fucking nowhere unless it’s a corporate job because you need to keep the poorest poor, right?

oh and fuck the nurses, bin men etc because, ew gross

Id love to go personally, quite like a bit of Oasis but cant afford it because we like so many others are affected by the COL

We live rural and the fuel costs are crippling us mostly. That and food bills. We have cut back, we dont go to the pub any more, we dont eat out any more, we make do and mend , I yellow sticker shop, shop in discounters, every purchase is considered. We dont go out on trips unless we use our bus passes

But no one will know that when I finally get to sit in BC on my flight to Australia to visit family for the first time in 30 years. Could I be using the money to make our lives easier, sure , but ffs, you have got to have a dream and our dream is to go for the holiday of a lifetime, seeing our son and his wife and hopefully grandchildren by time we make it, visit with my sister and nieces, nephews and their children, visit with friends we haven't seen in 30 years, so Oasis has to be a no for us

We’ve been trying to move for three years but where we live is extortionately priced. We’ve agreed that £500 out of our house savings pot isn’t going to make the difference between us moving or not anytime soon, and we might as well try for tickets when we work and save bloody hard

Frankly , I know it’s a real , actual problem but I sometimes wonder, too , when each time I walk past a nail salon , they are full with queues 🤷‍♀️ … even in deprived areas. Priorities ?

There are 67 million people in the uk. Hope this helps.

OP just finds Oasis and their fans a bit icky, that's all this is about.

She thinks it's fine to augment Taylor Swift's already bulging coffers, but not the Gallaghers'. Of course, this is a straw man anyway, since neither the TS fans nor the Oasis fans are donating money, they're buying an experience that they'll find enjoyable and worth the money.

The world feels pretty dark at the moment in many ways, and it is FINE for people to have some fun where they can get it. Yes, even poor people, and yes, even if it's stuck on a credit card. Just have a plan to pay it off, all good.

How do you know they are the same people? 😂

Thank you.

This is the problem with your idea of the deserving poor and the undeserving poor though.

You have absolutely no idea of anyone's circumstances, what they are going through, how they choose to budget or why they prioritise the things they do.

You made up your mind about me before knowing anything at all.

So buying an Oasis ticket is 'funding a millionaire's retirement', but you get your info from Facebook, owned by someone worth 100s of billions. Why are you funding him?

A lot of people buying tickets won't be in any sort of financial strain, I am one of them.

We are fortunate enough that although prices have gone up, we are still comfortable.

Just because I am doing fine and have enough money to. It concert tickets doesn't mean there are not hundreds of thousands hands of people struggling financially.

The cost of living crisis doesn't mean that everyone in this country is on the bones of their arses. It means those who were struggling before are fucked now and those who were just about managing before are now the struggling ones.

Plenty of people still have disposable income.

There are so many of these threads, no COL crisis because people are shopping, people are going on holidays blah blah blah. It's really shitty to say that just because some of us can afford nice stuff that there is no issue for a large number of the population,

There's a lot of people in the country. Those who are struggling with cost of living won't be buying oasis tickets.

We aren't buying tickets, we usually end up in overdraft by the end of the month but our bills all get paid.

You might as well say the same for Taylor Swift fans, for people who still have holidays, for people who smoke or have a drink, or eat in a restaurant etc

I know there’s a col crisis because my food bills have shot up and I’m wondering how I’m going to afford to heat my home this winter. Oasis having a concert hasn’t put my mind at rest about this.