It’s not looking good is it?

[User15384]

Cost of living crisis
Choice between heating v eating
Pound dramatically falling
Higher interest rates
NHS on brink of collapse

And now the warning of a flu-covid “twindemic” this Winter

It’s all quite overwhelming and sad and seems to be never ending 😞

Are you aware that fiat currency has to collapse at some point? As in it cannot go on forever, and the British pound is the longest running fiat currency in history?

The only thing that could prevent a crash would be massive amounts of debt, which could prop it up, but it can't last, and to force people to take out a lot of debt you'd have to do something very big, like collapse lots of small businesses in a year or something.

I have my own personal stress to work through before I even get to thinking about twindemics.
Yes the cost of living effects me as much as it does anyone else, but it's just an added pressure wearing me down while I'm dealing with my personal stuff.
People have their own personal grief amidst all this. It just makes it harder. It's like walking through fog.

Twindemic? Oh good, yet more threads to hide.

Liebig
On our first house, 1990's, our mortgage rate went up to about 10% and was also in negative equity. I found another part time job on top of my 40 hour week and DH did overtime Saturday and Sunday. We hardly had the heating on and just enough food. We went to the pub once a week with £5.
No bank of mum and dad then and we never got into debt. But my parents fed us once a week. We came out of it with a very sound financial plan to ensure to never to be in that precarious situation again...so every cloud.

@Liebig
Dunno love?

It will end when the Tories are voted out. I vividly remember when Blair was elected and they played D:Reams 'things can only get better.' Things did get better for us - my mum and dad were divorced and our quality of life as a single parent family massively improved under Labour. No they weren't perfect, but they did get a lot right. Life was pretty good.

I doubt that's happening. I'm never voting Labour again along with many women, and Tory voters never change. Simple maths tells you they are in power for good now.

What a load of bollocks. Of course it's not the media - it's the pricks who are making this stuff happen

Source?

If all Fiat currencies have to fall at some point surely that would suggest that the longest sanding ones might be the ones to fall first?

Money is an incredibly weird thing. It is all a question of trust, and nothing more, and it works when there is trust but risks failing when trust goes.

Money is only a tool that serves society (and especially the richest in society when government choses to make it serve the richest most)

I agree. The Blair years were a utopia compared to what we have right now. And the Tories are behind most of the problems that we now face - there is no getting away from it.

The Tories claim to be in favour of social mobility but they do everything they can to prevent it.

No its not looking good at all and toxic positivity is not helping.
I think now its all about safeguarding ourselves to get through it. Not having control is the worse thing in these circumstances until this shit show gets booted out for at least a term.
Basic stuff that has been drummed into us like making our homes warm as possible are obvious but other things too such as start stocking up a little on extra food in case of shortages, researching hacks to make everyday life easier and simpler.
Make it clear to friends and family thay you are cutting down on expensive Christmas etc so you have more control.
I bought my first house in early nineties. I was in negative equity after 18 months with a mortgage of £702 a month. Our income was £900 a month. We were very poor our car broke down and it sat in the snow until the summer when my uncle eventually fixed it. It was grim but I learned how to cook on a very tight budget, grow food and sew.
Do I want to go back to that? No! But things I am doing now are going that way.
I have spent my day off sewing thermal liners into curtains, foiling behind radiators and doing a budget because I feel more in control, not more positive.
But I appreciate how hard it must be if people cant do this.
What can you do to feel more in control?

Sure if the news stopped reporting on it supermarket shelves would be magically full, and food and energy costs would magically drop. Because that is how it works isn't it? If you stop reporting the bad news, the bad news stops magically happening.

yeah it makes me piss myself laughing when people blame the media. So, it’s the media that is to blame for the fact that food prices go up again, every time I go in the shop? 🤣

The people who blame the media also tend to believe in QAnon.

It won't be anywhere as bad as you think it will be

How can you say that? How bad things might get in the coming months depend very much on what your starting point is. There are many of us who simply can no longer afford to put the heating on and cannot manage continued prices rises at the supermarket. That's before interest rate rises impact our mortgages. I can only assume these are things that don't worry you which would put you in a very priviledged position right now.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/619781

Also been around the block a few times, been through a lot worse. Seems to me this kind of happens every 10 -20 years or so, i remember well the 3-day working week, when electric was limited too so many hours a day, no streetlights and buses stopped running because they couldn't see where they were going.
I remember the bank crash in the 1980s, which caused severe financial hardship. I was a one parent family with a mortgage, interest rates hit 12.5%.
I think this winter may be harsh for some, but we will survive, please do not bury head in sand if your struggling seek help to sort finances now, get prepared do whatever it takes to keep yourself above water. I am not trying to be patronising in any way this is what i did and will do again if i need too.
Get an evening job, if you have any free time, /extend mortgage term/heat only rooms using/limit screen time/ cook basic winter meals hearty soups, stews, curry,s one pot stuff that can be reheated.
Buy some fluffy throws and hot water bottles for all to snuggle under.
Ive just saved myself £30 per month, got rid of my i phone bought a basic Samsung, does all it needs to do, gone on Tesco mobile network unlimited calls ect £7.50 per month.
Stopped having my nails done, saved £20 per month.
Have stopped all takeaways and coffees to go. ( i only had 1 a month but its saved me another £20+)
Am charging my phone at work.😜
Have 3 lamps in lounge now just use 1.
Have cut back on using washing machine.
Stopped using my dishwasher.
Open oven door when finished cooking let the heat out to warm the room.
Gas heating will only go on for an hour in the morning, perhaps an hour at night.
I will not use my tumble drier, ive bought a clothes airer and will hang washing on it in the warmest room when i can't put it outside.
I always feel these times are sent to us to make us appreciate the good times we have had and will have again.

Source for what exactly?
Do you know what a fiat currency means? It's not backed by anything, it's fabricated. When numbers get put into a screen at the bank for a "loan" what are they actually loaning you?

Think about it.

There's many things to read about this. Find the book The Grip of Death by Michael Robotham, he's an economist who really knows what's going on. If you rely on spoonfeeding you're in for a shock, well we all are really, this thing is not pretty at all. I'm very glad I don't have a mortgage at this point.

Completely agree. Bit like saying Covid wouldn't exist without the media reporting it.
Was difficult for young people to get on the housing ladder before this. Close to impossible for many now.
Plus many people will lose their homes. Guess the rich will continue to get richer renting out a property or few.
But wealth will trickle down, apparently 🙄

That’s like saying “Because my bloke doesn’t beat seven shades of shit out of me, there’s no such thing as domestic violence”. It’s not particularly affecting us yet either because we’re extremely lucky but I can see the evidence of my own eyes.

I find it weird people coming on here and going, oh it went to 15% and we all threw another log on the fire and got on with it. Our family lost our home. I was 7. My family's finances were destroyed to a point that they never returned. I'd honestly say that it was only in my mid thirties when I did a lot of therapy that I got over how traumatic it was. People who talk about those interest rates like it's a matter of slapping on an extra jumper and calling it is a useful learning experience were basically okay throughout because it wasn't like that when you actually got booted out of your house. There are going to be an awful lot of people who are not okay, and it will be genuinely traumatic for them and it may well take decades to get over it.

Homeowners were happy for the government to intervene in the market while it meant low interest rates and property value rising. Meanwhile others have been forced to spend a fortune on rent with little hope to ever own. If this crisis causes a reset in any way there then it won’t be all bad. Some people who ‘own’ currently will just have to accept that conditions and policies change and they may have to rent now.

Agree with this....

I was first in line for my first course of jabs and my booster.

Then got covid (for the second time) 4 weeks after the booster, first time was before vaccines..... I've decided personally that the risks of a relatively new vaccine outweigh the risks from still getting covid...

I'll still be getting my flu jab though.

That sounds cold, I am sympathetic but it’s only what has been happening to many others for years and years as a flip side to the govt policies and interventions in the market that kept house prices high.

@Barney60 Also been around the block a few times, been through a lot worse. Seems to me this kind of happens every 10 -20 years or so, i remember well the 3-day working week, when electric was limited too so many hours a day, no streetlights and buses stopped running because they couldn't see where they were going

Yup, been there done that I live in a major city at the time.

I can remember the local paper printing a map every week of the areas that were going to have their electricity cut off, so people could plan. We were very lucky as we were on the same circuit as a major hospital, so we never got cut off.

My mother arranged for friends without electricity come come around to eat and get warm (we had 2 coal fires) and I brought friends from school back for an evening meal.
My mother batch cooked huge stews and baked our own bread.

We spent Saturday morning in the local park collecting firewood.

We survived.

Totally agree with this. I'm not a tin foil hat merchant but the media drive an agenda which impacts hugely on so many areas of live/society. Politics is largely determined by media slant and unfortunately good mental health is being eroded by continuous scaremongering news. I think it's very important to be aware local/national and worldwide events but sometimes it's ok to switch off from them or limit where we get our information from.