to wonder why the govt are not doing anything about the spiralling cost of living?

[dirtyface]

they are making cuts left right and centre, but IMO are not looking at the bigger picture which is the REAL reason people are so skint. ie because of the cost of living ie food, gas, electric, (my particular bugbear) petrol , housing, local taxation.

this is why people are not spending money on the high street etc. its cos no bugger has got any disposable income after they have been fleeced every month paying for the essentials. i for one spend a good proportion of my earnings on petrol, so does dh and i am sure i speak for many people

obviously i am mostly talking about mr and mrs average joe on average incomes, ie, say min wage to about 30k or so. but am sure the higher earners are squeezed as well esp with them cutting off CB and tax credits etc after a certain income

whats going to happen? is it just going to keep going up and up. it scares me

disclaimer: i don't understand how any of this works so sorry if i sound thick. there is probably some clever obvious reason why "they" cant sort the cost of living out a bit

Anyway, what's wrong with pubic spending? It brings progress, surely that is better than hoarding gold?

I must admit that I have imposed stringent cuts on pubic spending over the last few years. Haven't vajazzled for decades ).

(Sorry, there was no way I could resist that)

Public spending is just the govt spending our money and is always inefficient.
I will spend my money best on me, because I know how i value my money and what I want
I will spend my money second best on you, as I value my money, but don't know as well as you do what you want
I will spend someone elses money on someone else worst as I do not value the money and do not know what you want.
That is why public spending is inefficennt and should be minimised.
Also Gordon Brown borrowed a lot of money, so was actually spending our children's money on buying votes - not classy

Its not exactly hoarding when you have to borrow to spend it.

BrokenSunglasses BTL landlords have a lot of risk and responsibility, and while I know that there are many unscrupulous landlords, the majority aren't like that. If their responsibility was less, then they would be able to charge less, because they wouldn't be responsible for paying OOH emergency plumbers, they wouldn't have to pay for insurance that will cover them if they have tenants that don't pay or won't move out or who do a lot of damage. If they were given protection in another way, rents could come down

Interesting. DH and I own a rental property in Scotland which is an HMO. Over the past 10 years, we have had to implement a number of "features" which social housing landlords letting to families with children do not. The latest wheeze is emergency lighting, for those living in their own home who might not be able to find their way in the event of a fire. This must be inspected annually by a little man who works for the council but runs a business in his spare time an inspector annually. Just like the property itself, with its mains operated battery backed up smoke alarms, self closing fire resistant doors, council dictated approved lease and many, many other "features". At the last count, we have six annual inspections for this property and spend a minimum of £3000 a year just complying and getting inspections done. We've seen a massive communal repairs fraud (repairs instructed by the local authority to tenement buildings when not needed and at excessive cost) and massive incompetence and overspend on a still undelivered tram route. And since we don't have relatives employed in the public sector benefitting from it, we tend to question it but somehow it all gets hushed up.

And does anyone ever consider the effect on society of treating tenants like children who cannot do anything for themselves, such as even closing their own doors behind them?

We are surrounded by brand new sports facilities, often less than 10 miles apart, and brand new schools, usually financed by PFI, yet the basic infrastructure is poor in terms of roads, public transport and mundane things like refuse collection. The Scottish Government spends a fortune on "inward investment" - attracting foreign companies to set up for a few years with incentives, yet the small-medium sized business sector is conspicuous by its absence.

All of this and the annual Council tax for a family sized home is around £2000 per year.

I'm currently abroad and nearly fell over with shock when I passed roads workmen actually engaged in the task, repairing the excellent roads network.

Am I being U to come to the conclusion that a lot of the economic woes in this country are created by the "jobs for the boys culture" and that the private sector is being used to fill in the gap?

"what's wrong with pubic spending? It brings progress,"

is a statement of ideological belief, not fact.

Not dissing you, but there is a difference.

Im currently abroad and nearly fell over with shock when I passed roads workmen actually engaged in the task, repairing the excellent roads network.

I had to laugh at this. I live in HK. There, they do the roads at night using a stop/go guy or lady at each end and disruption is minimal. When I was in the uk this summer, ataying near MIL, the gas people had the road up for a week, with no-one working on it, causing km long tail backs in each direction and no-one seemed to think this was in any way inefficient. They could have just stuck the metal covers over it that they use in HK.

I really dont understand the problem.

"And does anyone ever consider the effect on society of treating tenants like children who cannot do anything for themselves, such as even closing their own doors behind them?"

Eh, what effect would that be, exactly? What's the social outcome here?

This is all very interesting, and very scary. So what can a person do then, to secure their family's future?
What should you be encouraging your kids to do career wise? What should you do with your savings? Should you buy a place to rent out because people will always need somewhere to live? Should you sell up and buy somewhere with a woodland and a couple of acres to grow food so at least you don't freeze or starve?
Genuinely interested to hear from anyone who has a plan. Because I really think the West is in decline.

Buy farm land. Or any land.

I wouldn't agree it is scary. We've had a lot of robust debate and plenty of interesting viewpoints, but I wouldn't take any of it as gospel.

Lessmiss - hear hear. 10 years in Scotland and definitely a jobs4thebhoys culture in a country where there seems to be a general belief that public spending is what fuels the economy.

What's wrong with public spending? Um, debt - and lots of it!

Lessmissabs - weren't HMO licences and inspections brought in after those students died in a basement? They were trapped because the windows were barred, no smoke alarms, lighting, fire doors etc.

We bought an ex HMO flat which was bringing in the landlord £22,000/ annum. Our gas meter was immediately condemned as a fire hazard as it dated from 1972. The lady downstairs was flooded NINE TIMES by student occupies to dodgy plumbing - no wonder the licence renewal was opposed. I now live here with my 3 children a thank god for smoke detectors and co detectors as I am sure the wiring is probably dodgy too.

I don't really have much sympathy for landlords of HMOs. If you don't like it, sell it.

Lessmissabs, being a landlord is hard work and should never be seen as an opportunity to make a quick buck in property. Sadly this is how it is perceived at the moment. Of course you have to pay for things to be done and inspections. If your council is rubbish that is a separate issue.

As I mentioned before, there are certain council and statutory departments that are on the verge of corrupt, the roads, the building services, even some children's services where staff are inadequate but kept on because they are part of the furniture or hold power over others. This is why whisleblowing
laws should be stronger. The NHS has suffered from this kind of cronyism for decades and we now have a situation where one consultant salary is worth that of 10 nurses.

But none of this is caused by public spending, it is caused by ineffective regulation, a government scared to upset its voters and siding with big business. In order to have real progress we need effective regulation. And if that regulation extended to a decent and effective tax system we wouldn't all be fighting over the scraps of tax income the government receives.

Remember that gobalisation and the downturn have reduced income to the treasury, and where wealth is measured by GDP, public spending is going to appear much higher than it is in real terms.