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

The problem is not the cost of things. It is low wages and the artificial suppression of wages.

The main expense is housing which is prohibitively expensive (both renting and buying, especially in London). However, most politicians don't care because;

a) They are millionaires or children of millionaires and have substantial inheritances.
b) Many of them are landlords or own multiple properties
c) They make their money by cosying up to the rich (rich individuals such as landlords and rich companies such as house builders and rich immigrants who will buy properties in Central London).
d) They know that more older, wealthier people who bought their homes for peanuts before 2000 vote and tend to vote to maintain their own high quality of life so they appeal to those voters.

Most politicians these days are career politicians who don't give a flying fuck about the population or about the country they are just interested in either getting re-elected so they can continue to work very few hours for a good salary and huge pension or they are hoping they will be hired by some unscrupulous firm once they leave politics for megabucks but their time in politics is necessary to get their foot in the door.

Unfortunately UK politics is not very different from the corruption and selfishness seen in places like Russia and South America. I can't think of one politician who seems to genuinely care about poor/middle income earners.

Yup, unfortunately I really do think it's because they don't know what it's like for 'normal' folk and they don't care anyway.

Aren't the low interest rates driving inflation though? If interest rates go up that would sort things out a bit.

What can the government actually do though. If they cut taxes on one thing there'll either be a hole or the tax will shift onto something else.

They already tax house purchases, they tax purchases. The people' making the profit are the companies not the Governemt which should in turn pay corporation tax on their profits but that's a whole other issue.

Substantial tax breaks for John Lewis or the cooperative style companies, or enforced shares for staff would be a start.

Getting corruption out of accountancy practices and hmrc would be another. Improving pay and conditions for employees...

They need to close the tax loopholes that allow legal tax avoidance, for one thing.

THere is no they only us

if the government were to spend loads of money, they would get it from taxpayers

there is only a limited amount of money (unless you borrow from your kids as Gordon Brown did)
and yes, international tax avoidance needs sorting but that is maybe 5p on tax - which wont help most people

there is a lack of self resilience
if you want it, find a way to earn it or live without it

Brokensunglasses
what do you think VAT is?

also as much as i rely on tax credits and so do many 10000s of others, IMO they play a part in artificially keeping wages low and disguise the cost of things

if we didnt have tax credits loads of us would be screwed

but a the same time what sort of mess are we in when a family earning 28k (thats us) needs top up benefits just to survive :S

I think Nadine Dorries actually had it right when she called Cameron and Osborne 'two arrogant posh boys who don't know the price of a pint of milk'. I'd suggest they actually don't know the cost of a litre of fuel either , because they dont pay for any . Their petrol bills get paid for as a work expense courtesy of you and me.

I used to be relatively well off . But having been subject to a pay freeze for the last 3 years , seen my pension contributions go up to 14.2 per cent in that time,my national insurance to up , seen my electricity bill go up by nearly 25 percent, and my petrol bill by a third , before I even think about pints of milk , I now have no disposable income left . None . And forget about saving anything. Save it so I can get means tested in my old age ? Or my children have to pay death duties if there's enough left ?

They've had enough of me whilst I'm young . The government can sure as shit fuck off to the far side of fuck when I'm dead .

My mum (early 60s) always goes on about the high interest rates in the 70s and 80s when they bought their house for peanuts. "Our mortgage was a massive part of a budget" etc. "We couldn't afford a meat joint for a roast dinner every week/if we had a holiday I had to buy a tin of food a week for a couple of months before so we had enough for holidays etc etc etc."

I remind her that she did not work and yet the mortgage was still paid (by my dad who worked full time and was with the same firm all his working life and who could choose to take early retirrment on a massive pension.). They did not need 2 incomes to cover the mortgage as you do now. As for her daft argument about food on holiday, how would it cost any more than what it would if they'd have stayed at home that week - they were self-catering!

Times are VERY different now.

If you raise minimum wages, then you raise the price of everything produced in this country, thus increasing prices and everyone being in the same position as now.

Food now is cheaper than it has ever been in history

Mortgages are percentage cheaper than they have been since WW2 (and for all those who bought more than ten years ago which a lot of us, absolutely and utterly cheaper)

we live in a globalised economy and are rapidly becoming a backwater not a powerhouse

WHAT would you have the Government do - that is cost neutral ?

ophelia275 i look forward to seeing your facts to back up your claims.
Anyone can be a politician, i doubt the moany mumsnetters will be jumping to join though.

amici
I live not far from Wytch farm : it has been a source of some hilarity round here that the locals are quite happy that fracking for oil has gone on under some of the tourist hotspots of the UK for YEARS with not a word of complaint
yet to frack for gas causes lots and lots of jumping up and down in Sussex

energy security
fracking will reduce reliance on Saudi islamist nutjobs and Putin the maniac

those tanks were WELL impressive when they were being installed

They need to make it less attractive to be a buy to let landlord, possibly by limiting the amount they can charge in rent.

YANBU. I was thinking the other day of a minimum wage job. Say you did an hours hard work as a cleaner or carer and recieved the minimum wage of around 6 quid, what does that get you? Think of a shopping basket filled with 6 quids worth. For an hours hard work?? Crazy how prices have gone up. I am a SAHM but DH spends a massive chunk of his wage just to get to work. All the bills etc and there is little left for most average people.

Talkin, I know what VAT is, I just think there are certain things that should have no VAT attached, and some things that should have more than 20%.

jelly you are right. I am a cleaner and all of my jobs are 10 mile drive away at least. there are none closer I get £6.50ph and all jobs are only 2 hour slots. I actually almost cried one morning as my car was running out of petrol so I put £10 in it to get to work, collected my £13 and by the time I got back home my petrol was right back down to where it had been before I filled up. so I had the grand total of £3 to show for my 2 hours work and that is before I take out the cost of my cleaning products. I don't earn enough yet to pay tax but if I did that would have to come out of the £3 aswell. never mind buying food or paying rent from it!

Those companies paying below a living wage are being subsidised by those of us who pay tax. Then they pay their top execs and shareholders generously - how have we allowed this to happen?

broken
there are certain things that should have no VAT attached, and some things that should have more than 20%.
then you need to read up a lot more on the basis and scope of VAT

There is a really interesting new ted talk about the rise of the super rich (www.ted.com/talks/chrystia_freeland_the_rise_of_the_new_global_super_rich.html) which links into this too.

Haven't read all the posts yet, but you are a DNBU. Forget UKIP we need a Lower the Cost of Living Party. I think it would go global.

I don't know why my link didn't work. Here it is again: www.ted.com/talks/chrystia_freeland_the_rise_of_the_new_global_super_rich.html