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

I believe rent controls need to be brought in, long term rents need to be more available, and landlord responsibility and culpability needs to be lessened.

I agree with this.

I think landlords get a lot of unfair blame for a lot of problems that aren't really their fault. The people I know who have BTL mortgages have done so because they don't trust pensions, and with good reason considering that it wasn't that long ago that people who had paid into pensions for years were left with nothing.

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.

House prices me. What other item get more expensive the older it gets? We've been looking to buy for a year or so now. Some of the comments we have had from sellers/EAs confound me.

Like the house that was bought in 2004 for £104K and is now on the market for £240K - how can you justify a price that rises over 100% in less than 10 years? Or the EA that told me we should expect a 10% rise every year, even in a supposedly falling market. Or the chap who is selling his deceased mothers' bungalow for more than the village average, but isn't willing to drop his price, despite the fact that it is essentially 'free' money he would be getting.

DH bought his family home in 1994 for £28K. That same house is now priced at £205K, but would need at least £30K spent on it to bring it back up to the 1994 standard. How can that be?

If the Gov were to get involved in anything, I would want it to be some form of regulation for house pricing. Don't ask me how they could do it - it's just a pipe dream I know.

FWIW, I'm told by those in the know that it is well worth writing to your MP to tell them exactly what you're worried about and what you would like them to do.

Letters they get from their constituents are a big guide for MPs

On average, the UK population isn't productive enough for everyone to have the standard of living they think they deserve. People have to come to expect a standard of living that is, frankly, unrealistic

shelly what standard of living is unrealistic? i just mean ordinary people should be able to pay their bills and have a roof over their head and not be skint and worried all the time

there HAS to be low paid workers like carers, street sweepers, dinner ladies, cleaners, labourers, shop workers, etc or the country wouldnt function. not everyone can be a brain surgeon or top lawyer etc. why should people in low paying jobs have to suffer and live a life of poverty?

You are right that we do need low paid workers in society, but society does not need those low paid jobs to be filled by people who have the expense of children to deal with.

I think the idea needs to change so that low paid jobs are done by those young enough to live in house shares or in cheaper accommodation, not by those who have a family sized home and a family to support.

I don't think anyone thinks that low paid workers should have to live in poverty, but I do think that anyone who is planning on earning minimum wage or slightly above for their entire lives needs to realise that they aren't going to be able to afford to own a home, or provide for their children. Their work just isn't worth enough because there are too many people that at capable of doing it.

No, it isn't that simple, because the population is growing at an unsustainable rate.

I've heard it said on here lots of times that we need people to have children so that they can grow up and pay tax to sustain the growing number of pensioners, but that's never going to work when there aren't enough jobs.

For people who are growing up now, I don't think they will be able to expect to sustain a decent standard of living and family life with no qualifications. That why it's a good thing that the government are at least trying to make sure that everyone leaves education with at least minimum qualifications. They might not be going about it the right way, but that's a different thread.

There are higher paid jobs out there for people to move into, as long as they have qualifications. The days of being able to leave school and walk into a job where you can start at the bottom and work up your way up relatively quickly are gone.

I think the idea needs to change so that low paid jobs are done by those young enough to live in house shares or in cheaper accommodation, not by those who have a family sized home and a family to support

oh yeah cos its just that fucking simple isnt it

i am 33 got 2 kids and one on the way and i have neither the qualifications, brains or the capability of doing anything more than the menial job that i do. perhaps i shouldnt have had my kids. leave child bearing to the rich / talented

this thread is upsetting me now, i think i am going to hide it :(

Because they don't give a shit

The only thing thar government can do, as we live in a market driven capitalist economy, is to tax 'unfairness'. There are lots of examples and we should be pushing them to do this. Sadly we ave a right wing government that won't tax unfairness because tgey believe that unfairness is what makes people pull up their bootstraps and work harder.

They could

Impose a tax on property over 500k, to 20% of the value above to prevent investors using homes as a moneymaker

Impose the Robin Hood tax on financial transactions.

Impose tax on overseas businesses that have made money and avoided tax. This would be a clause that can close loopholes and charge businesses retrospectively fir tax avoidance.

A tax on big supemarkets to allow more local competition.

There are loads of things they can do but sadly they are Tories, they are simply Doing what it says on the tin.

Impose

dirty I think you have misunderstood the last poster you quoted.

how have i?

yes so very lucky housing is a big issue. People doing ordinary jobs could afford a house not just those with large salaries and a huge deposit.

dirty don't you think they were saying (in effect) that wages should be higher for those with large responsibilities?

I don't know? :)

maybe they will clarify?

Stopping green taxes - energy, petrol etc - then putting down vat would be a nice start

Noobie taxing a £500k house at 20%????

In the south east loads of middle earners would be hit by this. In London you get a flat for that sort of money and where I live a three bed semi. Seriously these are not millionaires but normal families struggling.

The idea I have thought if us to introduce higher rates of stamp duty on second homes which would include btl properties. They could also tax income from property at a higher rate and introduce higher rate stamp duty for overseas investors ie non domicilied. That way the people buying more that one house pay more, the people making profit pay more and the investors paying £30 million for a house near Hyde park etc pay more- Not families.

dirty don't you think they were saying (in effect) that wages should be higher for those with large responsibilities

maybe but the poster just made it sound like low paid jobs should only be done by students and young people

just a bit unrealistic i felt as many people like me are not young OR a student but that type of work is the only work i am ever likely to get

i totally agree that more responsible jobs should = larger salaries. its only fair. but why shouldn't people in low paid jobs still be able to have a decent standard of living - for example my dad in the 80's was a labourer and my mum was a SAHM, they bought there house for peanuts and now they are in their 50s and mortgage paid off and my mum still doesnt need to work and they have a lovely life, lots of holidays etc and nice things. yet in 2013 a young person working in a similar job will not have a cat in hells chance of ever owning a house or ever having anything in life

i dread what sort of life my dcs will face as they grow up and leave home :( at my darkest points i sometimes think i shouldnt have had them. i actually feel guilty for bringing them in to such a shitty world :(

There's no job that is worth doing that should not pay a living wage.

What sort of jobs pay a wage that it's not possible for one person to live on having worked 40 hours per week. (

I'm not taking into amount the additional cost of supporting their partner/wife and children as these costs will vary considerably and can be dealt with via the tax / benefit system.

How much would a living wage be?

dont fool yourself OP
they are doing something
they are actively encouraging this to happen
they are actively encouraging insecurity in the average persons life whether its housing, jobs insecurity, food and care issues
they are actively encouraging us to scapegoat various social groups
they are actively dismantling our social institutions, social security, universal healthcare provision, social housing,

they could choose to invest in things that would benefit not only the individual citizens in this country but also the economy eg by investment in housebuilding, improvements in transport that benefit most of the country (not just HS2), provide affordable childcare, provide well thought out social care not dependant on the goodwill of carers. But they wont, because our insecurity benefits them.

Because they dont care they try and pretend they are just like us they are not and they are also deamonising (sp) the poor and think we should all pull in our belts while they sit in their ivory towers with their expenses and trust funds,

I agree, Dirty, affordable housing for ALL social groups is a massive issue. I live in a 3 bed semi in a naice area (was very lucky and bought when prices were affordable in 1998 - ie just over 3 x dh's salary. Didn't even have to include mine in rhe calculations - imagine that nowadays!). Anyway..... There are streets not far from here that are Victorian terraces. When they were built and until the end of the 90s they were aimed at working class families with often only one main earner, in ordinary jobs such as, yes - labourers, porters, cleaners, etc). Who is in them now? GPs, senior nurses, accountants. It is a bloody ridiculous state of affairs. Just where are the lower-paid members of society who do a damn good job and whom we NEED, going to live? I suppose it suits the government just fine to have the traditionally working class areas filled with the middle classes and the previous householders shipped out to depressing ghettoes of despair and left to rot.

I think you've summed it up nicely Didactylos and my inner conspiracy theorist wonders whether there is an economic cleansing afoot. It is definitely some sort of social engineering and it's not very nice.

Most of us were brought up to be kind and respectful to other people and we teach our dc to do the same. Then I look around and see people being shafted by the Government left right and centre and people falling for the rhetoric on immigrants, scroungers, disabled people etc.

I would love to have another child, but the state of the nation today is so grim that it?s put me off the idea.

dirty I do agree with you BTW.

it is just a mess. I'm also of the opinion that it was possible ( in years gone by) to get a lot more - in an ordinary job.

I've looked at politicians in the past and just thought meh...

now, I feel actual anger.

Didactylo's post reminded me of this

"I warn you that you will be quiet - when the curfew of fear and the gibbet of unemployment make you obedient"