WTH is going on?!

[hungryhippo90]

This isn't so much about my circumstances, but more about the circumstances of others,

Growing up we were on benefits, our family seemed to struggle more than most others In the same sort of financial situation, but I don't remember things being anywhere near as bad as many who are on UC and are finding themselves without benefits, being evicted etc.

I heard on the radio yesterday that there are a large portion of teachers who believe many childrens families won't be able to buy enough food over the holidays,

Now I've just read that 2/5 don't have £100 saved up.

I know a family with a working mum and a deceased dad, they go to the food bank a lot.

What I'm wondering is, am I right in thinking that instead of things getting better that they've gone sharply down hill over the past several years?

I don't understand how things seem to have got so much worse.

Are things going to continue to decline?
Why is this being allowed to happen?

Given the opportunities Brexit under a Tory government provides for a removal of EU regulations and standards, further privatisation, and for the UK, weaker on its own, to involve itself in agreements such as TIPP (rejected by the EU) that subordinate future government changes to big business that unfortunately looks very unlikely.

The 'American Dream' is hardly successful these days and is nothing to aspire to; worse inequality, people bankrupt from healthcare costs, a more punitive student loans system than the UK, life expectancy decreasing...

YANBU . Individuals with disabilities and additional needs are also affected by this drive for 'austerity'. My eldest son is in residential care at the moment, but plans are being made for him to live more independently. However, to do this he will need a very robust package of support. I work with individuals with learning disabilities and/or autism and know this support is often short lived or relies too heavily on informal networks which can be family members of voluntary groups who are struggling themselves.

In addition, there are people who work in the 'gig' economy. If work is not available or falls off, many are not entitled to claim benefits or the system is so cumbersome that they may be evicted or drawing from food banks before any money is received.

I am older and remember the seventies, eighties and nineties, decades which also had recessions and slumps in the economy. However, our economy is weaker now than ever before and, like so many other posters, I can only see things getting worse.

The only time the American dream worked is in the aftermath of Roosevelt's New Deal.

I find the link you drew between 'can't sustain itself' and socialist states interesting Redneck. Care to expand that at all? Why?

Nothing can ever be perfect, everything is a balance and Britain lost it years ago - if it ever had it.

Talking of balance, Plughole "I think peoples perception of a 60k salary is a lot more than it actually is. Don’t get me wrong, It is a good salary"
All of us outside London are probably aware that it's median for London. The UK is not London! It is a very large salary for the rest of the country. These inequalities which have been allowed to build up are what's led us into this mess.

I think that there is a difference in people's own experience of this depending on age and location.

A pp has mentioned the 1970s where there was vast poverty but because as a population as a whole people were used to having less, basic food, no technology etc the differences between rich and poor were probably less noticeable.

For myself my worst off time was late 80s / early 90s when I had just bought my own property and then interest rates shot up so I could only just afford my mortgage and had very little to spend on food etc. However the property price rises meant that I was aware that I had property equity- so I would be OK eventually.

Roll on a few years - now in our 50's. I work in public sector and have not had a wage increase of over 1% in ten years, during which time prices of everything have risen massively. We are 'comfortable' , certainly not on the breadline but not rolling in luxury either, and we have no savings. However, and a big thing, we paid off our mortgage a couple of years ago, and even when we were paying it it was low in comparison to others due to the cost of our property when purchased many years ago. The average rental for a 3 bed house round here is £600-£800 per month and I cannot imagine how people cope if they are paying out £1000 - £1500 for their monthly property costs.

Most of my friends/ acquaintances are probably similar to me in that they are not struggling but not rolling in it either.

However I'm very aware , from the work that I do and reading people's stories on here that some people are finding life very difficult indeed. It sounds as though the introduction of universal credit is making things harder for people, and that's before we take into account the uncertainties over brexit.

One thing I've noticed for people on a low income if you've got children is that when my DC was young there were so many free activities we could do run by local authorities e.g. At libraries, swimming baths, local parks and children's centres. We could have a nice day out taking drinks and a picnic along. These are now all being closed down or privatised. At the other end of the scale provision for the elderly/ vulnerable adults is also being privatised. I certainly agree that for large percentages of the population things are worse now than they were ten years ago , and not likely to improve in the immediate future.

I am also aware though that there are people with huge incomes who can by £1m homes, designer clothing and luxury holidays. I don't think they are all premier league footballers or hedge fund managers - although I personally don't know any such people.

All of us outside London are probably aware that it's median for London. The UK is not London! smile It is a very large salary for the rest of the country

I’m aware that London is not the UK & of course 60k is large particularly if somewhere that has cheap housing. My point was you see a lot of threads where people are incredulous that some on 60k are struggling, personally I think there is sometimes a big divide where people who got on the ladder & had small children 10 or 20 years ago don’t realise how much things have changed.

Applepudding2018 has a good point re services available. I live where I grew up & my parents were comfortable however my mum took me to about 4 free playgroups a week & stuff like swimming was so cheap, now it costs approx £15 for 4 of us.