To think in the UK, in 2022...

[justonanote]

The lowest incomes should be able to -

Have food in at all times and be able to do a shop without fear they haven't got enough

Adequately heat their homes and have as much hot water as they need

Have a enough left over for a few little treats. An ice cream, a coffee out once a week, enough to enjoy a cheap trip out every now and then?

The lowest of incomes.

I despair, I honestly do.

Here's the answer -

A proper living wage (not the amount the government call a living wage).

Nationalise all the utilities - no one should profit from necesseties.

Force all the massive companies to pay corporation tax.

Make mega earners pay more tax, to relieve the burden on lower earners.

In other words, get this elitist, self-interested government out ASAP.

@MoodySky

Make mega earners pay more tax, to relieve the burden on lower earners.
Can you clarity what a mega earner is to you??

@Georgeskitchen

Yes of course everyone should have the basics . Food, warmth and shelter. However, if everything is handed to you on a plate there's no incentive to improve your life

Your use of 'however' suggests warmth and food on your plate are things being 'handed to you'. Why?

Making sure everyone, even people actively choosing not to work, has a full belly isn't handing everything to them on a plate. Don't know about you but I want a lot more out of life than some food and warmth having it doesn't mean I'm not aspiring to do more

Benefits should be completely scrapped for anyone not vulnerable or disabled.

A couple both earning minimum wage working full time would be bringing home just over £3000 a month, why are they not able to feed and keep their family warm?

And I do believe the poster who knows of benefit claiming people with two cars. A family member of mine is claiming poverty but has a brand new car on high interest credit and plenty of other luxuries. They both earn just above minimum wage and blame low pay on not being able to afford to have their boiler repaired. So many people want it all these days, but of course it's the Tories to blame

@Lovemyheathershimmer

People should get help when needed, eg disabled and the vulnerable in society. But folk that use the welfare system as a lifestyle choice is wrong. Having more kids when they can’t afford it, knowing they will get money from the system. If you can work, you should be made to work. Employers should be paying decent wages, not relying on the government to top up wages. Plus no one should be getting more in benefits than someone working full time on a low wage. That’s not fair, all wrong

Do you think it's wrong that I get £2.5k a month in benefits then? A lot of that isn't means tested

Agreed, I'm sick of feeling cold.

@MythicalBiologicalFennel

Yes, one of the major reasons your bills are so high is because of rent and mortgage costs caused by the unlimited immigration of 6 million people from the EU who have all had to live somewhere and have caused rents and house prices to increase.

It took 3 pages for someone to mention people squandering their benefits on Sky TV, and finally on page 6 EU migrants are blamed for the housing crisis (which of course has nothing to do with Thatcher's Right to Buy and people using property as an investment due to lack of trust in the pension system).

We've had the "don't have children you can't afford", the "labour would have been much worse", the communist hellhole, the Starbucks coffee and the designer clothes plus two flashy cars in benefit-dependent households.

Can I call full house yet? Oh wait nobody has frothed over people having their nails done...

You can't even understand basic economics. Have you even heard of supply and demand?

6 million people had to live somewhere which is why my rental prices went through the roof and why more and more investors were encouraged to buy properties

@MoodySky

Here's the answer -

A proper living wage (not the amount the government call a living wage).

Nationalise all the utilities - no one should profit from necesseties.

Force all the massive companies to pay corporation tax.

Make mega earners pay more tax, to relieve the burden on lower earners.

In other words, get this elitist, self-interested government out ASAP.

Who will pay the living wage? A lot of small businesses will go under.

Why should the 'mega earners' pay more tax? They already pay a higher rate and why should they be penalised for working hard, rather than the low earners who have no incentive to improve their life knowing they'll just get benefit top ups

There's the answer

@joydivisionovengloves71 Penalised for working hard? Do you not think there's people on the bones of their arses who have 'worked hard'?

@joydivisionovengloves71

Benefits should be completely scrapped for anyone not vulnerable or disabled.

A couple both earning minimum wage working full time would be bringing home just over £3000 a month, why are they not able to feed and keep their family warm?

And I do believe the poster who knows of benefit claiming people with two cars. A family member of mine is claiming poverty but has a brand new car on high interest credit and plenty of other luxuries. They both earn just above minimum wage and blame low pay on not being able to afford to have their boiler repaired. So many people want it all these days, but of course it's the Tories to blame

The reason they can't afford to eat and heat their houses is because rent and mortgage payments are so high

We have had unlimited immigration which meant 6 million more people needed somewhere to live and we have Niimbys all over the country who won't allow new houses to be built anywhere near them.

EU immigrants were net contributors to the UK economy, over and above the average UK citizen. If EU immigration has had any negative impact on standards of living in the UK, it's quite simply because the extra revenue the EU nationals generated for the exchequer has been utterly wasted and not put back into the provision of public services.

Anyone who thinks EU immigration was a bad thing simply doesn't understand cause and effect. This, like 99% of the UK's economic problems, is entirely down to our own governments and their long-term mismanagement of the UK economy.

[quote justonanote]@joydivisionovengloves71 Penalised for working hard? Do you not think there's people on the bones of their arses who have 'worked hard'?[/quote]
Of course the lowest paid are doing the 'hard work' as they're usually unskilled jobs. Employers pay more depending on skills. Improve your skills you'll get more money. But why bother when you get it handed out.

@joydivisionovengloves71 you speak about low skilled workers with such a lack of respect. Yet it's funny, who would do my cleaning when I had my cleaner? Oh yes, a low paid worker

Who would look after my DC at school?
Oh yes someone on a minimum wage

Do these people not deserve a better standard of living? Or are they just to get to fuck with their 'hand outs?'

@XDownwiththissortofthingX

EU immigrants were net contributors to the UK economy, over and above the average UK citizen. If EU immigration has had any negative impact on standards of living in the UK, it's quite simply because the extra revenue the EU nationals generated for the exchequer has been utterly wasted and not put back into the provision of public services.

Anyone who thinks EU immigration was a bad thing simply doesn't understand cause and effect. This, like 99% of the UK's economic problems, is entirely down to our own governments and their long-term mismanagement of the UK economy.

They might well have been net contributors but they kept wages low and put up rent and house prices.

They also meant that companies had no incentive to automate which is why our productivity is so low compared to other developed countries

@ILoveAllRainbowsx if there is a £3000 salary coming in each month and the average rent is £1000 a month where is the rest going?

"Of course the lowest paid are doing the 'hard work' as they're usually unskilled jobs. Employers pay more depending on skills. Improve your skills you'll get more money. But why bother when you get it handed out."

So who is going to be cleaning up after you and wiping your arse when you are 90 if no one is doing the 'unskilled' jobs because they are doing 'skilled' ones.

Inverted commas used because I don't think you understand the skill required in some jobs.

[quote justonanote]@joydivisionovengloves71 you speak about low skilled workers with such a lack of respect. Yet it's funny, who would do my cleaning when I had my cleaner? Oh yes, a low paid worker

Who would look after my DC at school?
Oh yes someone on a minimum wage

Do these people not deserve a better standard of living? Or are they just to get to fuck with their 'hand outs?' [/quote]
I am a low skilled worker actually, my partner earns a just over average salary we aren't rolling in money but live within our means so can still afford the odd treat. People get jumped on for 'benefits bingo' but so many on here refuse to believe many poorer people don't know how to manage money

@XDownwiththissortofthingX

EU immigrants were net contributors to the UK economy, over and above the average UK citizen. If EU immigration has had any negative impact on standards of living in the UK, it's quite simply because the extra revenue the EU nationals generated for the exchequer has been utterly wasted and not put back into the provision of public services.

Anyone who thinks EU immigration was a bad thing simply doesn't understand cause and effect. This, like 99% of the UK's economic problems, is entirely down to our own governments and their long-term mismanagement of the UK economy.

Like the others said I think it did keep wages suppressed and put a strain on housing, schools and services.

I'm sure many of them contributed as well but for instance do we really need big issue sellers from EU

@hattie43 I agree with you in some respects but what is there to do when as you say work doesn't pay, as someone said we need economic growth, we do but there hasn't been none since 2008, there has it's just business have not channelled this into wage rises, upskilling staff or, investing back into communities where they operate.

What we need is economic growth but also wage rises, the latter is so important. Many businesses and industries have recovered and in some cases thrived since 2008 but shareholders and management boards have been doing slights of hands and we've been constantly led to believe we're still recovering and that's why many people's wages or salaries for the same role are pretty much as they were in 2007, whilst management boards, shareholders and the banking industries have been funnelling this profit off to themselves and doing very, very nicely indeed - and they have been veey much enabled and havd done so unchecked by successive Tory Goverments.

The wealth growth of some small sectors of society in the last 8 years or so is just obscene, obscene, to the point where many have no idea, yet at the same time we've had masses of the population getting poorer, sicker and unhappier.

They might well have been net contributors but they kept wages low and put up rent and house prices

Nonsense.

Employers 'keep wages low' to derive profit. Every single nation in the EU saw economic migration to some extent, yet for years the UK was the solitary nation with consistent economic growth, and absolutely no corresponding increase in wages and salaries. It's absolutely nothing to do with EU migrants, and everything to do with governance that panders to profiteering above all else.

Speculative parasitical landlordism, the explosion of buy-to-let, lack of regulation around short-term and party let, the granting of permission to build endless numbers of student lets on any scrap of available land, Thatcher's right-to-buy, and the governments total disinterest in building any new social housing whatsoever is what has caused the UK's housing crisis.

@Spikeyball

"Of course the lowest paid are doing the 'hard work' as they're usually unskilled jobs. Employers pay more depending on skills. Improve your skills you'll get more money. But why bother when you get it handed out."

So who is going to be cleaning up after you and wiping your arse when you are 90 if no one is doing the 'unskilled' jobs because they are doing 'skilled' ones.

Inverted commas used because I don't think you understand the skill required in some jobs.

I'm not looking down on unskilled workers as I already said I'm one myself. I don't get why people are moaning that the high earners who already pay plenty of tax are being expected to pay even more to subsidise the unskilled and people who choose benefits as a lifestyle.

@Overthebow

I completely agree, on minimum wage everyone should be able to afford the basics of food and heating. That is a full time minimum wage though, and two full time wages if a two adult household, not working only 2-3 days per week and expecting to be able to cover everything with that. Childcare always seems to be the biggest barrier to people working full time, perhaps that should be sorted out so it’s affordable and no longer a barrier. Families certainly can’t be expected to pay over £1000 per month childcare whilst on minimum wage. There should also be proper carers allowance for people who really can’t work due to their child’s disability. The current amount is a joke.

People on minimum wage would not be paying £1000 childcare a month. They would get up to 85% paid for by Universal credit or other funding. Also people do not just get £67 carers allowance unless they have a working partner who earns too much for other means tested benefits. No one just has carers allowance - they would be topped up by Universal credit or income support, housing benefit, tax credit etc.

@XDownwiththissortofthingX

They might well have been net contributors but they kept wages low and put up rent and house prices

Nonsense.

Employers 'keep wages low' to derive profit. Every single nation in the EU saw economic migration to some extent, yet for years the UK was the solitary nation with consistent economic growth, and absolutely no corresponding increase in wages and salaries. It's absolutely nothing to do with EU migrants, and everything to do with governance that panders to profiteering above all else.

Speculative parasitical landlordism, the explosion of buy-to-let, lack of regulation around short-term and party let, the granting of permission to build endless numbers of student lets on any scrap of available land, Thatcher's right-to-buy, and the governments total disinterest in building any new social housing whatsoever is what has caused the UK's housing crisis.

What have buy to let landlords got to do with the housing crisis? A relative has 3 houses he rents out. He charges market rent and buys from estate agents. He has no more of an advantage than any other person. Nothing to stop them buying the house first.

@XDownwiththissortofthingX

They might well have been net contributors but they kept wages low and put up rent and house prices

Nonsense.

Employers 'keep wages low' to derive profit. Every single nation in the EU saw economic migration to some extent, yet for years the UK was the solitary nation with consistent economic growth, and absolutely no corresponding increase in wages and salaries. It's absolutely nothing to do with EU migrants, and everything to do with governance that panders to profiteering above all else.

Speculative parasitical landlordism, the explosion of buy-to-let, lack of regulation around short-term and party let, the granting of permission to build endless numbers of student lets on any scrap of available land, Thatcher's right-to-buy, and the governments total disinterest in building any new social housing whatsoever is what has caused the UK's housing crisis.

Gordon brown make sure that companies were able to keep wages low by making everyone dependent on benefit top-ups. Fortunately for the rest of the EU they didn't have Gordon brown as their chancellor and prime minister