Government suggestions to help with cost of living crisis

[ThankGodItsThursday]

Is it me? I don't think so. Latest suggestions being reported include making MOT 's bi annual. How will this help. My MOT in March cost £37. That's a drop in the ocean compared to rising petrol prices, increased fuel costs, food prices etc.

Plus wouldn't this be a safety issue. Cars being driven that are potentially unsafe and it won't help anyone who owns a garage will it. There will be less people having a MOT so less income for the business.

Why is everything this government suggests or does a complete and utter cock up.

And no I don't have any suggestions myself that won't cost the government anything which is what I understand they are looking for. But any ideas surely need to be safe and actually save people a decent amount of money if it is to genuinely help.

@Bolognia if we didn't spend £19 at the pub yesterday, wouldn't that affect the pub's business and if the pub closes down, then wouldn't the staff lose their jobs? People not spending money has an effect on other people's jobs..and its always the mid range that gets hit. The luxury restaurants and shops generally have pretty high margins and their customers are not really affected.

The mot is silly it is a basic safety check. The rest What can they do? They can stop with housing market subsidising that just pushes up prices. Maybe cut demand for housing by tackling second home ownership, immigration and maybe looking at reducing incentives for children. And properly invest in renewable energy and defense and manufacturing jobs. We need a high wage productive economy to tackle the cost of living crisis. Instead of gimmicks like the council tax rebate ect.

They can get to fuck on the childcare ratios - I'd never send my pre-schooler to somewhere without decent ratios that allow staff to nurture and teach as well as keep children physically safe.

It’s eye-rollingly pathetic what they’ve come up with. What next, a non uniform day? Bake sale?

But who decides what decent ratios are? 1:8 for 3 & 4 yo in nursery but classes of 30 4yos in school?

1:4 for 2 yos, but 8 suddenly OK on their 3rd birthday?

Agrudge You appear to be missing the point that I was, making in my original post.

Whether or not other countries do bi annual MOTs is not the issue. The issue is that saving £37 is not really going to help anyone who is struggling with the increased cost of living. If it was a monthly bill and the idea meant you would be saving £37 per month that would help.

Only spending £37 every two years instead of annually isn't really going to make any noticeable difference is it?

All those suggestions are crazy and compromise peoples safety. I work in a nursery, it is hard enough to watch children, educate children, do the work of health visitors and social workers, do all the paper work required for SEN children and do physical care such as nappy changes in the ratios we already have. The government need to fund their 'free' childcare scheme properly for it to work for families not compromise the development and safety of our youngest members of society.

Yes, but I as an individual don’t care if the pub or restaurant closes down. If I spend £10 at a restaurant that means I can afford to spare the £10. So clearly every person sitting in a restaurant today is not on the poverty line because they have at least a spare tenner. And they have room to pull their belts in if they need to, by staying at home and saving that tenner.

As a former nursery nurse if they increased ratios there would be no way I’d work in one. The current ratios are already very full on, many staff are now degree or level 4 educated yet paid paid poorly. I used to take home planning etc as not enough time to do it while looking after the kids. I would no way be doing all that plus extra ratios for minimum ( or just over) wage. It’s so unsafe it’s untrue. What parent would want to put their child into a nursery with unsafe ratios?

The same goes for the mot unsafe cars in the road causing accidents, it’s not cheaper just bigger bills every 2 years, garages lose regular income and put prices up anyway or close.

nothing surprises me though anymore with this government .

The issue with the cost of living crisis is a crisis of supply. The only way to address this is to suppress demand. So prices rise.

Nothing will return to normal until global gdp returns to normal. This means with china locking down, the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia we are cluster fucked. We are all 10-20% poorer than we used to be. We just didn’t know it. Covid lockdowns are responsible for 90% of this, but as this war stretches on it will cause more and more issues.

Our government can do nothing about this. It’s not in their gift. It’s not that they’re out of ideas, they’re just not being honest that the global penchant for lockdown has ruined everyone’s lives.

They can get to fuck on the childcare ratios - I'd never send my pre-schooler to somewhere without decent ratios that allow staff to nurture and teach as well as keep children physically safe

the cynical part of me reckons they know those that don't have won't. I certainly wouldn't .

@Fishwishy my area of London had stagnant prices from 2016-2021. This enables me to buy. Now increased by 50k back to 2015 peak due to return to office. London has one of the highest rates of immigration. The main issue is inequality. There are some people with inheritances from London parents, who will earn 100k by the time they are 29 and will marry someone similar. They are not unusual. Yet most Londoners are not so lucky and most earn significantly less or have no inheritance. th e ones luckier to have bought earlier also cash out and roam the country in search of large properties in exchange of the tax free equity they have gained causing house price increases all over the country. There are also some who scrimp and save and beg and borrow from relatives - and this is the reality for every FTB I know

But nobody thinks everyone in the country is struggling with the basic costs of living, though? And actually, it's a good thing if people who do still have disposable income are spending it on days out, pubs etc rather than pulling in their belts.

We are all 10-20% poorer than we used to be. We just didn’t know it. Covid lockdowns are responsible for 90% of this, but as this war stretches on it will cause more and more issues

Imo it's been a clusterfuck since the financial crisis & not helped by Brexit. No investment in the economy & austerity which didn't even reduce debt.

I also wonder just how widespread this crisis is. I know there's be some people very badly hit, but a cinema ticket is now £13.50 at our local cinema and you can't get in at weekends. Likewise the local chain restaurants here, no point going if you haven't booked Fri-Sun.

Yes of course there are some people who are genuinely struggling. But the fact that money is still being spent in pubs and restaurants and on holidays and days out means that a lot of people have room to pull their belts in but aren’t.

But the gaps between the haves & the have nots is bigger than ever so many won't have to pull their belts in.

@Bolognia well yes I am not saying I am struggling! Honestly there are a lot of people who probably haven't noticed the cost of living increasing cos they have so much money otherwise. It's more like 50% struggling and 45% feeling the pinch but still able to have luxuries and 5% not caring either way cos it's just pennies to them..the 5% are overrepresented in the restaurants probably with some of the 45% in there once a week or once a month. But it would be a bit like going to the Louis Vuitton shop and saying 'what economic crisis', so many people here! I have been to the Louis Vuitton outlet at selfridges recently btw, it was packed!

I get your point £37 a year is a drop in the ocean.

I was just saying a bi-annual mot wouldnt idea in general

@Bolognia but 50% struggling is a big deal, no. 20% in poverty, probably will rise to 30%>

Imo it's been a clusterfuck since the financial crisis & not helped by Brexit. No investment in the economy & austerity which didn't even reduce debt.

The GFC was a drop of around 0.5% in global GDP. Covid lockdowns were around 5%. This situation is literally 10* worse. Fact is they more or less played the GFC the only way they could. But even then QE was always an inflationary move.

only thing I think they could have done is built a bunch of power plants to make energy way cheaper and frack the shit out of the north. But then no one expected this war, so…eh. Can’t blame them for not taking energy security seriously when globalised energy has made it proportionally cheaper than it’s ever been except for the last 12 months.

Have the Britannia Unchained lot suggested we all just work harder and stop being so lazy?

Here's a suggestion, they could stop funneling money to they're cronies in dodgy contacts.

And they have room to pull their belts in if they need to, by staying at home and saving that tenner.

we have a service based economy. If everyone decides to save every bit of disposable income what will that do to the economy?

The government have cut police numbers and a lot of road policing has gone or been automated. Other countries may do more road policing.

Yes of course there are some people who are genuinely struggling. But the fact that money is still being spent in pubs and restaurants and on holidays and days out means that a lot of people have room to pull their belts in but aren’t.

But folk who do have a bit of room to pull in their belts stopping going out for drinks or a meal won’t help those who are struggling day by day. It may in fact make things worse as businesses who rely on folk spending their disposal income experience a down turn and need to lay off staff or close altogether.

Most people live their lives according to their means, recent changes in the economy means that some people who were just about managing now really aren’t but me not going out for dinner won’t affect them or change their situation. There are many things the government could do to alleviate the pressure, tinkering with health and safety measures won’t make a significant improvement for those living hand to mouth but neither will everyone pulling in their belts if they don’t need to.

Exactly.

The existence of people who don't need to save a tenner not actually tell us anything about all the people who do, and the actual connection between the two is that we need the disposable income group to keep spending.