To wonder how people will financially survive?

[Cupcakeicecream]

To think that many people are struggling already. Food price rises, gas and electric costs. The general cost of living due to inflation from either brexit since the pandemic and Ukraine war. But come on some people were struggling before any of those factors. Financially people will be pushed to breaking christmas will be off the cards general life will stagnate no meals out leisure activities cinema socialising new clothes treat foods. The threat of blackouts and wondering how we will pay bills to keep warm or keep a house running. Never mind buying food the price of it plus the large gaps on shelves. Winter will be miserable. It's becoming impossible to live in this country.

people seem to always expect the government to give hand outs. ridiculous

Well if they don’t bail out businesses, their precious economy will collapse. Just been reading small businesses are being turned down by energy suppliers. So they can’t run their businesses. ergo no economy.

The conservatives do not have a policy if “trickle down economics”. It’s quite the opposite, which is why they have such a heavily redistributive system of taxes and benefits, and why they have brought in such large increases to the minimum wage and the tax-free allowance.

I want to see them starving,
The so-called working class.
Their wages weekly halving,
Their women stewing grass.
When I drive out each morning
In one of my new suits
I want to find them fawning
To clean my car and boots.

This Government feel's very Larkinesque.

yes! You’ve articulated that far better than I could, but it’s precisely this.

it’s disgraceful that heat or eat or being squeezed are being presented as options that we should be satisfied with

That is hard Koala I think if you’re just outside the cash payment it’s tough

‘Back in my day, we couldn’t afford heating and we didn’t complain!’

but why would you want to go back to that?
Why is it okay to have children go hungry because they aren’t as thin as they used to be? Is there a mandatory cut off point where we say alright, the hungry children are underweight enough now to be a problem and before that we just say ‘ah well’?

Things SHOULD be better than when you were a child. Society SHOULD have improved enough. We have made so many advances in other areas- it’s not acceptable to say ‘ah well, children were hungry and cold a generation ago, this is just a return to normal.’

This should not ever be normal!

Part of the reason for inflation and increased energy prices is covid (demand for energy fell during the pandemic and some refineries shut down and as I understand it it takes a long time to start them up again). Giving out money through furlough etc was always going to be inflationary. Plus there was a shock to the job market which is contributing to the current crisis.

I’ve always felt that the uncontrolled spending on shutting down a lot of the economy to try to save lives from covid would end up doing more harm than covid would have down the line. It was such a reckless thing to do with the economy and I don’t think people really understood the potential future consequences. Obviously they’ve now been exacerbated by war in Ukraine.

I’m fortunate to be on a good salary (though a single parent) but even then I’m not going to be spending much on non- essentials. If a lot of middle earners stop that spending, restaurants, retail etc take the impact (and they’ve already had a tough few years due to covid) and presumably that has a knock on effect on employment. So it all looks pretty dire. It may be worth the government giving financial support for energy costs to people just to stop that sort of economic disaster happening. No one’s going to spend if they have no idea if they’ll be able to heat their house next month.

People generally saved more during the pandemic so some will have that to fall back on - though probably not the poorest in society who are most vulnerable to the price increases in terms of cutting back on essentials.

That's all well and good right now but as many businesses scale back on staffing or go bust there will very probably be jobs shortages.

Particularly for trad teenager employment such as Hospitality.

I know currently there are labour shortages but this will quickly turn.

That’s speculation (I don’t agree with your prediction) and not really relevant to the question of how they are doing now and what they can do to improve it.

People need to deal with life as it is now, not think that there’s no point trying as it might be worse later.

I already live extremely frugally because I'm easily pleased and just cleared a debt which frees up a bit of cash every month, the joys of being on a low income and previously very bad with money. :)

I think availability of logs is going to be an issue. I might order some soon, actually.

With the repeal of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act there is no longer a ‘schedule’ for elections. If Truss (and it’s likely she’ll be PM) decides to call an election next year because she feels lucky, an election we will have, despite what she says to the contrary now. Things will be getting volatile very soon, when there will next be GE is really anyones’ guess.

Sorry, wrong text quoted.

That’s speculation (I don’t agree with your prediction)

It’s basic economics. When times are hard people cut back unnecessary spending, that means the hospitality and beauty industries are hit first leading to job losses. You don’t need a crystal ball, just a modicum of common sense to see that.

I’m comfortable with the basics thanks, they were covered I think in the first week of my first econometrics degree and are used daily in my job in the investment bank.

You should of course base your decisions on your “common sense” view when it tells you something that you feel is right.

I'm old enough to remember the 2008 crash. I was contracting at the time and remember going from being able to walk into a job in summer 2008 to being let go just after lehman bros went bust and struggling by end of 2008 and just luckily got a mat cover to tide me over for 9 months then it was brutal till mid 2010.

It turned very very fast then and will again

and are used daily in my job in the investment bank

Of course they are, dear.

Well yes, it’s the essence of what we do. I know, I know, you don’t think women are capable of working with all of those complex equations and big numbers, but we really are.

Also the government shouldn't have allowed the gas companies to get rid of storage in the UK and kept the subsidies

In fact British Gas never should have been privatised in the first place

I agree

There are jobs now, take one if needed

Ds has a hospitality casual job better he does it rather than think there’s no point

While taking nothing away from the genuine hardship that some people are facing, the narrative / perspective that it’s everyone just isn’t true.

We spend some time at our home in the North East, and Newcastle is absolutely buzzing with energy and life at the moment. The shops, bars and restaurants are packed out, and it’s becoming hard to even get a table at the most expensive places. It’s far from the only place like this.

Terrible. Boris is a twat and nore interested in those fuel companies and profiting. He just tells people they'll have to manage when they were already struggling. My family are reasonably well off and their mentality is the same, that 'people will have to just try a bit harder'.
They have no idea and don't want to know because ignorance is bliss to them.
Nobody should have to worry about how many times thay can boil the kettle in one day or going somewhere else to shower or thinking that an electric coat will be more economic. For shame.

People are cutting back, this will also mean less to charities and food banks. People that are struggling and rely on these already will be hit hard.

Ds has a hospitality casual job better he does it rather than think there’s no point

@MarshaBradyo Isn't he worried about how he will afford his rent/bills etc come the Autumn, if he has a casual job in hospitality I can't imagine he is massively well paid ? Will you be able to afford to help him out with living costs ?

Not saying not to get a job now, but it may not last long if its hospitality retail or any other discretionary spend type service job. So maybe OPs DD should factor that in when applying.