To , just once ,ask is anyone else fed up of being the squeezed middle?

[Wildandallthatjazz]

Thats it really. !

Yes , on mn , its seen as a privilege to have a mortgage, a job etc .

But sometimes it feels hard and you just wish that you got a break . Recognition of the hard slog maybe .

I am not begrudging those on benefits who got the extra payment support, its more about just wanting to have a treat / a bonus/ etc .. a spare bit of money.. a boost .. the heating on … or maybe recognition that the middle can struggle too ?

I totally accept that people can struggle and need help , sort of also feel the struggling middle are invisible ? ( and not seen to have the’ right ‘to have a little moan as it does you good sometimes )

I do think we are incredibly lucky to live in a county with a welfare state, nhs, free gp care I really do .
But sometimes, it just would be nice not to feel you are paying taxes , working as much as possible, and to be able not to feel squeezed all the time and the need to just have a grump about it .

sometimes it is good to let of steam .. when you cant IRL

and then you move on in a more positive fashion .

I know what you mean, I've swapped a brilliant flexible but low paid job for the opposite with more money. I had to go for a higher paid job because bills were tight for a 1.5 wage household.

The job I had was brilliant especially during the holidays with full flexibility. This saved me so much money on childcare etc but just didn't pay enough to live. A lot of jobs don't pay enough for the work that they expect you to do. Dh earns a decent wage but we still wouldn't be able to live comfortably on his salary alone.

I believe they said £600k revenue, not profit. And that they had started their business not long ago.

The facts about who pays what, overall, as per the data which I posted but which you seem to have not bothered to read.

This idea that you have that you are hard done-by and that those subsidising you have it too easy isn’t tenable.

Nobody is subsiding me. I work in the private sector and receive no benefits at all. Haven’t since I was a child - even then it was universal child benefit. You’d have to go back to when I was 4 and my single mum (often unable to feed herself) claiming benefits to class me as subsidised. Unless you count free schooling up to 18 as subsidy?! I don’t even rely on the NHS for non-emergency care anymore, I have private dental and health plans.

I don’t consider myself particularly hard done by. But I am deeply unhappy with the distribution of wealth in the country. I think it causes problems with cohesion in society and it says something pretty bad about us as a populace that we (collectively) are happy for those with wealth to get wealthier while the poorest get poorer.

No, we need people to do ‘working class’ jobs. Middle class people’s kids aren’t generally going to be the ones collecting bins, delivering parcels, working in supermarkets or doing similar essential work.

I think savings need to be made with a personal responsibility drive. The majority of people are perfectly able to control their weight, drinking, smoking etc but choose not to and plead mental health, or just verbally abuse anyone who challenges them.

People should be planning for their retirement - this British culture of elderly people insisting on living in unsuitable rural homes is ruining the ambulance service. We need elderly people to live in retirement apartments and in better connected areas, and not just when they reach their 90s.

We should be deducting CMS payments straight from men’s wages.

Those are just a few ideas off the top of my head.

Why do people behave like this?

The fact is, it isn't the people on higher salaries but PAYE who are screwing over the poor. In fact they're the ones who've been keeping everything afloat since 2008. But mostly they have very little left to give now. As many posters have pointed out, the Government needs to be targeting business owners, capital, etc.

There is a huge difference between income and wealth, and PAYE income has been taxed already as far as is sustainable, because it's easier and politicians are lazy.

@CopOut27 I guess, I don't have the answers and won't pretend to. Obviously we need to give people the incentive to work but I don't think cutting benefits or penalising people that work less is the right way to go about it. It would be nice if our current government could stop pissing money up the wall though.

The reality is wages have not kept up with inflation for a long time so in real terms people have been losing money for years. Considering that, then covid, brexit and the cost of living crisis average people just have nothing left to give.

It is demoralising constantly working our asses off and having nothing to show for it. We've paid off about 80% of our debt now but the last 20% will be much harder and take much longer because it costs so much more just to live. The reality is we'll probably never be able to come up with a deposit or get a mortgage. I haven't had a haircut since 2020, we've never had a family holiday, we have a 15 year old car that I consider essential because it would cost us 3x as much for both myself and my partner to commute to work than it costs to run.

It's also very difficult to try and teach my kids that hard work pays off when in reality they're seeing the opposite. When their school friend whose parents have 5 kids and have never worked a day in their lives can afford to have birthday parties, days out and a holiday every year. Again, not their fault, they seem lovely, their kids seem well looked after and I know very little of their situation other than what can be immediately seen from the outside. But it's hard to try and explain these things to them.

Yes I agree, they take so much in tax, massive bill increases, gets worse every year. I had addict parents and worked so hard to get a postgraduate degree ( so big student loan payments too) and build a good career. But my sibling on benefits has more spare cash, better car, nice holidays .

And yet you lack the ability to look past your own set of circumstances.

No not at all , I'm working longer hours because my co workers are finically secure so they only need part time hours .. yet they'll get the bonus .

I absolutely feel for you on that irony. We have three, the oldest of whom just qualified for 30 hours. The other two are unfunded with another two years to go.

I have never in my life had to earn more to stand still. You have to work harder than at any time in your life, while hardly seeing the kids you would do anything for, except in the middle of the night or as one virus or another leaves you scrabbling round for childcare. Maternity leave in the context of three years to survive like that is nothing, and mine was only ever statutory anyway so I couldn't afford more than the minimum.

It just feels unwinnable, and frankly very sad for the kids.

Half of my friendship group are all retiring at 55 with big pensions, one a banker, one a civil servant aged 56 retiring for life on almost the same as what she was earning whilst working, and 2 NHS. I don't think we'll ever have it this good going forward. Ans yes I am jealous before anyone asks !

So if it’s not making a profit, and it’s a young business, it shouldn’t be stated that it’s viable. And if they’ve both recently jacked in normal employment to do so, that’s privilege.

PP is also such a snot about the neighbours, and if both types of working people live next to each other, that infers any number of scenarios about where PP lives, what their previous income was, and why she’s so fucking bitter.

You know that for a fact about all of them? None are disabled? Lone parents? Married but have DCs with disabilities? Etc

Really? Cos my family members on benefits have shit lives.

So if it’s not making a profit, and it’s a young business, it shouldn’t be stated that it’s viable. And if they’ve both recently jacked in normal employment to do so, that’s privilege.

Presumably it is making a profit, just not 600K worth and it sounds like they're doing well for recently started business. You're not covering yourself with glory here with your comments. The economy is absolutely dependent on people willing to work their arse off as SMEs. It's incredibly hard work.

Neither is PP, but when it’s the working class being attacked based on assumptions, that’s cool. Fucking middle class cry babies.

You know that for a fact about all of them? None are disabled? Lone parents? Married but have DCs with disabilities? Etc

Yes I do , we only have a team of 10 where I work .

The reality is wages have not kept up with inflation for a long time so in real terms people have been losing money for years. Considering that, then covid, brexit and the cost of living crisis average people just have nothing left to give.

Increasing minimum wage would help solve this problem. Instead of “trickle down” economics that patently doesn’t work, why don’t we try “rise up” economics? Raise the wages of the lowest paid with a Triple Lock. Those above minimum wage would have a solid argument for significant increases when negotiating salary increases. No more race to the bottom. Race to the top.

@VillageCottageEmo

"Cool story bro". In one 3 word sentence, you display the level of your intellect perfectly!

However, I'll humour you. I said our "very close" neighbour, not next door neighbour and clearly you haven't noticed the huge, expensive family homes being given to council tenants? No? Well shock horror, we have!

Yes, the family I describe actually live in a converted B&B which is a council property! 6 bedrooms no less. And they pay FUCK ALL for it while we WORK for every penny we get. Every fucking penny.

I have such a clear mental image of you.

There is a huge difference between income and wealth, and PAYE income has been taxed already as far as is sustainable, because it's easier and politicians are lazy.

Exactly & I say this as someone who could easily inherit 2m, across DH & myself. It's completely disproportionate though.

There’s a competing narrative - depending which newspapers you read - benefits are either so ridiculously low that people can’t eat/heat their homes (Daniel Blake territory) or people are ‘living the high life’ at taxpayers expense. I personally know people in both those categories. Not being goady- I genuinely don’t understand why there are such disparities. And the tougher things get for the people in the middle, the more the people at the bottom are going to be blamed.

Maybe they should sign off then, and support themselves if it’s so bad.

It’s really not compulsory.

Family on benefits, but you’ll inherit £2m?

Right you are hen.

And yes, the £600k was turnover. Profit was £253,000.

Wouldn't expect @VillageCottageEmo to understand such complicated financial terms though.

SMEs (@VillageCottageEmo - google for you on this one) do indeed contribute a lot and it is hard work, especially with kids.

Thanks to the posters who pointed that out 😊