AIBU to believe that the cost of living crisis is a load of nonsense

[MaryWils24]

So I wake up this morning to find that 14 million people are trying for Oasis tickets. A mediocre rock band and a “reunion” tour just to create a retirement fund for two already multi-millionaires.

The question is - where are so many people getting the money from to buy tickets? On one hand people moan about the “cost of living” but can easily find £500 to fund this nonsense.

Madness.

People should stop moaning about the cost of living if they can waste money on things like this. They are either getting too much income from their job/benefits (if they can afford this) to complain about “cost of living” or they should stop moaning about increasing food/fuel prices!

Rant over!

The people queuing for tickets are not the ones struggling. Many people have money but that doesn't mean that many others aren't struggling to pay their rent or feed their children.

Liz? Kwame? Are you ok?

How do you know that? Where is your evidence?

Tickets don’t cost £500. Seated tickets are £75.

They might have been to begin with but I just got through and the shitty seats ones are £300

It's not a parallel argument though is it? it's a fallacious one.

This isn't about national government spending, it's about individuals buying concert tickets.

I'm honestly struggling to believe some of the posts i'm seeing recently on MN.

The issue we have is the divide.

Two teachers living in the south east are probably struggling with the mortgage every month & feel pretty poor. A lawyer living in birmingham probably has plenty of money for Oasis tickets.

Its not good. We need the teachers & nurses.

’To begin with’ is today – they’ve sold quickly like all popular gigs do. Shame for you. But that doesn’t mean people negatively affected by COL are buying those tickets. It’s fiction invented by OP because she has an issue with people spending money on things she doesn’t think are worth X price.

@ObelixtheGaul We are already taxed too much on everything. Enough is enough. For me it is the principle.

I pay enough already in taxes, and much of my tax is wasted on useless public-sector bureaucracy, especially within the NHS. Too much middle-management etc.

I despise Labour for even considering putting IHT up. The worst of them all.

Labour think that they can take money from those who have worked to pass on as they please. The only reason they got in was because of the low turnout. Starmer is not popular. He and Labour only got in because turnout was the lowest it has been since 1997.

I think OP needs to take that look from off their face!

Most people have at least a small amount of disposable income. Someone who is a really big fan may stick it on a credit card and pay it off bit by bit. They might decide to forgo another treat to afford it. Finding extra money every week for increases in food and bills is different from a one off purchase.

I do think the prices for stuff like this is ridiculous these days though. £80 - £100 would be my limit, even for my favourite bands.

This is the type of thing my late parents and late in laws used to say op. They didn't understand that people need more in their life than just existing and paying the bills , they might want something else to look forwards to.
They always went on holiday ( cheap rentals , self catering , but a holiday in the uk for a week none the less) some couldn't even afford this. However they wouldn't go to a gig or pay out for something like this. We are all just different with how we prioritize our money or safe up for things however people may think it's a bit pricy or ridiculous.
It'll keep the economy going next summer too.
( I'm not going , but I liked their first two albums)
Sally is probably waiting all day for a ticket!

There will be people buying tickets that actually can't afford to. They'll stick it on to a credit card that they are adding to every month for essentials. Or people that will sacrifice things for a few months and will be the ones that can't afford heating over winter months. People prioritise things in different ways. Of course there will also be a percentage of the population that actually genuinely wouldn't even attempt tickets because they really can't afford it.

To me it sounds amazing, we could afford the tickets. However I don't like enclosed spaces so concerts are my idea of hell. I don't begrudge anyone with tickets, they'll have great fun. I hope people have added insurance to their bookings though, the Gallagher's aren't renowned for keeping to their word and not having another spat ha!

And for other people, it is the principle of the existence of the COL crisis. Not whether or not they can actually buy the tickets.

See what I am getting at? You are complaining about something that won't materially affect you that much on principle, whilst complaining about people you don't even know are even moaning about the COL crisis. Why are you allowed to complain on principle and they aren't?

That isn't the issue of the thread though.

The issue of the thread is the OP thinking a COL crisis is nonsense because some people are buying concert tickets.

Which is nothing about the N/S divide and nothing about all the other things posters are mentioning like people having holidays or buying concert tickets.

It's a basic ignorance of what a cost of living crisis IS and how it effects every single person but the financial impact is different.

It doesn't effect people in the North less or people in the South more - it's effecting everyone equally in terms of the cost of living has gone up everywhere.

People in Bradford aren't paying less for their beans in Tesco than people in Brighton, nor paying less for their beans or petrol or for electricity. And their mortgages and rents have gone up at the same rate as everywhere else and is relative to area across the UK.

The cheapest tickets at Wembley aren't much over £70. Hardly an extravagant purchase! Likewise, some people will still be struggling and therefore won't be purchasing tickets to something they can't afford; others will use credit and build up consumer debt.

What point are you trying to make? Yes, there was a cost of living crisis. And there still is. And it’s led to a lot of suffering. And it’s probably affected a fair few people on this thread.

So my job pays me too much if I can afford gig tickets??
You'll go mad when you find out some jobs pay enough for employees to afford a whole festival and sometimes even a holiday.

But the reality is that a lot of them are living beyond their means.

Debt is at an all time high in this country, and the truth is that a lot of people who have expensive holidays and concert tickets, the next generation of tech etc are buying all these things on their credit cards.

We have become a must-have society where people want what they want now and so, because they’re not able to save, they take out a credit card or an overdraft, and before you know it their debt is beyond their control but they look like they can afford what they’ve got.

I know people who have credit cards and overdrafts and who genuinely think of those as being their money, when in actual fact a credit are and an overdraft is a debt.

I agree that there is a cost of living crisis in this country.

But I stand by what I said earlier,there is also an issue in regards to how people are spending, which in many instances does leave them in a difficult financial situation which, if they weren’t buying expensive concert tickets and holidays and tech they might not be.

Yeah but there was probably about 10 of those £70 tickets.

i think Ticketmaster should have to publish the statistics of what has been going on over the last 2 years with tickets. They have a total
monopoly and people are being gouged.

From what I have read, so many people are buying tickets who normally would not look like they can afford them.

Looks can be deceiving. It can be surprising which families are secretly struggling to pay their bills while dealing with huge mortgages and which ones are doing ok. Just what I’ve observed from work.

@AnywhereAnyoneAnyTime Well said. Many people live beyond their means out of a desire to post photos on instagram to “friends” who they don’t even know anymore for worthless “likes” that do nothing but give them a false sense of self-esteem which will not help them when the credit card bill comes in.

@kitsuneghost But are you also always going on about a “cost of living crisis” though?

Actually, I think you misunderstand the word crisis in this context. For some it is a crisis. But for many, indeed most, it is not. So by definition the country isn’t experiencing a cost of living crisis. It would be more sensible, and indeed impactful, to say that some people, often those already disadvantaged, are experiencing a cost of living crisis. To say it’s the whole country is to downplay the impact on those it does impact.

You're not listening to replies @MaryWils24

The same people who can afford tickets for Oasis are not the same people who struggle to pay their basic bills and are suffering badly from the COL crisis.

And very judgemental to decide that buying those tickets is wasteful spending