I keep seeing posts on social media about how ten years ago it was achievable for a family to have a takeaway without thinking about the cost, buy a magazine, get a coffee, go to the cinema etc on a semi regular basis. Now, for many families those things are either out of reach, a rare treat or a cost that needs at least to be considered. Of course there will be families who can manage these things without thought, but the pool of people that applies to has become smaller.
the cost of living crisis has been going on for so long and there are unlikely to be rate cuts this year and inflation continues to run at a level above the target. Wages are stagnant, prices continue to rise.
so, is this a crisis or just how it is now? We will never recover the standard of living we had and need to accept that this it. Prices won’t be coming down, wages will have to rise so significantly to catch up that it’s unlikely to happen.
I feel sometimes that by calling it a crisis people expect it to be time limited. Like a recession in our boom and bust economic history. Is it likely? Are the boom times coming? Should we be just setting our expectations lower or can we hope for more?