How do we fix our Economy and the country?

What exactly is a cost of living crisis?
This is now going to sound like the Yorkshiremen sketch from Monty python
I was brought up in a family home where my dad worked all kinds of unsociable hours and my mum part time
They had four children and in winter only one room was heated
when I went shopping with my mum, she had a certain amount of cash to spend on groceries and I lost count of the number of times we had to put stuff back as she didn't have enough money
A family holiday (if we had one) was a week in Blackpool
It was hand me down clothes

I honestly believe that the country's standard of living has improved massively in the last 50 years and people just expect too much and won't do without

Commodities such as clothes, food and energy saw real deflation for years and we became too accustomed to this

However, there are enormous issues with the public sector such as the NHS which requires a 30/40 year plan
 
city2 said:
Some on here think the country is going in the right direction and that’s not me by the way.
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Here’s a question, do you enjoy your country?

Wherever I’ve been in the world, I always love coming back to England, and the UK. I absolutely love this country, like the majority do, and want a fair and equitable society for all.

Understanding our fundamental issues, regardless of government, this is a time to serve all.
 
dickie davies said:
What exactly is a cost of living crisis?
This is now going to sound like the Yorkshiremen sketch from Monty python
I was brought up in a family home where my dad worked all kinds of unsociable hours and my mum part time
They had four children and in winter only one room was heated
when I went shopping with my mum, she had a certain amount of cash to spend on groceries and I lost count of the number of times we had to put stuff back as she didn't have enough money
A family holiday (if we had one) was a week in Blackpool
It was hand me down clothes

I honestly believe that the country's standard of living has improved massively in the last 50 years and people just expect too much and won't do without

Commodities such as clothes, food and energy saw real deflation for years and we became too accustomed to this

However, there are enormous issues with the public sector such as the NHS which requires a 30/40 year plan
Click to expand...
I was brought up in the 70s. Dad was a manager and mum a nurse but I remember life being very precarious.

Mum hurt her back and couldn’t work and we had to hide when the debt collector came. In the early 80s my dad fell ill and nearly died. That winter was grim and mum definitely went without food, looking back, to keep the show on the road. Dad got out of hospital on Xmas eve and that was the bleakest Christmas ever. Things got better but we were always on the edge.

I think these days it sometimes looks better because of the never never, leasing new cars, etc etc. But even people with decent jobs are living on the edge I fear.
 
dickie davies said:
What exactly is a cost of living crisis?
This is now going to sound like the Yorkshiremen sketch from Monty python
I was brought up in a family home where my dad worked all kinds of unsociable hours and my mum part time
They had four children and in winter only one room was heated
when I went shopping with my mum, she had a certain amount of cash to spend on groceries and I lost count of the number of times we had to put stuff back as she didn't have enough money
A family holiday (if we had one) was a week in Blackpool
It was hand me down clothes

I honestly believe that the country's standard of living has improved massively in the last 50 years and people just expect too much and won't do without

Commodities such as clothes, food and energy saw real deflation for years and we became too accustomed to this

However, there are enormous issues with the public sector such as the NHS which requires a 30/40 year plan
Click to expand...
I suppose the counter argument is if people weren't so materialistic then there would be less jobs, less gdp, less tax...........

The price for this rampant consumerism is either one wage owner must earn a lot of money or both parents if the family is stable have to work.

The growth obsession has had its day imho, people wont let it go though. We all played our part and you're right that we expect too much.
 
hilts said:
I suppose the counter argument is if people weren't so materialistic then there would be less jobs, less gdp, less tax...........

The price for this rampant consumerism is either one wage owner must earn a lot of money or both parents if the family is stable have to work.

The growth obsession has had its day imho, people wont let it go though. We all played our part and you're right that we expect too much.
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This.
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It's something I've been trying to figure out for while. What do I need and what do I want?

A lot of us are having to work payday to payday to cover our bills and have little, if anything less 'disposible'.

I consider myself to be on a living wage. Yet, out of that 50% goes on my rent payment which rises every year. I cut all my subs to things such as Netflix and started living a minimalist type life. Even then it can be a struggle. Fuck knows how people on the national minimum wage survive.

We'll be going back to the days of 3 generations of the same family sharing the same 2 bedroom house at this rate.
 
TinFoilHat said:
This.
View attachment 176064
It's something I've been trying to figure out for while. What do I need and what do I want?

A lot of us are having to work payday to payday to cover our bills and have little, if anything less 'disposible'.

I consider myself to be on a living wage. Yet, out of that 50% goes on my rent payment which rises every year. I cut all my subs to things such as Netflix and started living a minimalist type life. Even then it can be a struggle. Fuck knows how people on the national minimum wage survive.

We'll be going back to the days of 3 generations of the same family sharing the same 2 bedroom house at this rate.
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Im watching question time now which is my bad but the truth, no matter what your party is, if we are being honest is none of the parties have a solution, they cannot deliver on their promises
The Labour guy at the moment is trying to justify broken promises and the freezing of tax allowances. He is dying on his arse, he knows it the panel knows it the audience knows it. Its tragic but as one panelist said it would be the same under the tories.
We have no chance if everyone is claiming they have the answers and we have to choose but reality is they're all lying.
 
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hilts said:
Im watching question time now which is my bad but the truth no matter what your party is and if we are being honest is none of the parties have a solution, they cannot deliver on their promises
The Labour guy at the moment is trying to justify broken promises and the freezing of tax allowances. He is dying on his arse, he knows it the panel knows it the audience knows it. Its tragic but as one panelist said it would be the same under the tories.
We have no chance if everyone is claiming they have the answers and we have to choose but reality is they're all lying.
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Under a decent PR system power would be shared, there would be more diverse voices, and everyone involved would take collective responsibility for decisions. Just need to look to Germany which although not perfect has probably been most successful European country of the last 30-40 years.
 
Pingu the Penguin said:
I was brought up in the 70s. Dad was a manager and mum a nurse but I remember life being very precarious.

Mum hurt her back and couldn’t work and we had to hide when the debt collector came. In the early 80s my dad fell ill and nearly died. That winter was grim and mum definitely went without food, looking back, to keep the show on the road. Dad got out of hospital on Xmas eve and that was the bleakest Christmas ever. Things got better but we were always on the edge.

I think these days it sometimes looks better because of the never never, leasing new cars, etc etc. But even people with decent jobs are living on the edge I fear.
Click to expand...
We try to look after the kids. Why put money into shares or ISAs when the people you love are struggling.
 
A large part of the problem is that the things that we need to do, those things that would be economically beneficial to the country are total poison to the electorate. And the things that people often want to see would be a total disaster - as evidenced by some of the suggestions in this very thread.

But if it were up to me to prioritise, then I'd suggest that nearly every facet of our tax system is completely fucking broken. The income tax bands indefinitely frozen, the weird cliff edges and loss of allowances, the 60% (or sometimes even 72%) marginal rate, the council tax being based on valuations from 1991, our horrendously complex corporate tax system. We have pensioners randomly being given bills because they find themselves in excess of the personal allowance. National Insurance and Income Tax pretending to be different things when they're actually not which creates weird unnecessary differences in who pays what. Don't get me started on VAT.

People moan and whine about spend - but what's the point in even talking about spending when the revenue side of the equation is such a mess? It's like trying to land a plane when you don't even know how high up you are.

I've been waiting for years and years for a Chancellor to come in, grasp the nettle and actually start to tentatively move some of these things in the right direction, but no... it continues to get worse every single year without fail.
 
Pingu the Penguin said:
Under a decent PR system power would be shared, there would be more diverse voices, and everyone involved would take collective responsibility for decisions. Just need to look to Germany which although not perfect has probably been most successful European country of the last 30-40 years.
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I agree and guess what? labour members voted for it even Labour mps were in favour but surprise surprise because an election was won Starmer blocks it because he wants the power, thats what we are up against these cunts are not interested in doing the right thing.
 
Correcting recent mistakes would help. Intelligent beings are those which can recognise errors and amend as appropriate.
The whole political bear-pit is also too overheated. Biased media outlets acting on behalf of their handlers pumping everyone full of hate and division. It's all black and white, binary and endlessly ineffective. Playing into the hands of goo-dribbling extremists and cranks.
Many people just seem to act with nothing but self-interest. No sense of a wider UK or global society.
 
Pingu the Penguin said:
Under a decent PR system power would be shared, there would be more diverse voices, and everyone involved would take collective responsibility for decisions. Just need to look to Germany which although not perfect has probably been most successful European country of the last 30-40 years.
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Labour are considering another AV voting referendum.

It's not PR, but might improve the make up of the commons being more reflective of where the country is electorally.

They'll probably decide against it when they see the polling.
 
Blackley_Blue said:
I saw a stat on social media that said the lifting of the 2 child cap means that a single mother with 3 children who is out of work will earn more than someone who has no children and works full time on minimum wage.

Make that make sense?
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Let's have a go at single mums.

One of my sister's is a single mum with 4 kid's, (it's not her fault she's single but I won't open that can of worms on here) She gets UC but also works part-time, two of her kids are still at school.

She's a great mum, and her kids are all sound, brought up the right way. In fact her eldest lad has his own business has about 30 employees and contributes far more to the economy than probably all of the talking heads on here.
 
The Stockport Iniesta said:
Let's have a go at single mums.

One of my sister's is a single mum with 4 kid's, (it's not her fault she's single but I won't open that can of worms on here) She gets UC but also works part-time, two of her kids are still at school.

She's a great mum, and her kids are all sound, brought up the right way. In fact her eldest lad has his own business has about 30 employees and contributes far more to the economy than probably all of the talking heads on here.
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Fair play to her mate. A lot of folks in this country seem to have forgotten a quite fundamental concept when it comes to welfare - it is a safety net. People's circumstances change. People get ill. People die. People get divorced. People lose their job.

A huge chunk of people in receipt of UC work, and work bloody hard.

To put it plainly, it fucks me off that it's become the accepted position to assume every person claiming has always been claiming, always will be claiming, and is some workshy lazy grifter.

In my experience of actually speaking to human beings out there, putting the internet away for a second and engaging with reality, that isn't even close to being true for the vast majority.

We've totally lost our compassion as a society. The true laziness is believing in these simplistic caricatures of reality instead of appreciating that nothing is ever so simple.
 
grunge said:
Student wise I have to disagree to an extent. We should be encouraging the world’s best students to come and study and stay here, the ones that will build top end businesses.

Lots of silicone valley is built this way. We can and should encourage that sort of student to come and stay.
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Agree re the world's best students (that would be a relatively small number anyway) but they would be able to apply to live here after being students if they had the requisite skills and we had a shortfall and they would presumably be employed by a business subsequently or financed through their studies by a university. Overall, we should have a scorecard and Fast-track residency for highly skilled professionals where we have shortages ...I think Germany, Canada and New Zealand are fairly good at this
 
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