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UK households set for largest fall in living standards in six decades

ft.com

121–130 of 166 posts

Re: UK households set for largest fall in living standards in six decades

#121
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We do already, there's several VAT values, necessities are supposed to be VAT free for instance. Has some quirks in it, so you end up with the Jaffa Cake Vs Biscuit debacle - https://www.astonshaw.co.uk/news/jaffa-cake-tax/#:~:text=The... .

I was aware of the biscuit thing, but think it should just be rolled out more widely. We sort of have that with luxury cars, but an across the board increase of VAT to 30% on high-end goods is really what going for - defining luxury goods is left as an exercise for the reader.

Pretty comprehensive list here, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-of-vat-on-different-goods-...

Re: UK households set for largest fall in living standards in six decades

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Poor trade relations is a big drag on the UK economy. If you can’t plan you can’t invest. I’m hoping the UK joins the United States. We’ve already started to merge our military industrial base and have a long, shared history. Maybe they would receive preference for US LNG/coal shipments too as a result.

Thanks but no thanks. Britain joining the USA would be hell on earth. Why would we want coal? We have loads of it that we don't even dig out of the ground any more.

My mistake, I should have said oil.

Re: UK households set for largest fall in living standards in six decades

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow you really got triggered that benefits rose with inflation eh > one of the two protected classes in the UK: pensioners or welfare recipients. What an absurd and false statement which justifies disregarding the rest of your comment

Workers have been told we can’t have pay rises matching inflation because that would fuel inflation. But pensioners get a 10% pay rise.

Two wrongs make it right? Shouldn't workers get a pay rise?

Re: UK households set for largest fall in living standards in six decades

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> boomers pensions Those boomers spend that money. The money enters the economy. It creates the economic activity needed for the ones who you call 'those who work' to be able to do business and make money. Pumping money to boomers, the poor, disabled and the underprivileged is the easiest way to stimulate an economy. Not giving more money to the rich. > all the money we've borrowed for the boomers Those boomers have…

>Those boomers spend that money. The money enters the economy. It creates the economic activity needed for the ones who you call 'those who work' to be able to do business and make money. Let's break some windows to create more economic activity, amirite? >Its THEIR money. They paid fuck all and set up a system that disproportionally rewards them and robs a future generations.

> They paid fuck all and set up a system that disproportionally rewards them and robs a future generations.

Them voting to scuttle social democracy does not change the fact that the money they are getting back is their money.

Re: UK households set for largest fall in living standards in six decades

#125
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ~100,000 Russian families who just had their son thrown into a meat grinder aren’t laughing. War is hell. People have been warning for years that Russia would continue attacking neighboring countries every other year or so, since it has been going on for years. Can’t blame the world for finally starting to fight back. If the UK government had war gamed this scenario, they would have realized many preparatory acti…

I mean, if, by "fighting back", you mean destroying its own economy, then yes, The West is "fighting back". But not the world , as the vast majority of nations - 7 Billion people -- are not imposing any sanctions because they have more rational leadership than in the 1 Billion people that are destroying their own economy in the name of "fighting back". The main reason why the West is in rapid decline at the moment is…

What would you do instead?

Re: UK households set for largest fall in living standards in six decades

#126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Those boomers spend that money. The money enters the economy. It creates the economic activity needed for the ones who you call 'those who work' to be able to do business and make money. Let's break some windows to create more economic activity, amirite? >Its THEIR money. They paid fuck all and set up a system that disproportionally rewards them and robs a future generations.

> They paid fuck all and set up a system that disproportionally rewards them and robs a future generations. Them voting to scuttle social democracy does not change the fact that the money they are getting back is their money.

They're not getting back their money. The contributions they paid were drastically lower than what current generation pays, and the payout is way higher than projected.

Re: UK households set for largest fall in living standards in six decades

#127
post #115

Quote: "... and higher unemployment are battering household finances..." But but wasn't Brexit suppose to fix unemployment? Wasn't the entire idea that once the foreigners are no longer welcoming the rising market will start employ the local population and drive down unemployment? And yet, almost 3 years later (Jan 1st is around the corner) the unemployment is still rising. Who would've thought that isolating yoursel…

Looks lower than ever, https://www.statista.com/statistics/279898/unemployment-rate...

The recession hasn't hit yet...

Re: UK households set for largest fall in living standards in six decades

#128
post #5

Don't worry, the Tories will just cut taxes on the rich again and that will fix everything /s

Hey man, if people would stop buying their mocha lattes, internet, phones, computers, and netflix, they could save so much money that they could upgrade their carboard box in the park to a carboard box mansion! /s

Then the mocha latte industry will crash and somehow it will also be the people's fault.

Re: UK households set for largest fall in living standards in six decades

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Workers have been told we can’t have pay rises matching inflation because that would fuel inflation. But pensioners get a 10% pay rise.

Two wrongs make it right? Shouldn't workers get a pay rise?

But since workers won't get a raise, pensioners shouldn't either, since the money that they get comes from the pocket of those who work.

Re: UK households set for largest fall in living standards in six decades

#130
post #33
post #30

I'll get downvoted for this, but this isn't true if you're one of the two protected classes in the UK: pensioners or welfare recipients. Both will see their income rise with inflation. If you're working then, sure, you're getting screwed as always because after just spending billions locking down the economy to saving boomers from Covid, this year we decided to spend billions bailing out boomers pensions, paying for…

Upvoted. Same in Spain

I am disgusted every time I see a protest of pensioners or civil servants asking for even more money. It's practically buying votes. They truly are the privileged class.
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