Cost of living squeeze in 2022

[Welshbeef]

gregs656 said:

IMO it is just another example of a short term, populist policy with long term consequences that outweigh the benefits.

Of course it’s short term
1. Expectations is inflation eases next year
2. It will take until 2050 for the r new 8 nuclear power stations to come online
3. We don’t have any other source of energy currently so clearly every option is short term.

[oyster]

Throttlebody said:

Thanks Rishi, I really, really don’t need the 400.

Not sure what to blow it on, something unique to celebrate another Govt universal nanny state money print.

Wealthy pensioners (the ones who benefited most from rapid asset inflation) will get £700.

Thought you ought to know.

[Fundoreen]

Taking excess profits from oil companies. I say we keep doing it. They dont own the planet, we do , and give them permission to extract things from the land.
They should just be exploited and given a warm meal now and again. We have armies to prod them if they slack off.
since when do they think they own us?

[GroundEffect]

I think what we're seeing with the pressure on the Tory's to act, perhaps against their own instincts of being nasty Tories is the democratisation of politics that social media and our connected world allows. Everyone has the chance for time at the podium. Voices get heard that would have never been heard before. That won't change regardless who gets in charge, unless we go full Putin.

I can't say it's a bad thing - these people work for everyone, not just the donors.

[Ian Geary]

Timothy Bucktu said:

2xChevrons said:

Timothy Bucktu said:

We have never had a more Socialist government, ever.
I doubt we'll ever recoup the loses of the last few years.

I can't imagine why all us lefties were so disappointed in the 2019 GE result, then. A government more socialist than Wilson, or even Attlee! Wow!

"Socialism is a left-wing political, social, and economic philosophy encompassing a range of economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership."

Care to enlighten me on how this current government is a) socialist and b) the most socialist government in British history.

"Spending billions" =/= "Socialism"

Equal distribution of wealth.

Yet inequality of wealth distribution has been getting steadily worse in recent years...?

Care to have another go at justifying what is clearly an untrue statement? What you meant is the Tories aren't as right wing as you want them to be.

But bending in the wind is important.

[theboss]

Gecko1978 said:

Well Mark got quite angry but let me help. NHS. 170bn a year. Close it, private health for everyone people will of course die, but insurance could then come for 11% you pay in NI. I am just about to have back surgery 1 week ago had Dr appointment next day MRI an week Monday surgery so end to end about 4 weeks v waiting on the NHS for 3 months. Down side it will have cost 3.5k at the end and I don't have health insurance so paid myself.....maybe if we did not have an NHS people would find other ways to provide.

3 months - the waiting list is probably at least 12

[austinsmirk]

The free money being chucked out needs to be sensibly timed. Do it in July ( which seems to be the plan) means it’ll just go on holidays. It wants posting on late sept after school holidays and when the children are back at school, actual utilities being charged as it’s winter etc.

I saw the reality of the UC hike in lockdown. It was just free money, bizarrely given out to those who had zero change to their income. In fact I’d argue most were much more financially better in lockdown as you couldn’t spend any money.

If 650 is truly for the poor for heating I’d work with utility companies to pay it direct to them. Or reduce tariffs at source to actually remove the transition of cash etc.

In a million years I wouldn’t give it direct to the majority of claimants as it’ll go on the wrong direction.

[KTF]

It’s not going to be paid until
October and it’s going on your electricity account, not bank account.

[2xChevrons]

Timothy Bucktu said:

Equal distribution of wealth.

Well since wealth in the UK is massively unequal, with the richest 10% of households representing around 40% of total wealth and the poorest 50% less than 10% of wealth, it seems that the Conservative Party's great socialist project (!) isn't working very well. Especially since the top 0.1% of households' share of the wealth has more than doubled over the past 30 years.

Wealth isn't geographically distributed either, since SE England has a median household wealth over twice that of Scotland and nearly five times' that of Wales.

Germane to the overall thread topic, but not your specific point, the UK also has one of the largest disparities in income of any country in Europe - only Bulgaria (and Turkey, if you want to count that as a European country) has a larger Gini coefficient.

Edit: Got myself confused and thought I was in the 'CEO Pay' thread. Thoroughly irrelevant paragraphs removed.

Edited by 2xChevrons on Thursday 26th May 19:31

[Portofino]

The whole thing stinks. Taking money off of companies doing well/when they feel like it is not a good policy.

VAT needed looking at IMO.

Race to the bottom…..then there’s nothing left to dredge at the bottom of the canal.

[Welshbeef]

KTF said:

It’s not going to be paid until
October.

You sure one of the gifts was to be paid in July and Aug 22.

[johnboy1975]

basherX said:

Ed Conway did a good thread on Twitter costing today’s announcement out. Total cost seems to far exceed the amount expected from the windfall tax. So the difference is borrowing.

Seems like an obviously inflationary fiscal move. Makes interest rate rises more likely. Is Sunak just pouring petrol onto the fire?

My thoughts too.

https://twitter.com/EdConwaySky/status/15298602367...

[KTF]

Ah, the benefit to those on mean tested benefits will have the first payment in July.

I thought you were talking about the £400 energy ‘rebate’.

[basherX]

Fundoreen said:

Taking excess profits from oil companies. I say we keep doing it. They dont own the planet, we do , and give them permission to extract things from the land.
They should just be exploited and given a warm meal now and again. We have armies to prod them if they slack off.
since when do they think they own us?

This is fine so long as you’re willing to fund the losses when they come, which they do- it is and always been a cyclical industry.

Current policy seems to be socialise the profits and privatise the losses. That’s not going to end well.

[Welshbeef]

basherX said:

Fundoreen said:

Taking excess profits from oil companies. I say we keep doing it. They dont own the planet, we do , and give them permission to extract things from the land.
They should just be exploited and given a warm meal now and again. We have armies to prod them if they slack off.
since when do they think they own us?

This is fine so long as you’re willing to fund the losses when they come, which they do- it is and always been a cyclical industry.

Current policy seems to be socialise the profits and privatise the losses. That’s not going to end well.

2020 they lost £20 billion - didn’t ask for any govt support.

[brickwall]

A500leroy said:

Gecko1978 said:

Well Mark got quite angry but let me help. NHS. 170bn a year. Close it, private health for everyone people will of course die, but insurance could then come for 11% you pay in NI. I am just about to have back surgery 1 week ago had Dr appointment next day MRI an week Monday surgery so end to end about 4 weeks v waiting on the NHS for 3 months. Down side it will have cost 3.5k at the end and I don't have health insurance so paid myself.....maybe if we did not have an NHS people would find other ways to provide.

Weve got people in the country that really cant afford a tin of baked beans and you want them to die when they get sick? cold man ,cold.

In a rather roundabout way, this was the point I was making.

The British state is fast becoming little more than a nursing home with nukes.

If you want to make any discernible difference to the government budget then you have to go after
- Health and social care (£190bn)
- Benefits and tax credits (£130bn, of which £80bn is Universal Credit and £40bn tax credits)
- State pension (£100bn)
- Education (£100bn)

Those 4 combined are over half of all government expenditure. And every time they get protected (for inflation, or excluded from a round of cuts), everything else has to cut even harder, and frankly there is not much left to cut.

Rishi’s commitment today to raise the state pension by inflation will cost more than all the money raised from the windfall tax. And remember, the windfall tax is a one-off - the pension uplift is permanent.

[skwdenyer]

Portofino said:

The whole thing stinks. Taking money off of companies doing well/when they feel like it is not a good policy.

VAT needed looking at IMO.

Race to the bottom…..then there’s nothing left to dredge at the bottom of the canal.

They should have funded home insulation to get demand down. Except we closed the borders and have nobody to do the work…

Without a lot more immigration, we’re going to be in major trouble. But nobody wants to hear that.

[Turn7]

Forgive my cynicism….

But my vague understanding of what the RIshi and buffoon announced today is this :

Bury bad news by giving money away

Pretending to take money from his besties energy co…

And then give it back to them while
Pretending he’s done us all a
Favour ?

[Welshbeef]

Turn7 said:

Forgive my cynicism….

But my vague understanding of what the RIshi and buffoon announced today is this :

Bury bad news by giving money away

Pretending to take money from his besties energy co…

And then give it back to them while
Pretending he’s done us all a
Favour ?

Not really.

Public is paying for all this in one way or another.
In so many ways it’s simply a loan that the tax man will collect.

[SmoothCriminal]

Tells working people not to ask for a payrise because of inflation.

Gives the usual suspects 650 quid to spunk away.

If as some poster alluded that people can't afford a tin of beans why isn't this being paid in vouchers for essentials like food or rent.