Cost of living crisis.

[Lako42]

Tighten your belts where you can folks. It's going to be a very bumpy ride for the foreseeable. 

[Jon the Hat]

1 hour ago, HighPeakFox said:

I'm confused - are you defending capitalism, with all its obvious flaws, or are you suggesting that we don't have pure capitalism, and the version we get foisted on us is some corrupt accident?

Well yes I do defend capitalism despite all its obvious flaws, as the system which has raised most of the world out of poverty.  It is better than any of the alternatives humanity has come up with so far.  We don't though have pure capitalism, we have capitalism with state led controls.  Those controls mostly work to restrain what pure capitalism might become, but not entirely.  Capitalism doesn't have the answer to Oligarchs rich from stealing Russian wealth for example.

[jonthefox]

3 minutes ago, Lako42 said:

Tighten your belts where you can folks. It's going to be a very bumpy ride for the foreseeable. 

I agree. First thing to go was tonights game 

[HighPeakFox]

2 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

Well yes I do defend capitalism despite all its obvious flaws, as the system which has raised most of the world out of poverty.  It is better than any of the alternatives humanity has come up with so far.  We don't though have pure capitalism, we have capitalism with state led controls.  Those controls mostly work to restrain what pure capitalism might become, but not entirely.  Capitalism doesn't have the answer to Oligarchs rich from stealing Russian wealth for example.

After all, we have our own version of that. Whilst acknowledging that we have relative wealth here (at least some of us do, but again there's huge denial about the massive poverty in this country), let's also not pretend that we aren't being gamed out of money by our own mega rich. 

[Carl the Llama]

2 hours ago, Dahnsouff said:

Never understood why people feel state ownership rather than private would lead to management by more scrupulous individuals, it is the same people who would be involved. Large sums of money attract a certain sort of person, and to pretend avarice does not exist in the public sector is like suggesting hubris does not exist in public service.

This is a bit vague and presumptive for me.  State ownership of what and why are the same people hanging around instead of jumping ship for the next poorly regulated gravy train?

[Dahnsouff]

1 minute ago, Carl the Llama said:

This is a bit vague and presumptive for me.  State ownership of what and why are the same people hanging around instead of jumping ship for the next poorly regulated gravy train?

In what way was it vague? It could be said to be just as presumptive to assume the opposite. 

[Strokes]

Having just seen the fuel price increases, I’m preparing to send an email to my customers and clients on rate increases my end.

A job I quoted before Christmas is going ahead in April, and the materials have gone up 40%. It’s not worth doing the job now as there is nothing left for Labour 🙈

[davieG]

The sad thing is history and my memory tells me most of these increases will never come down again people will have to work for years until their income catches back up.

 

[davieG]

Maybe a tiny bit of goodish news.

 

BBC - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60680787

 

Oil prices have plunged after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said it supported increasing production.

Brent crude, an international benchmark, fell more than 17% at one point after the statement by the UAE, a member of the powerful oil cartel Opec.

[Carl the Llama]

16 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

In what way was it vague? It could be said to be just as presumptive to assume the opposite. 

Well 'nationalisation' isn't exactly a discrete policy.  Are we talking essential services or a more broad application of the idea?  Why is there the same amount of money available at the top of the business when one component of nationalisation should be the removal of the kind of arbitrary, over-inflated upper management pay that people associate with the evils of private enterprise and the introduction of fairer wages lower down?

 

 

[Zear0]

8 minutes ago, davieG said:

Maybe a tiny bit of goodish news.

 

BBC - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60680787

 

Oil prices have plunged after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said it supported increasing production.

Brent crude, an international benchmark, fell more than 17% at one point after the statement by the UAE, a member of the powerful oil cartel Opec.

Problem is though, the bas**rds running the fuel courts hike the prices the moment the cost price increases but then never do the same when it reduces. 

[davieG]

10 minutes ago, Zear0 said:

Problem is though, the bas**rds running the fuel courts hike the prices the moment the cost price increases but then never do the same when it reduces. 

 

22 minutes ago, davieG said:

The sad thing is history and my memory tells me most of these increases will never come down again people will have to work for years until their income catches back up.

 

As I said above.

[Dahnsouff]

21 minutes ago, Carl the Llama said:

Well 'nationalisation' isn't exactly a discrete policy.  Are we talking essential services or a more broad application of the idea?  Why is there the same amount of money available at the top of the business when one component of nationalisation should be the removal of the kind of arbitrary, over-inflated upper management pay that people associate with the evils of private enterprise and the introduction of fairer wages lower down?

It is more a broader comment in response to the black and white comment that capitalism was inherenly bad, which it need not be. As noted as early as the 1970s, nationalisation has its own shortcomings, such as a bloat from over insurance that leads to a lack of efficency and the self imposed limits on its own scalability due to strictures on available capital.

Edited 10 March 2022 by Dahnsouff

[goose2010]

It is a worry to be honest, wife is currently on maternity leave on stat pay  but we are Ok as we planned for it by saving enough last year to cover us. 

 

I have a list of my direct debits and we have a few "luxuries" on there that are looking like they are going to have to be cut at some point just to be able to heat the house! 

 

Hoping for a mild end of winter / spring to be honest. 

 

I do feel for people that are already struggling though as at some point if not already there will be families choosing between heating and eating. 

 

The thing that annoys me more than ever is the oh "its only a couple of quid!" i don't mind paying it.... Not just on season tickets but on anything. 

 

Say a family of 4 all have season tickets if they are paying DD its going to be roughly £100 a month currently. so add that extra £5 a ticket it goes up to £120 a month. I think its a 10 month DD scheme so looking at an extra £200 a year. 

 

That £200 could be 6 months worth of water, a month or two months worth of heating. or a food shop. But instead it is going into a clubs pocket that are paying players that don't even make the match day squad 50-100k a WEEK! 

 

If the club wanted to they could easily freeze or even reduce the ticket prices if they wanted to. But they wont because they are no different to any other club / business. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

When I move from my flat into a house I'll be looking to become energy independent as a matter of urgency. Solar panels, heat exchanger, ground source heat pump if I can. 

 

Cost of diesel going much higher will freeze me out of going to Leicester more than 2 or 3 times a season. 

[lcfc278]

I know most people are quite savvy with their spending nowadays anyway but for those that haven't yet or aren't sure how they can combat the rising costs I always refer to Money Saving Expert (https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/) for any kind of outgoing. Whether it's energy bills, different insurances, debts or anywhere that you spend money, there's a section on it to help you either save money by comparing prices or save money by giving tips on how to cut your spend.

 

I have a monthly budget sheet on Excel that I work to which I go through regularly to see where I can cut a few quid here and there and I keep a date of when a policy starts on insurance or a contract starts on my broadband etc. So i know when to start looking at if I can save when renewing.

 

One of the things I'm looking at now is seeing where I can start saving energy money in my house, anything that we're using that's sapping energy that we can try and limit (tumble dryer is the big one now its starting to get warmer). I'm also looking at ways to save petrol costs, taking all the crap out of my boot that I drive around with and ensuring the tyres are regularly checked and kept as they should. In the end its all going to be small savings in the pennies here and there but with these mental rises across the board, I think anywhere you can nip a bit out here and there will help.

 

I think things like Disney Plus (for the kids) and Amazon Prime will probably get chopped when it comes around and sadly, probably won't be going to as many games in the next 12 months depending on the circumstances but it's an area I can save about £50 - 100 a game on (tickets, travel, drinks, food etc.) so will also help offset some rises elsewhere.

 

Sorry for the long post just thought I'd write down some of the things I'm doing and planning for now in case it helps anyone else but I think it will start to pinch from next month when all the different price rises come at once as well as my wages will start getting hit by the tax/NI/student loan increases as well.

Edited 10 March 2022 by lcfc278

[The boy Linacre]

9 hours ago, ozleicester said:

Capitalism is failing, the elite and governments will tell us that Covid has caused these issues, but they have been coming for a long time.

The only answer is higher taxes for the wealthy, using that income to assist the working class, lets not kid ourseleves most of us are working class and are being exploited for the gain of the rich. Remember, in the 70s, the highest tax rate was 90%... now its 45%. Increased VAT takes from the poor while less affecting the rich.

Town centres will die as we shop more online and work from home, retail and service jobs will fall as we realise that we cant afford luxuries and we deserve a decent wage no matter what our role, already homelessness is at horrific levels and getting worse...and still the rich are living an absurd life.

Then lets look at how climate change is going to destroy our 'normal' life, the governments, as voted by greedy middle class wannabes have avoided and ignored the coming disaster for 40 years.

Societal change is the only way out... well ........except extinction.

On the tax front, the UK have often had one of the lowest tax rates in Europe.  Our political parties have always worked on the principle that its an election loser.  As a result we are now treated like we're all thick as they are asked of us elsewhere, very big increases in NI in my working life, primarily default increase in Council Tax etc.

Sadly so many of our senior/policy maker/ministerial politicians don't have the skill to run a business let alone the country and when they all protected from any of this by their personal wealth, no wonder they don't understand how Joe Public is dealing with it.

Many things are so much better in the 2020's (Am I sure?) but the massively increased divide between rich and poor is certainly not.  The multiple between the CEO and the lowest paid company worker, "By comparison, it is estimated that the average CEO was paid about 20 times the typical worker’s pay in the 1950s, with that multiple rising to 42-to-1 in 1980, and to 120-to-1 in 2000" Corbyn & Cameron bought asked for it to be 20 times in the last 10-15 years.  

Anyway lets hope we beat Arsenal Sunday

[blabyboy]

9 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

My energy provider went bust and I was moved to British Gas. My first full months bill of supposed actual usage is £205 and that's before the April price cap increase. I was averaging between £65-100 a month before. I cannot work out how they've doubled it before this next price increase. Not on a fixed rate either, its rhe bog standard variable. 

I would guess that the charges for a unit of gas and leccy were lower on your previous supplier whereas BG usually go up to, or just below the price cap limit. Your bill should show the exact amount of units used for gas and leccy so you might be able to compare the previous and new supplier? The SVR rates all differ from supplier to supplier.

 

As others have suggested, spend a bit of time on moneysavingexpert.com in the Energy section and you should pick up plenty of advice for managing your bills over the coming year

[kyleolly]

I have turned in to my dad these past few weeks every petrol station I pass I'm like bloody hell it's £1.60.9p ia litre here it's only £1.57.7p per litre up the road

[blabyboy]

20 minutes ago, kyleolly said:

I have turned in to my dad these past few weeks every petrol station I pass I'm like bloody hell it's £1.60.9p ia litre here it's only £1.57.7p per litre up the road

Take it from me, you only properly become a dad when you're wandering around the house turning off all the lights and electrical paraphernalia that your kids and missus have left on.. all the while grumbling about do we live in Buckingham palace??

[Izzy]

1 minute ago, blabyboy said:

Take it from me, you only properly become a dad when you're wandering around the house turning off all the lights and electrical paraphernalia that your kids and missus have left on.. all the while grumbling about do we live in Buckingham palace??

Were you spying on me this morning? 

[Dahnsouff]

11 hours ago, ozleicester said:

Capitalism is failing, the elite and governments will tell us that Covid has caused these issues, but they have been coming for a long time.

The only answer is higher taxes for the wealthy, using that income to assist the working class, lets not kid ourseleves most of us are working class and are being exploited for the gain of the rich. Remember, in the 70s, the highest tax rate was 90%... now its 45%. Increased VAT takes from the poor while less affecting the rich.

Town centres will die as we shop more online and work from home, retail and service jobs will fall as we realise that we cant afford luxuries and we deserve a decent wage no matter what our role, already homelessness is at horrific levels and getting worse...and still the rich are living an absurd life.

Then lets look at how climate change is going to destroy our 'normal' life, the governments, as voted by greedy middle class wannabes have avoided and ignored the coming disaster for 40 years.

Societal change is the only way out... well ........except extinction.

Thats an impressive amount of correlation dressed up as facts there   

 

edit Except the extinction bit, that seems a sure thing!

Edited 10 March 2022 by Dahnsouff

[String fellow]

37 minutes ago, kyleolly said:

I have turned in to my dad these past few weeks every petrol station I pass I'm like bloody hell it's £1.60.9p ia litre here it's only £1.57.7p per litre up the road

The petrol station I mainly use seems to adding 5p to a litre of diesel almost every day at present. Yesterday, it was 168p/l.

[Ric Flair]

1 hour ago, blabyboy said:

I would guess that the charges for a unit of gas and leccy were lower on your previous supplier whereas BG usually go up to, or just below the price cap limit. Your bill should show the exact amount of units used for gas and leccy so you might be able to compare the previous and new supplier? The SVR rates all differ from supplier to supplier.

 

As others have suggested, spend a bit of time on moneysavingexpert.com in the Energy section and you should pick up plenty of advice for managing your bills over the coming year

Yesh they unit rates are definitely higher, but not by more than double!! I think they're insinuating I've used more energy than I was using with my previous provider so I need to check they're getting the readings right.

[blabyboy]

25 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Yesh they unit rates are definitely higher, but not by more than double!! I think they're insinuating I've used more energy than I was using with my previous provider so I need to check they're getting the readings right.

Yes mate, they're probably also front-loading the payments so that the account is in credit and less of a risk exposure to them - it may be that you're not the only one and it may be a policy of everyone that's been transferred to BG.

 

I know it sounds a bit sad, but I always take photos of both my meters when I submit monthly readings - not sure if you have had to do monthly readings?.It has saved my bacon twice with previous suppliers.

Outside shot is that maybe also one of your meters has gone faulty and is mis-reporting?