Cost of living crisis

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karatestu
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Unread post by karatestu »

Some people can still afford to live although they might cut back a bit on luxuries. Others are less fortunate and have to cur back on essentials.

I just paid my mortgage off but I am lucky. On Jeremy Vine they are talking about the misery that Truss and Kwarty unleashed especially with mortgage rates - many locked into high rates thinking they could double again.

I am not buying anything, making and repairing, not going anywhere. In my anger I thought it was putting two fingers up at those responsible but in reality the only ones suffering are my family and I, and those i would have bought from.

I played a gig in Ackworth neaf Pontefract last saturday and it was a bit quieter than usual but there were still ordinary people out getting pissed. Got their priorities right ?
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Lindsayt
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Unread post by Lindsayt »

savvypaul wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:00 pm
The Conservative party has an 80 seat majority, and they have a long and consistent history of cutting spending (in real terms) on public services.
No they don't. They have a history and a tradition of increasing spending in real terms.
For example, check out the increase in real terms of Thatcher's Government.

It's just that they don't increase it as much as Labour Governments tend to.

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Re: Cost of living crisis

Unread post by savvypaul »

Lindsayt wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:55 pm
savvypaul wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:00 pm
The Conservative party has an 80 seat majority, and they have a long and consistent history of cutting spending (in real terms) on public services.
No they don't. They have a history and a tradition of increasing spending in real terms.
For example, check out the increase in real terms of Thatcher's Government.

It's just that they don't increase it as much as Labour Governments tend to.
It depends how we define 'in real terms'. It can be argued that The Conservatives have increased spending on health, then we adjust for inflation, then we look at spend per head of population, then we must (imo) take into account the ageing demographic of the population, then we might consider the availability and costs of new treatments.

Under the Conservatives we have fewer hospital beds, fewer police, fewer school teachers, fewer GPs, more expensive rail fares, more rough sleeping, fewer and less frequent bus services, more potholes in the roads, street lighting removed, the list goes on and on. So, where is all the 'increased' spending going?
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Unread post by Grumpytim »

Baroness Fifi Le'Spendthrift and Count Porky von Gravytrain perchance. Both reliable suppliers of zircon encrusted tweezers to the NHS.

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Re: Cost of living crisis

Unread post by Lindsayt »

savvypaul wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 3:09 pm
Lindsayt wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:55 pm
savvypaul wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:00 pm
The Conservative party has an 80 seat majority, and they have a long and consistent history of cutting spending (in real terms) on public services.
No they don't. They have a history and a tradition of increasing spending in real terms.
For example, check out the increase in real terms of Thatcher's Government.

It's just that they don't increase it as much as Labour Governments tend to.
It depends how we define 'in real terms'. It can be argued that The Conservatives have increased spending on health, then we adjust for inflation, then we look at spend per head of population, then we must (imo) take into account the ageing demographic of the population, then we might consider the availability and costs of new treatments.

Under the Conservatives we have fewer hospital beds, fewer police, fewer school teachers, fewer GPs, more expensive rail fares, more rough sleeping, fewer and less frequent bus services, more potholes in the roads, street lighting removed, the list goes on and on. So, where is all the 'increased' spending going?
I define real terms as per this site:
http://www.wolfbane.com/rpi.htm

And total government spending as per this site:
https://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/tota ... Kbt_17bc5n

You can look at any underlying excuses / justifications for increased spending if you want.
I am merely calling a spade a spade. With the spade in this case being the Conservative Governments tradition of increasing spending in real terms.

I am confident that if we drilled down onto government spending we'd see a trend for more and more money being frittered away.
This is the sort of thing that Parkinson was writing about 60 years ago.

In privatised economic areas you tend to have competition and the application of technology to improve service / quality of product whilst reducing costs.
In nationalised/ government controlled economic areas you tend to have budgets and vested interests to maintain or increase budgets.
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Unread post by savvypaul »

Lindsayt wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 4:30 pm
savvypaul wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 3:09 pm
Lindsayt wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:55 pm

No they don't. They have a history and a tradition of increasing spending in real terms.
For example, check out the increase in real terms of Thatcher's Government.

It's just that they don't increase it as much as Labour Governments tend to.
It depends how we define 'in real terms'. It can be argued that The Conservatives have increased spending on health, then we adjust for inflation, then we look at spend per head of population, then we must (imo) take into account the ageing demographic of the population, then we might consider the availability and costs of new treatments.

Under the Conservatives we have fewer hospital beds, fewer police, fewer school teachers, fewer GPs, more expensive rail fares, more rough sleeping, fewer and less frequent bus services, more potholes in the roads, street lighting removed, the list goes on and on. So, where is all the 'increased' spending going?
I define real terms as per this site:
http://www.wolfbane.com/rpi.htm

And total government spending as per this site:
https://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/tota ... Kbt_17bc5n

You can look at any underlying excuses / justifications for increased spending if you want.
I am merely calling a spade a spade. With the spade in this case being the Conservative Governments tradition of increasing spending in real terms.

I am confident that if we drilled down onto government spending we'd see a trend for more and more money being frittered away.
This is the sort of thing that Parkinson was writing about 60 years ago.

In privatised economic areas you tend to have competition and the application of technology to improve service / quality of product whilst reducing costs.
In nationalised/ government controlled economic areas you tend to have budgets and vested interests to maintain or increase budgets.
One man's 'excuses' is another man's 'real world scenarios'. What if demand grows faster than RPI? Execute people when they get to be too expensive to maintain within RPI?

Can you name any public services where improved service / quality of product at reduced cost has been achieved by privatisation?
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Unread post by Lindsayt »

savvypaul wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 4:36 pm Can you name any public services where improved service / quality of product at reduced cost has been achieved by privatisation?
No I can't off the top of my head. It's not my area of specialisation.

Telecommunications would appear to be 1 area that would be worth looking into to see if this is case.

I know that last year I sorted out a deal for my mum where she gets unlimited broadband plus unlimited calls to uk landlines and mobiles for under £20 per month.
Compare that to telephone costs in 1981 in the UK. In real terms. No broadband and calls charged on a cost per minute basis.

Although how you separate out the benefits of privatisation vs technology in telecommunications is impossible. Because it's all a huge what if.

What we can do is look at long term trends of countries like North Korea vs South Korea - and draw our own conclusions.

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Re: Cost of living crisis

Unread post by savvypaul »

Lindsayt wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 5:23 pm
savvypaul wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 4:36 pm Can you name any public services where improved service / quality of product at reduced cost has been achieved by privatisation?
No I can't off the top of my head. It's not my area of specialisation.

Telecommunications would appear to be 1 area that would be worth looking into to see if this is case.

I know that last year I sorted out a deal for my mum where she gets unlimited broadband plus unlimited calls to uk landlines and mobiles for under £20 per month.
Compare that to telephone costs in 1981 in the UK. In real terms. No broadband and calls charged on a cost per minute basis.

Although how you separate out the benefits of privatisation vs technology in telecommunications is impossible. Because it's all a huge what if.

What we can do is look at long term trends of countries like North Korea vs South Korea - and draw our own conclusions.
Or, we could take a long term look at Scandinavian countries, Germany, France...and compare their nationalised public services to our own privatised services. Ironically, the state owned railway companies of Germany and France are making large profits from running some of the UK's privatised railways.

Mass volume technology is certainly much more affordable than it used to be.. We used to have to rent a telly, now you can get one for peanuts, comparatively. But I don't think that is any different in Europe, once you make any adjustments required to account for average incomes. Maybe, very cheap far East labour is the main factor.

Utilities, transport, health, education, etc should be part of a common treasury for all, imo. Things that us common people need to be able to be productive and prosper. Too important to be left to the market.
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Unread post by Daniel Quinn »

The point is not to ask what privatisation offers , because anybody with half a brain knows and I've got seventy percent . They innovate because innovation allows wealth for a few .

What you need to ask is how do you share the rewards of innovation far more unilaterally and democratically .

At the same time ensuring innovation is not bad for the majority
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Re: Cost of living crisis

Unread post by karatestu »

I've spent £1100 this month on food for a family of four and there is still a week left of March. Insane.

A couple of the women my wife works with have said they are having to use food banks. Misery for lots of people.
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