Inflation

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Covid was about the best thing that happened to my bank account. Never saved as much money.

If enough people have saved for a couple of years and are looking to spend now, then that would be inflationary.

Bang on. That's the major driver of inflation. The fuel price hike adds to that, but it's not the primary cause.

I'm not sure it is you know. We haven't seen huge demand for retail, or new cars or holidays. I don't think that has happened.

What we did see was big rises in the costs of fuel and manufacturers and retailers struggling to pass it on. Fertilizers plants closing down and so on.

Depends on the type of retail, some parts of the industry are in record sales territory. Covid has caused a whole host of changes.  Not to mention car demand is maxed out with supply issues (8 months I've been waiting for mine now and it's nowhere near).

But I do agree that the biggest push is clearly energy, shipping and fuel related aswell as labour cost pressures, which minimum wage increases won't help with.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

''The nation has grown fat and idel on welfare, to such an extent that some have made it a lifestyle choice. We have such a fickle and privileged demographic that they would never put in the hard yards that the generations from pre and post war did''

yep DD, nail in head, the first thing to go should be food banks which is now the only growth industry, up 1100% since 2010, having all these loafers (ahem) turning up for food on a regular basis, if we didn't have them we wouldn't have hungry people would we?

I’m all for helping the real poor with whatever they need be it foodbanks or accommodation as long as they don’t turn up watching Netflix on their iPhones.

Oh right, not only do they have to be poor, they have to be miserable too

They could make better life choices.  The £300 phone (or even less) or the £1000 one?

There's lots of things to be said about second hand things, my kids have loads of it for example yet I know some who won't touch it.  We've recently given away over £1000 worth of stuff used by my kids as someone needed it.  It doesn't always need the state to create that choice does it?

Equally there's people I know that have taken handouts of food etc (particularly during covid) but have better cars and more expensive clothes than others. That is not right. It's important to make sure things actually go to the people who need it and then to give them the opportunity to get in to a better position.  Unfortunately (and people don't like to hear it) there are some people who just want everything handed to them from others and that's detrimental not just to society but those in genuinely awful circumstances.

A lot of assumptions going on there pud.

As I said, people I know. I'm not going to name them quite clearly and they are not representative of every single situation.y point stands, it's important to get the right things to the ones who genuinely need it.

[SydneyRover]

You said only the other day you weren't against people looking to get more money pud.

[SydneyRover]

''The nation has grown fat and idel on welfare, to such an extent that some have made it a lifestyle choice. We have such a fickle and privileged demographic that they would never put in the hard yards that the generations from pre and post war did''

yep DD, nail in head, the first thing to go should be food banks which is now the only growth industry, up 1100% since 2010, having all these loafers (ahem) turning up for food on a regular basis, if we didn't have them we wouldn't have hungry people would we?

I’m all for helping the real poor with whatever they need be it foodbanks or accommodation as long as they don’t turn up watching Netflix on their iPhones.

Oh right, not only do they have to be poor, they have to be miserable too

They could make better life choices.  The £300 phone (or even less) or the £1000 one?

There's lots of things to be said about second hand things, my kids have loads of it for example yet I know some who won't touch it.  We've recently given away over £1000 worth of stuff used by my kids as someone needed it.  It doesn't always need the state to create that choice does it?

Equally there's people I know that have taken handouts of food etc (particularly during covid) but have better cars and more expensive clothes than others. That is not right. It's important to make sure things actually go to the people who need it and then to give them the opportunity to get in to a better position.  Unfortunately (and people don't like to hear it) there are some people who just want everything handed to them from others and that's detrimental not just to society but those in genuinely awful circumstances.

A lot of assumptions going on there pud.

As I said, people I know. I'm not going to name them quite clearly and they are not representative of every single situation.y point stands, it's important to get the right things to the ones who genuinely need it.

I guess the other 99% of poor people in Britain you don't know pud.

[River Don]

Covid was about the best thing that happened to my bank account. Never saved as much money.

If enough people have saved for a couple of years and are looking to spend now, then that would be inflationary.

Bang on. That's the major driver of inflation. The fuel price hike adds to that, but it's not the primary cause.

I'm not sure it is you know. We haven't seen huge demand for retail, or new cars or holidays. I don't think that has happened.

What we did see was big rises in the costs of fuel and manufacturers and retailers struggling to pass it on. Fertilizers plants closing down and so on.

Depends on the type of retail, some parts of the industry are in record sales territory. Covid has caused a whole host of changes.  Not to mention car demand is maxed out with supply issues (8 months I've been waiting for mine now and it's nowhere near).

But I do agree that the biggest push is clearly energy, shipping and fuel related aswell as labour cost pressures, which minimum wage increases won't help with.

Yeah I know there are supply side issues with cars and that is pushing second hand car prices.

It's a mixed picture but the governor of the BoE said it wasn't usual inflation and accepted it was being driven primarily by energy costs.

I still think those whopping energy price rises are at the core of it. Particularly in Europe.

[River Don]

Brent crude is near $100 a barrel this morning on fears of war in Ukraine. Gas prices are also on the march.

Perhaps today is a good day to fill the car up, pump prices are rising too.

[Sprotyrover]

I notice that all the parties racking up this phoney war stand to do well out of raised fuel prices!

[danumdon]

Danum

You say that things are different now. I respectfully suggest that doesn't tie in with what history tells us.

May I humbly suggest you read The Road to Wigan Pier?

90 years ago, in the depths of the Great Depression, George Orwell was pointing out that folk who had done alright for themselves were continually moaning about scroungers preferring life on the dole to working.

But then, when work came along with WWII, those same scroungers put in double shifts at the steel works and the powder works. And then they carried on working throughout the post-War decades.

I suggest, respectfully, that you are one of the ones Orwell would have been having a pop at. I think he would have forcefully pointed out to you that the vast majority of benefits go to supplement the wages of people who work f**king hard but haven't been as fortunate as you and me, and still don't earn enough to get by.

I think he'd have suggested that giving them a hand up, rather than contemptuously complaining at them would have been a better way forward.

BST, you didn't answer my question at the end of my post.

With respect to George Orwell and The Road to Wigan Pier I think history from 90 years ago also told us that the welfare state was in its infancy and nothing like the sophisticated organisation we have today.

Consequently the poor who had only the "dole" to survive on would of snatched your hand off for the opportunity to have a meaningful job. This situation is not what we currently have, today a family of 4 can live a better life on welfare than someone who works a full week, that can't be right. Like i said earlier, try and get some of these people to go and work in a care home or on a production line in a factory and its, no thank you, the jobs are there but nobody wants them.

I do appreciate that a lot of working people need to claim in work benefits because of poor wages they struggle to live on, but is this even right?, in effect subsidising large oranisations or multinationals with taxpayers money to employ workers at a poor wage level, and is the "giving them a hand up because they are less fortunate " correct? would the bit of extra cash help them long term, surely you need some sort of training or education programs in place to up skill people who find themselves in these types of situations, constant handouts create a submissive and dumbed down workforce.

Ill give you a good example of the fickle and entitled attitude we find in today's society, just an example that i've experienced. The company i work for carry out contracts nationwide, we require qualified electrical and mechanical engineers and technicians to cover contracts in the south east and anglia areas, we pay really good rates, trainees after initial training modules start at 44k and with additional competencies earn up to 65k basic and probably half again in overtime, can we find the staff, can we buggery. We struggle to get people into the office for interviews, why? because we require then to work unsocial hours(days.nights, weekends) it now seems that qualified engineers and techs in the south east have such a range of work placements to choose from they consider our offer as "too much like hard work".

The world is changing and our country is getting left behind with its crap attitude.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Danum

1) Absolutely I'd be happy to pay more tax, dependent on the overall economic policy. I'd be happy to pay more to help underpin education for example. I think it is beyond disgraceful that my generation was paid to go to university, and then voted for tax cuts meaning that the next generation had to pay through the nose for the same privilege.

2) Your example of technical jobs not being filled. The problem there doesn't come from people being paid to stay on the dole. It comes from not having enough capacity, so people with skills can command higher salaries elsewhere.

[drfchound]

''The nation has grown fat and idel on welfare, to such an extent that some have made it a lifestyle choice. We have such a fickle and privileged demographic that they would never put in the hard yards that the generations from pre and post war did''

yep DD, nail in head, the first thing to go should be food banks which is now the only growth industry, up 1100% since 2010, having all these loafers (ahem) turning up for food on a regular basis, if we didn't have them we wouldn't have hungry people would we?

I’m all for helping the real poor with whatever they need be it foodbanks or accommodation as long as they don’t turn up watching Netflix on their iPhones.

Oh right, not only do they have to be poor, they have to be miserable too

They could make better life choices.  The £300 phone (or even less) or the £1000 one?

There's lots of things to be said about second hand things, my kids have loads of it for example yet I know some who won't touch it.  We've recently given away over £1000 worth of stuff used by my kids as someone needed it.  It doesn't always need the state to create that choice does it?

Equally there's people I know that have taken handouts of food etc (particularly during covid) but have better cars and more expensive clothes than others. That is not right. It's important to make sure things actually go to the people who need it and then to give them the opportunity to get in to a better position.  Unfortunately (and people don't like to hear it) there are some people who just want everything handed to them from others and that's detrimental not just to society but those in genuinely awful circumstances.

A lot of assumptions going on there pud.

Are you saying he is telling lies then Syd.

[danumdon]

Danum

1) Absolutely I'd be happy to pay more tax, dependent on the overall economic policy. I'd be happy to pay more to help underpin education for example. I think it is beyond disgraceful that my generation was paid to go to university, and then voted for tax cuts meaning that the next generation had to pay through the nose for the same privilege.

2) Your example of technical jobs not being filled. The problem there doesn't come from people being paid to stay on the dole. It comes from not having enough capacity, so people with skills can command higher salaries elsewhere.

Bill , i'm glad your happy to pay more tax(dependent on the economic policy) because a lot of people i know say they pay far too much tax already. i think the tax take is there for advancement in skills and education but we seem to have political priorities that mean the overall split is unbalanced.

The point i was trying to make about the job vacancies was that people who you would think should be amongst the brightest and most forward and rational thinking of individuals are prepared to take pay cuts for an easier life, just another example of the mentality of some of today's want it all society.

[SydneyRover]

''The point i was trying to make about the job vacancies was that people who you would think should be amongst the brightest and most forward and rational thinking of individuals are prepared to take pay cuts for an easier life, just another example of the mentality of some of today's want it all society''

Can you show some evidence to support this DD to see how widespread it is?

[danumdon]

''The point i was trying to make about the job vacancies was that people who you would think should be amongst the brightest and most forward and rational thinking of individuals are prepared to take pay cuts for an easier life, just another example of the mentality of some of today's want it all society''

Can you show some evidence to support this DD to see how widespread it is?

Outside of me showing you the job applications and CV's received and from talking to individuals in job interviews no i can't.

This is my take on the impression i get from my intuition and that small sample.

[SydneyRover]

''The point i was trying to make about the job vacancies was that people who you would think should be amongst the brightest and most forward and rational thinking of individuals are prepared to take pay cuts for an easier life, just another example of the mentality of some of today's want it all society''

Can you show some evidence to support this DD to see how widespread it is?

Outside of me showing you the job applications and CV's received and from talking to individuals in job interviews no i can't.

This is my take on the impression i get from my intuition and that small sample.

so the other 99.99% applying for jobs elsewhere you don't understand their reasoning?

[BillyStubbsTears]

DD
Unless we go to a non-Govt health service, taxes are bound to rise with time because there's a need to increase health spending. That's driven by demographics.

As for what other people think, I'm always taken by the fact that the most heavily taxed places on earth (the Scandinavian countries) always come near the top of life satisfaction polls. There's an obvious connection between a society that is generous and equitable, and one that is happy.

[BillyStubbsTears]

DD.

Maybe you're not paying the going rate?

[SydneyRover]

It all sounds a bit daily mail to me

[danumdon]

DD.

Maybe you're not paying the going rate?

Definitely not paying the going rate, more like mine and a couple of others to boot !

[SydneyRover]

Do you track applicants that you don't hire to see if they start elsewhere DD?

[Branton Red]

Yes we joined the EU.

If you know your history, you'll know that from the 50s until the 70s, every country in Western Europe did even better than us, both in absolute economic growth and in spreading the wealth more equitably. Because they combined fiscal repression with the massive advantages of open trade.

Billy you misinterpreted by  . For the record I agree with the above - other than we joined the EEC in 1973. Of course if you know recent history you'll know that every major Western country (except Japan) has recorded significantly higher economic growth than the signatories to Maastricht since 1994 when the EU formed. Free trade is one boon to economic growth but so is the level of democratic control in a country - another thing history tells us quite clearly.

Back on topic I fully agree with your OP. How would you propose to take back money from the richest 1%?

We're clearly in a different world to the 50s where the top 1% live international lives owning business' round the globe which they can control from wherever i.e. they can domicile themselves for tax purposes wherever they like. Neither sadly do many (not all) show an altruistic attitude of accepting higher taxes. The conundrum is how to raise taxes on the wealthiest without them scarpering abroad to avoid paying.

[danumdon]

No, but we do ask them if they can recommend any "proper spanners" they may know, wondered if you could help?

[SydneyRover]

No, but we do ask them if they can recommend any "proper spanners" they may know, wondered if you could help?

So no evidence except your own gut feelings DD and the fact some don't wish to work for you.