Hi,
I would like to define the word "Austerity" it takes on a different meaning when politicians get hold of it.
Also "Nest Egg"...........surely pensions are also nest eggs too.
"Food Banks"......I remember watching an American TV program where a whole family go to a food bank type café, their clothes are all new, well better than the rags I wear.
I am not to sure Food Banks are really necessary, how much do you need to feed yourself? and how much does it cost in total to set up food banks etc in total.
Food is definitely the last thing you can't afford not the first.
Next time the media show hard up starving people I will ask them to come visit me and look at all the inside of my house and compare that with the ones well dressed with gold jewellery latest devices and sat tv.
Then theres the children................no presents.....I was poor enough in my childhood to get a second hand present if I was lucky.
If you are paying off your mortgage then think yourself lucky that you can buy a house, the young of today can't.
Micf F, if you spend 15 K on your house and add another room etc, I am sure you will get values worth when you sell.
At the moment If I was to spend 40 K on my place I could probably get back near 100K if I then sold it.
If you are worried about your short life left down size the property and go holidaying etc.
Thank goodness for austerity
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NATURAL ANKLING
- Posts: 13780
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Re: Thank goodness for austerity
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
You'll Still Find Me At The Top Of A Hill
Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
You'll Still Find Me At The Top Of A Hill
Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
Re: Thank goodness for austerity
The 15 grand was to modify the front, not add rooms.
The bungalow is a poorly built solid concrete block construction with shallow foundations.
The front of our place is north-facing and poorly built. The idea was to pull off the front bit - more of a lean-to really - and single skinned - and rebuild it with modern techniques and insulated double-skin with a good roof to keep the place warm.
We won't get any money for our bungalow we've reliably been told. It's the PROPERTY that is worth the money. Three acres of detached land, with woodlands, in an area of outstanding natural beauty. Spending money on the building will only make it better for us to live in. Any purchaser in the future will pull the building down and build a new one no matter what we've done to it or spent on it.
That's what we'd do if we had a few hundred grand stashed away.
Downsizing is what we've done. 21 years ago.
Two children in a big three-bedroom house, and downsized to a small two bed bungalow.
The bungalow is a poorly built solid concrete block construction with shallow foundations.
The front of our place is north-facing and poorly built. The idea was to pull off the front bit - more of a lean-to really - and single skinned - and rebuild it with modern techniques and insulated double-skin with a good roof to keep the place warm.
We won't get any money for our bungalow we've reliably been told. It's the PROPERTY that is worth the money. Three acres of detached land, with woodlands, in an area of outstanding natural beauty. Spending money on the building will only make it better for us to live in. Any purchaser in the future will pull the building down and build a new one no matter what we've done to it or spent on it.
That's what we'd do if we had a few hundred grand stashed away.
Downsizing is what we've done. 21 years ago.
Two children in a big three-bedroom house, and downsized to a small two bed bungalow.
Mick F. Cornwall
Re: Thank goodness for austerity
Just to bring this thread up to date. It's 11.00 am on 2nd August 2018 and interest rates are still on .5% (so I've been right for over three years so far) but they might go up today - to .75%! Let's see.
The reason why interest rates are struggling to rise IMV is that real wages cannot rise so there is little to drive growth in the economy. This (again IMV) is a direct result of new technology (digitalisation) that concentrates ownership in fewer, more specialised hands and deskills workers. So wage levels remain low. Wealth flows to the wealthy by whom it is retained, not spent.
Given that that is unlikely to change and may well intensify, we could see years of stagnant growth and low interest rates. One way to shift this is to put public money into high skill, low-mechanised activities (my own favourite is the restoration of historic buildings). Instead, public money is poured into highly mechanised schemes such as HS2 which reward a small number of highly centralised companies who further concentrate wealth.
Anyway, I'm off to check the news to see if they've bitten the bullet and we're on .75%!
PS I'm happy to predict that if they do go up, they might come down again or simply stay there for a very long time to avoid red faces at the BofE.
The reason why interest rates are struggling to rise IMV is that real wages cannot rise so there is little to drive growth in the economy. This (again IMV) is a direct result of new technology (digitalisation) that concentrates ownership in fewer, more specialised hands and deskills workers. So wage levels remain low. Wealth flows to the wealthy by whom it is retained, not spent.
Given that that is unlikely to change and may well intensify, we could see years of stagnant growth and low interest rates. One way to shift this is to put public money into high skill, low-mechanised activities (my own favourite is the restoration of historic buildings). Instead, public money is poured into highly mechanised schemes such as HS2 which reward a small number of highly centralised companies who further concentrate wealth.
Anyway, I'm off to check the news to see if they've bitten the bullet and we're on .75%!
PS I'm happy to predict that if they do go up, they might come down again or simply stay there for a very long time to avoid red faces at the BofE.
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
Re: Thank goodness for austerity
horizon wrote:Just to bring this thread up to date. It's 11.00 am on 2nd August 2018 and interest rates are still on .5% (so I've been right for over three years so far) but they might go up today - to .75%! Let's see.
The reason why interest rates are struggling to rise IMV is that real wages cannot rise so there is little to drive growth in the economy. This (again IMV) is a direct result of new technology (digitalisation) that concentrates ownership in fewer, more specialised hands and deskills workers. So wage levels remain low. Wealth flows to the wealthy by whom it is retained, not spent.
Given that that is unlikely to change and may well intensify, we could see years of stagnant growth and low interest rates. One way to shift this is to put public money into high skill, low-mechanised activities (my own favourite is the restoration of historic buildings). Instead, public money is poured into highly mechanised schemes such as HS2 which reward a small number of highly centralised companies who further concentrate wealth.
Anyway, I'm off to check the news to see if they've bitten the bullet and we're on .75%!
PS I'm happy to predict that if they do go up, they might come down again or simply stay there for a very long time to avoid red faces at the BofE.
They went up...
As predicted.
Now, the challenge will be seeing what happens over the next 18 months...
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
Re: Thank goodness for austerity
[XAP]Bob wrote:horizon wrote:Just to bring this thread up to date. It's 11.00 am on 2nd August 2018 and interest rates are still on .5% (so I've been right for over three years so far) but they might go up today - to .75%! Let's see.
The reason why interest rates are struggling to rise IMV is that real wages cannot rise so there is little to drive growth in the economy. This (again IMV) is a direct result of new technology (digitalisation) that concentrates ownership in fewer, more specialised hands and deskills workers. So wage levels remain low. Wealth flows to the wealthy by whom it is retained, not spent.
Given that that is unlikely to change and may well intensify, we could see years of stagnant growth and low interest rates. One way to shift this is to put public money into high skill, low-mechanised activities (my own favourite is the restoration of historic buildings). Instead, public money is poured into highly mechanised schemes such as HS2 which reward a small number of highly centralised companies who further concentrate wealth.
Anyway, I'm off to check the news to see if they've bitten the bullet and we're on .75%!
PS I'm happy to predict that if they do go up, they might come down again or simply stay there for a very long time to avoid red faces at the BofE.
They went up...
As predicted.
Now, the challenge will be seeing what happens over the next 18 months...
My bet, unless things go differently to expected, they will go up again. If they try to do otherwise, we will end up with no reserves left. If they do put them up, some businesses and homeowners will be in trouble. It's not looking good either way.