Politics Today

[Suzi & The Banned Cheese]

Will reply, but knackered at the mo.

Why, what have you been up to?

 

[Suzi & The Banned Cheese]

Gordon Brown: ‘Set emergency budget or risk a winter of dire poverty’

Former PM has warned of a financial timebomb awaiting families as Labour plans a major intervention to address crisis

www.theguardian.com

Hype?

It's a good article , interesting to see what the proposals actually amount to apart from scrapping VAT on fuel...

 

[IndoMike]

Why, what have you been up to?

Aaaah Now that would be telling.

 

[arthur]

It's a good article , interesting to see what the proposals actually amount to apart from scrapping VAT on fuel...

Scrapping vat on fuel is a silly idea - it will disproportionately help the well off. As far as I can see there are roughly six bands of income groups based on disposable income after housing costs:

The poor - not enough to live on

The just about managing - can afford the basics, and maybe one holiday a year.

The doing OK thank you - maybe more than one holiday, eat out from time to time and perhaps save a bit

The comfortable - middle class retirers on index linked pensions, well paid middle class professional and managerial - holidays and minibreaks; lots of eating out, substantial savings.

The well off - as for comfortables but more so

The rich - no such thing as scarcity, can have whatever they want.

The cost of living "crisis" only affects the first three of these groups and this is where support should be targetted. The last three could and should pay the true cost of the energy they consume and then some.Even the Doing ok thank you could and should expect to shoulder some of the burden....

 

[Alistair20000]

Scrapping vat on fuel is a silly idea - it will disproportionately help the well off. As far as I can see there are roughly six bands of income groups based on disposable income after housing costs:

The poor - not enough to live on

The just about managing - can afford the basics, and maybe one holiday a year.

The doing OK thank you - maybe more than one holiday, eat out from time to time and perhaps save a bit

The comfortable - middle class retirers on index linked pensions, well paid middle class professional and managerial - holidays and minibreaks; lots of eating out, substantial savings.

The well off - as for comfortables but more so

The rich - no such thing as scarcity, can have whatever they want.

The cost of living "crisis" only affects the first three of these groups and this is where support should be targetted. The last three could and should pay the true cost of the energy they consume and then some.Even the Doing ok thank you could and should expect to shoulder some of the burden....

I agree with your thinking here art, especially the VAT point as it is badly targeted. Suppliers may not pass it all on too.

Not sure how you can identify the categories who can afford to pay more and the mechanism to achieve that other than a tax rise.

 

[arthur]

I agree with your thinking here art, especially the VAT point as it is badly targeted. Suppliers may not pass it all on too.

Not sure how you can identify the categories who can afford to pay more and the mechanism to achieve that other than a tax rise.

The tricky group is the Doing OK thank you. They will have to take a real reduction in disposable income and consequent adjustment in lifestyle, but this is the group where most swing voters live...

 

[IndoMike]

Scrapping vat on fuel is a silly idea - it will disproportionately help the well off. As far as I can see there are roughly six bands of income groups based on disposable income after housing costs:

The poor - not enough to live on

The just about managing - can afford the basics, and maybe one holiday a year.

The doing OK thank you - maybe more than one holiday, eat out from time to time and perhaps save a bit

The comfortable - middle class retirers on index linked pensions, well paid middle class professional and managerial - holidays and minibreaks; lots of eating out, substantial savings.

The well off - as for comfortables but more so

The rich - no such thing as scarcity, can have whatever they want.

The cost of living "crisis" only affects the first three of these groups and this is where support should be targetted. The last three could and should pay the true cost of the and they consume and then some.Even the Doing ok thank you could and should expect to shoulder some of the burden....

It is highly unlikely that Truss or Rishi will make themselves unpopular with the rich to subsidize the poor. Tories do not have a Robin Hood mentality. Whether the comfortably off would be willing to make a sacrifice in an act of solidarity remains conjecture.
In my opinion the Tory Govt will pay the usual lip service and give a little to the less well off just to say they have done whilst avoiding upsetting the haves
So the question is, with recession looming and a predicted inflation rate between 12-15% by next spring, will the Govt have the nous and the willingness to genuinely help in good faith the estimated 15 million people living in households which will have to choose between paying the bills or eating. Considering how hard it was for the Tory Govt to subsidize school meals (socialism, innit?) I find it hard to believe that they will. I guess the Brits masochistic tendencies will limit the amount of social unrest that in many countries would occur
We've been extremely unlucky : the last thing the country needed in these times of crisis are leaders who don't believe in solidarity and who are incapable of empathy.

 

[Hermann]

The energy rebate also disproportionately helps the wealthy of course. Those with empty holiday homes cosuming no energy are essentially getting free money for them. (I say this as someone who, purely by chance, will be benefiting from this)

 

[arthur]

The energy rebate also disproportionately helps the wealthy of course. Those with empty holiday homes cosuming no energy are essentially getting free money for them. (I say this as someone who, purely by chance, will be benefiting from this)

As does the energy price cap. There are plenty of people who are probably unaware how much per kwh they are paying for energy, it just comes out a regular direct debit. Similar to not knowing the price of a pint of milk - it just goes in the supermarket trolley and gets lumped in with all the other stuff on the final bill. They could quite easily afford to pay the market price for energy without the need to have it capped

 

[Suzi & The Banned Cheese]

It is highly unlikely that Truss or Rishi will make themselves unpopular with the rich to subsidize the poor. Tories do not have a Robin Hood mentality. Whether the comfortably off would be willing to make a sacrifice in an act of solidarity remains conjecture.
In my opinion the Tory Govt will pay the usual lip service and give a little to the less well off just to say they have done whilst avoiding upsetting the haves
So the question is, with recession looming and a predicted inflation rate between 12-15% by next spring, will the Govt have the nous and the willingness to genuinely help in good faith the estimated 15 million people living in households which will have to choose between paying the bills or eating. Considering how hard it was for the Tory Govt to subsidize school meals (socialism, innit?) I find it hard to believe that they will. I guess the Brits masochistic tendencies will limit the amount of social unrest that in many countries would occur
We've been extremely unlucky : the last thing the country needed in these times of crisis are leaders who don't believe in solidarity and who are incapable of empathy.

Great post !!