I1L2T3 Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Well it could be realistic if parent controlled their huge consumptive habits that were unknown years ago,and lets be honest mostly unnecessary and wasteful.Few seem aware of implementing some form of austerity into their lives.You don't have to look far to think........what recession! Benefits are one way of topping up poor wages. Another way is taking on debt. A lot of people have been resorting to credit cards to put food on the table and pay essential bills. It's very simple - living costs are too high. You can't blame the people living with high living costs for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossdog Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Benefits are one way of topping up poor wages. Another way is taking on debt. A lot of people have been resorting to credit cards to put food on the table and pay essential bills. It's very simple - living costs are too high. You can't blame the people living with high living costs for that. Living costs have always been too high for lots of people.I had to sometimes hide behind the settee when the rent man knocked on the door years ago.But couple that with todays enormous additions of "stuff" to pay for that seem the norm to todays generation, and you soon begin to see how people can get into debt especially with the assistance of that magic piece of plastic....another thing unheard of some years ago. Food and "essential" bills were all I ever knew............and that's maybe what we may have to revisit for a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert_Baehr Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 ...Housing, utility and childcare costs all need to be brought under control. ... That's easy to say, isn't it? Electricity in the UK is amongst the cheapest in Europe. Do you really think you should pay even less? - You can expect to pay significantly more over the next few years (price rises way beyond inflation) because Blair and his pals committed the UK to reducing CO2 emissions by 25% - considerably more than the EU asked for. Who do you think is going to pay for that? - The consumers, of course. Housing: Depends where you live. Housing isn't particularly expensive in Sheffield. How many people spend more than one third of their gross income on housing? Childcare costs. Well, they are expensive ... but should the people who provide childcare work for nothing? Should there be standards? Should those standards be enforced? Who should pay? 'You get what you pay for' ... Or should that be 'You get what somebody else pays for'? If so, who's supposed to pay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Living costs have always been too high for lots of people.I had to sometimes hide behind the settee when the rent man knocked on the door years ago.But couple that with todays enormous additions of "stuff" to pay for that seem the norm to todays generation, and you soon begin to see how people can get into debt especially with the assistance of that magic piece of plastic....another thing unheard of some years ago. Food and "essential" bills were all I ever knew............and that's maybe what we may have to revisit for a time. Getting to a situation where one parent working on the minimum wage full-time at least gives a family a chance of surviving is where we want to be. As it is it comes nowhere close Monthly take-home pay on full-time minimum wage is £950, without benefits. Rent £400-ish minimum, utilities (phone, gas, electric, water) £150-200, council tax £100 minimum. Add insurances, travel, clothing, footwear, incidentals and there is almost nothing left for food. You can see why benefits are needed to top up wages. Or why people get into debt. Or why both parents have to work. But if rent and utilities were say £300 and £100 respectively then just maybe with child benefit on top families would stand a chance. The cheapest private 3 bedroom rental I could find on RightMove in Sheffield is £395pcm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 That's easy to say, isn't it? Electricity in the UK is amongst the cheapest in Europe. Do you really think you should pay even less? - You can expect to pay significantly more over the next few years (price rises way beyond inflation) because Blair and his pals committed the UK to reducing CO2 emissions by 25% - considerably more than the EU asked for. Who do you think is going to pay for that? - The consumers, of course. Housing: Depends where you live. Housing isn't particularly expensive in Sheffield. How many people spend more than one third of their gross income on housing? Childcare costs. Well, they are expensive ... but should the people who provide childcare work for nothing? Should there be standards? Should those standards be enforced? Who should pay? 'You get what you pay for' ... Or should that be 'You get what somebody else pays for'? If so, who's supposed to pay? The people who have been creaming off excess profit and strangling the economy are the ones who need to pay. If we already have low prices then it should be clear they could be lower still, if utility companies were prevented from taking excess profit. I haven't said that childcare should be free. I think it should be cheaper. It's a sector being strangled by red tape. Yes there should be standards but not to a point where parents have to pay through the nose and to a point where nurseries may even struggle to make profits despite the high prices charged. As for housing costs I'll argue all day and all night that they're too high. If you look at the cheapest private rent for a 3 bedroom house in Sheffield it's very expensive if you are only earning minimum wage, over 40% of take-home pay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawny1970 Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Childcare costs have risen at about 10% per year for the last 10 years, hence the reason we have the 2nd highest childcare costs in europe and the benifit culture!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricgem2002 Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 back on topic please why dont you let people get on with the topics at hand instead of coming out with stopping a thread you know nothing about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrod Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 why dont you let people get on with the topics at hand instead of coming out with stopping a thread you know nothing aboutWell said, if a tad self-sacrificing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plain Talker Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 That's a load of rubbish. Condoms are only a recent invention, along with other forms of birth control. Up until recently people had a lot more children and they had them a lot earlier too! Casanova used to use a sheep's intestine as a condom. (although his condom's primary purpose was the other benefit of using Condoms; The prevention of sexually transmitted infections.) My grandparents' family planning in the 1930s and 40s was a re-usable rubber condom.. They did very well as the managed to space five years between my father and his next brother down, and another four years between him and the youngest. Agreed, we have a lot to thank Marie Stopes for, setting up family planning clinics and making Birth control something that people can be educated about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truman Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 That's a load of rubbish. Condoms are only a recent invention, ! They are if you class the Romans as recent.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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