Latest Moan From You and Me 2024

That's why nobody can afford anything these days.

I had this debate recently with a youngster at work, who like many youngsters these days, is bitter and resentful towards anyone over about 40 who has all the unfair advantages because they actually own things.

A lot of people these days seem to want all the good stuff without any of the journey that goes with it. They see older folks owning nice houses, and they get angry that they can't also have a nice house. Those pesky old gits bought their nice house decades ago for like a fiver or something.

What the younger folks don't seem to see is when that older person bought that nice house decades ago, what they'd actually bought was a crappy old wreck. Then busting a gut at work, working longer hours with less perks than we take for granted today, they slowly filled their wreck of a battered old house with cast off second hand furniture, and after work they slowly fixed up all the many, many knackered bits. Eventually they get to a point where most of the big repairs are done, they are nearly on top of it all, and can start spending money on nicer stuff. At this point, the youngster, fresh out of college, sees the result of decades of effort, and wants the same for themselves, right now, but can't have it, which is so unfair.

They want all this while still getting the latest smart phone as soon as it's launched, spending a couple of hundred quid on cool sneakers, and spending a fiver a day on one cup of coffee. And the car they drive? Well, just a modest brand new Audi on personal contract hire whatever the scheme is called, because it would be unfair for them to drive a 20 year old rot box that they bought for five hundred quid.

 

I hear you. But the stupidly high prices depend on where and what.

When I bought my house, already well into my 30s before I got on the ladder, I simply couldn't have what I really wanted. I ended up buying a house in a neighborhood a bit away from where we really wanted, and being an old house in need of some modernization, it was a hell of a lot cheaper than even the cheapest of the new builds popping up everywhere. I mean a lot, lot cheaper, like less than half the price.

Cheap houses still exist. A look on Rightmove today will find you houses for less than 100k in many areas. They're not the nicest houses or in the best areas, but again that takes me back to my original point. You can't always have what you really want at first.

 

I've never owned it car. Never been allowed to drive.
But I do own my £400k house outright. I had a mortgage for more than 30 years. Worked my socks off. Been with my "girl" for more than 40 years. Still got some items of furniture I had over 42 years ago. Lived with hand-me-down items for most of my life.

But, I have a loving family, didn't have to struggle to find a job (but did have to start at the bottom and work my way up - patiently), always had two parents, who are still together, used public transport, never went on strike, saved for things rather than rely on loans or credit (except for a mortgage).

A mixture of hard times, and good. Wore clothes until they wore out - and sometimes beyond, much to my wife's embarrassment). I still have that scarf I bought more than 45 years ago, but I really like it!!

Have set an annual spending budget each year, based on my income, and not beyond.

Basically a mixed bag.

 

But my point is if fewer people need the bus/NHS, there is actually room for those that do. A healthier population = less pressure on all services.

 

There are several really important differences between now and back in the 70s/80s. Then you could leave school and get a job with potential for advancement, no degree required. You rented some dive for a while, but by your late 20s, you could probably get a mortgage on a tiny studio flat. Gradually you could work up to a one bed, then 2, then a 3 bed terraced. You didn't have monthly outgoings for a mobile phone. You probably didn't even stretch to a landline. You ran an old car or, more likely, used public transport.

Today the pressure to go to Uni is huge. You leave with massive debt. The rental sector is broken, so getting anywhere at all may be impossible. You have a lot of monthly outgoings (mobile phone, etc), but, in a rentier economy, you aren't actually accumulating anything that you can gradually trade up from.

All the wealth is being concentrated in the hands of those with the resources who then rent these out at vast profit. Twenty yrs from now, the extent of this disaster will really show itself as people who have never been able to get on the housing ladder retire. A pension is not going to cover rent and living costs. Pensions have worked to date as about 60% of my generation own a home and can therefore manage, with those who do not getting help with rent through pension credit etc. But as the number needing top-ups grows and grows, the whole system is likely to crack.

The solution - curbing the ability of the few to grab and hold such a huge, and rapidly increasing, percentage of the available resources.

 

Buy to rent was all the rage, I know people who bought a flat or two in the early 90s just to rent out and saying that's my pension and someone else is going to pay for it.

 

It was indeed. Now we need "buy to live in".

 

It will sort it self out, not sure if this is true!! but world population is falling and still births are also has high numbers but as i say not sure if true

 

A falling population will put increased pressure on those of working age, in terms of tax needed, caring for elderly relatives, etc. That won't help wealth redistribution.

 

I think you will find we have a falling birthrate but a rising population.

 

When I buy compost I take my crutches with me, then a nice young man loads the bags onto a trolley and takes them to my car where he loads them up. When I get home I use a sack trolley to catch the bags as I wiggle them out of the car and I tip them off in a stack against a nearby wall until my lovely son in law comes and carries them down into my garden. I used to lug 25 kilos bags of compost around by myself but daren't try it any more.
Needs must.

 

Even more so when most developed countries have a high aging population.
The UK only this week rejected the EU's proposal to join the youth mobility scheme allowing 18-30 year olds free movement within the bloc.

The median age of Spain in 1950 was just over 26 and is predicted to be 53 by 2050. It was one of the main reasons why I voted to leave the EU, with a falling and aging population the EU will start to loose its global competitiveness.

South Korea is predicted to have the oldest population by 2044 with current forecasts the median age will be 61 by 2060.

Where I live, Copeland, is now one of the fastest aging constituencies in the UK. The younger generation are moving out of the area, not just for work but because the older generation are moving in to the area, causing house prices to increase out of there budget range. New businesses are also very unlikely to invest in the area as the pool of working age is shrinking, making recruitment even more difficult.