It’s “Heat or Eat” in the UK, is it any wonder people massively cut their discretionary spending?
No shit, people have significantly less cash so of course they won’t spend – any buffoon could have seen that coming.
So the Tories think crashing the economy is worth it just to keep energy companies and landlords happg? So much for being capitalist, we are being treated like Serfs.
Retails sales plunge as consumers DON’T HAVE ANY MONEY.
Consumer economy where no one can afford to consume.
I think WHSmiths (outside of transport hubs) time is finally up.
Late stage capitalism : businesses are so efficient with capital that they don’t need much labour and that which they do need, they don’t have to pay very much. Hence, consumers have no discretionary spend. Capitalism is eating itself from the inside.
> The GfK index, derived from a survey, came in at -38 – worse than economists had expected and just shy of the all-time low seen in 2008 as the global financial crisis was gathering pace.
To put that into a bit of context, the lowest mark it hit during the 2008 crash was minus 39, and it was only that low for one month. So this month’s figure is worse than every other month in 2008!
Who even has the disposable income to splash on things like clothes any more? I haven’t bought clothing from a retail outlet in over three years now, and it’s got nothing to do with my consumer confidence, it’s purely because the money just isn’t there.
Recently I’ve taken thrifting online instead, on eBay and Depop. For £20 I got a beautiful vintage Austin Reed trenchcoat last month whose label indicated it was made in Western Germany—pre-fall of the Berlin Wall! Apparently it had been sitting in a storage locker for over 50 years untouched since being manufactured, and after examining and wearing this thing, I don’t think I’ll ever buy a non-secondhand coat again.
Seriously, this coat is made like an absolute tank, I don’t think it’ll ever degrade or fall apart. I was born in 1991 and this was a real eye opener to what garments used to be like pre-Chinese manufacturing boom.
I recently got a smart metre and honestly it makes me anxious. It’s costing me 37p per day just for the privilege of being connected to the gas (even if I haven’t used any gas – this is what it reads when I wake up). A shower costs me another 30p in hot water – I’m not taking ridiculously long showers. Add into that a bit of hot water for washing up and it’s making me absolutely dread winter.
I don’t spend much money anyway, but it’s clear to me (especially as I’m planning on doing some part time studying next academic year) I’ve got to make some cutbacks, and I’m considering how to invest what savings I have in order to save more in the future.
And so it begins. You’ll read more and more about spending cut backs over the coming months. Clothes…. Holidays….. Eating out….Sky / Netflix and such like.
These are all the things that are first to suffer when nobody can afford to do anything other than survive and barely pay their bills.
This will get MUCH worse before it gets any better.
You’d think nobody buying anything would lower prices, but everything is apparently just going up further
Things that aren’t essential are just too expensive these days. Pay cheques only stretch so far and luxury goods and tuff like eating out are the first to go.
Shits fucked.
Maybe instead of having to eat *or* heat, we could.. Oh I dunno, eat the billionaires?
Why do we allow the concept of the billionaire to exist? Or at the very least, why do we let them exist in such a blatantly grotesque manner that makes a mockery of society as a whole?
It’s fucked.
I’m getting so fucking anti-capitalism the older I get. Starting to think 50% of all companies need to be employee owned, even if employees get no (or limited) voting rights.
I don’t see a way to keep capitalism working, without something like that.
I said about 6 months ago rishi massively failed to account for how cost of living crisis could snowball into a situation that would end Tory rule.
I’m massively flabagasted they have not actually done anything significant yet to address this when their are many options they could take to instantly resolve this problem. (These have been suggested by many) the biggest been a one of wealth tax and forcing companies to lower prices and just accept lower profit’s.
I don’t even think the government has even thought about the next logical step which is a debt crisis as people who maxed out credit cards based on their old disposable income suddenly find out they have no buffer to eat these costs.
The debt crisis then becomes a credit crunch as banks lock down lending to protect themselves (rules implement after 2008 effectively force their hand here) so people and businesses out of money now can’t borrow money to get buy and the whole things continue to snowball.
While country stability is not at risk many Tory MPs are about to find out how hostile voters get when they can’t afford to do anything but work…
Do we need another Shop out to help out scheme from our beloved Dishy Rishy?
Well, duh? What the fuck do the country’s decision-makers expect, exactly? Morons.
No shit, if you double peoples basic costs they aren’t going to go out and splash their non existent cash on a new sofa or pair of reeboks.
Nothing to do with consumer confidence. Everything to do with the rise in inflation and wages not keeping up.
The “except owners of DIY stores” made me happy! As a manager of a ye olde fashioned style diy store! Yay for us!
Covid lockdowns we’re amazing for us, we were taking a months takings in 4-5 days. Was crazy, but also lovely to see, as diy had slowed over the years especially with increased competition.
Sadly I didn’t keep even half of the new customers we made, but we kept some! I’d be happy with a 10% year on year increase!
Could one of the factors be that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get decent quality clothing these days? It’s become such an effort that I simply don’t bother anymore.
The UK is a sinking fucking ship.
Come autumn, when the energy price hike will go up AGAIN, shit is going to really hit the fan.
I hate the term ‘consumer confidence’. What’s it supposed to indicate? That the high Street has terrible products not worth their monetary value?
That consumers don’t trust the economy in order to spend money?
Inflation, cost of living rises, no material wage increases, rising taxes. That’s what’s happening. Where can we, ‘the consumer’, magic up the money to prop up businesses still?
Saving for houses, retirement, day to day living has become increasingly more difficult than ever before.
Just fuck off with shifting the blame to people not spending money. Paycheck to Paycheck living needs to be a thing of the past.
Oh don’t worry, our “consumer confidence” is very high…..Confident that prices are going to rise, confident that taxes are going to rise (yet again), confident that there’ll be shortages thanks to Brexit and tory ideology, and confident that they’d rather eat than have a new dress, and also save money of fuel and heating
Shops around here are now closing left right and centre. The energy price rise has taken what little profit they had, i know 4 friends in retail that have all just called time on it.
It’s capitalism. I never understand why people can’t grasp the concept. It destroys everything, eventually, even the very thing it relies upon.
26 comments
It’s “Heat or Eat” in the UK, is it any wonder people massively cut their discretionary spending?
No shit, people have significantly less cash so of course they won’t spend – any buffoon could have seen that coming.
So the Tories think crashing the economy is worth it just to keep energy companies and landlords happg? So much for being capitalist, we are being treated like Serfs.
Retails sales plunge as consumers DON’T HAVE ANY MONEY.
Consumer economy where no one can afford to consume.
I think WHSmiths (outside of transport hubs) time is finally up.
Late stage capitalism : businesses are so efficient with capital that they don’t need much labour and that which they do need, they don’t have to pay very much. Hence, consumers have no discretionary spend. Capitalism is eating itself from the inside.
> The GfK index, derived from a survey, came in at -38 – worse than economists had expected and just shy of the all-time low seen in 2008 as the global financial crisis was gathering pace.
To put that into a bit of context, the lowest mark it hit during the 2008 crash was minus 39, and it was only that low for one month. So this month’s figure is worse than every other month in 2008!
Who even has the disposable income to splash on things like clothes any more? I haven’t bought clothing from a retail outlet in over three years now, and it’s got nothing to do with my consumer confidence, it’s purely because the money just isn’t there.
Recently I’ve taken thrifting online instead, on eBay and Depop. For £20 I got a beautiful vintage Austin Reed trenchcoat last month whose label indicated it was made in Western Germany—pre-fall of the Berlin Wall! Apparently it had been sitting in a storage locker for over 50 years untouched since being manufactured, and after examining and wearing this thing, I don’t think I’ll ever buy a non-secondhand coat again.
Seriously, this coat is made like an absolute tank, I don’t think it’ll ever degrade or fall apart. I was born in 1991 and this was a real eye opener to what garments used to be like pre-Chinese manufacturing boom.
**Pics! :D:**
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/6WUAAOSwsV9h96h0/s-l1600.jpg
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/4WoAAOSw3cRh96h7/s-l1600.jpg
I recently got a smart metre and honestly it makes me anxious. It’s costing me 37p per day just for the privilege of being connected to the gas (even if I haven’t used any gas – this is what it reads when I wake up). A shower costs me another 30p in hot water – I’m not taking ridiculously long showers. Add into that a bit of hot water for washing up and it’s making me absolutely dread winter.
I don’t spend much money anyway, but it’s clear to me (especially as I’m planning on doing some part time studying next academic year) I’ve got to make some cutbacks, and I’m considering how to invest what savings I have in order to save more in the future.
And so it begins. You’ll read more and more about spending cut backs over the coming months. Clothes…. Holidays….. Eating out….Sky / Netflix and such like.
These are all the things that are first to suffer when nobody can afford to do anything other than survive and barely pay their bills.
This will get MUCH worse before it gets any better.
You’d think nobody buying anything would lower prices, but everything is apparently just going up further
Things that aren’t essential are just too expensive these days. Pay cheques only stretch so far and luxury goods and tuff like eating out are the first to go.
Shits fucked.
Maybe instead of having to eat *or* heat, we could.. Oh I dunno, eat the billionaires?
Why do we allow the concept of the billionaire to exist? Or at the very least, why do we let them exist in such a blatantly grotesque manner that makes a mockery of society as a whole?
It’s fucked.
I’m getting so fucking anti-capitalism the older I get. Starting to think 50% of all companies need to be employee owned, even if employees get no (or limited) voting rights.
I don’t see a way to keep capitalism working, without something like that.
I said about 6 months ago rishi massively failed to account for how cost of living crisis could snowball into a situation that would end Tory rule.
I’m massively flabagasted they have not actually done anything significant yet to address this when their are many options they could take to instantly resolve this problem. (These have been suggested by many) the biggest been a one of wealth tax and forcing companies to lower prices and just accept lower profit’s.
I don’t even think the government has even thought about the next logical step which is a debt crisis as people who maxed out credit cards based on their old disposable income suddenly find out they have no buffer to eat these costs.
The debt crisis then becomes a credit crunch as banks lock down lending to protect themselves (rules implement after 2008 effectively force their hand here) so people and businesses out of money now can’t borrow money to get buy and the whole things continue to snowball.
While country stability is not at risk many Tory MPs are about to find out how hostile voters get when they can’t afford to do anything but work…
Do we need another Shop out to help out scheme from our beloved Dishy Rishy?
Well, duh? What the fuck do the country’s decision-makers expect, exactly? Morons.
No shit, if you double peoples basic costs they aren’t going to go out and splash their non existent cash on a new sofa or pair of reeboks.
Nothing to do with consumer confidence. Everything to do with the rise in inflation and wages not keeping up.
The “except owners of DIY stores” made me happy! As a manager of a ye olde fashioned style diy store! Yay for us!
Covid lockdowns we’re amazing for us, we were taking a months takings in 4-5 days. Was crazy, but also lovely to see, as diy had slowed over the years especially with increased competition.
Sadly I didn’t keep even half of the new customers we made, but we kept some! I’d be happy with a 10% year on year increase!
Could one of the factors be that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get decent quality clothing these days? It’s become such an effort that I simply don’t bother anymore.
The UK is a sinking fucking ship.
Come autumn, when the energy price hike will go up AGAIN, shit is going to really hit the fan.
I hate the term ‘consumer confidence’. What’s it supposed to indicate? That the high Street has terrible products not worth their monetary value?
That consumers don’t trust the economy in order to spend money?
Inflation, cost of living rises, no material wage increases, rising taxes. That’s what’s happening. Where can we, ‘the consumer’, magic up the money to prop up businesses still?
Saving for houses, retirement, day to day living has become increasingly more difficult than ever before.
Just fuck off with shifting the blame to people not spending money. Paycheck to Paycheck living needs to be a thing of the past.
Oh don’t worry, our “consumer confidence” is very high…..Confident that prices are going to rise, confident that taxes are going to rise (yet again), confident that there’ll be shortages thanks to Brexit and tory ideology, and confident that they’d rather eat than have a new dress, and also save money of fuel and heating
Shops around here are now closing left right and centre. The energy price rise has taken what little profit they had, i know 4 friends in retail that have all just called time on it.
It’s capitalism. I never understand why people can’t grasp the concept. It destroys everything, eventually, even the very thing it relies upon.