Will life will ever go back to being more affordable or are we stuck in a more expensive loop?
Posted by Desperate-Drawer-572@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 181 comments
Cost of living has gone up highly in recent years as we all know. Do you think life will ever be more affordable than it is now for the average person?
Will we ever get back to a more affordable way of life?
Educational_Try_6105@reddit
ageing population requires more and more spending on it at expense of other areas of economy
everything will get worse and you probably won’t be eligible for the things you pay for other people
jack_watson97@reddit
Yet no one has the foresight that spending state on making having children affordable for more people will help curb the ageing pop issue. Fucking thick selfish pricks everywhere its unbelievable
TheRadishBros@reddit
Other countries have tried it; it’s not primarily a financial issue, it’s a cultural one. Nobody wants to raise children.
WGD23@reddit
Financial is a huge part of it, and goes hand in hand with a f*cked labour & property market
Crimsoneer@reddit
The birth rate has dropped globally, in places as far away as Mexico and Sri Lanka, including places like Hungary and South Korea with huge benefits for having kids. It's not a financial decision.
Daveddozey@reddit
Except people on lower wages have more kids.
TheRadishBros@reddit
If you have the average British person in their 20s £100k a year, I imagine most of them still wouldn’t want children.
Informal_Day372@reddit
Nah spot on, 125k and 24 here - not a chance in hell I’d bring a kid into the world, partly due to it ruining my lifestyle (travel, experiences, living for me) but also because they’re so expensive. I’d really want to be on 160 plus before considering it.
rocketscientology@reddit
I’m in my early 30s and know plenty of couples who would love to have children but can’t afford it, either because they can’t afford to buy a house suitable for raising a family in, can’t afford childcare or can’t afford to live off one income. They would jump at the chance to have kids if they had £100k a year.
strawberry-squids@reddit
Me lol. Never thought I'd be working a 9-5 on like, a normal salary and worrying if I'll ever be able to afford kids. :(
HalcyonRyan@reddit
I absolutely would, and i'm a gay man... i'd love to have kids but I can barely sustain myself at the minute let alone a kid.
Khaleesi1536@reddit
Exactly. You should make me a billionaire overnight and I still wouldn’t have kids.
Khaleesi1536@reddit
Exactly. You could make me a billionaire overnight and I still wouldn’t have kids.
jack_watson97@reddit
You dont need everyone in their 20s to want kids. But some will want them if financial pressure isnt as big + those that do want them but are waiting for affordability could start their family earlier and therefore potentially have more children. It isnt a cure all that'd suddenly make everyone want 6 kids but it would HUGELY help. Financial help for raising kids doesnt just mean affording childcare but making it more affordable to have a balanced life. Be able to afford to stay off work for longer than a year, go back part time etc etc. There are so many options
MeatAndNoVeg@reddit
I read somewhere that not one country on earth has solved the declining birth rate crisis by financial means. The evidence heavily points to a cultural shift in society towards having less children.
TheMarthaFarther@reddit
Just wait until reform get in lol
72dk72@reddit
I think our expectations andare greater now. Go back 3 or 3 decades and people rarely had proper holidays away etc. Hardly anyone had cars.... frankly life was more basic. We now expect lots of things as standard.
sloth_ers@reddit
Like affordable food and rent?
72dk72@reddit
Food is far more affordable now and the choice much greater. He'll in the 80s supermarkets were generally much smaller ( there were not so many big shops like Tesco Extra) and people ate out far less frequently, or even got takeaways that often. We probably had four or five a year! I. The early 90s my salary was £4500 a year and rent was typically £175 for a 2 bed terrace a month where i was . So almost half my salary was rent.
sloth_ers@reddit
Youre the second person to tell me this, it doesnt impact my how much food was in the 70s and 80s. All I care about is the 20s... the years I have to feed my kids.
I dont think its a lot to ask for making food more affordable, considering everything else is so fucking expensive. I dont care how costly it was in the past, literally no interest to me.
72dk72@reddit
It doesn't cost much. We are a family of three and I can easily do an evening meal for us all for £3-£4.. Pasta & rice is cheap, chicken is cheap, vegetables are not expensive. My monthly shopping is no mre than £250,. Where you shop makes a big difference. For us that Aldi, Heron foods, Iceland etc. No pre made meals as they are expensive, takeaway maybe one a month ( but usually a Chinese which is normally about £25).
DameKumquat@reddit
Food (and good food) is a way smaller amount of family budgets now than in the 70s or before.
In the 1950s it was often a third or more of a household's spend, while rent was a smaller proportion. Now food is only about 10%, and doesn't involve trotters or tripe for protein, but rent is a third to half of spending.
chrisjd@reddit
You have an insane view of what 1996 was like! People had cars and went abroad on holiday!
Charming_Figure_9053@reddit
No they didn't they worked 'ard down the mines for tuppence - that there they saved and magically in 6 months could buy a house, but it was all hard work and gumption, kids these days with there nintendoes and whatnot, don't know they're born.....spend all their money on avocado toast and £5 cups of coffee - why in my day we 'ad a shilling at Christmas an' it had to last all year......
Honestly - most people do have warped sense of how good things were
And to answer OP - nah we're in a death spiral, this is late/end stage capitalism starting, so buckle up buttercup it's gonna be a heck of a ride
72dk72@reddit
It still wasn't standard and certainly most households didn't have multiple cars. Few people had sky etc. I remember the 80s and 90s well. People maybe had 1 holiday a year, now people expect multiple. Food in relative terms is cheaper.
SuperMastodon7412@reddit
I’m no economist but I think we need more growth in the economy to enjoy higher quality of life. More gdp per capita.
So if the uk can successfully market products and services - then yes. We will have wage growth and nice things
mondeomantotherescue@reddit
But if that gdp goes to the top one percent what changes.
Scadandy@reddit
Exactly! We've been trying the 'growth' strategy for about 20 years and it's not worked, but the rich have gotten richer ....
nivlark@reddit
We haven't though. We've made a series of awful political decisions that have compromised the economy's ability to grow. And even though some green shoots of recovery are now starting to show, we're doubling down on instability and populism.
Certainly the very wealthy carry some of the blame, but when it comes to economic outcomes the British public is by far it's own worst enemy.
GarrySpacepope@reddit
Nah. They're buzz words, but neo liberal economics and late stage capatlism are fucking us all. Dont let the super rich get away with it.
whocarebear@reddit
How? How is that your conclusion? The British public have worked and paid their taxes. The wealthy have made massive unyacmxed gains largely by virtue of owning capital. How in good conscience can your conclusion be that the public are their own worst enemy? Jeeeeez.
escapingfromelba@reddit
Except we haven't tried growth. Governments keep adding costs and blockages to commerce.
whocarebear@reddit
"havent tried growth" i despair
tmr89@reddit
It’s not a zero sum game
whocarebear@reddit
Mate this isnt happening in basically every advanced economy. Some parts of them yes. But the general trend across all capitalist economies is sluggish growth. This isnt an innovation problem. This is a systemic problem.
cowbutt6@reddit
Achieving significant (i.e. >1-2% per annum) sustained economic growth in a developed economy like the UK's is hard - really hard. Furthermore, the UK economy has had sustained (i.e. for a century or so) difficulty improving its productivity.
Growth isn't impossible, but would require a combination of a few miracles.
arranft@reddit
Increasing GDP per capita won't necessarily help improve quality of life, just look at the US, which has a much higher GDP per capita (US: 85K, UK 61K) but their life expectancy is 3 years lower as one example, and we've all seen examples of how much poverty there is for certain people in the US like tent cities, so although their GDP per capita is higher due to having so many super billionaires, they have so many people living in poverty that their average quality of life will be lower.
DigitalRoman486@reddit
Maybe this is a hot take but isn't that the attitude that has got us into the situation we are in?
Growth Growth Growth. More Growth per quarter. Growth above all else.
Honestly I think we need the opposite. I think we need work on things being stable. Having some companies and services that are not constantly trying to achieve year on year growth because shareholders demand it.
Grocers that just keep the shelves filled without enshitifying everything to push for bigger profits.
Acrobatic-Ad584@reddit
The Chancellor sees it as her task to bring down the deficit before we can get some meaningful growth, things were slightly on the up before the Iran stuff, I don't know where we are now, but inflation is down again at the moment not much but a bit. So I suppose you could argue that we are getting there. Doesn't feel like it though
Obvious_Compote1025@reddit
The population is getting way to big, too many people don’t contribute anything
Odd_Squirrel1866@reddit
I thought the birth rate was falling? So why is the population increasing?
darcsend_eu@reddit
Older people living longer is a big one.
counter345@reddit
Because older people are living longer - that's part of the problem. They don't work and require financial support (pensions) which increases tax burdens on workers.
This problem leads to young people not being able to raise children to replace them and then the problem gets worse.
Kurzkesagt did a really interesting video on this phenomenon
counter345@reddit
This is combined with the huge wealth divide growing exponentially (the top 0.1% are consistently hoovering more and more capital from the low wage and middle earners) creating a powerful feedback loop that won't stop without political change.
Right_Yard_5173@reddit
People living longer and relying on state pension/free healthcare. Also people retiring later.
FlyingRo@reddit
Gas prices have been the big driver, once the war in Russia is over and things return to normal we should see costs coming down again
GetNooted@reddit
Or if the government detaches electric prices from the cost of gas generation.
FlyingRo@reddit
The government can’t magically control global supply and demand.
The government could raise taxes and subsidize energy but then you’re just robbing Peter to pay Paul.
lionmoose@reddit
I don't think that's what they are arguing, they are saying that the cost of electricity from, for example, solar should not be determined by supply and demand of gas.
FlyingRo@reddit
That’s not something governments control, it’s the nature of the energy market.
A simplified model:
Let’s say 1 unit of electricity costs £5 from solar and £5 from gas.
What happens if gas shortage means its price goes to £10?
Well everyone who was buying gas powered electricity will start switching to solar because it’s cheaper, but there’s not enough solar capacity to handle all the extra demand so that means solar price starts going up because there’s more demand than supply.
How high does solar go?
Well it goes to £10 because that’s the price point where it stops making sense to switch from gas to solar.
Hence you end up with an equilibrium where electricity costs £10 from solar and £10 from gas.
lionmoose@reddit
The point is a bit more trivial than that: solar is currently sold at gas prices. I agree that there will be prices changes based on demand substitution but for heaven's sake, pegging to a fuel with a supply shock is barking.
FlyingRo@reddit
There is no peg. Buyers are willing to pay the same for a unit of electricity regardless if it came from gas or solar, that’s why they’re the same price, the price is set by market demand not any kind of artificial mechanism.
lionmoose@reddit
There is a peg, the government sets it.
FlyingRo@reddit
Are you talking about marginal pricing? - It operates as a continuous auction to set a price because that’s how supply and demand works.
The alternative is pay-as-bid models but research has shown they end up converging on the same pricing in any case but the market ends up less efficient and transparent
72dk72@reddit
Exactly this 50% of our uk electricity comes from renewable so 50% of the cost should hardly ever change and is not affected by gas and oil prices. You could just take more of the profits from oil companies via tax or you could work internationally to change how oil is traded and outlaw cartels like OPEC (which in reality is price fixing, and wouldn't be tolerated in other sectors)
FlyingRo@reddit
That’s not something governments control, it’s the nature of the energy market.
A simplified model:
Let’s say 1 unit of electricity costs £5 from solar and £5 from gas.
What happens if gas shortage means its price goes to £10?
Well everyone who was buying gas powered electricity will start switching to solar because it’s cheaper, but there’s not enough solar capacity to handle all the extra demand so that means solar price starts going up because there’s more demand than supply.
How high does solar go?
Well it goes to £10 because that’s the price point where it stops making sense to switch from gas to solar.
Hence you end up with an equilibrium where electricity costs £10 from solar and £10 from gas.
jonpenryn@reddit
Have prices ever gone down? Have normal wages ever gone up to match them?...
OneObi@reddit
If you use one of those inflation wage calculators to see what your wage should be now, the disparity is shocking.
hamjamham@reddit
Yup, if you earnt £40k in 2021 and don't now earn >£50.9k, youre worse off than you were a year into the pandemic.
Daveddozey@reddit
Average wage in May 2021 was £580 a week or £30k
Today it’s £750 or 39k
If you earned 33% more than average wage and kept pace with everyone else your £40k has turned into 52k
chrisjd@reddit
Prior to the great financial crisis, yeah
TheSecretIsMarmite@reddit
Unless wages go up and somehow the world economy resets itself, then no.
Long_Wait_3078@reddit
It’s nearly impossible to bring costs down after they increase
kaanbha@reddit
Wage growth needs to outpace inflation for a time.
Daveddozey@reddit
Minimum wage has massively outgrown inflation. Average wage has just about kept pace.
hamjamham@reddit
Reducing fiscal drag would help somewhat. Our personal tax free allowance hasn't risen since 2021 and is frozen for another 5 years u til 2031.
The amount of people earning over 50k is more than ever, yet they are being hit with 40% tax on everything they earn over it. 50k used to be a great salary, even 40k was decent.
Groxy_@reddit
Doubt it, this is late stage capitalism before the world (civilization) ends in a few decades.
tomatobasilgarlic@reddit
I see people saying this, do you genuinely believe that?
CautiousBiscuit@reddit
I don't think it will be that dramatic but we're about to see a week of 30 degree weather in may. Crops and water will become more unstable and more and more people will be displaced worldwide. I believe unfortunately that the 2010s was probably the heyday for most (of Western) civilization. Life is just going to get harder, it just won't happen in a day and that's enough for everyone to shrug it off.
Daveddozey@reddit
1999 was peak of human civilisation.
adamjames777@reddit
Prices go up, they rarely come down.
iffyClyro@reddit
Japan has been in a kind of managed recession for decades now.
They’ve had mixed fortunes with it.
You can get a meal for two and a glass of wine for £7.00 in Japan.
Daveddozey@reddit
And minimum wage is £5.25 an hour in Japan.
UmlautsAndRedPandas@reddit
Yeah but supermarket groceries (and fruit and veg down the greengrocer's) costs an arm and a leg.
TumTiTum@reddit
Tax wealth not work and you stand a chance.
Continue to compete against the compounding returns millionaires and billionaires make with your wage? Nope, probably not.
whocarebear@reddit
This is the answer. Tax wealth not work.
Why should labour, goods, and services be taxed so much more than capital gains, land valie increases etc. It makes no sense.
It is unproducrove, inefficient. The big dogs of free market capitalism were very much against the rentier form of profit extraction that now passes for gospel today.
PKblaze@reddit
Look at it this way. The companies and corporations continue to make millions - billions regardless of their budgets. Why would they lower their prices when we're all still paying for it all?
Adorable-Apple2484@reddit
To undercut their competitors
PKblaze@reddit
They barely bother doing that anymore tbh.
Adorable-Apple2484@reddit
Because labour are killing small and medium businesses
UniquePotato@reddit
Keep saying as people miss the point. Companies are owned by shareholders, these are mainly pension funds for everyday normal people.
papayacreamsicle@reddit
Less than one percent of companies are publicly traded and only around 20% of the global economy goes through publicly traded companies. Only around 10% of shares in publicly traded companies are owned by pension funds.
escapingfromelba@reddit
Funds can buy into firms without them being a PLC.
UniquePotato@reddit
I had to google this. Its gone from over 50% in 2000 to 4% now.
That’s amazing, but the other sad part of this, is that its foreign investors that have bought up the difference. So those dividends go abroad. Making the UK even more miserable
No_Mirror_9742@reddit
And the richest people and highest earner will own a disproportionate amount of the money in those funds
Cantona-Eric-7@reddit
The top 10% of Americans own roughly 85–90% of all stocks by value. So in the US, while it’s true that a lot of people benefit from shares increasing in value, it’s a small group that are benefiting in a meaningful way. I’m sure it’s somewhat similar in the UK.
Daveddozey@reddit
Another cafe closed in town this week. They just can’t afford the high minimum wage staff without increasing prices so people on average wages can afford it.
whocarebear@reddit
The only way we get back to an affordable way of life is of we force the rich to redistribute the outrageous wealth they have accumulated at our expense
Hinderking@reddit
I personally think if nothing is done soon. Then the gap between the rich and poor is going to become even worse, Asset owners and non asset owners as well. I don’t know how you tackle the problem either, do you introduce a wealth tax. Do companies need to start paying more. Do billionaires need to stop taking as big a wage and spread it out more evenly throughout the countries or companies.
This is world wide as well, not just the uk
Original_Dream7121@reddit
[ Removed by Reddit ]
aspiring_riddim@reddit
We also have climate change to worry about, which is going to exacerbate everything you listed + numerous other things.
hoochiscrazy_@reddit
It never goes back. Thats not how capitalism works unfortunately
TreadheadS@reddit
so long as we let there be billionaires, this will continue. We have lived through a rare post ww2 era of near equality. The rules that kept this has finally given way and now we're back to being owned by the rich.
So unless we find a way to stop that, it will only get worse
EyeAware3519@reddit
Throughout history there have been the upper classes and there have been peasants. For a short period in the 20th century peasants were given the opportunity to own property and accrue their own wealth. Obviously the upper classes can't have that so are doing everything I get can to go back to normal. Too many peasants think they are the upper classes though and are doing everything they can to sabotage themselves.
Bubbly-Many5877@reddit
I still think it is affordable - I went part time, as I was fed up with working a 5 day week (on not a great salary) and still start each new month with more in the bank than I had the month before - just try not to live beyond your means
GlitchingGecko@reddit
This is what most people are crap at. Was talking to a friend this afternoon who's struggling for cash, and then mentioned she was going to the cinema tonight. £15 a ticket, and she's taking her husband and kid. £45 (without snacks and drinks) on a 2hr movie is ridiculous even when you're not struggling.
72dk72@reddit
Going to the cinema was classed as a luxury when I was a child - the sort of thing you did a couple of times a year as a treat.... and we only had 3 TV channels. All these streaming services and subscriptions are not essentials at all. Easy way to save is to not have them and just use free view or freesat.
GlitchingGecko@reddit
My local cinema shows older films for £5 a ticket, which I think is much more reasonable. I can justify that once a week, especially if you take your own snacks and drinks.
But a new release at £20/15 a ticket, when it's going to be on a streaming service within 6 months is hefty.
Same with streaming services - having ONE at a time, and rotating each month (or when you run out of stuff to watch) is very reasonable, but multiple is just silly.
I disagree with Freeview though. You need a TV license for that, which is £15 a month. You might as well have 3 subs at that point. Total scam.
GREENGRAVY_@reddit
Yep I have a lot of skint friends, they spend a lot of money a week on activities. Their salaries mean they should be very well off. My best mate on payday can fill a small bedroom with Amazon parcels, on a great salary, up to his eyeballs in debt, tells everyone he's rich and spends like he's rich.
My sister is a single mother, left her management role as too stressed out but she's always been good with money. Barely above minimum wage now, happy at work, it's a stretch but it's working. She's an idiot my sister, but she can budget.
GlitchingGecko@reddit
Yep. My partner and I were on track to be debt and mortgage free around 45 because we were so tight. (Ended up being mortgage free at 35 due to my inheritance, but not really the way we wanted to accomplish it.)
I'm still quite frugal now because it's just become a habit, even though we're saving over half our income.
omgu8mynewt@reddit
How do you pay your housing cost if you only work part time
Waste_Witness4789@reddit
Has anyone else got friends still buying houses, going on holidays, buying cars and eating out? I thought it must be credit card debt, but how they buying houses? whereas my food shopping has doubled in the last 6 months
marowitt@reddit
Things will never get cheaper.
Production costs have risen, oversees manufacturing isn't as cheap as it used to be. There way more companies producing the same things so there's more competition over raw materials and shiping, companies always pass on those cost increases to the consumer, wage growth hasn't kept up with inflation and companies once again pass on all their increase in costs directly down to the consumer.
So companies are making more profits than they used to and why would they stop? That is the sole reason they exist. Unless there's a massive shift where everyone in the world suddenly refuses to buy Cola bevause it's to expensive the price will never fall.
As long as we keep paying they will keep rising costs, look at what's happening in some stores with dynamic pricing where the store tries to get as much out of you as you're willing to pay.
Companies have also gotten better at manipulating people, back in the 90s black friday deals were actually deals, now they are baseline price after slowly rising the price over a few months building up to it.
And there's loads more. But sadly no, thungs will not get cheaper, best thing we can hope for is that they don't get worse. Only actual thing that will increases wages enough to make things feel cheaper is a massive work force shortage, and sadly that only happens due to people dying.
Sea_Pomegranate8229@reddit
In two years I get my state pension. At the moment I am managing on pennies over £800/month from private pensions because DSS say I am fine for work - I am not. So in two years my income will double - if I make it that far.
Sluggybeef@reddit
Covid, the war in Ukraine and the Strait have cause an unexpected strain on resources. Costs will eventually come down, nothing lasts forever
Icedtangoblast@reddit
Oh, how wrong you are. You haven’t mentioned climate change, which will have a big impact on crop failures and water shortages, leading to a spike in prices due to a drop in supply.
72dk72@reddit
And the UK contribution to climate change is miniscule to say China, so what we do will have little impact whilst we still import everything from China and they continue to burn oil /coal etc.
Sluggybeef@reddit
Not neccesarily. It will have severe effects on some places and boost production in others.
Ok_Ninja7574@reddit
Doubtful
soulsteela@reddit
I’m 52 and I’ve never seen prices go back down.
Witty-Ad5286@reddit
Yes - of course. It’s just you who has to make it more affordable for yourself. Earn more. It’s up to you to work out how to make that happen. And I’m not making this as some glib throw away comment. It is hard to change your circumstances in life. It’s not impossible though. You just have to want it badly enough and never give up.
Left_Mushroom7592@reddit
If the utilities were nationalised it would save us a fortune
broonmeister75@reddit
Nah we're fucked and the politicians don't care
mealzowheelz@reddit
Inflation is sticky upwards, meaning no it tends not to come down. But in the past usually wages follow. If you want prices to go down you need to stop buying
Mean_Actuator130@reddit
Expensive loop, I'd imagine. We make too little and consume too much . That's going to make things expensive.
marauder80@reddit
I think we are starting to see it. Inflation is dropping, unemployment growing even immigrants arent coming to the country. I think its the start of a downward spiral where people cant afford to buy things, companies struggle and make redundancies and/or increase prices or quality then sell even less. I think we are rapidly heading towards a thirties style crash that no one is prepared for or will be able to deal with.
peetlejuice_@reddit
From my experience: we think prices are high now. But in 10 years we will look back on today and say "remember a pint was only £6?"
Source: me when reminiscing about 2016.
arranft@reddit
You could actually do that by fixing just one thing: housing. Since that's where most of peoples money goes, having success there would make a difference to the amount of money that people would have to spend on their other costs of living.
If we ever manage to get a competent government then they could implement changes that would help to bring the cost of housing down, they could also sort out the cost of electricity which would bring the cost of everything down slightly.
But you can't just blame government incompetence, like imagine if every house and business had their roofs already covered in solar panels, especially before the 2022 electricity price shock that contributed to the permanent increase in prices, we could have collectively averted some of that by not being so dependent on gas.
cowbutt6@reddit
Inflation is usually always positive. If you think inflation is bad, you should see the effects of stagnation and deflation.
The best you can hope for is that your income catches up, either through above-inflation payrises (ha!), or improving your employability in order to get better-paid work. Or, that your demand for things that are increasing in price at the higher rates declines (but that's unlikely for things like energy and food, at least).
nivlark@reddit
Salaries have been growing faster than inflation for the past few years. It remains to be seen what effect the US/Israel war on Iran will have on that trend, but for the time being at least, things have been getting more affordable.
Takklemaggot@reddit
No.
Eating bugs and owning nothing, is all we've got to look forward to.
jack5624@reddit
Depends what you mean? Depending who you are and what you buy some ‘things’ are more affordable now than ever.
AverycoldGoose@reddit
Probably not, there’s only a finite amount of stuff on this planet and the global population keeps rising. The global middle class is also growing much more rapidly so there’s ever more people chasing a somewhat finite number of goods.
Unless there’s significant technological innovation that probably means the cost of food/oil etc will continue to grow faster than UK wages.
Energy costs might fall significantly as we decarbonise at least at certain times of the day when the grid could be 100% renewable.
Of course for most people housing is their number one cost, and we could easily reduce the cost of it by building a lot more.
Icedtangoblast@reddit
See also: Climate Change. People bang on about how much David Attenborough is a National Treasure, yet they don’t seem to hear him when he talks about the challenges of global increases in average temperatures.
Annual_Restaurant405@reddit
Don’t forget the war(s) are pushing up food prices:
Lidl’s operating profit rose by 297%, from £79 million in 2021 to £314 million in 2025
Aldi’s operating profit rose from £289 million in 2020 to £435 million in 2025
Tesco’s operating profit leapt from £1.8bn in 2020/21 to £3.1bn in 2024/25, an increase of 72%
Yep definitely the war(s).
Icedtangoblast@reddit
Climate change is also to blame for future food crops and price increases. As the population increases, and food crop yields decreasing, the supply will not meet demand, so prices will go up.
ResplendentBear@reddit
Wages need to go up faster than prices.
With the UK in horrendous debt, productivity in the gutter for years and endless wars causing price shocks, it doesn't seem likely any time soon.
lionmoose@reddit
Real wages have been growing consistently for the last 3 years, the issue was fairly substantial declines in the year or so before.
ozyri@reddit
"productivity in the gutter" - compared to what? Countries with no labour laws?
ResplendentBear@reddit
I sense you have an existing agenda... But anyway, to answer your question, no. Compared to other major economies and our own history, we've been in the productivity graveyard since 2008
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47826195
It's strongly linked to the flat lining in wage growth.
AdnyPls@reddit
I think it used to be higher but we had a good few years where it was lower before we got to today.
I hear stuff about inflation in the 70s (or maybe the 60s idk) and it sounded mad compared to what we’ve dealt with today.
RayaQueen@reddit
There was inflation in the 70s but one wage was still enough for a whole family with a mortgage and a garden.
xxx654@reddit
There’s some amount of horseshit spoken about the 70s in the UK. They were unspeakably grim for loads of people in freezing damp houses, some still with outdoor toilets, no money, terrible food, disruption to lives were constant.
Yes there are echoes of some of the issues today but it was much, much worse then. Material comforts were in much less supply. Life was harder for many more people.
LadyMirkwood@reddit
And worse off in less material ways.
Opportunities for and attitudes towards women, child protection, racism, safety in the workplace, treatment of medical conditions and available technology... all far worse than today.
xxx654@reddit
Absolutely agree. Only someone that wasn’t there could think it was better.
Acrobatic-Ad584@reddit
Barely!
thehappyhobo@reddit
Too bad everyone was unemployed
AdnyPls@reddit
Fair enough, I wasn’t really sure it’s just my honest impression from hearing about it second hand.
LadyMirkwood@reddit
Inflation under Callaghan was 26%
BigGrinJesus@reddit
You can still be squeezed.
Dazz316@reddit
There's been hundreds of these throughout history, the chance of this being the last one and we have seen the peak is next to 0.
dimap443@reddit
Nothing ever gets more affordable
Spiritual_Smell4744@reddit
I've never known prices drop for any notable length of time
OneObi@reddit
My usual porridge from Aldi is up 39%. Prices have rocketed and also quantity shrunk.
The only thing I've noticed that has dropped in price is vegetable oil but that is still sky high.
SeaExcitement4288@reddit
Living paycheck to paycheck for what feels like forever it’s exhausting
Standard_Response_43@reddit
Our money will be worth less, more quickly.
Maleficent-Win-6520@reddit
This is nowhere near as bad as the seventies and eighties
aspiring_riddim@reddit
We were able to break out of stagflation in the 80s because globalisation was taking off and we shifted from an industrial to a finance and services-led economy. This stored up its own wealth of problems (e.g. decimation of former industrial towns and deregulation of the financial sector, the latter being the eventual catalyst for 2008) but it bought the economy a bit of wriggle room. This time there's nothing left to expand into, absent some massive technological breakthroughs we are unlikely to see such a major shift in global capitalism like that again.
WildWanderingRedHead@reddit
Its getting so much worse because they have learned they can get away with it. There has also been so much deregulation in the last 15 years that corporations are no longer held accountable in the same way they used to be (think fuel, telecoms etc... they used to be far more highly regulated). If they can... they will and they just keep squeezing until we have nothing left to give... and this includes reducing things like customer service, pushing the boundaries of human rights etc... every loophole, every regulatory weakness is exploited to the maximum to ensure they get every penny and there is no humanity left. Profit over people 100%. Until they are held accountable it will not change.
No_Ring_3348@reddit
Well it's either the hard way (increasing productivity per capita) or the really hard way (deflation).
MrMikeylad@reddit
Nah we are fucked
TellMeManyStories@reddit
Some things have become more expensive... Like Houses...
But other things have gotten cheaper, like communication and knowledge. The days of paying a days salary for a transatlantic phone call are over.
Also, travel is far cheaper - you can go to Spain and back for just a couple of hours work.
Food can also be cheaper. Even on minimum wage, you only have to work for half an hour to pay for food for the day (assuming one is frugal). That's perhaps the lowest it's ever been in UK history.
Kittygrizzle1@reddit
Clothes are also much cheaper. I remember buying stuff from Next in the 90’s that was more expensive than the stuff they sell now.
There was no Primark or cheap shops. Except Mark One.
MisterD90x@reddit
Hahahaha no
nobodyspecialuk24@reddit
It makes more sense when you look at the classic “boomer” years as the historic outliers they were.
Even then, there are plenty of poor boomers.
The status quo for humanity is a very small number of very wealthy people in and/or connected to those in power while the vast majority struggle.
Social mobility was briefly a thing after the plague/Black Death because the wealthy weren’t that much better protected so still died in large numbers, freeing up some promotion spots, but they were filled and back society went.
It takes something like that, or the rich and powerful almost destroying themselves in a world war for change to happen, but then it tends back.
budgiebirdman@reddit
Unfortunately we had COVID and blew it by making the rich richer than they already were.
pamplemouse5@reddit
Maybe the kids'll have a chance in 10 years, then.
Sparko_Marco@reddit
Has it ever been affordable for the average person? Having grown up in poverty in the 80s and 90s I'm not seeing much difference.
seaflans@reddit
This is a very fair perspective to have. Things certainly don't seem better for the poor, probably honestly being worse now. May I just add though, that the difference I see is the proportion of society that starts poor & a shrinking middle class.
Polarwarrior@reddit
Unlikely unless you find a way to drastically lower your expenses. Been thinking of doing Van Life full time and just save as much as I can for as long as I can.
Difficult_Relative33@reddit
We get used to inflation. In 10-15 years wages will have rises to meet prices. Then we will have another round of price hikes. Good luck
New_Line4049@reddit
Impossible to say. No one can see that far into the future. Its possible if the right decisions are made, but its anyone's guess if they will be. That said, the current position is the result of decisions made decades ago, and compounded by current events. The decisions made decades ago have been slowly doing damage over time. Even if we reverse course now it'll take a very long time to undo the damage.
Saltypeon@reddit
Some if it is specific to the UK. Hidden monoploies, middlemen (I hate this part of our economy its horrific).
Broadband prices as an example are generally falling...except for the UK. For reasons...I am sure someone will be along to shout about costs or something, like its a unique UK only thing like we live in another planet.
thelaughingman_1991@reddit
If I offered you £50k more for the same job that you're doing, and you took it, and continued to enjoy it, would you ever want to go back to earning less?
The greed will continue to run rampant without legal intervention I'm afraid.
Proud_Temperature_55@reddit
It’s the new normal
Distinct_Egg4365@reddit
Never these things never go back down. When have you ever heard of this happening in the western world
Legitimate-Leg-4720@reddit
Gotta lock in and grind, grind, grind. I work full time but I've also built freelance work to do in my evenings and weekends for some extra cash.
Acrobatic-Ad584@reddit
We have an ongoing and worsening problem with supply chains for a variety of goodsq
GeorgeMichaelFans@reddit
To break the current deadlock, in the traditional analytical economics, there must be an extraordinary boost of productivity, both each individual and the nation as a whole. Just like the invention of combustion engines and internet. Otherwise the best way for individuals to get most in a low growth high cost economy is to migrate to the country where people can actually produce with high comparative advantage.
GooseyDuckDuck@reddit
Life is at almost the most affordable it has been in centuries, but keep reading Facebook.
EyeAlternative1664@reddit
No. No chance.
You know the phrase “look back with rose tinted glasses”? Well that means everything from this point forward is only going to get worse.
Obscure-Oracle@reddit
Without negative inflation that cannot happen quickly. So long as we don't get any more years of excessive inflation then maybe in 10 years time things eill feel more affordable when wages catch back up again.
SuperDinkle406@reddit
For many years, we are locked in and it will be tough. Sorry to be the "downer".
Cultural_Tank_6947@reddit
No. Not for the average person.
But you're able to get better paying jobs.
poo_on_my_scarf@reddit
Lol what do you think?
UniquePotato@reddit
While we import more than we export and manufacturing is in decline things will get worse.
Infrastructure that was built after the war will need replacing and the burden on NHS will continue to climb. Pension schemes will be reduced and the retirement age will be pushed back.
Sweet_Confusion9180@reddit
Ah the perpetual treadmill.
There have been housing market crashes in the past but in general the cost of living continually rises. I don't think there's much hope for things suddenly getting more affordable.
Mugweiser@reddit
Yeh could do if you get a promotion or something.
It’s partly tough out there but partly up to you as well.
Low-Rooster5398@reddit
It's locked in at this point.
EntrepreneurHead7133@reddit
I don’t think so
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