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Do you feel the economy is improving or not?

ringo

ringo

Tim Sherwood
There are a lot of mixed messages about the economy at the moment.

According to what you read:
Problems in China mean that global growth is stalling. But US and UK economy are growing steadily.
Wage growth is on the increase. But personal debt is increasing.
Interest rates are going up in the US late2015/early 2016, (and therefore in the UK. But there's no way interest rates are going up any time soon, and if anything (according to one economist at the BofE), negative interest rates would be a great idea, if only they could abolish cash.
Deflation is worry. But actually the BofE wouldn't mind setting a 4% inflation target to give it some headroom.

So my questions - how do all of you out there feel at the moment financial security wise.
Are things getting better?
Or are they getting worse?
Is everyone managing OK?
How are you finding the cost of living?

I'm self-employed. Work has been getting slower - but in my case it is all necessarily economy related, although some of the slowdown is. I don't detect much room generally for raising prices/or willingness to pay them in my market.
Although CPI may be low, it feels as if the cost of living has increased substantially over the last five years.
 
It certainly seems its getting better, i'm full time and the company is as busy as its been for a while, my wife freelances and the availability of posts and rates are higher than a year ago.

We're getting by, rent has barely moved, what has gone up is nursery childcare. We are spending more but only to improve our QoL which we couldn't really afford a couple of years ago when every month seemed to be tight.
 
parklane1 said:
Smoke and Mirrors.
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Here, you dropped this
tin-foil-hat.jpg~c200
 
The economy is in good shape
Its cost of living that is the issue, and with price increase, especially in housing, outstripping real wages so much we are in for a few decades of social middle class stagnation IMHO.
That is why Corbyn got in to bring a flavour to UK politics that isn't all rhetoric and profiteering.
I believe we have a good workforce in this country, albeit we could increase productivity through better systems/processes, but people want a better opportunity to get onto the housing ladder in an average/normal family home and raise a family whilst also commuting to work without the worry of childcare bankrupting them
 
monkeybarry said:
The economy is in good shape
Its cost of living that is the issue, and with price increase, especially in housing, outstripping real wages so much we are in for a few decades of social middle class stagnation IMHO.
That is why Corbyn got in to bring a flavour to UK politics that isn't all rhetoric and profiteering.
I believe we have a good workforce in this country, albeit we could increase productivity through better systems/processes, but people want a better opportunity to get onto the housing ladder in an average/normal family home and raise a family whilst also commuting to work without the worry of childcare bankrupting them
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I don't think housing is nearly as bad as people say it is. The issue is that people want to live in really expensive areas without paying expensive prices.

Claiming the housing market is too expensive is like claims the car market is too expensive. Everyone can afford a car, we just can't all afford the ones everyone wants.
 
I agree with scara, they seem to be throwing houses up everywhere

disagree on the workforce though MB, people want something for nothing in my experience, there are plenty of jobs out there if you are prepared to work

also, not everyone wants to buy, it doesn't interest me at all, I just want to be able to rent a nice house for my kids to live in
 
scaramanga said:
I don't think housing is nearly as bad as people say it is. The issue is that people want to live in really expensive areas without paying expensive prices.

Claiming the housing market is too expensive is like claims the car market is too expensive. Everyone can afford a car, we just can't all afford the ones everyone wants.
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I'm surprised at this post. You usually have a decent grasp of economics, but housing and car ownership are nowhere near comparable goods.

Irrespective of your views on London, it IS the employment hub of the UK, but it is very very difficult for normal, professional couples to get on the housing ladder.
That is partly down to housing stock and partly down to the huge increase in people owning multiple homes to make a business out of being a landlord.
By comparison, a middle of the road family can buy a middle of the road, functional car - something comfortable that you put the dog and a kid in.
The same is not true for housing - good luck finding somewhere suitable to raise more than one kid in. And as for a pet.....that's a nob starter. Then, in generation rent, there are estate agent fees and the landlord knowledge that they have the power and influence.

None of this is healthy or sustainable for keeping a good workforce moving forward.

( I appreciate I started by saying car vs housing is non comparative and then formed a comparison! Beeerrr!!!)
 
Things are fine for me, I am going to retire for the third time in March aged 51. I will probably do it a year before having to find something to do work wise because of boredom.

Think prices have risen and as I keep telling my son it is a new era and not like the mid 90's to 2008 where people could find jobs easily, now you have to really get a proper skill. I think a whole generation were told a lie. I tell him I am pushing him so he has a marketable skill and does not have to do what is old man did and worked his balls off(and got lucky in the property boom)

Life aint so bad, wish we would finish above the scum in the league though.
 
monkeybarry said:
I'm surprised at this post. You usually have a decent grasp of economics, but housing and car ownership are nowhere near comparable goods.

Irrespective of your views on London, it IS the employment hub of the UK, but it is very very difficult for normal, professional couples to get on the housing ladder.
That is partly down to housing stock and partly down to the huge increase in people owning multiple homes to make a business out of being a landlord.
By comparison, a middle of the road family can buy a middle of the road, functional car - something comfortable that you put the dog and a kid in.
The same is not true for housing - good luck finding somewhere suitable to raise more than one kid in. And as for a pet.....that's a nob starter. Then, in generation rent, there are estate agent fees and the landlord knowledge that they have the power and influence.

None of this is healthy or sustainable for keeping a good workforce moving forward.

( I appreciate I started by saying car vs housing is non comparative and then formed a comparison! Beeerrr!!!)
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The buyer has choice just as in any market.

If the buyer can't afford it London (Maserati) them get a job and a house in Rotherham (Fiat Panda).
 
scaramanga said:
The buyer has choice just as in any market.

If the buyer can't afford it London (Maserati) them get a job and a house in Rotherham (Fiat Panda).
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That argument is too simplictic - the range of cars is large irrespective of geographical locale and therefore the purchase is down to both taste and purchasing power.
However location, income and housing cost are intrinsically linked.
Car manufacturers can respond to increased demand by increasing manufacturing whilst retaining equilibrium price.
 
monkeybarry said:
That argument is too simplictic - the range of cars is large irrespective of geographical locale and therefore the purchase is down to both taste and purchasing power.
However location, income and housing cost are intrinsically linked.
Car manufacturers can respond to increased demand by increasing manufacturing whilst retaining equilibrium price.
Click to expand...

location isn't fixed though, we hired a kid a few years back from way up north, he'd moved down to London to kip on a mates sofa and try and improve his lot, all he had was a few clothes, some moxy and a brick load of graphic design talent, he has his own agency now

you don't have to work where you grow up, it's probably a far better idea to make sure you don't
 
Good to see people are doing OK. (I do worry about what kind of world my children will be living in.)

While inflation may notionally have been relatively benign (according to official figures), I have noticed the quality and size of everything (apart from the general population) appears to be getting poorer and smaller. It is a generalisation of course, but a whole load of food items seem to have shrunk - at its most basic, most chocolate bars are smaller, and for me don't taste as nice for example. While at the other end of the consumer scale the housing estates popping up in the SE have miniscule gardens, thin walls and tiny rooms. Choice should confer power, but when everything seems to suffer from similar issues, it is hard not feel that as a consumer I'm being fudged over by corporations.
 
galeforce said:
location isn't fixed though, we hired a kid a few years back from way up north, he'd moved down to London to kip on a mates sofa and try and improve his lot, all he had was a few clothes, some moxy and a **** load of graphic design talent, he has his own agency now

you don't have to work where you grow up, it's probably a far better idea to make sure you don't
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This pretty much covers it for me @monkeybarry.

I choose to live near where I grew up and I pay a heavy price for it - Chichester house prices. I could live in the West Country and earn 90% of my salary and have a bigger house that costs 60% of mine. Or I could live up north and earn 80% of my current salary and buy a small town for the price of a 3 bed detached around here.
 
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