Finances are only just BLINDINGLY OBVIOUS!!!

[BDG]

Hey, sorry if I seemed as if I was ranting, just a bit frustrated with money myself at the moment. So we can afford to go to the villa this half term I have had to let the riding school at the stables my daughters horse is kept at use her two days a week and it is a bit of a nightmare to explain to her that she cannot go riding on a particular day as her horse is being used by someone else.

[Geordie_Rob]

And there was me worrying if I could afford the petrol to get to & from work this week

[Metroyeti]

Im on the dole and it aint nice, not on it by choice not had work since I was in london six weeks ago. get 71 a week jsa, some help with the rent but im still 80 short on the rent.its a struggle to pay the bills. So the people who choose to live on it duck n dive. Dont tarnish every one who is unemployed with the same brush.

[bigpaul]

i was unemployed back in the 90s and remained on it for 8 years..no jobs no hope, i was always skint but i NEVER ran out of food like people seem to do these days.

[Gary3]

They KNOW we are. We have proven it to them time after time.

btw It's not the wages that are low but that everything is taxed so high that you can't live on a low wage.

Definitely agree with this, whilst wages in the U.K are certainly not the highest when compared with other countries in the world, I'd definitely argue that jobs in this country do on average pay relatively well.

The issue here is the ridiculous tax system in place that just broadens the gap between the rich and poor. Tax deductions make a 'living wage' into an 'unlivable wage'

I have friends who are distributed across Europe and whilst they are on similar wages they certainly don't pay the same percentage as tax as I do. An example, I am on a £35,000 gross salary but after tax I am left with just £27080 source- income after tax calculator: [url]http://www.income-tax.co.uk/calculator/35000[url]

I am just hoping one day the government can recognise how unfair the tax system is in this country...

[Straight Shooter]

No....! Gary3 from £35,000 to £27,080 is just their first slice of your cake....within what you have left of your £27,080 you have an avalanche of mini stealth taxes ....VAT covers many areas to suck out more taxes......along with with inflation another stealth TAX ....i have bad news Gary3...They do not care about unfair ....the bastards thrive on it....come to terms with it ...if you need proof ...why is it that people here in the UK use food banks....and some are in full time employment ? some people one step removed from them use loan sharks to get by , the next level up are spanking the plastic ...hard.....to hold on and tread water ...they do not even realise they are sinking.....How is your Food bill lately ? in fact how are your utility bills lately ? bloody hell Gary ....how are you doing lately ?....what we have here is a worldwide problem which we will all witness first hand....at the very minimum a reset Will take place .....how much of a reset ? who knows really...not matter.....it will not be nice ....but necessary .

[Mortblanc]

Five years pass and post 15 takes up where post 14 left off like it was the next stitch in the mend of an old sock.

All the while pay raises came and went, members spoke out in frustration and when the new meds kicked in they were never heard from again.

The recession ended. Sad to say so for some folks, but it really did. No breakdown of the social order, no rebuild of society in a new frame, no pushing of the "reset" button, which has been the threat since 1850 or so.

Things are as good today as they have been since the end of WW2, probably longer. No one is ever happy with the situation as it stands, even if it is recognized as an improvement by others.

And the people that want to work are working, the people that don't want to work are still not working and one group gripes about the high taxes and the other group gripes about no tax money coming to their pockets to make things even and a society trying to hold them down.

And the real constant is that things have never gotten bad enough where anyone was really willing to do much about the situation, and talk about the ungrateful ones that did is unacceptable.