Cost of Living Crisis

Yes, and doesn’t @Bekloppt’s list fulfil that definition, or should I go back to school?

The only one on his list that costs no money is singing. So the correct phrase would be “I can think of one that’s free and the rest cost money” Not inferring that there are multiples of each. Pretty much nothing is free.

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@Klopptimist, I have one for you: meditation. All you need is a cushion or a chair to place yourself on. :wink:

More seriously, the less expensive occupations are often those who bear most rewards, but in order to practice them usefully, you need to have a high level of instruction, and that doesn’t come cheap… singing is free, but if you want to practice it at high level, you’ll need many, many lessons…

In that sense, @Bekloppt and @Klopptimist are both right. And that’s why I believe that any worthy society should place good education/instruction for everyone at the very first place of its preoccupations.

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Jnr is currently having eye watering dancing and singing coaching. You ain’t kidding it isn’t cheap……. Once they hit 16, will quit and do something completely different. Mrs will be heartbroken and I’ll try for a few days to not say I told you so.

Can it be reasonably argued that meditation is mentally stimulating? Is it not just deep thinking that we do regularly? If you need incense, crystals, music etc, all cost there. Mrs does it (bollocks to me me) and uses an app on her phone. That sure is hell isn’t free.

Let’s say that someone practices meditation as a main occupation (just with a chair and nothing else :joy:): the way to come to that point will have been expensive. Books will have been read, lessons will possibly have been taken etc. etc. When you come at that point, it’s free.

The same can be said from t’ai chi, which I practice regularly: I took courses during twenty years, now I continue to practice it for free.

What is startling about all this is how uninformed the entire dialogue is by the underlying geopolitical reality. Ofgem is predicting out a cap that clears the market based on supply/demand projections, business as journal albeit with a constrained supply scenario. But we know that supply is not going to be business as usual - a very large percentage of the supply in the overall market is not going to follow conventional market behaviours, and is in fact quite likely to be deliberately manipulated to exacerbate the crisis.

It is basically insane that the conversation is revolving around using tax cuts to address what is in significant measure a national security problem.

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£4800 they are saying it could cost me for next years energy bills. Luckily i live in hovel that only costs £4800 a year in rent.
factoring in everything else. Xmas , Holidays and Jam roly poly will all be cancelled next year.

Little or no money. Why is that so hard to comprehend?

I had a long period of poverty in my twenties and we did a lot of those things. People got together and shared equipment and knowledge.
Stuff is often given away. I’ve seen musical instruments and art supplies on my local ‘free your stuff’ fb page for example.
All I’m saying is that poverty does not mean that you are not able to do worthwhile things. Why you want to make it all about people who do not have a single penny is a mystery.

I’m a huge advocate of UBI for this reason.

Also it makes economic sense. If you want to grow an economy, you get money into the pockets of people who will actually spend it. Poorer people - the majority of the country. The Tory response to any crisis of ‘tax cuts’ only really benefits the people at the top who inevitably do nothing with that money that is useful to the economy. This is why the economy stagnates under Tory leadership. They fundamentally don’t understand economics.

@Klopptimist’s idea of paying benefits in tokens for basics sounds reasonable, but really it’s not about addressing a need or solving a problem. It’s about humiliating poor people and punishing them for their poverty. It’s a fundamentally Conservative notion. The idea that if you are poor it’s your own fault, and you must be treated like a child as a result. Notwithstanding the costs of such a scheme would be so phenomenally expensive and the ‘problem’ so minor, it would be the text book example of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

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You’ll explain why it’s humiliating to have the basics in life provided for you. Isn’t that exactly what a civilised society should do? Provide for those who struggle?
Food check
Heat check
Shelter check
Clothing and child costs check

Want more? Well, there’s an answer to that.

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@Klopptimist you missed out Health Check!

but if you want one of those you ll have to wait 3 years! :crazy_face:

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Right guys…sorry for all the negative views, by me on here today…I’ve given up the cause…let em do what they want…que sera…

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You countered my argument earlier on the government pay out. That is fine but a better answer lies here which happens to be a solution none if the current government would take. Much easier to quote their headline figure for the handout.

It’s demeaning to have to go into shops and pay with tokens and stamps or whatever. It’s basically treating adults like children and suggesting they cannot manage money or a budget.

You have also ignored the fact that such a system would be a completely ridiculous overreaction to a non-issue, and the only possible justification would be the idea that you can somehow humiliate people back into work, which you can’t.

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Disagree. Who sees or looks at the card you use (contactless) at the supermarket??? Why do you want to give cash to people when what they need is stability and safety? You don’t want another story from me about………. This week’s was particularly poignant. Amazing what cash can be spent on that doesn’t feed, clothe or nurture the kids.

That’s why.

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