People Of Britain Are We Slowly Being Squeezed

[Narvick Devil]

People of Britain are we slowly being squeezed

Recently I've been trying to save money on my Bills or put it another way I've tried to minimise how well I'm ripped off!! , so far I've chosen the cheapest gas and electric for the area I live in Ebico: Fair price gas and electricity , I've changed my Telecom option to low user with BT (BT basic), saves Over 20 quid a quarter on my line rental , shopped around for a cheaper mortgage , got rid of the credit card (uk highest rates in the world ) , stopped smoking, got fed up paying the fag companies and the Government to slowly kill me , sold off the car and motorbike , finally realised owning anything that uses fossil fuels is asking to be legally mugged (Britain only oil producing nation in the world that isn't allowed to take advantage of being a oil producer ), got rid of my personal Mobile phone (more expensive than smoking) .

So I think you've got the idea I'm making a concerted effort to cut costs, very prudent you may have asked? But I've reached a quagmire, what I can I do about minimising the personal extortionate cost of paying for local council services. Thx SNP for the freeze but water rates and sewage went up, inflation ignored as usual.

Hang on sec! isn't Scottish Water a private company. How do they manage to get local authorities to collect their revenue bypassing the normal legal road of collection? Shouldn't they be handing me a quarterly bill like everyone else! And of course not forgetting the biggest anachronism this country has to offer the "TV Licence" (Why can't we be honest and call it the tax that it is, which people are forced to pay for the privilege of having a TV in their Home, I know it finances the BBC but shouldn't I have the choice)

Sorry!! What I'm I saying, I thought for a minute I was living in a society that was free and allows people freedom of choice, freedom to choose.

A capitalist society with a free market, a country we call a democracy.

Which got me thinking? Why do I have to make this concerted effort to cut costs?? Ohm!! That's right everything I buy, use and/or consume is going up in price by more than the rate of inflation except my pay (unless you're a MP at Westminster or a Banker). I'm already working 12 hours a day, 6 days a week sometimes 7 and this was the only way I could make ends meet.

I'm slowly but surely being squeezed, I can't be the only one? , I see myself as fairly well off around the Brittish average income so there's got to be people out there who are in the same or similar situation, maybe even worse?

So I ask this simple Question if I'm not the only one being squeezed and there is a fair number out there, what's going to happen if this is allowed to continue?.

I'm not sure if voting would make a difference it doesn't matter which of the main parities gets in , it's just more of the same(arrogance) , or do I have to just take it (The British mentality) because right now I've got the feeling I'm being taken for granted by the powers that be ' Mega Style' .

[Patfig]

People of Britain are we slowly being squeezed

Recently I've been trying to save money on my Bills or put it another way I've tried to minimise how well I'm ripped off!! , so far I've chosen the cheapest gas and electric for the area I live in Ebico: Fair price gas and electricity , I've changed my Telecom option to low user with BT (BT basic), saves Over 20 quid a quarter on my line rental , shopped around for a cheaper mortgage , got rid of the credit card (uk highest rates in the world ) , stopped smoking, got fed up paying the fag companies and the Government to slowly kill me , sold off the car and motorbike , finally realised owning anything that uses fossil fuels is asking to be legally mugged (Britain only oil producing nation in the world that isn't allowed to take advantage of being a oil producer ), got rid of my personal Mobile phone (more expensive than smoking) .

So I think you've got the idea I'm making a concerted effort to cut costs, very prudent you may have asked? But I've reached a quagmire, what I can I do about minimising the personal extortionate cost of paying for local council services. Thx SNP for the freeze but water rates and sewage went up, inflation ignored as usual.

Hang on sec! isn't Scottish Water a private company. How do they manage to get local authorities to collect their revenue bypassing the normal legal road of collection? Shouldn't they be handing me a quarterly bill like everyone else! And of course not forgetting the biggest anachronism this country has to offer the "TV Licence" (Why can't we be honest and call it the tax that it is, which people are forced to pay for the privilege of having a TV in their Home, I know it finances the BBC but shouldn't I have the choice)

Sorry!! What I'm I saying, I thought for a minute I was living in a society that was free and allows people freedom of choice, freedom to choose.

A capitalist society with a free market, a country we call a democracy.

Which got me thinking? Why do I have to make this concerted effort to cut costs?? Ohm!! That's right everything I buy, use and/or consume is going up in price by more than the rate of inflation except my pay (unless you're a MP at Westminster or a Banker). I'm already working 12 hours a day, 6 days a week sometimes 7 and this was the only way I could make ends meet.

I'm slowly but surely being squeezed, I can't be the only one? , I see myself as fairly well off around the Brittish average income so there's got to be people out there who are in the same or similar situation, maybe even worse?

So I ask this simple Question if I'm not the only one being squeezed and there is a fair number out there, what's going to happen if this is allowed to continue?.

I'm not sure if voting would make a difference it doesn't matter which of the main parities gets in , it's just more of the same(arrogance) , or do I have to just take it (The British mentality) because right now I've got the feeling I'm being taken for granted by the powers that be ' Mega Style' .

I had a very enjoyable squeeze this morning

[Ruffneck]

stating the obvious

[Byron]

Part of the problem is that lots of people will just pay.

Why are Motorway services so expensive? £1.89 for a blueberry muffin that you can get 4 for £1 or so in Tesco. You would think that they would go broke, but no, people pay.

I once ordered 5 cups of tea and they wanted something like £12. Appears that they insist on selling you a pot of tea that contains at least two cups. I refused to pay and walked out. There was a buger stall in the foyer selling tea at a still extortionate but nos so ridiculous price. I told him about it and that I had walked out leaving the pots on the counter. He told me that it often happens.

Lose your car keys with remote locking?

You could buy a vacuum cleaner, digital camera and maybe a cheap mobile phone for the price they might ask you. Alfa Romeo, £197!

We are ripped off and I wonder with these large outfits if the prices are set by some over paid London tosspot who genuinely thinks that £30 for breakfast is reasonable. (My son has an ex school friend who is a commodities trader at the lowest rank, yet he has £30 breakfasts every day. )

[Narvick Devil]

This is a copy of a e-mail I sent to CO-OP energy who claim to be not like the other big 6 enrgy suppliers

http://www.cooperati.../price-list.pdf

http://www.cooperativeenergy.coop/good-with-energy/our-tariff/

I'm currently with Ebico.Ltd https://www.ebico.org.uk/ ,Where there is No standing charge (or as you call it gas service charge), No varying rate( it doesn't go up or down after a certain amount of usage ) , their current tariff for electricity is 15.61 Ex.vat 16.40 Inc Vat . For gas 4.81 Ex.vat 5.06 Inc Vat.

I can never understand why in the uk the consumer should pay for the right to be supplied.If you want the customer to receive the service you supply you should incur the costs . It's as bad as paying line rental by BT and then having to pay a connection charge ,only in the Uk can companies legally mug the consumer on a vast scale and you get to do it with a smile. I will be advising all my friends and family who signed up with Ebico.Ltd to stick with them as well as those you signed up with them through political sites.

[Guest eight]

I can never understand why in the uk the consumer should pay for the right to be supplied.If you want the customer to receive the service you supply you should incur the costs . It's as bad as paying line rental by BT and then having to pay a connection charge ,only in the Uk can companies legally mug the consumer on a vast scale and you get to do it with a smile. I will be advising all my friends and family who signed up with Ebico.Ltd to stick with them as well as those you signed up with them through political sites.

Didn't see this thread first time around but I have also asked the question re: local authorities collecting payments on behalf of private water companies. Never received a satisfactory answer though.

As for the billing thing, my folks pay Virgin something like £3.50 a month to receive a paper bill. How this can be legal I have no idea. Wouldn't it be standard contract law that you would expect to be invoiced for moneys due? How else do they actually expect you to know how much to pay, and by when?

[Executive Sadman]

Hmm, effects of QE started to kick in by mid 2009, reversing a recovery in incomes since late 2008. Funny that, people get paid in pounds. Debase the pound, their purchasing power falls. Simple enough i would have thought.

But lets just blame it on the govt not 'pumping enough' money into the economy instead.

[RichB]

Argentina...

Clue in the name.

[Errol]

[Byron]

NO COMMISSION said the poster at Dover.

So, I changed my money for Euros.

And true enough, the receipt said

Commission=0

BUT

also

Fees=£3.99

British business ethics stink and it is time that they were cleaned up.

What has gone wrong with this country I don't know.

Newspaper Hacking

BBC wrong doing

Hillsborough

and I think that these are just the visible parts of a huge iceberg.

Much is really our own fault though. People consistently vote for a Labour party which is not at all working class but a toffs PPE club.

People pay ridiculous sums to 'look big'

I wanted a sandwich. I was in a Motorway Service Area. The sandwich was a simple tomato and chicken one. The man at the counter said £3.75, I said 'That's a rip off.'

He said 'I know'

So, I said 'I am not supporting a rip off' and put it back on the shelf.

BUT

They can get away with these prices because people will pay them.

[Number79]

NO COMMISSION said the poster at Dover.

So, I changed my money for Euros.

And true enough, the receipt said

Commission=0

No commission only fools the empty headed.

They may not charge an open commission but ffs look at the rate they pay

[council dweller]

stating the obvious

Well yes....but what happens next?

...those who fall into the meat grinder get minced?

...those who are a little stronger/smarter/tighter etc live a little longer?

Did I miss something?

[longtomsilver]

No commission only fools the empty headed.

They may not charge an open commission but ffs look at the rate they pay

+1 **like**

Look at the buy/sell spread as well.

[winkie]

Part of the problem is that lots of people will just pay.

Why are Motorway services so expensive? £1.89 for a blueberry muffin that you can get 4 for £1 or so in Tesco. You would think that they would go broke, but no, people pay.

I once ordered 5 cups of tea and they wanted something like £12. Appears that they insist on selling you a pot of tea that contains at least two cups. I refused to pay and walked out. There was a buger stall in the foyer selling tea at a still extortionate but nos so ridiculous price. I told him about it and that I had walked out leaving the pots on the counter. He told me that it often happens.

Lose your car keys with remote locking?

You could buy a vacuum cleaner, digital camera and maybe a cheap mobile phone for the price they might ask you. Alfa Romeo, £197!

We are ripped off and I wonder with these large outfits if the prices are set by some over paid London tosspot who genuinely thinks that £30 for breakfast is reasonable. (My son has an ex school friend who is a commodities trader at the lowest rank, yet he has £30 breakfasts every day. )

Not that far away there is an expensive boarding school .....the kids think nothing of paying a taxi fare to travel 3/4 of a mile......a distance most of us would not have a problem in walking, good exercise and scenery to boot.

[Byron]

Not that far away there is an expensive boarding school .....the kids think nothing of paying a taxi fare to travel 3/4 of a mile......a distance most of us would not have a problem in walking, good exercise and scenery to boot.

But in the UK it is probably considered best to pay, pay, pay.

[Narvick Devil]

This was posted to Disqus by Tina Stangroom I thought I would post this on this is site to enlarged your persepective on the road we are now on and a insight into the consquences that will be before us.. below her posting is my response to her .

I AM NEARLY 52 I AM ON JSA AND SO SCARED,IN APRIL OF NXT YEAR I HAVE TO PAY FOR MY ONE SPARE ROOM BECAUSE MY HOUSING BENEFIT WILL DROP SO I HAVE TO FIND THE MONEY EACH FORTNIGHT FROM MY BENEFIT,IVE BEEN TOLD I MAY ALSO HAVE TO PAY MONEY TOWARDS MY RENT.THE PRICE OF FOOD AND MY UTILITY BILLS HAVE RISEN SO MUCH,AND BECAUSE OF MY AGE AS SOON AS EMPLOYERS KNOW MY AGE THEY DO NOT WANT TO EMPLOY ME FULL TIME.THE GOVERMENT ARE MAKING MY LIFE A MISERY,BESIDES IF U MISS AN APPOINTMENT WITH THE JOBCENTRE OR YOUR ADVISOR AT THE BACK TO WORK SCHEME THEY STOP YOUR BENEFITS.THEY ARE GOING TO MAKE PEOPLE LIKE MYSELF HOMELESS AND STARVING,WHICH IS REALY SCARY.WHEN THERES NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT,AND NOT GET EMPLOYMENT.I DO NOT WANT TO BE ON BENEFITS,BUT THE GOVERMENT ARNT TRYING TO HELP OLDER PEOPLE GET BACK INTO WORK,YOU JUST GET RULES U HAVE TO STICK TO,AND BE SPOKEN DOWN TO BY YOUNGSTERS WHO THINK BECAUSE U GO TO THERE GOVERMENT JOB GROUPS AND TREATED LIKE UR NOTHING.I HAVE FIBROMIALGIA WHICH AFFECTS THE TYPE OF WORK I CAN DO,AND IM BEING FORCED TO APPLY FOR ANY UNSUITABLE JOBS JUST SO IM ANOTHER STATISTIC OUT OF THE WAY,THIS IS ALL SO VERY WRONG AND IT HAS MADE ME SO SCARED AND SAD.......

Sorry your so scarred Tina and your spot on about the cut in housing benefit, if your a single person or even if you have a family who has one too many bedrooms their will be a cut from your housing benefit of 14% for each unused bedroom per month, which you will have to make up from your Jobseekers Allowance . The thing is ! they're changing that as well ! It will be called universal benefits/credits this means your benefits will be roped into one benefit/payment which you will get paid to you once a month instead of every fortnight.

It will be paid into your bank , building society or post office account. Your not alone Tina and this may well be this governments poll tax moment ! because not only do the unemployed claim housing benefit but working people too, it's just their wages are so low that they have to claim benefits to subsidise the low wages their employer expects them to work for .

[Ascii]

it's just their wages are so low that they have to claim benefits to subsidise the low wages their employer expects them to work for .[/font]

That's wrong. Wages are adequate, outgoings are too high. The cost of property, either for domestic or commercial purposes, is too high and is pervasive. It affects the cost of everything, since every activity requires property.

[SarahBell]

That's wrong. Wages are adequate, outgoings are too high. The cost of property, either for domestic or commercial purposes, is too high and is pervasive. It affects the cost of everything, since every activity requires property.

And if every person with a spare room offered to rent it out then rents overall would surely drop?

[19 year mortgage 8itch]

Welcome to the Entitled Kingdom

[Ascii]

And if every person with a spare room offered to rent it out then rents overall would surely drop?

I'm ambivalent about the whole two room thing. On hand it's a useful and underutilised resource that could do with being back on the market, on the other hand there are some (I think) legitimate instances when it would be wrong to take the additional room away.

Many years ago my aunt was under the threat of being kicked out of the 3 bedroom she had grown up in along with my father and their parents (my grandparents at that time had shuffled off this mortal coil). She had lived there for around 50 years and she was to be shuffled off to a flat. Obviously I have a personal involvement here so it's a little difficult to be impartial, but it didn't seem right to me.

Of course there are instances where single people have been placed in larger properties than they need, mainly as a result of relatively recent changes in the way we choose to live and a lack of building/disposal of council properties.

It's difficult really, but the straightforward answer is releasing land for building.

As an aside, my aunt has been a foster carer in her retirement for about 15 years I think now (she was an old school trained nanny c1960), so the rooms have never been empty, there must have been 4 or 5 kids a year pass through, but they weren't to know that at the time.