U.K. old living in poverty, suffering from price increases and inflation - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#15304649
Many elderly people in the UK are struggling to live. Inflation has cut into their savings.

2.1 million UK Pensioners are living in poverty
A third of over 60s say the cost of living crisis has impacted on their mental health

video:
Britain's Forgotten Pensioners | Dispatches | Channel 4 Documentaries
by Channel 4 Documentaries

There are some shocking things in that documentary that will really hit you emotionally.
They interview one elderly couple who cannot afford to turn the heat on and are cold in their apartment much of the time. She says she does not bake much any more because it is too expensive. The electricity price is horrendous, she says.


two other related threads:
Elderly falling into homelessness
Worrying statistics about American's retirement future
#15304732
Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men, for the nastiest of reasons, will somehow work for the benefit of us all. John Maynard Keynes.


Given that both capitalism and libertarianism are based on the premise of not giving a fuck about anyone other than oneself, how would your ideology help these and other vulnerable people?
#15304756
Cartertonian wrote:Given that both capitalism and libertarianism are based on the premise of not giving a fuck about anyone other than oneself, how would your ideology help these and other vulnerable people?


I have to say Cartertonian there are advantages to living in the tropics. For sure. I was born in the Caribbean. And there if the lights go out and you have no heat or air conditioning, especially at night? No biggie. You can always sleep it never gets very cold. The same here in this part of Mexico. But when I lived in Colorado if you got stuck in some week in February like this month? Where it hits sometimes -20 below zero Fahrenheit or -28.8889 Celsius you better have some heating system or risk your pipes bursting and you dying overnight. It happened to two people I knew in Colorado. The guy froze to death. He thought he did not need to put on the heat and save from his measly government check and he died.

The UK needs to protest hard the price hikes. They need to insist the government take money from the coffers and help families with children and old people.
#15305022
Cartertonian wrote:Given that both capitalism and libertarianism are based on the premise of not giving a fuck about anyone other than oneself, how would your ideology help these and other vulnerable people?

You are correct.
However, we can also look at how some of the policies that have been coming from the Left have contributed to the problem.

Not to sound like a broken record, but immigration policies have been responsible for pushing up the price of rent in many cities, and leading to housing shortages.
And then the "Green" environmental policies making electric power more expensive. Which includes government policies trying to prevent new buildings from being fitted to be able to use natural gas, causing more people to become reliant on electricity for their heating needs.

But also to be fair, it also sounds like some of these new apartment buildings were not the best designed when it came to heat insulation, with metal door frames, concrete floors, and a glass paneled balcony door that lets the warmth escape. Something that regulations from the Left could mitigate. (Although there is also a trade-off because that could lead to making housing even less affordable, or possibly even lead to increased fire danger)
#15305023
There is also inflation. Typically (but not always) inflation is higher under a Leftist government because they want to spend more money, and find it more convenient to get that money from printing more of it. (Well, that's true in the U.S. and Argentina at least)

Inflation tends to hurt the elderly and retired more than the rest of society because they already have all the money they earned over the course of their life in savings. And inflation eats away at savings in bank accounts.

(Inflation could almost sort of be viewed as a tax on savings)
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