Where do you think we will be in 12 months

amcluesent

Favourite words for Dec 2009?

Bleak, grim, anger, unrest, poverty, recriminations, division, depression, crime, scrap-heap, demolished, gone bust, dole queue, cheats, cash-in-hand, make-do, mean-spirited, hopeless, bedsit, repo, charity, threadbare, despair, wasted lives.

Oh wait, it's like that now!

#Things can only get better...#

overlander

bo_drinker wrote: »

NAH weak players relying on credit. You know the saying Credit where credits due. Not there obviously.

So that will be 90% of uk adults and our world saving prime minister, they all depend on credit.

carolan78

ess0two wrote: »

You've lost me slightly is that good or bad? for up north.Just my mate was grumbling if he did'nt pay it the guy would go elsewhere.

He was getting ripped off, in 2007 hubby worked in London then we came back up North. London rates were £175ish a day and Northern rates were £145 a day. 20% is taken off automatically for tax under the CIS scheme and stamp is paid direct by direct debit or quarterly bill.

It might sound a lot on paper but the £175 a day down in London is nothing really, by the time our rent and council tax was paid we had very little left and just survived. Same in Leeds really rent is a little less but the drop in rates just about covers that.

Rates in Leeds have now plummeted, HUbby is no longer in the trade thankfully but mates who were on his last site with him have either been laid off or had to take a paycut from roughly £14 an hour to £12 an hour. Last time we spoke to one of them he said the polish are willing to work for £9 so they are really struggling to compete in this economic climate plus contracts that were due to start have all been put on hold so the future looks very bleak!

neverdespairgirl

carolan78 wrote: »

It might sound a lot on paper but the £175 a day down in London is nothing really, by the time our rent and council tax was paid we had very little left and just survived.

£175 a day x 5 days x 47 weeks (5 weeks off a year) is £41,125. I know that's before expenses, but it's not exactly on the breadline. Even a 5 day week x 40 weeks is £35k.

fc123

wymondham wrote: »

I did'nt until the likes of Woolworths, MFI etc going under - companies that have been around for decades (almost centuries!) now going to the wall - this does look different this time...

......but a lot of this change was going to happen anyway...the whole development of online shopping has been gathering pace for a decade now.

It is evolving (as new ways of trading do over time) and is now firmly established as a parallel shopping street STS.
Broadband as now standard in many homes...only 4 years back, the majority were still on dial up.......loading up pics to shop online was painfully slow.

The downturn is just accelerating the change so some see it as the obvious reason for the changes going on but it's a combination of reasons.

The higher margins from cheap imports pushed up rents, but those stores also needed the boom volumes to continue to be profitable.


Of course, the 'Too Much Stuff' syndrome still has to play out but, clone town shopping is also a trend that is becoming very, very ''uncool''.


Tesco's sales have dropped a tiny bit......not enough for my liking as they are the devil incarnate........in terms of how they treat suppliers, farmers etc plus they think their customers are thick....with all those phoney ''special'' offers

Mr_Falling_Star

bo_drinker wrote: »

NAH weak players relying on credit. You know the saying Credit where credits due. Not there obviously.

I agree, Woolies is a sad loss but most of the damage had been done well before the credit crunch apparently. I don't know much about MFI so I cannot comment.

I know the loss of all those Woolworths Jobs is no laughing matter but nor was the closure of the British Coal Industry. I now live in a pit village and I cannot comprehend the stress that the closure of the pit caused in 1992. But times got better then and they will again

carolan78

greenwheels007 wrote: »

The construction industry not having a hand out....what a joke!

I would call a 1 year college course followed by spending the next decade on £350 a day (plus cash in hand jobs at the weekend) the biggest hand out since !!!!!! Turpin!

I would just love a bunch of builders to actually try and put a rational case forward to the government for a bail out, that would be hilarious...:rotfl:

Take off your blinkers and the days of £350 a day went about 3 years ago when the Eastern Eurpoeans started coming over! Decent hardworking builders are struggling and getting shafted left right and center I am just greatful hubby has left the trade before the s**t hit the fan for them. My cousin did not and now he turns up to work each day not knowing if it'll be the last. Not even his boss knows how much longer they will all be in work.

As someone else said we need housing and shelter we do not need cars so bailing out car manufactorers instead of helping developers finish off estates (even if the bail out is a low intrest or intrest free loan) is madness. A Bail out might not even be needed if the government just paid developers to build more social housing now that in my view would be money well spent.

carolan78

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

£175 a day x 5 days x 47 weeks (5 weeks off a year) is £41,125. I know that's before expenses, but it's not exactly on the breadline. Even a 5 day week x 40 weeks is £35k.

Hubby came out with £700ish a week our rent for a 2 bed flea pit was £250 then council tax, his travelling to work was £40 then his saftey boots ect (which he went through like nobodies business because his feet are so big we could only find one make and they were rubbishly made). On a weekly basis his tools would be stolen, site had no lockable lockers this used to cost us anywhere between £10 and £100 a week depending on what had gone missing.

The list is endless and yes some of it you can claim back at the end of the year but what use is that when you still have to live for 12 months? It was his first year self employed (he had been in the airforce prior to going into the building trade) so we didn't have the expenses from a previous year to help us through it.

So although it does sound like a lot...we were actually on the breadline. We have no debts to pay out but by the time we paid for gas electric ect (we didn't even have the internet) rent council tax I was lucky to be left with £60 for food and nappies most weeks.

Our only luxery (spelling sorry) during that period was a trip back to Leeds once every few months.

geoffky

Mr_Falling_Star wrote: »

I agree, Woolies is a sad loss but most of the damage had been done well before the credit crunch apparently. I don't know much about MFI so I cannot comment.

I know the loss of all those Woolworths Jobs is no laughing matter but nor was the closure of the British Coal Industry. I now live in a pit village and I cannot comprehend the stress that the closure of the pit caused in 1992. But times got better then and they will again

can i ask did the heroin trade suddenly turn up on your village doorstep?

mr.broderick

geoffky wrote: »

can i ask did the heroin trade suddenly turn up on your village doorstep?

Geoff how are the canaries?:rolleyes: