It is like a war

Mrs_Sparkle

£27K sounds about right for the average salary but that's not a massive salary anymore- certainly not enough to pay for pension, mortgage, designer goods, expensive car etc etc.

Pobby

£27k a year maybe average but not median i would say.

Mrs_Sparkle

I don't have many friends or acquaintances who are on less than £27K (2 or 3 absolute maximum) but then I'm in London so that might be why

Pobby

Yep that would explain it.I am in the west country and that amount would be seen as a really good income.

cattie1

I earn £1000 wages a month and my OH gets £500 in benefits, we are currently renting as we can not afford a mortgage (get no housing or c/tax benefits) so we are basically chucking our money away-at least if we got a mortgage we would be paying for something that would evebtually be ours,
We got in2 debt because OH was made redundant (company going abroad cheap labour) so we borrowed to pay c/tax and benefits so that we did not get kicked out of house with 2 kids,
We then both went in2 a factory to work (through an agency) and after a few months were both finished as"there was no work" but all the polish people who offered to do 6hours overtime (on top of the 12hr shift) were kept on,me and OH probably would have offered to do overtime if we didn't have a family to look after!
1 polish lad didn't even realise he was entitled to holidays-when I informed him he could go home to see his family and get paid for his holidays he couldn't believe it! -no wonder they get all the work!

Mrs_Sparkle

Sadly here in the city we have city boys earning many multiples of that amount just in their annual bonus. That's probably what bumps up the national average so much...

Dolly_Smith

the problem is the material society - people are now seeing the likes of Jade Goody making millions from being not that famous and not that bright, so where's the incentive to work hard when all you need for fame and fortune is to act like a moron on a TV show? And everyone now believes they can do this

consumer society is all designed as a form of social control - keep them in debt and then they are all to do is pay it off. When they've started paying it off get em consuming again by offering lower deals - it's to stop people questioning those in power

UP THE WORKERS

Big_O

Gosh, maybe I'm wearing rose tinted specs as well - but in my eyes things are better now than they ever have been. (although I'm only 24 - so what do I know! ) The only debt I have (though I am looking to take on a mortgage) is my student load, which is at such a low rate of interest it's not even worth worrying about. Thansk to the current education system, I've been able to go to university and gain a degree (which would have been impossible 30 years ago with my family's background). There are jobs aplenty, even in my trade, manufacturing (although I'll admit I'm lucky in my particular employer). The world's a much safer place (despite what the media would have you believe - rather less chance of World War 3 kicking off and no Cold War). Increased global trade due to the previous means more varied and better products are more freely available than ever before, and cheaper. We are more free to travel and to live and work where we please throughout the world.The internet means quicker and better dissemination of information, meaning better informed choices for all of us consumers. I'm a member of a trade union, but have no wish to go back to the days of Red Robbo. We're still protected, but Thatcher made sure that the company didn't shut down every time someone changed the choice of teabags.

Basically, I look at my parents' lifestyles when they were the age I am now (in the early 70s), and am thankful I live today. I look back at my gradparents' lives when they were my age (the 40s) and good, God, I'm glad I didn't have to live then...

Pooky

The average wage may well be £27k but that still means that it takes a duel income to be able to purchase a house, depending on area. House prices in this part of Kent are silly. I bought a house with my Ex 7 years ago for £39k, a 3 bed terrace, granted it needed doing up and I spent around £24k doing so - it was sold during the divorce and costs were just about met - the same houses are now on the market - still need doing up - for around £170k, I don't see that wages have increased in line with these house price rises, there will have to come a time in the very near future when it all comes crashing down. I've friends who are putting money into Buy To Let property as it's a "sure thing" - how can it be when the country as a whole can't cope with the debt it's got.

I'm just glad that I won't be the one in negative equity.

Kevicho

Big_O wrote:

The world's a much safer place (despite what the media would have you believe - rather less chance of World War 3 kicking off and no Cold War).

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/09/n_korea_nuke_test/

The players may change but the game is still being played