Was it the "Nice Decade"?

PasturesNew

I hate wine.
Always have.
It all tastes the piggin' same.
Cheese & Wine Party?

I'd rather have a bag of chips and a can of Pepsi Max.

jamescredmond

if you're going to drink with me in jersey, you'd better get ready for lots of real ale.

can of pepsi indeed......

I'll tell you now: you won't be drinking that over dinner.

fc123

jamescredmond wrote: »

I don't view myself as 'middle class' (nobody has ever given me the precise definition of 'middle class') but I'm def. middle aged.

I'm a manual worker, employed in the same industry for nearly 30 yrs.

my income is above the nat. average. so is my disposable income.

all of which makes me ripe for the nu-lab. picking.

unlike others, I don't have a prob. with tax levels, but I do take issue with how the money's being wasted. (see my other posts).

and to think I supported lab. for 20yrs.........

pass the wine bottle.

I started out as Middle Class, then lived the life of Lower Middle Class.....and I am now Hard Working and feeling poor Class.....but I think I may still be seen as Middle Class.
Time to up the wine intake, mix it with some hard spirits, up the smoking, sink under the pressure of the Credit Crunch and I could end up Under Class.

morg_monster

fc123 wrote: »

I started out as Middle Class, then lived the life of Lower Middle Class.....and I am now Hard Working and feeling poor Class.....but I think I may still be seen as Middle Class.
Time to up the wine intake, mix it with some hard spirits, up the smoking, sink under the pressure of the Credit Crunch and I could end up Under Class.

Or just under the table...

Phirefly

PasturesNew wrote: »

scout round and sniff out the chances/opportunities...

how about this?

Oliveru

thriftybabe wrote: »

My OH and i thought it was great. He worked in Construction and was in work constantly.

Yes we can see your OH worked in the gravy-train construction business which was only doing so well because of the boom in the first place. Most sectors didn't get such big benefits. This post was about how the decade was for most people.

Perhaps some central london bankers would like to exclaim how great it is that they got huge bonuses on the back of the corrupt credit boom.

These days everyone is wrapped in their own reality bubble and they assume things are as nice for others as they are for them or at least attempt to convince themselves of this :rolleyes:

Oliveru

harryhound wrote: »

Yes it has been a good 10 years.

I'm mortgage free and driving a better car.
We have money in the bank.
The children are both independent, qualified and have built up good equity in their own homes; the clever one has managed to sell to rent.
Lost a few quid in the dotcom crash and the present credit crunch but by and large we are still more affluent than ever before.

No it's been a good 10 years for you, what about all the people that didn't get any benefit from the boom (due to age or other factors) yet will suffer even more than the ones who did well for themselves in the bust. I'm barely half way down page one and I already feel sick, where is the compassion for others do people not realise that many others will be losers just because you were a winner?

All the "good times juice" has been squeezed into one decade leaving the older generation to benefit most whilst my generation just out of education has to bare the worst times for the best part of our lives in a long drawn out recession which could last well over a decade and I doubt it will be followed by a boom anywhere near the size of this one.

I think the problem is people just DON'T GET IT, they think oh what is he moaning about it's only going to be a recession! But it's going to be such a big dent to quality of life for almost everyone- there are so many bad things happening at once in the world right now and each one by itself is a bombshell, together the destruction is unthinkable.

I know you will say it's not your fault and I don't begrudge you for doing as well as you could for yourself in the every man for himself world we live in today. But you could at least acknowledge the sacrifices of future generations for your good times, i'm not picking on you as with this post I'm referring to all people that have done well out of this boom.

I strongly believe posh spice made this thread to highlight how the majority of people did not receive the benefits of the boom that were awarded to those in the right position- which can be affected my career, age and other factors.

But people shouldn't be angry because some of us mortals made some money, they should be angry because the super rich tripled their wealth over the same decade which just prooves who this boom helped most. The central banks also stand to gain a lot from it.

PasturesNew

jamescredmond wrote: »

hmm. seems like you're not the 'catch' I was hoping you'd be.

ah, well. it looks like I'll be buying at the portelet inn........

No.
Yes.

jamescredmond wrote: »

I've been in the same pension scheme for years. 'highly recommended', I was assured.

due to some astute investment decisions back in the 80's, the fund built up a healthy surplus.

then the trouble started.

the argument centred on surplus ownership. the TU's case was simple: both co. and employee contributed for the benefit of the pension membership. it was never envisaged that the fund could be used as a slush for the co.

eventually, a compromise was reached. the co. would take a payment holiday, while the m/ship would make reduced payments.

so everything was cushty.

but the co. was so pleased with its windfall it decided to extend the hol. for another year without informing staff.

it took a court action before the co. caved in and paid.

FF to 2000 and the surplus had long disappeared.

by now the co. had started to view the fund as an onerous burden and decided to cease £ for £ contributions. again, it didn't tell staff.

it wasn't until 2006 that this fact came to light, and it took the blunt instrument of strike action before it was persuaded to put the money in.

it left many wondering if a pension scheme was worth having if the co.'s accountants viewed it as a handy cash cow, to be raided whenever the co. felt it needed a cash boost.

never mind, I've still got enough to buy a round in portelet.

People these days don't know just how sporadic/rough pension schemes have been for the little guy over the years (yes, those little guy rumours keep following you about)

PasturesNew

JanCee wrote: »

Don't worry, if the debts don't get us then the wine drinking will! It seems that the middle aged middle classes are the new threat to society(According to Nu Labour anyway).

I've always wondered where this whole wine drinking culture came from.
The Great British public never used to knock back bottles ... and over the last 10+ years it seems nearly everybody's buying wine with their weekly shopping and knocking it back like it's Vimto.

I don't buy alcohol to consume at home. It never occurs to me. Having a drink is what you do when you go out, for a reason.

PasturesNew

jamescredmond wrote: »

a crisp rose. grenache. and served chilled.

oh no! I've come over all middle-class!!

I don't even know what that means.
Wine is in 3 colours. Red, White, Rose.
It all tastes the same. Horrid.