Indeed, the US isn't going to come out of this one unscathed either.

I believe most people understand their own personal debt.

I believe far fewer people understand national debt.

Most worrying of all is I believe only a tiny minority understand how other peoples' debt, national debt and other countries national debt can have a devastating impact on their lives even if they are debt free.

Enough already.

There is a fine line between disagreeing with and discussing a point of view, and starting to make personal judgements about the poster making it.
Dunoving has always been very fair and non-judgemental when posting opinions. The same cannot often be said of you.

Try winding in your diatribes a little, and realising that people are just haing a discussion, not attempting to solve all the ills of the world. You might find tht most of us are actually human, friendly and accepting of the different views of our fellow man.

(and don't bother with the "oh look the mods are picking on me" line, 99% of posters round here are far too enlightened to believe the mods can be bothered to play tht kind of game. )

I would not dream of it Pollyana. It speaks for itself.

Edited to add a wink..

63 pages later, loads of links, statistics, opinions, a few personal vendettas but through all of that hand on heart the answer to the original question 63 pages ago is a definitite NO.

Not wishing to divert the topic to the situation in the US, but here's a real time example of how quickly governments can, at the stroke of a pen, confiscate wealth.

During the recession, the Florida government borrowed $'x' from the Federal government to pay for the rising unemployment bill. To help pay this money back, the Florida government increased the tax they charge companies to pay for unemployment compensation quite dramatically. Regardless of the merits of the decision, it took away thousands of dollars from companies overnight, many of them small companies who could ill afford to pay this increase. The result of course is that many of these small companies could ill afford to give pay rises to individuals, increase investment and in the worse cases ceased trading, which off course then increased unemployment levels thus perpetuating the cycle.

As I said, regardless of the merits of the decision, it is a prime example of how quickly circumstances can change on the whim of the legislators. Not as severe as what was attempted in Cyprus, but a good, albeit small, example.

The Red Cross are getting involved in encouraging people to donate food for people who are struggling.

"Struggling families and individuals across the UK will benefit from a partnership between the British Red Cross and food charity FareShare next month."

"The charity estimates 5.8 million people in Britain are struggling to afford everyday essentials like food."

We're lucky over here in Australia, this does not occur during the warmer months. Come the Winter, the call goes out for blankets and food. The pressure on charities globally is increasing.

Yes it is definitely a global issue, I remember in Brisbane there was a charity called something like the League of Judiah or something like that putting out appeals for donations of food because times were getting hard for so many. I still think a lot of it is down to bad management as in both countries there is a very good safety net available. Poverty really is relative. Apparently in Australia 12.5% of the population live below the most austere poverty line widely used in international research. That figure is way too high for what iscconsidered a rich country and of course the same can be said about this country and many others.
Overall of course the answer for the vast majority is still very much NO, the situation is not that bad.

That's 10% of the UK population ... and food is not that expensive these days. I wonder how they calculate these statistics?

I wonder how many of those 5.8 million people have cellphones.

I regularly see people turn up at a local church food bank in cars that genuine poor people could never afford.

The poverty of need and the poverty of want are two different things.

Having said that it's sad to see such as rise in food banks, pay day loan companies, charity shops, pawn brokers in a country such as the UK.

It's not only food, that's just part of it. The phrase used in that article was "the charity estimates 5.8 million people in Britain are struggling to afford everyday essentials like food". Of course, when a person has to decide if they will turn on a heater or buy a can of baked beans to eat, which way would they go? And if they go for heat on the first day, what would they choose on subsequent days. Perhaps these people you see have been made redundant, unable to find work subsequently to that, and the car you see is the only thing they own that can accommodate them (e.g. they rent, or have been unable to pay the mortgage). Just because someone has something from a former wealthier time, does not mean that they're not in desperate need now.

Fair point. However, in the example I gave, I can guarantee, through experience, that the purchase of material goods such as designer haircuts, designer clothes, nail polish art and cars comes before 'buying' food to feed the family for the majority of those using the charity.

I've no doubt this is repeated in other food banks.

Completely agree with this.

Food and the CoL in general is far cheaper in the UK. I suspect a lot of these people regularly buy new clothes (even if they're cheapie), probably have Sky TV, probably drink a lot. Its all about priorities and decisions. I bet most of them have a car that's less than 10 years old as well.

Still - we live in a fairly tough world now when it comes to the affordability of things. My younger sister - 21, works split-shifts, 5-6 days a week and is on minimum wage. (She works in catering at a hotel). She loves her job despite that.

How she will ever be able to afford her own place is beyond me.

Perhaps it's to be expected because it's the UK n'est pas? It is surely less acceptable when it occurs in a 'wealthy' country like the US/Canada/Australia?

Amen.

'the majority'? Absolute rubbish! What a slap in the face for those who struggle to survive-in ANY country.
'through experience'? I worked as a volunteer at a food bank here with someone who had worked there vastly longer than I did. She never saw anyone rock up with designer this or that!

Interesting isn't it?

On the one hand the UK is full of the 'starving poor'. On the other hand, they are turning up in new cars with designer haircuts, and nail polish art!
So? poverty in the UK is a myth? Just a cover for those who don't have their priorities right to fleece the system?

The buggers.

Once again. The poverty of need and the poverty of want are two different things.