how are Brits so poor yet the country is damn expensive?

[Anonymous]

Also don’t forget their tax rate is over 50%.

[Anonymous]

I was in London last year and shocked at places like Harrod's which used to be nice, but "normal" nice. Now it has a billionaire vibe and is so unpleasant. Our taxi driver was ranting about all the foreign millionaires and how people can't avoid to live in London anymore. Meanwhile my friend in northern England is struggling just to live with a normal job, just recently was able to purchase a car. Inequalities seem more pronounced than in the US even, perhaps because there isn't as much opportunity to live in credit and acquire things.

[Anonymous]

One issue is that the UK has adjustable-rate mortgages. The recent rapid increase in interest rates has caused home owners' and landlords' budgets to tighten considerably. Delinquency rates are much higher in the UK than in the US because of our awesome 30Y fixed rate mortgage which locks in your housing cost.

Meanwhile, sticky prices are slow to adjust to the new rate environment.

https://www.ft.com/content/cb058251-e021-4b4b-a7a5-cb8ac3566e78

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One issue is that the UK has adjustable-rate mortgages. The recent rapid increase in interest rates has caused home owners' and landlords' budgets to tighten considerably. Delinquency rates are much higher in the UK than in the US because of our awesome 30Y fixed rate mortgage which locks in your housing cost.

Meanwhile, sticky prices are slow to adjust to the new rate environment.

https://www.ft.com/content/cb058251-e021-4b4b-a7a5-cb8ac3566e78

History and culture matters! In so-called free market US, we have huge government intervention in the housing market through FHA and the agencies, and the interest rate deduction (which now only really helps the top 2-15%). We wouldn't have 30 year mortgages without the government guarantees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in London last year and shocked at places like Harrod's which used to be nice, but "normal" nice. Now it has a billionaire vibe and is so unpleasant. Our taxi driver was ranting about all the foreign millionaires and how people can't avoid to live in London anymore. Meanwhile my friend in northern England is struggling just to live with a normal job, just recently was able to purchase a car. Inequalities seem more pronounced than in the US even, perhaps because there isn't as much opportunity to live in credit and acquire things.

Did you ask your taxi driver whether he voted for Brexit? My money is that he probably did and may be getting what he asked for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in London last year and shocked at places like Harrod's which used to be nice, but "normal" nice. Now it has a billionaire vibe and is so unpleasant. Our taxi driver was ranting about all the foreign millionaires and how people can't avoid to live in London anymore. Meanwhile my friend in northern England is struggling just to live with a normal job, just recently was able to purchase a car. Inequalities seem more pronounced than in the US even, perhaps because there isn't as much opportunity to live in credit and acquire things.

Did you ask your taxi driver whether he voted for Brexit? My money is that he probably did and may be getting what he asked for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in London last year and shocked at places like Harrod's which used to be nice, but "normal" nice. Now it has a billionaire vibe and is so unpleasant. Our taxi driver was ranting about all the foreign millionaires and how people can't avoid to live in London anymore. Meanwhile my friend in northern England is struggling just to live with a normal job, just recently was able to purchase a car. Inequalities seem more pronounced than in the US even, perhaps because there isn't as much opportunity to live in credit and acquire things.

Did you ask your taxi driver whether he voted for Brexit? My money is that he probably did and is getting what he asked for.

[Anonymous]

https://www.ft.com/content/ef265420-45e8-497b-b308-c951baa68945

“On this basis, it follows that one good way to evaluate which countries are better places to live than others is to ask: is life good for everyone there, or is it only good for rich people?

To find the answer, we can look at how people at different points on the income distribution compare to their peers elsewhere. If you’re a proud Brit or American, you may want to look away now.

Starting at the top of the ladder, Britons enjoy very high living standards by virtually any benchmark. Last year the top-earning 3 per cent of UK households each took home about £84,000 after tax, equivalent to $125,000 after adjusting for price differences between countries. This puts Britain’s highest earners narrowly behind the wealthiest Germans and Norwegians and comfortably among the global elite.

So what happens when we move down the rungs? For Norway, it’s a consistently rosy picture. The top 10 per cent rank second for living standards among the top deciles in all countries; the median Norwegian household ranks second among all national averages, and all the way down at the other end, Norway’s poorest 5 per cent are the most prosperous bottom 5 per cent in the world. Norway is a good place to live, whether you are rich or poor.

Britain is a different story. While the top earners rank fifth, the average household ranks 12th and the poorest 5 per cent rank 15th. Far from simply losing touch with their western European peers, last year the lowest-earning bracket of British households had a standard of living that was 20 per cent weaker than their counterparts in Slovenia.

It’s a similar story in the middle. In 2007, the average UK household was 8 per cent worse off than its peers in north-western Europe, but the deficit has since ballooned to a record 20 per cent. On present trends, the average Slovenian household will be better off than its British counterpart by 2024, and the average Polish family will move ahead before the end of the decade. A country in desperate need of migrant labour may soon have to ask new arrivals to take a pay cut.

Across the Atlantic it’s the same story, only more so. The rich in the US are exceptionally rich — the top 10 per cent have the highest top-decile disposable incomes in the world, 50 per cent above their British counterparts. But the bottom decile struggle by with a standard of living that is worse than the poorest in 14 European countries including Slovenia.

To be clear, the US data show that both broad-based growth and the equal distribution of its proceeds matter for wellbeing. Five years of healthy pre-pandemic growth in US living standards across the distribution lifted all boats, a trend that was conspicuously absent in the UK.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in London last year and shocked at places like Harrod's which used to be nice, but "normal" nice. Now it has a billionaire vibe and is so unpleasant. Our taxi driver was ranting about all the foreign millionaires and how people can't avoid to live in London anymore. Meanwhile my friend in northern England is struggling just to live with a normal job, just recently was able to purchase a car. Inequalities seem more pronounced than in the US even, perhaps because there isn't as much opportunity to live in credit and acquire things.

Did you ask your taxi driver whether he voted for Brexit? My money is that he probably did and is getting what he asked for.

No, I didn't ask him anything! He volunteered everything he said. I don't tend to try and get into political conversations with strangers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in London last year and shocked at places like Harrod's which used to be nice, but "normal" nice. Now it has a billionaire vibe and is so unpleasant. Our taxi driver was ranting about all the foreign millionaires and how people can't avoid to live in London anymore. Meanwhile my friend in northern England is struggling just to live with a normal job, just recently was able to purchase a car. Inequalities seem more pronounced than in the US even, perhaps because there isn't as much opportunity to live in credit and acquire things.

Did you ask your taxi driver whether he voted for Brexit? My money is that he probably did and is getting what he asked for.

No, I didn't ask him anything! He volunteered everything he said. I don't tend to try and get into political conversations with strangers.

Ooh. I rather like asking taxi drivers what they think about stuff. They are often happy to talk and it's a chance to hear some different views (even if you don't agree with them).

[Anonymous]

The triple lock guarantee for retirees means that state pensions get a cola equivalent to the highest of Average earnings, CPI, or 2.5%. The tax base cannot remotely afford this, so government has been stripped to the bones to pay for it. Lots of localities are teetering on bankruptcy and avoiding it by selling buildings and holding and cutting back services to laughable levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in London last year and shocked at places like Harrod's which used to be nice, but "normal" nice. Now it has a billionaire vibe and is so unpleasant. Our taxi driver was ranting about all the foreign millionaires and how people can't avoid to live in London anymore. Meanwhile my friend in northern England is struggling just to live with a normal job, just recently was able to purchase a car. Inequalities seem more pronounced than in the US even, perhaps because there isn't as much opportunity to live in credit and acquire things.

Did you ask your taxi driver whether he voted for Brexit? My money is that he probably did and is getting what he asked for.

Ha ha, yes. As a dual US/EU citizen, I love to remind the Brits that they can only stay in Europe 90 days at a time now. It drives them nuts!

[Anonymous]

My taxi driver also complained about the foreigners driving up prices, especially the Arabs. We saw groups of Arab women in Harrods buying like crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My taxi driver also complained about the foreigners driving up prices, especially the Arabs. We saw groups of Arab women in Harrods buying like crazy.

Never been to Tysons, or 5th Avenue, or Rodeo Drive, or the Champs-Elysee?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My taxi driver also complained about the foreigners driving up prices, especially the Arabs. We saw groups of Arab women in Harrods buying like crazy.

Wealthy Arabs have been going to Harrods for many many decades. It largely caters to wealthy foreigners and tourists. The Fayeds bought it 40 years ago and it’s now owned by the Qataris. No ordinary Brit shops there.