local government pay freeze

[torledo]

So no increase of living payment this year, yet our local council are putting up council tax!

 

are you seeing any cost of living reductions elsewhere ie gas bills ?

[torledo]

Has anyone else noticed that loads of apparently 'wealthy' countries are in 'debt'? Seems a bit of a coincidence.

 

it's no coincidence, the big countries are running deficits to support their economies, whereas if a country that doesn't sit at the top table needs to do the same, it sends the markets into a tizzy....

 

take a look over at greece.

 

BBC News - Greece hit by nationwide strike over austerity measures

 

The move comes on top of other planned austerity measures, including a public sector salary freeze and a hike in petrol prices announced last week

 

That sounds familiar.

[sippo]

are you seeing any cost of living reductions elsewhere ie gas bills ?

 

Not £500 worth no.

[somabc]

The BBC have a work out your personal inflation rate based the goods / services you actually buy and mine has been running at 10% for about a year

[laserblazer]

BBC News - Personal inflation calculator

 

For some reason, mine comes back as 0%. I know that isn't true!

[LeMarchand]

BBC News - Personal inflation calculator

 

For some reason, mine comes back as 0%. I know that isn't true!

 

I guesstimated a bit, but mine is in minus figures, so I'm thinking it's broken!

[srochford]

If you've got a mortgage then it's likely your personal inflation will be negative, similarly if you spend a lot of money on gas/electricity (which have dropped in price)

[torledo]

If you've got a mortgage then it's likely your personal inflation will be negative, similarly if you spend a lot of money on gas/electricity (which have dropped in price)

 

whereas if you rent and pay council tax, i don't think a drop in gas/electric is going to reduce their personal inflation overall by very much.

 

i don't think low IR's have been very fair in that respect.

[sippo]

Or if you were on a fixed mortgage agreeement...

[somabc]

Inflation now at 3.5%

 

Bank of England Letter

Chancellors Response

 

Does anyone else think the Chancellors letter reads like "I know inflation is way above target and rising quickly but there is an election coming up in a few months therefore keep interest rates low and keep spending money".

Edited February 16, 2010 by somabc

[torledo]

Inflation now at 3.5%

 

Bank of England Letter

Chancellors Response

 

Does anyone else think the Chancellors letter reads like "I know inflation is way above target and rising quickly but there is an election coming up in a few months therefore keep interest rates low and keep spending money".

 

i think if you want to read something amusing take a look at the BoE's fan charts for their inflation predictions.

 

even if inflation was at 5% they wouldn't raise interest rates imo. they are sticking to the story that it will drop down to where their target is. IF it doesn't who cares anyway, the target is arbitrary, the focus is on low IR's and economic 'recovery' and old Danny Blanchflower [former mpc member] reckons we need a good dose of 4%+ inflation to inflate our debts away.

 

crazy.

[somabc]

even if inflation was at 5% they wouldn't raise interest rates imo.

 

We'll see next month won't we!

[spc-rocket]

We'll see next month won't we!

 

I agree with torledo, i would not see the interest rate rise until at the very least Nov this year and then it may be only to 1%. Personally i don't see the interest above 1.5% for the next two years at the very least. The country is in over £800bn in debt and so should have some cuts as the situation just gets worse if nothing is being done about it i.e. like labour is doing at the moment - nothing!.

[Jobos]

Nice to see some council employees are getting a pay rise Council chiefs get big pay rises despite recession - Telegraph

[laserblazer]

Nice to see some council employees are getting a pay rise Council chiefs get big pay rises despite recession - Telegraph

 

It's a really tough job deciding how many people you are going to sack, so the pay has to be good to compensate!

[Jobos]

Never mind 15% I would be happy with just 3%

[localzuk]

Ridiculous isn't it really? The comments about 'cannon fodder' and 'pen pushers' really annoy me, as it implies that all of us whose pay is being frozen are unimportant and 'fodder'...

[PiqueABoo]

as it implies that all of us whose pay is being frozen are unimportant

 

And it seriously undermines the motivation to do much to save any of that public money yourself.. I mean why bother if arguably it's only going to subsidise the increases for a bunch of overpaid obnoxiously self-important [expletives] none of whom are so uniquely brilliant that they couldn't be replaced at a drop of hat?

 

Whatever happened to basic ethics/morality in public service (any kind) and people at the top of the s... heap leading by example? Did it ever exist?

[torledo]

And it seriously undermines the motivation to do much to save any of that public money yourself.. I mean why bother if arguably it's only going to subsidise the increases for a bunch of overpaid obnoxiously self-important [expletives] none of whom are so uniquely brilliant that they couldn't be replaced at a drop of hat?

 

Whatever happened to basic ethics/morality in public service (any kind) and people at the top of the s... heap leading by example? Did it ever exist?

 

well, doing your bit to save that public money, won't necessarily [in reality, probably won't] lead to you getting a substantial increase in your own renumeration package from a grateful employer - that's if your work is even noticed higher up, and that matters more so now that we're going down the route of performance related pay schemes, which only ensure you get your 1% pay increase next year. SO not really rewarding performance, just more hoop jumping.

 

How's that for motivation.....

 

What you have to look at now with councils and other public bodies, is how much they outsource, and how much like private sector orgs they wish to be run.....the heads of LA's are after all referred to as Chief Executives. I suppose the difference is that a public body may have a much harder job of getting rid of people than a private company....

 

the chief execs are an easy target because of the pay and because they are in the public eye, but i certainly don't envy the job.......the reality is the beancounters must have lost count of the number of people on 50k+ a year in the public sector, nor have enough of an idea of whether they need so many in that pay bracket or what contribution they're making. I don't think many people really cared when the chancellor was promising more money for this and more money for that. And the banks were lending cheap money to fund big ideas and projects. But now some sort of scaling back has to happen...

 

All they can do now that money is tight possibly is ask these people to retire early. Then ofcourse they are hired back the next week for whatever reason.

 

Whereever you look there seems to be a gravy train someone has gotten themselves onto, some with more gravy than others.....ever get the feeling your being left behind ?

[somabc]

Whatever happened to basic ethics/morality in public service (any kind) and people at the top of the s... heap leading by example? Did it ever exist?

 

It did exist in the past for example Victorian / Edwardian times although I have to say that in those times it was less important that you earned magnitudes more than everybody else and many people who did dedicate themselves to public service were already independently wealthy.

 

Given how the last few generations were brought up to believe in individual choice, money as a measurement of success and that whatever you can do to get ahead you must do then there is zero chance of anyone ever running a large public body without a guaranteed six figure salary, massive pension, and all the expenses they can take regardless of the bodies performance while they are in charge.