Comments by "TJ Marx" (@tjmarx) on "'The poor are getting poorer': How cost of living is impacting those at the bottom" video.

2:39 "All I know is that the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class are getting poorer too" Yes, that's how inflation works. Your currency devalues rapidly so your money is worth less. Drop the sanctions on Russia and normalised relations, cost of living will be back inside manageable levels within the standard 3 week supply cycle. Quit complaining and start acting. Protest the sanctions which only hurt ourselves, or if you support those sanctions then this hardship is what you're signing up for and you can only accept that. 1:09 "I'm 65, I've worked all my life and we can't afford £20 for a pair of shoes" This guys problem has nothing to do with inflation or the cost of living crisis. It isn't a problem with society as he falsely claims. That's a problem with his own personal life choices. He's 65 and has "worked all his life" so let's say at minimum 45 years. 45 years of work going right back to 1977 across numerous bipartisan governments and he's managed not a penny of savings. That's the hens coming home to roost for the financially reckless. And then in such a dire financial situation, he decides to father a child at a time where he should be a grandfather.
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@davidstrelec2000 Oh that old chestnut. "The government will take care of me, so I won't take any fiscal responsibility for myself". You see where that poor thinking leads. Your fiscal outlook is solely your responsibility, pensions are nice additional income but you need to understand they're volatile. They also don't kick in until after you retire, so they're worthless while you're working, which the gentleman clearly is as that was the basis for his interview.
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@theoddone887 I don't know where to start with your comment which seems more interested in putting tickets on yourself than dispersing any insight. Money sitting in a bank doing nothing does lose value at the rate of inflation, but the balance doesn't reduce. A £1 of savings is still a £1. Perhaps more importantly money invested responsibly earns. Let's put this into perspective, this bloke was 30 in 1987 when the average house in London was ~£55K and he was 40 in 1997 when the average house in London was ~£106K. Let's split the difference and say he purchased a house late for that era in his mid 30s, so he's paying ~£90K for a home. That's not an expensive house, not even in it's time. If for some reason you can't afford to save, you're living beyond your means. It's your responsibility to solve that by reducing expenses and increasing income. We know based on the interview though he works a union trades job and thus have an approximation of his income based on pay scales. We know he wasn't on a low income, we know he made a reasonable amount that would allow someone to save. There is no need to be exceptional to save. There is no need to be exceptional to invest. There is no need to be exceptional to have an emergency fund, to have a retirement fund and to have an investment fund. He has none of those, and he has them as a direct result of being reckless with his finances. Then he made the horrendous decision at what, 55, to have a child. At 55 and knowing he had no money saved and an uncertain financial future. He knew where pensions were a decade ago, they were just a much not livable then and in decline because of the aging population. Decided to have a kid with all of those expenses anyway. That's his poor life choices.
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