quote:

Commuting: 50%
Going out to socialise: 50%
Buy a house/flat: 50%

A Buttery Pastry posted:

Looking it up again, the stats appear to be all over the place, and most everyone appears to be using mean values rather than average. And being pretty careless about using the term average when they actually mean median. It's entirely possible for the median to be £40k and the average to be £60k, if you have a bunch of bankers pulling the average up with insane incomes. Like, the stats I found had a median of £33k, and an average of £63k, because the top 10% made more than twice as much as the next 10%, who themselves made 3x the median.

Doc Hawkins posted:

why are these the same number

it could be any number, but that it's the same for all three is very confusing to me

Starbucks posted:

I would also take into account a majority of the people who will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes get paid with capital gains / shares / dividends rather than through PAYE/ Income tax so the mean / median will also be skewed depending on what data is being used.

But two important things: 1. I am pretty terrible at objectively creating a data set or finding one which has the correct source of information 2. I am pretty comfortable with my current situation of not wanting to put in the effort.

I am very much in the UBI / Nationalisation of natural monopolies / Late Stage Capitalism is terrible camp so either way at a minimum people should be able to have basic needs, time for leisure, ability to have time to create or pursue something.

Private Speech posted:

I mean the UK doesn't even have food stamps, food insecurity is one of those things where the US is miles ahead.

At best you have free meals for the poorest of schoolchildren and food banks, which are funded and run on volunteer basis but despite that you still need a referral for them from social services and can use them only 3 times a month IIRC.

spacemang_spliff posted:

holy poo poo that is insane

mossyfisk posted:

Money is better than food stamps.

mossyfisk posted:

Money is better than food stamps.

Fleetwood posted:

quote:

Energy bills: Patients prescribed heating as part of health trial
22 November 2022

Doctors are prescribing heating to patients with conditions that get worse in the cold as part of a health trial.

The Warm Home Prescription pilot paid to heat the homes of 28 low-income patients to avoid the cost of hospital care if they became more ill.

Michelle Davis, who has arthritis and serious pulmonary illness, had her energy bills paid for and said the difference was "mind-blowing".The mum-of-two teenage daughters took part in trial backed by NHS Gloucestershire between December 2021 and March 2022 when she didn't pay a penny to keep her home warm and bright and charge her mobility scooter.

"When the weather turns cold, I tend to seize up," she told the BBC. "It's very painful, my joints ache and my bones are like hot pokers."

In 2020 Ms Davis spent most of the winter in bed, trying to keep warm and was admitted to hospital with pneumonia and pleurisy. But not in winter 2021.

"You're not stuck in bed, you're not going to hospital, my children were able to have a life, they were able to go out and play and get cold," she said.

She welled up as she described being able to warm her kids pyjamas on radiators and have a good Christmas. "I was able to be a Mum," she added. "And my kids could be kids, not just carers."

This first trial achieved such good results, that it's being expanded to 150 households in NHS Gloucestershire's area, plus about 1,000 in Aberdeen and Teesside.

Energy Systems Catapult is the organisation behind the pilot. With the backing of GP surgeries and a local energy charity called Severn Wye, NHS social prescribers, who visit those with long-term conditions in their homes, were able to identify people who would benefit.

Dr Matt Lipson helped design the pilot programme and feels like this preventative step is a no-brainer for the health service.

"If we buy the energy people need but can't afford, they can keep warm at home and stay out of hospital," he said. "That would target support to where it's needed, save money overall and take pressure off the health service."

The change in patients was swift: "The NHS were telling us they were seeing a benefit much more quickly than pills and potions," Dr Lipson added. "It was taking days, not weeks and months."

mossyfisk posted:

Money is better than food stamps.

Tarnop posted:

Supermarkets have doubled the price of their budget food lines in the last year or two. Inflation for the poor is somewhere between 30 and 50%

Private Speech posted:

That is debatable, combination of both would be best.

There are definitely people who make bad enough money decisions to starve themselves, but at the same time being able to have a bit of niceties/other necessities on top would be nice as well.

In an ideal world, since Britain has neither.

Biplane posted:

Money is always better.

Private Speech posted:

I disagree, and also remember reading research how the restrictions sometimes help, particularly in families where someone is struggling with addiction. It also makes it harder for the money to be exploited away by unscrupulous profiteers who would squeeze blood from the stone if there was any.

I also read research how it causes issues when money is needed for bills or whatever, plus there's the whole hot food thing. Hence why I said both are best.

Private Speech posted:

I disagree, and also remember reading research how the restrictions sometimes help, particularly in families where someone is struggling with addiction. It also makes it harder for the money to be exploited away by unscrupulous profiteers who would squeeze blood from the stone if there was any.

I also read research how it causes issues when money is needed for bills or whatever, plus there's the whole hot food thing. Hence why I said both are best.

genericnick posted:

Lol, nah. You're not going to protect people from profiteers by locking them into a special market for people no one gives a gently caress about.

quote:

Households CANNOT use SNAP benefits to buy:

Beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes, or tobacco
Vitamins, medicines, and supplements. If an item has a Supplement Facts label, it is considered a supplement and is not eligible for SNAP purchase.
Live animals (except shellfish, fish removed from water, and animals slaughtered prior to pick-up from the store).
Foods that are hot at the point of sale
Any nonfood items such as:
Pet foods
Cleaning supplies, paper products, and other household supplies.
Hygiene items, cosmetics

Private Speech posted:

I disagree, and also remember reading research how the restrictions sometimes help, particularly in families where someone is struggling with addiction. It also makes it harder for the money to be exploited away by unscrupulous profiteers who would squeeze blood from the stone if there was any.

I also read research how it causes issues when money is needed for bills or whatever, plus there's the whole hot food thing. Hence why I said both are best.

Biplane posted:

All poor people are addicts unable to control themselves in the presence of money, got it. Research!

Private Speech posted:

The point is that you need to buy food anyway, so you at least can do so and having special money for it also frees up more money for other things.

mossyfisk posted:

People with serious addiction problems just sell food stamps for below their listed value. It is worse than money in every way, like a book voucher.

Quotey posted:

check this out. the nhs is beautiful

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63707689

selections:

they credit your account, dunno if a lad comes over to put a card in or anything. also, the Rt Hon Amber Rudd is on the Warm Homes Taskforce

dunno how much it's done over the last 10 months, didnt see a more recent article and didnt search far

quote:

Academics estimate that cold homes cost NHS England £860m a year and that 10,000 people die every year due a cold home. But that research was completed before the current cost of living crisis took hold.

i am harry posted:

I liked having a snap card for my food funds it made it very easy to feed my child healthy meals and keep that separate from the rest of the bills so we always had food no matter what.

Biplane posted:

Ten thousand people, at the very least, freeze to death in their homes every year, in the UK? That's actually crazy.

Jaeluni Asjil posted:

What is a snap card?

Jaeluni Asjil posted:

What is a snap card?

Doc Hawkins posted:

supplemental nutrition assistance program, comes with a card that participating retailers will let you buy certain food items with, as opposed to physical tickets or "food stamps". also called an EBT card, and that's the sign that you can look for on a register to see if it's accepted.

it's in some ways more convenient than stamps but with stamps you would have to get change in cash, which you could save up to buy things you weren't supposed to like diapers, so thank goodness that loophole is eliminated.

e: f, snapped

Biplane posted:

Ten thousand people, at the very least, freeze to death in their homes every year, in the UK? That's actually crazy.

Biplane posted:

All poor people are addicts unable to control themselves in the presence of money, got it. Research!

Bryter posted:

You stand accused of both having a cat and pursuing a hobby while ranked Social Grade D, citizen, how do you plead?

https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1686760961657520128

Telluric Whistler posted:

The latter part is a really important bit I missed. The money on the EBT card is non-transferrable and your purchases are limited to whatever the administrators of SNAP say you can have. Basically anything hygiene related is excluded, and grocery items that were hot are also excluded - which can be a big deal if you don't have reliable cooking tools / access, and also sucks because rotisserie chickens are a very cost and calorie efficient purchase.

Bryter posted:

You stand accused of both having a cat and pursuing a hobby while ranked Social Grade D, citizen, how do you plead?

https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1686760961657520128

Jaeluni Asjil posted:

Wow so how do you pay for hygiene items or is this supposed to create "the great unwashed" sub-human "other"?