The Slow Death of Disposable Income...

It's that time of year when I need to renew my car insurance. The renewal quote was almost double that of last year. Now a 5 or 10 percent increase I could stomach, even 20 percent, but double? Where has that come from? 

Inflation alone can't explain it, but now it seems even the cheapest quote is over £1000 which means I'll be paying £100 a month.

That's 8% of my monthly salary just paying for car insurance. add that to the increase in energy costs, petrol, food, etc. and the lack of an increase in wages to compensate, you can see my disposable income has vanished. 

I'm now working just to pay bills. 

I have no income available after bills to pay for luxuries like a meal at a restaurant, or to buy for an upgrade of a tech item. 

Like I said last week, the tough times have now hit the middle class. 

The economy is in real trouble. If people can only afford essentials, the retail economy that successive government's have used to replace manufacturing is in serious jeopardy. The economy relies in a significant way upon people having disposable income to pay out on things like eating out or staying at hotels, or holidays.

I've already heard that the holiday market that the middle classes typically spend on, has already suffered a drop in revenue. A significant drop.

The problem is I don't think economists or the government realise how serious this issue is. Disposable income is a major factor greasing the wheels of the economy. Without that money being available, or the perception to people that they have the ability to spend that money without hard times being imminent, then there's trouble.

Perception is everything. The perception is it's not safe to spend money. There will be a serious contraction of the economy as belts are tightened. 

Because the economy is so specifically retail based, with no alternative, no diversification, then the outlook is bleak. Thanks to government short-sightedness we are in for tough times. Especially if right now the Labour party is due to take over government. They don't have the best track record when it comes to fiscal responsibility. Even mad Gordon Brown who was supposed to be fiscally prudent allowed house prices to rise massively on their watch, borrowed aplenty, sold all our gold reserves so we have no way to back up our fiat currency and left the cupboards empty when he left office. 

Buckle up!

I've already lived through the raising of the Pension age, had my pension pot taxed, had to now top up my future pension with the NEST thing and had Liz Truss destroy my pension pot. 

Now it looks like Labour will start to slim down my state pension by removing the triple lock. 

I's a wonder I'm not radicalised against government as at every turn, just as I try to make things better, they fuck things up for me. 

Poverty looms not just for me, but for the middle class as well. And they don't like poverty. I'm surprised they haven't rebelled after seeing their kids unable to get on the housing ladder due to extortionate house prices. 

I don't think it will be long before we start to see extremism in UK politics, because the moderates are not serving a major part of the public.