Do You Feel We Are Heading For The Perfect Storm?

[Frnc]

Without giving too much away I work with people who are vulnerable, there is a massive housing crisis at the moment, supported accommodation is blocked because of the housing crisis. Councils are spending thousands on housing vulnerable people who they are owed a duty to on emergency accommodation in hotels. Food banks are in crisis and are turning into community shops because people are becoming more reliant on them long term. Food banks cannot support the amount of people who are relying on them and are needing some financial input from the people using them who are now reporting that the food which they receive is not enough to sustain them. Fuel vouchers funded by the government and distributed by councils and charities are being snapped up at such a rate and limited to a certain amount per household so that there are not enough to go around. I am receiving calls every day from people unable to afford their electricity due to rising costs and this is in summer. It is really bad out there and something has got to give. I predict a massive rise in crime and/or civil unrest very soon.

The problem is very few politicians care about the poor. This is obvious fact, not opinion. And a lot of the media actually stigmatises the poor. Consequently a large chunk of the population have that attitude, that the poor are mostly lazy people, frequently making false claims etc. Politicians pander to this base and therefore fuel it, a vicious circle. Homelessness and hunger should not exist, especially in a rich country. As a result of all this, the poor are less likely to vote, and so the politicians ignore them even more.
There may well be a rise in crime or civil unrest, and it will be answered with repressive force. There have already been laws passed which criminalise demonstrators etc. Green groups classified as 'extremist' and so on.
The UK is sleepwalking into fascism. 1984 is already here.
Ignorance is Strength
Freedom is Slavery

[Kiwififer]

Agree wholeheartedly with that.

The U.K. is also breaking apart. Politics aside, simple demographics will make it so. The thin grey line in Scotland won’t be able to hold out forever and unionists are in retreat in NI.

That in itself will cause major problems both politically, socially and if nations have collective thinking, mentally. Who knows what that will lead to.

Interesting times.

[jennyjj01]

Without giving too much away I work with people who are vulnerable, there is a massive housing crisis at the moment, supported accommodation is blocked because of the housing crisis. Councils are spending thousands on housing vulnerable people who they are owed a duty to on emergency accommodation in hotels. Food banks are in crisis and are turning into community shops because people are becoming more reliant on them long term. Food banks cannot support the amount of people who are relying on them and are needing some financial input from the people using them who are now reporting that the food which they receive is not enough to sustain them. Fuel vouchers funded by the government and distributed by councils and charities are being snapped up at such a rate and limited to a certain amount per household so that there are not enough to go around. I am receiving calls every day from people unable to afford their electricity due to rising costs and this is in summer. It is really bad out there and something has got to give. I predict a massive rise in crime and/or civil unrest very soon.

Thanks for the perspective from 'the front line'
It's always hard to judge how much pressure will build up in society before something explodes. Usually pans out as we expect, but not WHEN we expect.
It sounds like the pain has started to grow, but things have a habit of building up for longer than we expect and then exploding bigger. Until we start seeing headlines about actual deaths of the hungry, we will not see a tipping point. A cold winter and some unexpected event might clinch it.

This increase in poverty and failure of support is just a reflection of the reality that we are all scrabbling for our share of depleted resources. The poorest and weakest will inevitably get hit first, then the struggling working class, then the less struggling and so on.
Crime, unrest, strikes, political unrest, xenophobia, are all just par for the course and will be along shortly.

[Frnc]

Without giving too much away I work with people who are vulnerable, there is a massive housing crisis at the moment, supported accommodation is blocked because of the housing crisis. Councils are spending thousands on housing vulnerable people who they are owed a duty to on emergency accommodation in hotels. Food banks are in crisis and are turning into community shops because people are becoming more reliant on them long term. Food banks cannot support the amount of people who are relying on them and are needing some financial input from the people using them who are now reporting that the food which they receive is not enough to sustain them. Fuel vouchers funded by the government and distributed by councils and charities are being snapped up at such a rate and limited to a certain amount per household so that there are not enough to go around. I am receiving calls every day from people unable to afford their electricity due to rising costs and this is in summer. It is really bad out there and something has got to give. I predict a massive rise in crime and/or civil unrest very soon.

Thanks for the perspective from 'the front line'
It's always hard to judge how much pressure will build up in society before something explodes. Usually pans out as we expect, but not WHEN we expect.
It sounds like the pain has started to grow, but things have a habit of building up for longer than we expect and then exploding bigger. Until we start seeing headlines about actual deaths of the hungry, we will not see a tipping point. A cold winter and some unexpected event might clinch it.

This increase in poverty and failure of support is just a reflection of the reality that we are all scrabbling for our share of depleted resources. The poorest and weakest will inevitably get hit first, then the struggling working class, then the less struggling and so on.
Crime, unrest, strikes, political unrest, xenophobia, are all just par for the course and will be along shortly.

Yeah, immigrants will be at risk. Strikes, although inconvenient, generally strengthen the position of the working class as a whole. Personally, they work against my income, but I'm in a minority. I pray for inflation to go down so they aren't needed.

[jansman]

It’s happening. It’s like the boiling frog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog .You have Normalcy Bias, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias which makes you a boiling frog.

Or not. If you are a ‘not’ ,then you are ahead of the game.For me, the energy situation is the big one. Energy IS the economy. It’s running out.https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-wo ... es-reveal/

It’s happening.

[Frnc]

It’s happening. It’s like the boiling frog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog .You have Normalcy Bias, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias which makes you a boiling frog.

Or not. If you are a ‘not’ ,then you are ahead of the game.For me, the energy situation is the big one. Energy IS the economy. It’s running out.https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-wo ... es-reveal/

It’s happening.

Boiling Frog, Normalcy Bias are important, also cognitive dissonance and the Overton Window shift.
Regarding energy, I agree that oil and gas are in short supply, but don't forget about renewable energy, and that is becoming cheaper and more widely used. The question there is, does the world have enough resources to build all the wind turbines, batteries, solar panels etc required? How much are we wasting and how much gets recycled? I have no idea, but in a few decades we might be talking about peak lithium rather than peak oil.

[jennyjj01]

Boiling Frog, Normalcy Bias are important, also cognitive dissonance and the Overton Window shift.
. The question there is, does the world have enough resources to build all the wind turbines, batteries, solar panels etc required?

I fear not. It takes a lot of resources to create a wind or solar farm. That they cost in at all is because of the rising costs of fossil fueled energy.

https://www.erecrerealestategroup.com/h ... -farm.html

[Frnc]

Boiling Frog, Normalcy Bias are important, also cognitive dissonance and the Overton Window shift.
. The question there is, does the world have enough resources to build all the wind turbines, batteries, solar panels etc required?

I fear not. It takes a lot of resources to create a wind or solar farm. That they cost in at all is because of the rising costs of fossil fueled energy.

https://www.erecrerealestategroup.com/h ... -farm.html

Wind is a relatively cheap way to generate electricity these days though, and it's becoming cheaper. And at least they produce electricity more or less for nothing once they are up. What concerns me more is things like electric cars that only really benefit one or two people, and don't last anything like 20 years. I'm not sure how long their batteries last, but it's not very long. Is the planet's resources enough for producing billions of these things every few years? I doubt we can keep that up for long. The waste is colossal even if most gets recycled. We need to transition to primarily using pulic transport.

[jennyjj01]

Wind is a relatively cheap way to generate electricity these days though, and it's becoming cheaper. And at least they produce electricity more or less for nothing once they are up. What concerns me more is things like electric cars that only really benefit one or two people, and don't last anything like 20 years. I'm not sure how long their batteries last, but it's not very long. Is the planet's resources enough for producing billions of these things every few years? I doubt we can keep that up for long. The waste is colossal even if most gets recycled. We need to transition to primarily using pulic transport.

Ah. Quite so. The price of the batteries is most of the cost of the car. And short life. Not easily recycled

[WomanOfTheWoods]

Boiling Frog, Normalcy Bias are important, also cognitive dissonance and the Overton Window shift.
. The question there is, does the world have enough resources to build all the wind turbines, batteries, solar panels etc required?

I fear not. It takes a lot of resources to create a wind or solar farm. That they cost in at all is because of the rising costs of fossil fueled energy.

https://www.erecrerealestategroup.com/h ... -farm.html

Wind is a relatively cheap way to generate electricity these days though, and it's becoming cheaper. And at least they produce electricity more or less for nothing once they are up. What concerns me more is things like electric cars that only really benefit one or two people, and don't last anything like 20 years. I'm not sure how long their batteries last, but it's not very long. Is the planet's resources enough for producing billions of these things every few years? I doubt we can keep that up for long. The waste is colossal even if most gets recycled. We need to transition to primarily using pulic transport.

Public transport is a Great Idea,,,, but very often it just isn't practical and lots of people don't want to use it.
Many of those who advocate public transport live in areas already very well served.
It would be impossible to service my area with public transport. My population density is 1 person per square kilometre.

However, for the few years when I did live in an urban area I rarely used public transport. Slate me if you like, but I hated it. On the odd occasion I did use the service I found the experience to be a pain in the ar*e. In an area with an excellent public transport network using this service added at least an extra 2 hours to my day. Also carting fresh food was difficult. Fresh food has a high water content and so is heavy. Then factor in the British Winter weather.
For me, public transport is something I would only consider using on long journeys. The Inverness to London train for example.