09/04/2011 by JohnBuck.

Prescriptions for anti-depressants have risen by more than forty per cent over the past four years. Doctors and various charities have said that this figure is mostly people who are struggling with general debt and also fears of redundancy. Financial problems can sometimes act as a “trigger”, but there are other things to take into consideration such as the fact that being depressed is now more acceptable. The worrying thing is that this particular rise has happened during a time when alternative therapies have been available such as talking therapies, which should have curbed the demand for anti-depressant drugs. Department of Health figures have shown that this year referrals for talking therapies have risen to nearly 600,000.

During times of economic hardships mental health problems seem to get worse and GPs are seeing more and more people coming in to their surgeries with major debt problems or they have employment worries. People often feel guilty that they cannot provide for their loved ones and this can often lead to depression. The rich seem to get richer and the poor just seem too get depressed.

Posted in Finance | 4 Comments »

10/01/2011 by JohnBuck.

The Supermarkets are doing amazingly well in the current economic climate. Or are they doing amazingly? Not in my view, they sell food and food is what everybody wants and needs. Every year they take more trade away from smaller shops and have claims that they have increased their turnover by 1% etc. There are now too many town high streets with vacant shops, that is apart from the odd Tesco Express.

Supermarkets sell everything and with the likes of Amazon and online shopping in the end there won’t be any shops at all. Let’s just sit back and let the big boys make all the profits they want and say that it was all their hard work!

Posted in Finance | 3 Comments »

25/10/2010 by JohnBuck.

The Institute For Fiscal Studies (IFS) says that the Coalitions tax and benefit changes coming into force by 2014-15 is regressive. So why aren’t the Coalition doing something about this now? The current Treasury analysis suggests that it is not “regressive”, but these figures exclude a third of the benefit changes planned by the government, and don’t go up to 2014-15.

The changes excluded are definitely regressive - they have the greatest effect, relative to income, on people at the lower end of the income scale. Where is the fairness in this Coalition? I definitely know who I’m going to vote for in the next general election . . .

Posted in Finance | 4 Comments »

22/08/2010 by JohnBuck.

It seems that almost one third of adults in this country have raided their piggy banks over the past year to cover shortfalls in their income. This is from a survey, by Schroders, a well respected investment firm.  They estimate that savers have taken out a total of £60bn. So on average each person is taking out about £4,600. This is mainly because interest rates are at a 300-year low and savings deals have been taken away from the market, but there is also currently more incentive to spend than to save. My question is what happens when we have used up our savings? This recession has definitely not bitten some of us yet . . .

Posted in Finance | 2 Comments »

05/07/2010 by JohnBuck.

Here we go again, more disgruntled workers not happy with just having a job. I thought this strike thing ended with Thatcherism. Apparently BT could face strike action from 50,000 employees over a pay dispute when the result of a ballot is known later today. With recent strikes from The Post Office and British Airways I feel like we have gone back to the eighties!

Posted in Finance | 3 Comments »