The UK is having a pretty miserable time right now. Food is at an all time high. Electricity is it an all time high. rent is at an all time high.

Most of our public services have been striking.

Are the US suffering from anything similar?

46 comments

  1. Yes, we are in a very similar situation in USA. Our economy is in bad shape, food and groceries are very expensive. Just to give you an idea, one dozen eggs is almost 5 times more expensive than 2 years ago. Rents are going up and property taxes have gone up substantially. Our leaders keep telling us this is transitory, but all Americans can definitely feel the rise in living expenses and it appears to be getting worse

  2. Yes.

    We are experiencing all the same issues.

    To be fair, since the US is much bigger and more diverse, there will be people who will deny that those issues occur where they live.

    And, now in less than an hour, I’ve just posted my second longest run on sentenc.

  3. We are watching so we can replicate your troubles. Seriously, inflation is high and banks are jumping off high places. We aren’t in nearly as bad a shape as you poor bastards. I knew you guys were in trouble when the Germans laughed about putting all their eggs in Putin’s basket when even Trump could see that was a disaster coming and warned them.

  4. Inflation has been a killer on food prices and that then ripples into everything else. My electricity bill and my rent hasn’t changed though.

  5. I don’t think it’s as bad here because we have a ton of domestic oil production. I cant speak society wide but for myself, my total expenses are about $100 more per month than 2020 so its negligible. I work from home though so gas costs are minimal.

  7. That’s the same as inflation right? I dunno if your news has been report on inflation in the US.

    We haven’t had that many strikes though probably because a lot of public services can’t go on strike.

  8. Eating out has definitely gotten more expensive so I’m eating at home more often now. My pay has largely kept up with inflation though so I’m in a better situation than most and haven’t had to make too many other cuts.

  9. Food has definitely gotten more expensive. Housing varies from place to place; in some areas prices have actually decreased. We aren’t really having an energy crisis in the same way a lot of Europe is. Gas prices are somewhat high but have mostly stabilized and dropped some from the peak, and are typically lower than UK prices.

  10. Yes, we are having similar issues. Not as much with regards to energy costs because we have a lot of domestic oil, but everything else is skyrocketing. Food and housing are the main culprits.

    There isn’t particularly a lot of striking going on though, I think that’s just you guys.

  11. Rent prices have skyrocketed. I can’t even afford to live in my own hometown anymore.

  12. Food prices are getting ridiculous. As is the price of natural gas to heat homes. The cost to purchase a home is becoming increasing unattainable in all but the most rural areas in the country. Rent prices are high too.

  13. Yes, although we have a bit more flexibility. The earnings in the UK are much lower than in the US. My Brit friends are certainly struggling.

  15. To an extent, but energy prices haven’t gone up as far in the US as in the UK.

    Food is higher but food is generally a smaller portion of people’s household budgets in the US, so while it kinda sucks it’s not really a crisis for most people. Eggs being $5 instead of $2 is not great but few people buy enough eggs for that to really matter.

  16. I currently live in the US but I lived in the UK for a number of years not too long ago.

    It is undeniable that inflation is bad here – rent prices, food, utilities are all more expensive. However I wouldn’t personally say, from my experience, that it is as bad as in the UK. I found salaries to be much lower in the UK than in the US and so my ability to weather increasing prices in the UK (like the inflation that happened right after the brexit vote, for example) was much much lower than my ability to weather those increasing prices in the US. That could be just my experience, but I think it is generally true.

  17. Not really, but in some ways there are similarities.

    Inflation is pretty much everywhere, however, my understanding is the UK got hit worse in terms of energy prices.

    Housing is a real problem in the US. That’s a big one. It has to do with a combo of supply and remote work changing where people are able to work. I have seen some BBC and other productions about housing in the UK and it sounds pretty bad. I wouldn’t be surprised if the underlying factors are a bit different though.

    We don’t have an NHS, so that’s not a thing for us. I know that has been a real pain point.

    BREXIT is an X factor. Nobody -as far as I can tell – can really determine the impact because you had BREXIT, COVID, and Ukraine/Russia all in a short time period.

  18. With basically a tech bubble 2.0 going on now, I think Boston is gonna get a little more affordable now.

  19. Pretty much the entire world is going through inflation right now.

    Public services in the US often have restrictions on what conditions they can strike, or if they can strike at all. In Indiana, teachers can’t legally strike. I don’t think police officers can strike either, [though there are ways around that.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=low6V1LI9LY) And as we saw with the railroad negotiations, the US Congress stepped in and forced them to agree to a stopgap contract to prevent a strike.

    The US produces a lot of its own energy. There are definitely increases but our energy production hasn’t been too impacted by Russia.

    I think what has hurt countries like the UK and to a lesser extent Canada is the much lower salaries. It isn’t too bad when your public services are well funded and functioning, but really hurts when those services are barely functioning.

  20. I suspect so, though I’m not sure anyone has called it that.

    Anecdotally, I’m spending about 30% more on groceries, but I’m managing by cutting back on not-completely-necessary foods like coffee, tea, beer, and candy. My landlord has turned the heat down as far as legally possible, but I can always put on a sweater.

    However, I’m *really* going to have to tighten the belt once the student loan machine starts up in full again this summer. I doubt I’m alone in that and have concerns about what will happen to the economy then.

  21. I think energy costs might be a lot more in the UK.

    I’ve read through threads where multiple people mention memories of iced over water glasses on their nightstand.

    For us that’s some Charles Dickens tragedy stuff. Not *’central heating made you soft’* BS

  23. Food prices are up, gas stabilized at a higher price than before, and electricity went up about 30% since last summer. Luckily housing is still relatively cheap in my area. Nobody wants to live here, so the prices never go up.

  26. We definitely have a housing crisis going on, but I think we benefit from having much more land and many more population centers to spread out across.

    My impression is that in the UK, each country has their one city that holds the biggest chunk of their population and industry, which probably creates a worse squeeze. For example, London metro population is 12 million and that’s 21% of the population of England. NYC metro population is 20 million, but that’s only 6% of the US population.

    You can still find a lot of more affordable cities to live in in the US that have enough industry to sustain a good jobs market.

    For example, where I live in San Francisco the coat of living is insane. However, back home in my Midwest hometown of 3 million metro population, almost all my friends were able to buy houses in their 20s.

    So, it’s a mix.

  27. Yes. We’ve spent about 30 years building less and less housing as our population has grown, especially in our metro areas. The huge run up in housing prices during the pandemic combined with now sky high interest rates have put buying homes out of reach of most anyone who doesn’t already own. This has subsequently put even more pressure on rents.

  28. It’s so expensive that instead of microwaving my tea for 2 minutes I’ve reduced it to a minute 45.

  30. >The UK is having a pretty miserable time right now. Food is at an all time high. Electricity is it an all time high. rent is at an all time high.
    >
    >Most of our public services have been striking.
    >
    >Are the US suffering from anything similar?

    It’s gotten more expensive, but nothing on the scale of the UK. My energy prices are up about $0.05 per kwh, I’m told food is more expensive but haven’t really noticed it in my purchases (I don’t eat out and cook everything from scratch), and rents are so high that if I didn’t own my place I’d have to pay about 80% of my income to rent something equivalent (it’s a big 1 bedroom condo in a small city).

  35. Glad you are striking. Americans keep paying more and put up with way too much.

  38. Kind of yes, but mostly no. The supply crisis has caused high inflation and bird flu has made what’s supposed to be a cheap staple much less cheap, but real incomes are still high by historical norms, income inequality is down compared to pre-pandemic, and we just aren’t seeing the same stuff I’m hearing about Britain on More or Less and Planet Money. It’s like a Ukrainian asking if we’re also dealing with craters in the road. Yeah, I get my teeth rattled in March, but they aren’t literal craters (or maybe they technically are, I’m too lazy to look up a formal definition).

  39. Yes. Most admit it but some seem to take it personally as a threat to their political beliefs and will vigorously deny it which is so absurd.

  40. I cannot believe how expensive it is to even feed my family. I have a 1-year old, and my wife and I are expecting again. I am so lucky for a good job since she can’t really work right now. But I don’t know how people do it. I really don’t.

  41. Stuff is definitely more expensive all around

    I know this probably won’t interest you and this is extremely American but the ammo and gun prices are also spiking big time too

    We also just had a bank crash so

  42. Food is expensive. It’s only two of us but since we try to eat healthy it costs a lot. To not eat toxic food is really expensive and it takes forever to shop.

    Our property taxes have gone up(almost doubled since Covid) and the cost of the homes in our neighborhood have more than doubled since we bought 9 years ago. Lucky we paid off our house 2 years ago.

    Our water bills have increased, electric is about the same, gas is variable. December it was crazy high with that freeze but it came back to normal the next month. Trash went up and they come less reliability.

    Cat food is more expensive too.

    Wages are not keeping up if you don’t job hop

  43. The housing market is pretty abysmal if you’re looking to rent or buy anything. The cost of food has gone up where I live but I’d say is still generally affordable, not sure about electricity.

  46. Pretty much the same. The feds rampant printing of new money has lead to massive inflation. Inflation causes the money you already have to become worth less. The published inflation rate is around 7-8%, but the actual inflation rate is probably double. The fed has a vested interest in making it seem like it’s not really as bad as it actually is.

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