[Traduk]

Those figures are somewhat meaningless and only really display for many the minimum damage done.

Measuring against RPI gives a buying power figure against a supposedly typical spend pattern but very few people fit within those parameters with most finding that their costs are far from typical if lifestyle brings a need for disproportionate costs on one or more of the more heavily weighted elements.

Examples would be a family where both adults need to travel by car for some considerable distance to work. Fuel has shot way above 5% with other costs such as insurance having risen by between 20\33% this year.

Energy has risen dramatically but for many has been compounded with the gradual loss of short term deals that managed for a time to hold prices down.

I am retired and still have a base line existence calculation from 2006 on what was needed for survival. It is now 45% higher which is a calculation just to meet basics. The savings interest which was relied upon to supplement other sources of income has halved which in turn has led to a slow erosion of capital. The slow spiral of descent into the abyss portrayed in the article is a rather rapid drop for many.

In the 70's\80's it took years for erosion of buying power to motivate millions to become angry but with all the coalition changes the same situation is going to become very truncated based on the speed of change.

The only lifeline left for a huge number of people is mortgage rates which for those on trackers is pegged artificially low. Interest rates should be around 3% or higher and that will be way past the tipping point for hundreds of thousands. A perfect storm of financial woes awaits and unfortunately the erosion of spending power will simply compound the storm when it arrives.

It does make depressing reading but the reality of what must come as sure as night follows day goes way beyond depressing. I have a sense of deja vue from the 70's and the same as during that time, nothing happened for what appeared to be forever then when the lid blew off it all happened in a rush.

I hoped never to see this situation again but the human life span covers two or more macro economic cycles so another was due and arrived on cue. Ironically none of the measures adopted regarding the fatal flaw in Fiat money have been addressed so the mend and make do policies of pumping liquidity may not work and it could be back to the drawing board as per the 70's. The USA which is following a completely different policy is the only one who can initiate change and our avoidance of failure depends on their hoped for success.