waist.it said
Huw said
I think a more accurate but less “click bait” indicator for the UK is counting the number of people eating in your local Indian restaurant at 9.00 p.m. on Friday night.
Indeed. Though I think perhaps an even stronger indication of what really happening on our doorsteps, right here in the sunlit uplands of Singapore-on-Thames, is the phenomenal rise in the use of food banks. These figures are from The Trussell Trust, just one of the charities involved...
WHAT does it tell you ? That people are doing more to support their others and charity does not need to be nationalized ? Or that more people know about the existence of food banks and are able to use the help that is there for them? Some evolution in the way the less well off use cash benefits? What does greater delivery by food banks actually mean? And if poverty were the same, but government charity took the place of organizations like the Trussell trust would calling that charity a 'credit' or a 'benefit' change anything ?
I don't know what angle you're coming from but I do get pissed off with people who one moment are handwringing about 'the poor' as they choose to define the category (while offering nothing more than words), and the next are venting toxically about people who help when they themselves do.
And actually to go back to the topic, some spending can be a leading indicator of sentiment in the economy. Going out and buying a nice new camera is a sign that not only are things OK, but you expect them to remain OK. Postponing that purchase might mean you're OK now, but don't feel sure you will be in a few months. If poundland is seeing more footfall perhaps people are pessimistic, if M&S are maybe there's optimism in the air. Foodbanks and similar don't tell us how people feel about the future, but who has had a shit time of it in recent weeks/months. They MAY also tell us how far those at the bottom are dropping behind those in the middle - busier food banks could be a sign that most people people have more money to spend and the few at the bottom have the same money as they did but prices have gone up.
