Two reports from YahooFinance highlight the financial misery capitalism is inflicting upon both private renters and those with mortgages.

‘New data shows London rents approaching the total average take home pay of residents. Average London rents are approaching 80% of residents’ average monthly pay, as prices head past the £2,000 mark. The average salary of a London resident is just over £41,000, according to recent data published by Statista. After tax, this comes out to around £2,600 a month.

Meanwhile, new research by Homelet has shown London rents reaching an average £2,039 per calendar month – about 78% of average pay after tax.

Rents have also risen outside the capital, with average UK prices now hitting £1,213, a 1.2% from last month’s average of £1,199.

Excluding London, the average price of rent in the UK is £1,016 per calendar month, up 1% from the previous month and up 9.5% from the previous year.

The study put Scotland as the highest monthly gainer with rental averages rising by 2.6%.

The UK’s cheapest rental area, the North East, saw another dip, dropping 2.0% month-on-month to £632.’

‘More than 2.5 million UK homeowners who will have to renegotiate their mortgage over the next two years face paying £9bn more as interest rates jump.

With the Bank of England (BoE) now more likely to raise rates even higher than previously thought, the Cebr said it now expects the two-year (75% loan-to-value) mortgage rate to tick up and average 5.1% in 2023.

This means the 2.5 million mortgages that have been or are due to be renegotiated over 2023 and 2024, will cost several pounds more each month as cheaper rates have vanished from the property market.

The cost of some mortgages have risen by up to 3.5 percentage points for some households. This adds on top of the estimated one million already exposed to mortgage increases because of their variable rate deals.

The Cebr is expecting mortgage rates to average 5.1% in 2023 and 4.6% in 2024, bringing even more financial misery to already struggling UK households.

“Cebr estimates that mortgage holders looking to renegotiate their deal in the next two years will face a hefty £8.7bn increase in their payments as a direct result of tighter monetary policy,” it said.

London will see the largest rise in aggregate cost for refixers, with mortgage costs up by £1.8bn over 2023 and 2024, a symptom of the £530,000 average price for a home in the capital compared to the UK average of £282,000.

Meanwhile, refixers in the South East will see the next highest rise in payments, up £1.7bn in 2023. This is partly due to the higher-than-average house prices but also down to the fact that the region held the largest share of all mortgages in the UK in 2022, at 15%.

At the other end of the scale, Northern Ireland and the North East are expected to see the lowest increase in mortgage payments for those due to refix up to the end of 2024. Cebr estimates refixers in Northern Ireland will see a £126m increase in mortgage costs, while in the North East this increase will amount to £159m.

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/london-rents-78-of-average-pay-102450038.html?guccounter=1

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/uk-households-pay-more-mortgage-costs-surge-230149970.html

The World Poverty Clock is a tool used to track poverty progress worldwide.

‘Nigeria has the awful distinction of being the world capital of poverty, with 71 million people living in extreme poverty today (World Poverty Clock, 2023) and a total of 133 million people classed as multidimensionally poor according to National Bureau of Statistics data.

About 828 million people will wake up every day having no idea when or where their next meal will come from, and many will go to bed that day without eating anything. This is according to a 2021 UN report. The UN further states that of these 828 million people, 25,000 will die today, including more than 10,000 children.

The T200 Foundation’s report shows that Nigeria has a serious hunger problem with a Global Hunger Index score of 27.9, but there are significant variations in the score across states.

Executive Director of T200 Foundation, Amb. Emmanuel Osadebay stressed the need for collaboration among stakeholders to end hunger in Nigeria by 2030 in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.’

https://punchng.com/71-million-nigerians-extremely-poor-world-poverty-clock/

Canada has the ninth largest economy in the world

‘Amid ongoing concerns about food insecurity, a newly published national report by Community Food Centres Canada (CFCC) unveils an alarming poverty rate among working-age single adults in Canada, standing at three times higher than the national average.

According to the report titled “Sounding the Alarm,” more than one in five single adults (22 per cent) live below the poverty line, highlighting that single adults encounter the highest poverty rates in the country.

Many working-age single adults rely on low-wage, part-time, temporary employment opportunities that lack benefits and stability. The social support programs in place are outdated and inadequate for the current labour market, contributing to the challenges these individuals face, the report cited.

According to the report, nearly one million working-age single adults are stuck in a cycle of “deep” poverty with an average annual income of $11,700, which is less than half of the $25,252 low-income threshold for a single-adult household.

These working-age single adults make up to 38 per cent of all food-insecure (sic) households in the country with 61 per cent of them severely disabled living alone below the poverty line, the report said.

The report highlights that nearly half of single adults (47 per cent) live in unaffordable housing (rented accommodation?) compared to 17 per cent in other household types and 81 per cent of shelter users are single adults with low income.

In the survey, some of the participants stated that they encountered difficulties such as struggling to afford nutritious food or adequate housing, and some participants felt trapped in the social assistance system because transitioning to part-time or contract work would result in losing crucial health benefits.

In order to fill the gap in support for working-age single adults, CFCC recommends that the existing Canada Workers Benefit be expanded and enhanced into a refundable tax credit called the Canada Working-Age Supplement and the working-age single adults living in poverty would receive the supplement whether they are attached to the labour market or not.

“Sounding the Alarm illustrates that our governments and employers are leaving working-age single adults behind,” added Saul. “We urgently need a national solution that responds to the realities that people are voicing in this report. If Canada is serious about making life equitable for everyone, then we need to find the political will to create income policies that take people out of poverty – not for a week, or a month, but for good.’

1 in 5 single adults in Canada live in poverty: report | CTV News

And there it is again, a sticking plaster ‘solution’.

Perhaps CTV should have a word with the Socialist Party of Canada (WSM) to find out the real solution to these capitalism problems.

 ‘..Arouse, ye slaves! Declare war, not on the capitalist, but on the capitalist system, and if it should be your fate or your fortune to suffer in years to come, that suffering will not be the result of your own deliberate act. I am for the freedom of the working class. Though my heart yearns for the freedom of men, I am powerless. Only the working class itself can achieve its emancipation. The workingman who is not yet awakened, who has not yet realized all his class interests, is a blind tool, the willing instrument of his own degradation, and thousands of them on the 4th of July, when reference is made to the capitalist flag that symbolizes the triumph of capitalism only, thousands of these wage slaves will applaud their own degradation. What is wanted is not a reform of the capitalist system, but its entire abolition…’ (From  a speech given by Eugene Debs in Chicago on July 4, 1901).

 There are still a few places available at Summer School on 21st – 23rd July in Birmingham, but bookings will have to close on Wednesday 5th July. For more information on what’s happening over the weekend and how to make a booking, click here.

Yet another story about the continuing assault on the living standards of the working class – in these case it’s Italians who continue to be affected.

‘Soaring inflation is causing Italian households to curb spending on food, according to a report by the General Confederation of Italian Industry (Confindustria).

The report showed household spending on groceries is in “sharp decline.” It dropped by 3.7% in 2022, and by 8.7% in the fourth quarter of 2022 when compared with the first quarter of 2021.

“This has become a burden on overall consumption, given that spending on food accounts for 14% of all expenses, second only to spending on housing, water and energy (23%),” Confindustria wrote.

The head of the National Consumer Union (UNC), Massimiliano Dona, described the report as “alarming” and claimed that “Italians are on a forced diet due to skyrocketing inflation.”

He noted that the situation had a serious negative effect on economic growth, considering that “consumption represents 60% of GDP and that, if Italians don’t buy, then merchants don’t sell and businesses do not produce.”

UNC experts earlier noted that the trend of cutting back on food in Italy had emerged during the pandemic. Analysts found that in January 2023, purchases decreased by 4.4% in physical terms compared to one year previously, and by 6.3% compared to the same month of 2021.’

Great to know there’s some good news in the world. German arms manufacturer’s profits up by 27%. There’ll be more German workers being exploited by the capitalist class too. Forty billion euros of ammunition will be sold up to 2031. Get in touch with your stockbroker quickly and get a piece of the pie. Arms manufacturers are saying to undertakers, hold my beer.

How long is the global working class going to let this insanity continue?

‘Dusseldorf-based arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, Germany’s largest defence contractor, has recorded a surge in orders due to the conflict in Ukraine, Die Welt reported on Friday, citing company data.

According to the report, the company received 18% more orders in 2022 than the year prior. It is now planning to significantly increase production.

The report notes that the arms maker intends to launch a new munitions production line at the Rheinmetall plant in Lower Saxony in the near future and hire several hundred additional employees, aiming to increase its output capacity to the level of the 1980s at 600,000 rounds of ammunition per year.

As noted by the news outlet, thousands of people are already working in three shifts at the facility in order to speed up work on current orders. This reportedly includes maintenance and repairs of Marder infantry fighting vehicles, Leopard 2 tanks and Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled artillery units, and ammunition for Ukraine.

Rheinmetall reportedly expects double-digit sales growth in the coming years. The company forecasts that Germany alone will have to buy €40 billion ($43.6 billion) worth of ammunition by 2031. Earlier this week, the German Bundeswehr placed its latest order with Rheinmetall for 367 protected and unprotected logistic vehicles worth around €285 million.

Germany reportedly ranked sixth globally in weapons exports in 2022, with defense contractors enjoying order backlogs and soaring profits amid global rearming due to the conflict in Ukraine. According to estimates, Berlin approved arms exports totaling over €8.35 billion last year, the country’s second-highest figure ever, after an all-time high of €9.35 billion in 2021.

Rheinmetall earlier reported record €6.4 billion earnings for 2022, up by 27% from 2021, along with a record order backlog of €26.6 billion. In the first quarter of 2023, the company’s consolidated sales rose by roughly €97 million, or 7.6% year-on-year, to €1.4 billion. The backlog increased by 8% year-on-year to €28.2 billion.’

https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2020s/2023/no-1427-july-2023/