Like you, my annual income lies at the xth percentile of UK households.
It'd be nice to be a bit higher up the scale, of course, but I'm glad I'm no lower down.
I worry that the interests of those of us in the (x±5)th percentiles aren't being taken seriously. Making that next step up on the housing ladder is really difficult, and increasingly out of reach. It's impossible to save the amount we need to move forward, what with pay running so far behind inflation. The ever-present spectre of debt haunts our past, and blights our future. Austerity is hitting us hard, undoubtedly harder than most. But we struggle through, battling to pay for those household essentials and to take what's rightfully ours from the system. It's only fair.
They have it easy up around the x+0.5(100-x)th percentile. They're spared the worst of this recession the rest of us are suffering because they're all cushioned by money. They still have jobs, don't they, and their salaries have actually risen while the rest of the country falls back. A lot of them only have their jobs because of who they know, not because of any genuine talent, whereas the rest of us worked hard at our education and all we ended up with was a loan. And their houses are enormous, much bigger than ours, usually bought outright using wealth passed down from the next generation. It's hardly fair.
But the very worst people are those up around the x+0.9(100-x)th percentile. These are the truly rich, the financial wheelerdealers, bleeding society dry with their tricks and evil scheming. Every time I think about the life they lead I feel I'm being ripped off. The system's loaded in their favour, delivering huge financial rewards for minimal effort. I read about their exploits in the papers, it's an utter disgrace, and they're all as bad as each other. I can't believe the government allows them to get away with so much when they should be squeezing them until they squeak, to better spread the wealth of the nation around. Their bonuses are larger than our annual salaries, because they don't play by the same rules as the rest of us. We'd all be better off if they were punished and stripped of their excess income, but nobody ever seems willing to pass the legislation. It's so not fair.
And they have it easy down around the 0.5xth percentile. They don't have the excess outlays the rest of us have, like fees and subscriptions and fancy electrical goods, so their money goes further. They still have part time jobs, which means they actually get some time off while the rest of us are slogging our guts out to pay our way. With zero hour contracts they even have true flexibility to work whenever they like, which is essentially like being retired, whereas our pensions are screwed. And then they end up scrounging off all those public services the rest of us provide but never use. It can't be fair.
But the very worst people are those down around the 0.1xth percentile. These are the truly loaded, the unemployed, bleeding society dry with their tricks and evil scheming. Every time I think about the life they lead I feel I'm being ripped off. The system's loaded in their favour, delivering huge financial rewards for minimal effort. I read about their exploits in the papers, it's an utter disgrace, and they're all as bad as each other. I can't believe the government allows them to get away with so much when they should be squeezing them until they squeak, to better spread the wealth of the nation around. Their benefits are larger than our annual salaries, because they don't play by the same rules as the rest of us. We'd all be better off if they were punished and stripped of their excess income, but nobody ever seems willing to pass the legislation. It's totally unfair.
It's not that I'm jealous, don't get me wrong. I wouldn't want to be any of these people, it's just that they all take more than their fair share of the nation's wealth. I know this for certain because I've heard stories, and they're all as bad as each other. I should be just as good as them, but I don't get what they get and it's all so ill-deserved. We have it so bad, all of us around the xth percentile, and it's all everybody else's fault.
