Meanwhile, the state’s retreat from the provision of public services and the mass sell-off of social housing have increased the cost of living for households, without increasing productive investment. Rising utilities bills, transport costs, and care costs have all eaten away at households’ already stretched incomes. The increase in house prices seen since the crash has driven up rents far more than it has increased the supply of affordable housing. The decline in the social housing stock has pushed many people into temporary accommodation. Some, like Jerome Rogers, have been driven into crippling debt in an attempt to meet their basic needs — allowing lenders to benefit from the deterioration of our collective wealth. Those who are wealthy enough to do so have opted to save more, knowing that they will be forced to fund their own retirements and care needs. The individualisation of risk has only increased disparities of wealth, leaving some facing crippling debt and others sitting on huge piles of unproductive cash, much of which is channelled into real estate or financial markets, making the problem even worse.