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Manifest Stupidity II: Green Walleted Monster aka How Much?!?
The Green manifesto gets a look over. First impressions. It's very, very long and very, very specific. > The local council will stop calling you a customer. They spend 3 pages on this which means it's Important. > Fully costed policies (this surprises me pleasantly). Borrowing to be £338,000,000,000 under a Green…
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Right to buy to be extended
Cameron will announce tommorow that right to buy will be extended if the tories come to power in May. Under the new policy, around 800,000 people in housing associations will be offered the full discount, up to £72,000 in England and up to £102,000 in London. The extension to Right to Buy will be funded by forcing councils…
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Another couple of questions for crash trolls
Let's suppose there's a house price crash like many crash trolls imagine they want. Let's further suppose you're a crash troll who's been confidently waiting for this to happen so you can step over the wreckage and snap up a bargain. So a couple of questions, for fun. In a market that has just crashed (eg) 30%, do you…
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Manifest Stupidity: Labour Condemned by their Own Words
Labour released their manifesto today so I thought I'd start a series on some of the very, very stupid promises parties are making for the next five years. http://www.labour.org.uk/page/-/BritainCanBeBetter-TheLabourPartyManifesto2015.pdf Planning to increase the minimum wage is quite interesting as an idea given the…
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Hard working people on welfare
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32272817 Supermarket workers have to claim £11bn benefits, charity says ................................ This is why the UK is broken. Any man or woman that is willing to get up at 7am every morning, do a 40 hour plus week deserves to be earning a wage that pays for their housing, food, fuel…
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IHT -Tories help their own?
The latest change to IHT proposed by the Tories damned by the IFS.A side from what you think of the principle of raising the IHT thresholds, it appears the IFS think it will further skew the housing market and limit housing opportunities.…
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Lets freeze rail fares?
Are the Tories making this up as they go along now? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32245068 Who is going to fund this largess? £1.8bn out the air. At least that is what the Tory Transport Minister said last year. How does this differ from Miliband freezing energy prices? How many other things might they offer to…
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Stamp Duty - it's just a load of rubbish isn't it
if they abolished this idiocy, house prices would soar. I can understand it for rich landowners ie £10m plus properties or second home owners - but I can never understand why someone is taxed - and massively taxed - to buy a home to live in.
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Young people increasingly giving up on buying property
I would assume that there would be a social impact based on this? If fewer people have rooted ties to their local area and in some cases find themselves having to move at the will of the landlord, the "community" aspect will likely fade even more than it has done? Looking at the survey, conducted by the Halifax, it appears…
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Appalling economic record of government exposed: median wages fallen 10% since 2008
It's difficult to understand why the present government has a reputation for economic competence. The limited recovery we have seen is due to relaxing their own stated policy of austerity. However, by dropping their austerity programme recovery would have been faster and wages for real people (rather than the rich which…
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Most significant on-shore oil find in the UK for 30 years
This was just breaking news on BBC Breakfast, so no link as yet. Beeb reporting that the most significant onshore oil find in 30 years in the UK has been identified. It's been found at Gatwick, near the airport. Early days, so no data yet on the real size of the find, but it is said to be significant, and could allow for…
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Non Dom, or not Non Dom, that is the question
I mentioned non doms in Gen's thread earlier, and it sparked a debate being a hit news topic today. Thought I should start a thread so his isn't threadjacked. Should they stay or should they go? My view is that they are anachronistic and have no place in modern tax law. However I also see that people who are temporary…
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How Criminals Built Capitalism
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-04-05/how-criminals-built-capitalism Written by Clive Crook natch.
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Snapshot of btl in liverpool
I live in a deprived area of liverpool lots of terrace streets with multiple to let signs. Over the last year noticed lots still vacant. Usually you see the usual single mum brigade taking them on not knocking single mums btw. Is this a result of the bedroom tax and cap on hb rates having an effect? How are the landlords…
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Do you know your tax burden for the last tax year?
Last tax year 29.2% of my income went to the government via various taxes. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about that. Did I get off lightly?
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Do you live near a Waitrose?
News has broken all over Social media that there is one opening near us to replace the current mid range supermarket. The renters are up in arms while the homeowners are dancing in the streets. The council is commissioning special bunting and I think there is a day of celebration planned when it opens sponsored by the…
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Nice People Thread No. 14, all Nice and Proper
Put your analyst on danger money, and welcome to the 14th Nice People thread. Just in time for Spring. It's cosy and friendly here This is a haven of tranquility in the turbulent torrent of tirades that makes up the Debate Forum. Please behave with decency, delicacy and decorum and expect the same in return. It is a refuge…
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Who is responsible for the cost of house?
As the title says, who or what is responsible?
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Housing Boom on the Way....
Headline on Sky News. http://news.sky.com/story/1458906/tories-pledge-1980s-style-housing-revolution Tories Pledge 1980s-Style Housing 'Revolution' A plan to get half a million first-time buyers onto the property ladder every year is unveiled by George Osborne. 04:28, UK, Sunday 05 April 2015 More than 200,000 new homes…
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The Economics of The Economist
Enjoy! http://redef.com/item/551c43128d825e106a9a08d6?curator=MediaREDEF A very interesting piece on the future of media highlighting the experiences of one of the few old print media companies to have expanded over the last decade or so.
