Squatting is the Only Affordable Housing

evanjonesaber

It absolutely is a high horse, but never mind. We'll agree to disagree.

Someone works hard to buy a property, they don't deserve to have some random squatting in it without agreement. That is all.

E.L.James

If the cuts and austerity continue, then many poor families will not be able to have choice to squat or not unless housing costs come down in relation to the cuts.

evanjonesaber

E.L.James wrote: »

If the cuts and austerity continue, then many poor families will not be able to have choice to squat or not unless housing costs come down in relation to the cuts.

Jail time it is then.

princeofpounds

If the cuts and austerity continue, then many poor families will not be able to have choice to squat or not unless housing costs come down in relation to the cuts.

Sigh... UK government spending in real terms has hardly gone down at all... something like 2%.

It's still about 30% higher than in 2000 (again, in real terms, so this is not an inflation effect).

The large cut numbers you hear bandied around are true in one sense - government department budgets are being cut, some quite severely. But they are exceptionally misleading, because they are only half the story.

Annual Managed Expenditures, which fall outside department budgets, are rising. And they are rising almost as quickly as any cuts are being made.

This is things like pensions, debt interest, certain types of welfare payments,and so on (that's a rough order of importance). Things that the government is commited to by past governments and cannot easily be controlled by them without changing the rules.

I agree that we have housing problems in the UK, but blaming the 'cuts' for them is simply wrong.

In aggregate, there are no cuts of any particular significance. All the Coalition is doing is keeping spending steady so that growth can catch up and we can return to a 'normal' level of government spending to GDP. Here's hoping we get there.

I'm consistently amazed when the media talk incessantly about the cuts they fail to realise this basic fact. I suppose it doesn't fit the narrative to realise that all these 'cuts' are actually being done in order to pay old folks' pensions, and pay interest on the debt pile left for the country.

You'd expect this from the politicised left-wing press, but it's something that has really made me question the BBC's integrity over the past couple of years.

The only place I have even heard a hint about AME is on the Nick and Margaret show 'We all pay your benefits', and that was one brief sentence. Ten o'clock news? No chance. Cuts cuts cuts according to them.

dizziblonde

Know who I blame for housing issues?

That bloke with the mullet on Homes Under the Hammer. Should be arrested and jailed under Incitement to Magnolia Offences.

E.L.James

princeofpounds wrote: »

Sigh... UK government spending in real terms has hardly gone down at all... something like 2%.

It's still about 30% higher than in 2000 (again, in real terms, so this is not an inflation effect).

The large cut numbers you hear bandied around are true in one sense - government department budgets are being cut, some quite severely. But they are exceptionally misleading, because they are only half the story.

couldnt agree more its the same all around the world. All the talk about cuts and austerity is a ruse when you consider that the debts are going up..
they are cutting benefits here in the UK but must be spending more elsewhere because the nations debt is still going up up and up.

JencParker

Good grief! Some of the comments on here are appalling....

.........scumbags ..........jail time!

Let's hope none of you fall on hard times, the well of human kindness didn't just pass you by, it did a massive detour!

Sometimes I despair at the society we live in. If you took those enormous chips of your shoulders and didn't listen to all the propaganda you may see what someone who was blind and deaf did so clearly:

“The few own the many because they possess the means of livelihood of all ... The country is governed for the richest, for the corporations, the bankers, the land speculators, and for the exploiters of labor. The majority of mankind are working people. So long as their fair demands - the ownership and control of their livelihoods - are set at naught, we can have neither men's rights nor women's rights. The majority of mankind is ground down by industrial oppression in order that the small remnant may live in ease.”

lazer

E.L.James wrote: »

couldnt agree more its the same all around the world. All the talk about cuts and austerity is a ruse when you consider that the debts are going up..
they are cutting benefits here in the UK but must be spending more elsewhere because the nations debt is still going up up and up.

The income is also going down tough.

If income is higher than outgoings the debt will go down, but even though the outgoings are reducing, so is the income, therefore the overall surplus isn't growing.

Also - benefits are a very small part of the overall outgoings, as long as the debt increases the interest payable will also increase.
Anther factor you have faile to consider is that although benefits are being cut the number of people claiming them is increasing so its possible that the overall spending on benefits hasn't even decreased.

I have not studied the ins and outs of the governments expenditure but what I do know is the I feel many of the benefits cuts are a good thing, as it provides an alternative to work that can be quite lucrative, when compared with a minimum wage job, who really wants to work for £10 a week or so.

I feel the real problem with the benefit system are the add on benefits, these can mean people on benefits are better off than those working on low incomes and we should never be in this position.
IMO some benefits should be increased and everyone sould be expected to cover all there own bills, no reductions for people on benefits etc. This would create a greater incentive to work and cause less resentment of those in receipt of benefits by workers not in receipt of benefits

chucknorris

JencParker wrote: »

Good grief! Some of the comments on here are appalling....

.........scumbags ..........jail time!

Let's hope none of you fall on hard times, the well of human kindness didn't just pass you by, it did a massive detour!

You've got a very short memory:

JencParker wrote: »

Scumbags come in many guises!

JencParker

chucknorris wrote: »

You've got a very short memory:

No I don't - it was in response to the original 'scumbags' post
... why isn't there a rolleyes smilie?