Not a time to be a buy-to-let landlord

CLAPTON

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Structurally Britain has an unbalanced economy. Something successive Governments have been unable to influence for some decades now.

would you prefer a balanced economy that was unsuccessful to an unbalanced one that was successful?

lisyloo

I would get a shower at work just after arriving.

I don't shower in the mornings (I like a bath in the evening) but I agree totally with your point that you've saved time because your commute means you don't need to spend other time exercising - from that point of view it's great doubling up your commute as exercise.

lisyloo

The way I see it, I make myself presentable when I get to work when I ride in.

Well I go commando the bike - so I care :-) but thanks for tip I'll stop worrying about the 5 o'clock shadow :-)

chucknorris

lisyloo wrote: »

I don't shower in the mornings (I like a bath in the evening) but I agree totally with your point that you've saved time because your commute means you don't need to spend other time exercising - from that point of view it's great doubling up your commute as exercise.

I often wonder why on earth I didn't start years earlier than I did. I don't cycle in now, because I moved out of London and only work part time. I did take my folding bike in on the train to Victoria once. But it wasn't particularly pleasant, so now I just commute and exercise independently, as I also like to involve my dog, if I don't, I really feel like I have cheated him out of something.

Thrugelmir

CLAPTON wrote: »

would you prefer a balanced economy that was unsuccessful to an unbalanced one that was successful?

Define successful. Easy to just ignore the very real issues that do exist that are further down the road.

Mistermeaner

lisyloo wrote: »

I don't shower in the mornings

If we're going to make a go of this then you really need to up your game with the hygiene

CLAPTON

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Define successful. Easy to just ignore the very real issues that do exist that are further down the road.

successful would mean a larger economy (say higher employment) than a balanced but smaller economy (lower employment)

what issues are being ignored ?

westernpromise

CLAPTON wrote: »

successful would mean a larger economy (say higher employment) than a balanced but smaller economy (lower employment)

what issues are being ignored ?

It's the mix of what you do with how work is regulated.

Britain started to deindustrialise about 40 years ago. We use to manufacture lots of bad cars and expensive motorbikes, but we were outcompeted on quality and price. We also used to send people down mineshafts to dig out coal with hand tools. Looking back earlier than that, we used to build coal-fired battleships.

One should expect the process of modernising the economy to be a protracted and occasionally painful one; the Industrial Revolution was no fun for weavers, for example. But we are more or less there. Along with our flexible employment laws this means we are quicker out of recession than anyone else.

I was amazed at the remark above - in a thread dedicated to the cost of UK housing - that the minimum wage was a good idea. The minimum wage is a big part of why we have a housing crisis: anyone from Europe can come here and earn £16,000 a year even if all they're doing is making coffee. If they've got kids, that goes up even higher, via negative income tax payments (and those make a nonsense of the minimum wage, of course - it's a political but economically empty statement to have one set at a level nobody can actually live on).

Standing around all day doing that is work, for sure, but it takes probably half a day's training and the ability to recognise coin values. There is a very clear connection between a mandatory - and by Lithuanian standards lavish - minimum wage for easily-obtained unskilled labour, and the level of inward immigration we now have.

It might be argued that it's all the fault of the plutocrats in the City, but we've had those for a very long time and we didn't have this level of house price impact before now.

Do the thought experiment. If we had no minimum wage, what would be the impact on wages of mass immigration? Answer: the oversupply of labour would offer the market down from £8 an hour to £7 then £5 then £4, to the point where you might as well stay in Lithuania. The consequences for house prices seem pretty clear.

Thrugelmir

CLAPTON wrote: »

what issues are being ignored ?

There'll be points of discussion during 2016 and forward from there. Let's see how events unfold. Much work to be done. :rudolf:

CLAPTON

Thrugelmir wrote: »

There'll be points of discussion during 2016 and forward from there. Let's see how events unfold. Much work to be done. :rudolf:

yes I believe 2016 has 366 days to discuss things