It`s different this time

SingleSue

And so true

dudleyboy

!!!!!!? wrote: »

If you want to look deeper, the housing/credit bubble itself was a product of the response to the dotcom bubble bursting.

I agree... but it could also be the result of something far more sinister, even if only indirectly. As theories go, this one is pretty controversial but I hope that as mature and sensible people we can ponder it sensitively and respectfully...


It's now official: house prices are falling and inflation is on the rise. Essentials like food and energy are more expensive than before and fuel continues to hit record highs... and yet, despite this, measures continue to be put into place to bolster the housing market and the price of houses - the greatest inflation of all.

And I can see why. It's being done to prevent the entire economy from collapsing... because if it does we'll be living in the greatest depression this country has ever seen. The UK doesn't do or make anything anymore other than trade hot air. No one will be able to afford their ridiculously high mortgages (5-10 times their salary), they won't be able to afford fuel to pump into that nice new Mini One or 4x4 (you know, that one they bought on HP) to get to work and they won't be able to afford to feed their kids, let alone ensure they're getting their 5-a-day. They won't be able to afford to make the minimum repayments on their umpteen, maxed out credit cards, they'll stop repaying their loans and be unable to repay their mortgage. Their houses will be repossessed and everyone will declare themselves BR. Clean slates all round, everyones' debt is reset to zero and all the banks, and their wealthy shareholders, are left in a Northern Rock situation, facing the prospect of being bought out by wealthy institutions from the east. For the government, it's bye bye at the next election, and the arrival of a new government who will try to pick up the pieces as best they can.

The financial markets are in turmoil. They're feeling it in the US at present with their embarrassingly weak dollar and we're beginning to feel it too now. Through recent interest rate cuts, people have been given a few months of relief to get their financial affairs sorted and to tighten their belts (just see how popular the DFW board has become over recent weeks!) because the next few years are going to be very difficult and very tight and everyone (with any sense!) knows it.

And as we know, all this is the direct result of years of low interest, cheap and easily available credit and encouraged consumer spending above and beyond what is affordable just to keep our economies afloat. We all acknowledge its been this way for a while... about 5-6 years in fact... yet few seem to make the connection with the events of... say... summer 2001... and the financial measures that were put in place to counter the probable collapse of the US (if not the global) economy.

The US and the UK are now in economic crisis. Its greedy citizens are beginning to regret their lavish lifestyles, high expenditure and over indulgence. Years of smug, self-satisfied, capitalist profiteering is about to bring this country to its knees and who does it have to blame?

Everyone was so preoccupied being vigilant (on their way to the mall), so security concious at the airport (on their umpteenth holiday/trip overseas) and so careful to protect their family from the dangers of the world (while also "releasing equity" from the roof over their children's heads) that the worlds most wanted man didn't have to lift a finger. Instead, he just sat quietly in hiding and watched us destroy ourselves from within along with all the empires we had built. One might argue that he knew exactly what he was doing and who he was dealing with. As they say, know your enemy (and we, the UK and the US, understandably have many)...

At the moment not even our countries' governments or banks have got money in the bank, let alone its citizens, and that puts us in a very dangerous and vulnerable position indeed.

Furthermore, with nuclear power becoming the goverment's future sustainable energy of choice, so that we're less reliant on expensive, and depleting, oil from overseas, we can expect to see an increasing number of nuclear power stations being built in coming years. Not wishing to give anyone ideas (that is, anyone who hasn't ever watched an episode of 24), but given the actions of some members of British society over recent years, I hope they're going to be well protected.


Like I say, it's just a theory, or a possibility, and perhaps not one that I entirely endorse whole-heartedly... but as with most major events in world history, only time will tell...

Either way, one thing I am sure about is that we're heading for a recession and that house prices are coming down. The only real uncertainty is by just how much and over how long.

m00m00

this whole situation
credit crunch
food and oil speculative bubbles

feels more like an end of an era, than a temporary blp

PasturesNew

I never had that stuff or did those things.
I never had any enjoyment/things/fun.

I hope the bugg4hs that did don't get off light. That'd be just soooo unfair. They'll have had their cake and eaten it.

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

I never had that stuff or did those things.
I never had any enjoyment/things/fun.

I hope the bugg4hs that did don't get off light. That'd be just soooo unfair. They'll have had their cake and eaten it.

No fun at all? Even cheap or free fun? PN, its no way to live.....really. Although we are desperate not to make a mstake with this houe buying stuff and are making lots of sacifices we o have some fun sometimes:o .

Is that where we are going wrong, is the only way to get ahead to be completey fun-less till the year before a planned death? Or is the only wy to have fun to spend what you can't afford and know its short term but a damn good ride? What a miserable choice if so.

PasturesNew

Stuff's not fun on your own.
And stuff often costs. Until I sold my house I never had two pennies to rub together.
Meeting people cost money. And any socialising.

The only way to combine the two would be to sit on a wall in the street; I believe this could lead to cash offers being made to go and have some fun. Didn't try that though.

mr.broderick

m00m00 wrote: »

this whole situation
credit crunch
food and oil speculative bubbles

feels more like an end of an era, than a temporary blp

Definitely, we've had it good including me, interested to see what's going to happen

lostinrates

PN, it shame you don't like dogs. As you know, I'm without DH for the working week but I have fun most days. Dog is great fun, she makes a reason for walking and exploring new places and her funny kangarroo act makes me laugh even though I've seen it hundreds of times.

Thinking about it quite a lot of the things I do for fun can be done alone...(no sniggering in the background please)...the horse, reading, playing music, gardening (I leave lifting thing to DH thats true, but I could do it if I tried harder) and cooking. In fact, apart from feeing people with what I've cooked and going to bed with DH I've just described pretty much my perfect day....alone! I KNOW having a partner is brilliant, after all I have one, but hey, life alone canbe fun an really need not be lonely.

PasturesNew

lostinrates wrote: »

PN, it shame you don't like dogs. As you know, I'm without DH for the working week but I have fun most days. Dog is great fun, she makes a reason for walking and exploring new places and her funny kangarroo act makes me laugh even though I've seen it hundreds of times.

Thinking about it quite a lot of the things I do for fun can be done alone...(no sniggering in the background please)...

lostinrates wrote: »

the horse, reading, playing music, gardening (I leave lifting thing to DH thats true, but I could do it if I tried harder) and cooking. In fact, apart from feeing people with what I've cooked and going to bed with DH I've just described pretty much my perfect day....alone! I KNOW having a partner is brilliant, after all I have one, but hey, life alone canbe fun an really need not be lonely.

horse - never been on one (they were always for wealthier people); reading - I used to read but was reading too fast so stopped and now don't enjoy it, also now I need glasses and the right light; music - hurts my ears (pitch intolerances); gardening - worm fear, and no garden; cooking - pretty dire when you live alone as whatever you make you have to eat and usually have to eat it for the next 4 days. I cooked 8 sausages on Sunday; ate 2 in pitta bread; had sausage/onion/rice for lunch yesterday; had sausage/onion/noodles for tea yesterday ... still got 4 more sat in the fridge, so it's sausage/onion/rice for tea today, sausage/noodles for lunch tomorrow ... no idea what to do with the remaining two yet. By day 5 I get to the stage of just wishing things would disappear!

I enjoy being online. And watching TV. That's what I do

lostinrates

Pastures, I wasn't suggestng you do my hobbies, lol, just saying that even with a partner I do things alone - for fun.

Incidently, I don't eat much weekdays. I used to sell my stuff (really thinking of looking into horrid health and aftey stuff, would love to do it again but not ure if I can face the red tape) but a few local elderlies are the beneficiaries of my new recipes now (a couple actually call if they haven't been given something for a while, rofl -cheeky old devils).

Re sausages, don't cook em all at once freeze them. With lft overs this time you could do a toad in the hole, or the old honey and mustard trick!

Nothing wrong with online or telly, if thats what you like, lol.