babesagainstmachines

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=285 If the average house falls below 90k, I will start thinking about charging less.

That's where you are mistaken. You can sell up and buy a caravan in the south of France and live in that.

Apart from the south east, there hasn't been a leg up. It's a loaded question. Are you a stealth bull?

Interesting. Just looking at BTL mortgages, and most are 4%+ above base rate. Rent must be 125% of purchase. 2%+ fees. min 25% deposit. There won't be many BTL mortgages issued at these prices unless property gets much cheaper.

Mine is. Her bum gets bigger whilst the distance between nipples and navel gets smaller.

Tell that to the Asian living in slums conditions - the flip side to the lower monetary cost. Really must go...

If there was no margin in making trainers, then nobody would have trainers. There is a margin, but only if you make them in countries with crappy social provision and overworked, underpaid workers. There are factory owner in Asia getting rich as well as a few hundred sports stars and company executives. Interesting debate, but I really should go and get dressed

Only if you want to ignore human costs

Pimp and drug dealer Oh ok, photographer.

Wasteful government spending and wealth redistrubution schemes are harmful for sure, but the main reason we can't make trainers here is that the Indonesians and Vietnamese have really crap conditions and social provision in comparison. We wouldn't legally be allowed to employ people for $10 a day working 14 hours and sleeping in the workplace and rightly so. In my opinion, we shouldn't trade with countries who allow those conditions either because it's inhumane... but that's globalisation.

14.5k after graduating, 1994 in Computer Science, always done programming/developing/software engineer roles. Rose to 28k within 4 years (not London), but since 2000, wages haven't really moved, but I didn't have any ambition. Last job was 35k, about 2 years ago, but had contracted on £80k + between times (again not London) Glad to be out. Left IT and no longer feel like I'm cracking up - I've realised it's everyone else who has the problem

Whilst I agree with much of your post, globalisation certainly is lowering wages. You simply can't say it's our government and our housing market that is at fault without looking at our global competitors.

Erm, they're the Tories. That's what they were about. And probably still are.

I don't think we will print more until we are at 1.15 to the Euro.

He's made passes at women of ALL classes, the bloody champagne socialist!

The middle class is still alive and kicking as far as I can see. It's the working class that has been pole-axed. No manufacturing jobs, free higher education taken away, ever decreasing social mobility and having to suffer the bile spat by the middle classes, who simply don't appreciate how good they have had it.

"How terrible, I will ask my boss for a significant pay rise in the morning. I'm sure he will understand that I need the extra money to service the large mortgage so the little boy can see his father."

It's pretty meaningless. The net external debt is the important number. All 449% of GDP tells us it that a lot of us owe money to lots of other people. The problem is that the ones who owe are the ones who do the most consuming, and if they can't earn or owe any extra money, economic activity falls.

Not for me it's not. I want the huge crash that the market would have given us, rather than the half-arsed effort we have had thanks to QE and government spending. I could have been mortgage free in my own home by now without the state interfering. All the QE is doing is changing who the winners and losers are, they aren't fundamentally helping anything.

The rule of law still exists. You have to find someone who isn't the government to enforce it.

They keep talking about double dips. In reality, we've only just got the swizzelstick into the orange fizz, we're nowhere near starting on the cherry.

For how long?

Agreed. You don't build a wired grid from the desert, you use the energy to produce hydrogen or hydrocarbon fuels.

The UK isn't exactly the hotspot for solar power. Why would you bother here when there's deserts.

Lies, damned lies and statistics applies to all surveys.