boynamedsue

The UK should be due a rental crash, following austerity measures here in Romania, rents have decreased 33%. Anyone who didn't drop their rent saw their tenants decamp elsewhere, and you generally haggle your rent down 10% from the landlord's asking price. The flat I'm in was 750 E three years back, and I'm paying 500 E today.

This. The government is laying people off left right and centre, companies arent expanding, wage inflation is unlikely to be a big problem.

I'd just like to point out that, although the Fed is taking measures to devalue the currency (whether they succeed or not will be interesting to see), precious metals are caught in a speculative bubble, and we all know what happens to those.... What's that Flipper? It's different this time?

I normally hate grammar nazis, but this is one of those times when knowing what an apostrophe is for would really help people to understand what you're on about.

A cap on rents IS a cap on HB. HB is set at what the rent officer considers to be the rental value of the property to be. If there is a cap on rent, then HB is capped at that level. I like Ken, and support this policy, but I'm at a loss as to how he thinks he'll bring this about. I'm pretty sure there'd be a raft of "legitimate" legal objections from the landlords.

Should be 15k-18k. Problem is interest rates. It's boarded up to prevent vandalism, it was probably kept in decent shape before "the events", so you can get a nice easy 250-300 quid a month in rent for zero extra outlay. This gives you an annual return on your capital of 3k, when your ISA gives 3% then that looks good value. Of course, the moment interest rates rise then the house loses all investment potential and consequently drops to the lower levels I quote above. People forget this second effect of low interest rates at the bottom end when talking about mortgage rates for the 4 beds.

Another one!

This. I particularly enjoyed the "I was better at maths school than her, she's just good at words and drawing!" bit. Get your counselling on the NHS as soon as possible, before the Con-dems get rid of it.

I think that's actually your problem. I wish people who supported zero-regulation and taxation would simply stae "I think there should be free markets because it fits with my philosophical and political beliefs". Instead they say "When the market is free everyone will have a living wage/good education/house/Fallen-Madonna-withe-the-big-boobies-by-Van-Klomp". The market does not automatically provide desirable outcomes, but some of spotty-liberts on here seem to believe that it's Quinn the fekking Eskimo.

Yep. If you find an outcome desirable, then the market is duty bound to wave its invisible hands and provide it. Except there's no evidence to back up what you are saying, the most regulated economies in Europe have the highest wages, and because of quality state housing, strict regulations and generous social welfare, companies are forced to create jobs that can provide decent wages, or else nobody would take them.

In terms of taxes, the tax -credit system actually raises people from sub-living wage to living wage, and taxation provides services that would have to be paid for from wages otherwise. I doubt it's possible to argue that removing the services the state provides in exchange for taxation will help the bottom 40%. The top 20% would be laughing though... If you want to compete with slaves, you need to pay slave wages.

Has a plane crashed into owt memorable? No? In that case, do not waste my time with URGENT.

A good point. Perhaps the most important factor in the world economy is the capitalist dictatorship in China, and its violent oppression of Chinese workers,

Depressing. Work harder for less and be grateful for what little you receive wouldn't be the kind of message I'd have thought would be popular.

Their construction is subsidised, their rents are affordable. They also help suppress private rents, which the tories don't want, as they are the party of the BTL landlord.

Thanks for that. There's a couple of my old student houses on there. A lot empty in the docks.

I've just bought a load of Euros, changing out of Thai Baht. Price is fantastic, it can't get any lower in THB.

Yeah, I'm afraid I was cooking chips after the pub last night. Long and the short of it is that granite work surfaces are much less fire resistant than you might expect. We're looking at offers over 380k.

The "in its current form" bit is the key. If there is the political will for it to continue, it will. The people of Europe like the Euro, their leaders will find a way to fiddle with it so it can continue. It's not like money is real or anything.

They're still maintained artificially low through state violence in favour of the Chinese capitalist class, if the Chinese had the same freedoms we enjoy, production costs would be significantly higher.

I think that the elephant in the room here is political repression in East Asia, where many of our manufacturing jobs have been shipped. The producers in those countries are prevented from organising unions to claim a greater share of what they produce, and tend to get thrown in prison when they attempt to protest against the business/state kleptocracies who profit from their labour. The artificially low cost of labour in China is maintained by denying workers basic rights such as freedom of association and the right to withdraw their labour. This factor is just as important as artificially weak currencies.

I'm not disputing what you are saying. But I view this process as a creation of money, at least in the short term, as the money "exists" in two places at the same time. Just a question of semantics anyway. No. They don't. Could you give an example of when this has happened?

I see. How do you feel that explanation would have gone down with a bailiff? Debts don't go away if you pretend they're not real. Just because the financial system is an abstraction, a fiction even, it doesn't mean it has no effects on the real world.

Did you ask them "Do all banks hold equal or more than the sum of their deposits IN NOTES AND COINS?" The answer to this question is likely to be most commonly "no" followed by "I don't know" followed by "yes". And even if you are right, I am fully aware that my bank creates money out of thin air and only holds a fraction of what is deposited in cash, and yet I pay my debts. Why? Because not doing so would inconvenience me.

I agree with you there. Paper gold trading has just begun here in Thailand. I ask myself where all this extra gold has appeared from, part 2 of the Gold Bubble.