Neverland

Actually, if you study a bit of victorian history a lot of those houses used to be occupied by 3 generations of the same family or shared by mutiple families each with a single room Today, 40% of "households" consist of a single person, although I'm not sure how this defintion deals with shared flats/houses Housing in this country got a lot better over the last century, but seems to be getting worse in this one

We've been witnessing over the past week what happens periodically when there are enough people with no stake in society: - random violence and looting However, its obviously much more important to reduce the 50% rate of income tax...

This is what I've been thinking about....less consumer spending means less government revenue....means less government spending... ...competitive austerity with France, Spain, Italy...so no "export led recovery then"... the only question I have in my mind about this is whether they will wait until April 2012 to announce more spending cuts

This was the rationale behind Thatcher's "Right to Buy" in the 1980s...

Their families will look after them

I dunno.... Most elderly people don't end up in care homes now Besides I would personally be surprised in 10 years time if the government is still paying for care homes With an ageing population thats just not a sustainable policy

I think you've misunderstood I think we should be taxing wealth more and taxing earnings less Personally I don't have a problem with investment, but I dislike speculation

I wouldn't do it myself even if I qualified However, I have looked at few s/o schemes with friends (for them, not me) The rent part of the s/o package has looked subsidised, which is a point in their defence I wouldn't mind betting that a lot of the s/o ownership flats end up being rented out by their "part owners" on the black market, either because the original owner can't sell the flat when they want to move or because of deliberate fraud in the application

This for me is the retrograde step of the last thirty years It does feel like we've gone from people earning money through working to making money through "investments" like shares, houses, even wine and paintings It isn't healthy

Basement Short lease Ex-council Think about it very carefully, it will be a dog to sell when you want to move I would only do it if I was convinced I would be happy to live there for a decade or more

These would be the same sorts of people who put their money in dot com stocks, equitable life, lloyds syndicates etc. in previous decades?

If the property has gone up 5-10 fold from the price it was sold to the tenant under the right to buy discount... ...is the government going to sue the buyers?

So... ...government bailed out banks evicting Daily Mail readers out of their homes... ...I dunno if I can see that with any political party in power... ...I could see another duplicitous government bail-out paid for by savers being putting in place to prevent that... ...but then I'm a natural pessimist

I think in many cases they have no option as they have little/no pension funds accumilated through lack of planning and bad decisions (also the low interest rates driving annuity rates to the floor are a factor) Often the only asset they have is a large hugely valuable unmortgaged house The other factor is due to the failure of the stockmarket over the last 15 years and various investment scandals (endowments, equitable life, lloyds market, etc.) the only successful invesment that many of these people have ever made is in residential property You can see why someone as feckless as that would MEW, buy a few flats with more leverage and hope that "my property will be my pension" Its a bit like taking all your pitiful savings into the casino and sticking everything on black....

i remember reading the daily newspapers in the early / mid-90s and the stories about home prices never recovering ever again

I kinda see your logic, one of the interesting facts about recessions is often a majority or people increase their net wealth during them... ...its just that some people lose a lot and a few people lose nearly all their wealth However I can also see their that the UK, US and Eurozone governments have used up all their bullets in any fight to stave off recession, so there would not be any government bail-outs in the near future This hasn't been the case for the last twenty/thirty years In the Great Depression it wasn't the bottom 10% who lost their jobs, it more like 50%... Best of luck

The thing is I don't think it really is London is very cosmopolitan but the coming austerity in the Eurozone and the US is going to have as big an effect as UK focused austerity has on the rest of the country The (good) jobs in London are tied up in financial and specialised services and the equity (of the locals) is mainly in their overpriced houses.... ...its all a very fragile ecosystem

that would make sense I remember that this is what did for eclear a payment processing firm that specialised in holiday companeis and airlines

its pretty bad if they are going bust at peak season though in the past i remember they used to go bust in the autumn when all their creditors (hotels, tour operators etc.) needed to be paid right now a tour operator should be close to peak cash: they've been paid for all the holidays and only have to pay out for the planes and fuel up front

snap

Taking out a big loan just before the economy may be entering a double dip? As they said in Yes Minister "Thats a very brave decision minister"

It would probably be that prudent savers are being fleeced to subsidise the banking industry and other feckless borrowers through negative real interest rates I personally think thats a bit of a travesty

if the OP thought it was conspiracy to commit fraud the correct thing to do would be to report it to the police dontcha think?

The chinese and SWFs from outside the west mainly hold a lot of government bonds and some shares I think The bank debt in western banks is mostly owned by other western banks, pension funds and insurance companies If there was a big default/jubilee or whatever I think it would mostly be the wealthy older section of the western population who suffered You can forget that private sector final salary you thought you were getting for instance and that house you own will be worth half of what it was because no one can borrow to buy it

You, you're just an anti muslim, I'm a gonna get my sharia law on you...