nightowl

My late Nan, when the idea of a retirement home was suggested replied "no, they are for old people". She was aged 90 when saying it so not a boomer by any measure. Not so much denial though, but she was mentally still very together and didnt fancy sitting in a lounge full of folks who werent. Most folks that age wont be passing their estate onto millenials anyway as their own children will be 50 or 60s age group.

If there are 100 houses and 120 people, its possible 80 houses will be occupied by 80 people and the remaining 40 squeeze into 20 houses. Superficially there is no shortage of housing, but only if you ignore the sharers getting only half the space. Going back to original article about rents not rising, this ignores vastly increased numbers of 20, 30 and even 40 somethings renting in a houseshare, but people dont generally share house buying (although it gets a bit of MSM promotional pushing sometimes)- in other words rents reach a limit as renters are more willing to share space than buyers or simply stay in the parental home.

I heard somewhere (ie not BBC or the usual MSM) that Trump has wanted to be recognised by the American elite, but they dont see him as their type hence he might have a chip on his shoulder about them. He ought to be in the elite club, but can now wield power against them. Another thing the MSM dont mention is his dislike of the super-sensitive-snowflake-in-their-safe-zone-SJWs (sorry I don't know how else to describe this group) and how the public are tired of it and he represents the start of the end of it (this might be a very US issue than ours). Funny thing though, imagine if he is successful at getting jobs back and rebalancing power surely people in our country will start asking "where is our DT?" and how do we change our party system to allow an outsider to come and shake things up?

Oops almost forgot.....the key thing seems to be how well that countries economy functions rather than lowest costs. Our economy has been becoming more and more dysfunctional and pushing us the Vietnam direction.

Places in the world with high wages generally have high living costs. Places with low living costs have low wages. Compare Denmark to vietnam for example... Things in Denmark are expensive but it enjoys a better standard of living overall.

The lack of houses now and 10 years ago etc means the peaks on price booms are higher than need be, and the troughs never as deep as they would have been ie With better housing supply: Troughs=sensible priced, booms=expensive With under supply of housing: Troughs=expensive, boom= mega expensive. What if planning permission was much more freely permitted (maybe linked to HPI), it would take the investment appeal out of property and dampen the booms- as why would someone borrow to invest in property if more supply then came available quickly? Even the realistic threat of increased supply would damp a boom down meaning very little green belt would be lost in practice. The example of Hartlepool vs Berkshire could also be rephrased: New car sales benefit from the very low IRs too, but because the supply can expand to take advantage of any excess demand of borrowed money, we don't see hyper inflation in new car prices.

I'm another who doesn't think this is inherently a bad idea and would help with increased number of students needing somewhere even though it still doesnt fix any deep lying problems for people after leaving uni. As for the licence fee/tv tax it is £3 per week and subscription channels cant match it for value for money, but the BBCs biased news reporting is risking putting themselves into a corner.

The older any generation gets the wiser they become I guess. I have noticed thought boomers tend to be more financially unaware eg "If youngster spent less on tech they could afford a place.....blah blah blah", not realising that place instead of being each year £10,000 increasingly unreachable, might only have been £9,700 beyond reach had they not bought a £300 phone. In any case tech improves for every generation anyway so a mute point. Plus they don't realise that not all the rest of the population arent boomers with the same experience or most importantly the same views. 52% vs 48% in that referendum may well be a decision, but a only just under half the population saw it differently. Now, I am not saying boomers are bad folks as such, but they are oblivious to many things which I worry as they get even older will become more entrenched.

If there was a Yes Minister like series for the 21st centrury that highlighted these issues with comedy-would anyone watch?

Has anyone considered how demographics affect management attitudes and numbers? Consider that the boomers are retiring out of these jobs leaving a vacuum, will this reduce the number of managers- certainly at high levels? Is there sufficient gen-X to fill the gaps or are they too wiley to take those jobs on? Millennials surely cant yet?

My biggest pay rise (10%) came from a pure accident. A few weeks before the annual pay reviews I accompanied my line manger to a meeting and his phone had no charge and he was concerned as his wife was 9 months pregnant. So I suggested he should call her with my phone to tell her, and she will know my number to relay any messages. A few hours later my phone rings and I hear an unrecognised woman's voice, so immediately I hand the phone over to him and she starts talking.....He then looks at me totally puzzled. It wasn't his wife but a recruitment agency looking for someone with my skills paying 10% more. To add more intrigue to the story, the said line manager pushed hard for my 10% rise to ensure I got it so I didn't leave midway through his vital project. A few months later he then quit to take on a new role with that projects customer, who were so impressed with our delivery few months earlier!

I used the phrase 'left wing/SJW' due to a lack of what other label i could think of at the time (even the phrase progressive seems dated now ). But yes I totally agree, no credible 'left wing' remains in the economic debate (although SJW like thinking does prevail in other areas as much as i don't like that label again). I wouldn't also say we are truely capitalist either but we have this bizarre inverted socialism where its rigged for the super rich, corporates and financials folks who are being gifted so many favours while the rest of us are in a globalized (not just EU) rat-race, so anything that rebalances is still a step in the right direction what ever it might be. In short- anything thats less worse. Its one almighty mess, but I am more optimistic now that a few years ago.

I actually first saw HPC 10 years ago, and although we still bought a house all the same it did give a different perspective on the 'they only go up' mantra and did influence how choice of how we bought despite the crash risks. 1. stretch to a house rather than a flat to minimise competition with the BLTers, and the need to move within 5 years 2. Keep saving for a 2nd deposit to use as hedge against negative equity (we would have to keep saving anyway if prices kept rising anyway while waiting) But HPC does offer that all important 'alt' view on house prices against the industry experts cheerleaders.

I will refrain from dwelling on the point we haven't actually left yet (!!!), but both sides don't really know what will happen so just guessing based on their pre-decided view. Remain said it would be economic cliff edge, and the leave said there is £350m a week to be freed up....would anyone believe either of these? In respects to the Guardian clinging on to the EU, I would guess they are hanging onto an outgoing world which includes them too, consider this: 1. printed papers are experience falling sales and relevance 2. The main stream media (TV or papers) are losing their direction of the 'public' debate 3. left-wing/SJW views on society are being openly being challenged and other 'alt' opinions now penetrating the public's thinking.

how ironic this should be in Italy.... http://money.visualcapitalist.com/currency-and-the-collapse-of-the-roman-empire/

I have also heard about restrictive clauses in new builds (otherwise freehold) where the owner is restricted from adding extensions or modifications without the building companies permission for several years after purchase which is just as stupid. It apparently can be negotiated away at the last minute before signing if you have nerves of steel and a good legal assistance.

I am amazed that leasehold has gone unoticed for this long really. Theres no need for houses to be leasehold at all (isnt 10 Downing St a leasehold house owned by the Duke of Westminster?), but flats do make sense if only the details were sorted out as common hold doesnt work as well as hoped.

Most people are surprised its 'only' 7% as they always guess much higher- but it might depend on how you compare 7% vs 93%. What most people who are Nimbysts forget they too are part of that population and they too occupy part of that 7%, and at some point their house was once-upon-a-time green fields, heathland forest etc. I suspect seeing something NEW within their lifetime being built that is part of the problem , while they are the beneficiary of their house once being a new build, but because they didnt see that happen at the time.

I have encountered that most NIMBY types cant appreciate that about 7% urban land use is just a small minority fraction, and its taken 5000 or so years to use up even this. If the population were to increase 16% from 60m to 70m the 7% at worst becomes 8% or so......hardly concreting our island over. Even more provocative is asking them was there before their house was built seems to irritate them even more...but its gotta be done!

I guess this was in part the 'post war consensus' that so of the boomers were influenced in their childhood. Forgive me as I was not alive then, but maybe my impression of it is really what the political classes thought it will be better, in what might have been called the "post war consensus"- ie "If we can plan for war we can plan for peace" mindset which only saw fruit in the 60s into the early 70s.

I doubt the 50s were actually better, but the sense of optimism must have been 1000% higher than now.