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House Price Crash Forum

Pindar

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Posts posted by Pindar

  1. 1 hour ago, Unmoderated said:

    He removed all political opposition and that's how he became a dictator. He wasn't elected a dictator. 

    There was in fact a large minority in support of the communists and Hitler was wary of this arguing in a famous speech that although he'd got rid of the communists (bad) he'd also abolished all the other parties. 

    Where is this happening in the UK right now?

    Hitler attained power in March 1933, after the Reichstag adopted the Enabling Act of 1933 in that month, giving expanded authority. 

    The bit about expanded authority (covid legislation passed a year ago) is basically suspending years of parliamentary traditions and rubber stamping mandates and restrictions with little or no debate. So while the UK might not have declared itself as an out and out dictatorship, it's been apparent to many that it's heading in a worrying direction, particularly as the government seems to be in no hurry to relinquish their new powers. I hope I'm wrong but like post 911, powers were meant to be temporary, I suspect many of the powers acquired in the last year will never be relinquished, particularly freedom of assembly, freedom of movement and association. 

  2. 2 minutes ago, sPinwheel said:

    Well, we were quick to ignore the £22billion contract awarded to Dido Harding, (yes BILLION) on a NHS Track and Trace that doesn't work.

    £2.6m is a drop in the ocean for these corruptioids...

    Yeah and that's the publicly stated budget. In reality it will likely double or triple that figure and suck vast sums away from actual healthcare. Corruption knows no bounds. 

  3. 1 minute ago, Unmoderated said:

    It's a leap to go from a democratically elected government that can be booted out at the next election to an authoritarian fascist state. For clarity fascism is "dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy".

    ...

     

    Forgive me if I'm wrong but is that not how Hitler became dictator? He won a democratic election and used various acts to transform Germany into a dictatorship, including the use of fear based propaganda and the threat of communism after the burning of the Reichstag, which was blamed on a communist. 

  4. Had a heat pump for 10 years now in different houses. TBH the only complaint about noise was when using it as air conditioning since people sit outside in the summer and have their windows and doors open. Modern heat pumps are efficient down to around -20 which is pretty uncommon in blighty. 

  5. Not sure if the incentive to have a bolt hole in the sun is quite the same as it once was. Given how people came to take cheap air travel for granted and seeing how quickly it can all be brought to a halt, I'd imagine people with any sense would put spare money into other things like home improvements or second homes in the UK. For some though, having the money for a first home is the problem and second homes are a first world problem. For some, it would make more sense to work remotely on a permanent basis in some other location or country, now that remote working has opened up to a much bigger set of the working population. 

  6. 4 hours ago, Badhairday said:

    I'm curious as to why no data has been released on the numbers of applications from Hong kongers to immigrate to the UK. It's been 10 days - they should have some information as to the level of take up. Are they keeping it quiet from the Chinese authorities?

    Presumably it's related to the ongoing crisis. The last thing the government wants is people accusing them of hypocrisy when our own people aren't allowed to travel. 

  7. 13 minutes ago, steve99 said:

    Very good for the UK as the Hong Kong monied classes are very good at property speculation and hoarding. Just look at Vancouver, Sydney and a few other cities they have taken an interest in.

    I think it should put the cat among the pigeons but at least they are likely to buy with real money, unlike the BTL brigade. Who knows, perhaps opium dens will make a comeback. 

  8. Rent seeking to supplement a subsistence level state pension is a symptom of a broken system, obviously. If you were to go back to pre industrial life, the elderly and those unable to work would either have perished or been looked after by their offspring.

     

    Average life expectancy has increased since then but the ability of the "free market" is still unable to sustain all of the elderly in a way that's both dignified and cost effective. I don't blame boomers for realising this and attempting to take it into their own hands.

    If they hadn't then the state would have been forced to step in and if the British state is anything to go by, it would not be pretty. 

    You could argue that bitcoin is, in a way, the result of a handful of smart people attempting to react to the same inability and refusal of a corrupt system to more equitably run the financial system. 

    All these systems are based on pure self interest and there is, unfortunately, no magic benefactor to wave a magic wand and correct all the imbalances. The result will be a slow motion meltdown and ever more desperate attempts by the existing power structures to maintain the status quo. 

  9. The influx from Hong Kong will add a dynamism and intelligence that will be needed to a) reconstruct the British economy after the economic destruction wrought by the pandemic and b) generate the tax receipts necessary to pay all the UBI to people who've lost their livelihoods due to the pandemic and ever increasing automation. It might also increase demand for HMOs. Britain probably seems like a kind of land of opportunity to people coming from densely populated Hong Kong. 

  10.  

    They always say the market collapses after the last Bear turns Bull. Is this forum the last Bear?

    This will end in disaster one way or the other.

    Everything goes up and continues to go up causing vast wealth disparities, huge unemployment and civil unrest with anyone bragging about the gains from Bitcoin ripped apart by the jealous mob.

    It all pops, the whole lot. Confidence that is now at all time highs, is shown to be the Emperor’s new clothes, and the single biggest asset crash in history destroys the wealth of those who have speculated.

    I am completely on the fence as to what will happen. I have been trying to buy a house, but various events stopped me. Now, I have a different perspective on things than most. I have a strong Christian faith and pray before any big decision. Each time I have done this, things have come up that have stopped me buying a house. The same has happened with Bitcoin and some other speculative transactions I was going to make on the stock market. Now, it may be that these moves would have resulted n me being much more wealthy, but I am at peace with missing out on that if I am living a life that is in line with God’s will. I have come to realise that craving wealth, even craving security, is not righteous behaviour.

    Agree 100% 

  11.  

    While I don’t think bitcoin is intended to be a means of quelling rebellion in Millennials it plays a role in doing so.  I personally think it’s a Casio and see twenty somethings playing the bitcoin slots as day traders.  They are looking a charts but not asking the fundamental questions.  

    Yes, it's definitely a casino in the purest sense. At least the stock market, with its apparent detachment from reality, is based, in most cases, on real businesses which generate revenue etc. 

  12.  

    Society and the economy is set up to keep everyone working until 68

    It’s that way they can support the old in retirement and pay loads of taxes to keep the real wrong-uns off the streets with benefits etc 

    and they can be kept off the streets, kept from rioting, kept in control basically. 

    you also don’t want a population educated in economics, and the truth that most people day to day life is all that they are allowed and can ever have. 

    it’s also why soo many morons love football it’s just bread and circuses. 

    we live in a world with so much technology that only a small % of humans actually need to work, we could all have houses at the cost of construction etc, have huge leisure time etc. 

    high house prices is just a mechanism of control over the populace. if it were not high house prices it would be something else, but houses are pretty perfect for control as shelter is a basic human need. 

    the thing with economics is that once people understand it they no longer accept that all they can have in life is death at your desk at 68, that’s why relatively easy jobs in finance is worth so much. 

    If you can sit and talk to your boss about the slides you have just done on the real rate of inflation instead of the reported rate of inflation, you are not going to sit there and accept a slightly above the reported rate of inflation pay rise, your just going to slide the printed off slides over the table showing the real rate and say ‘let’s be honest Pete, I will take the real rate of inflation plus 0.5% for my good work’ 

    while the average mug inn factory has no idea that inflation is running at closer to 10% and they walk away happy with their effective -5% pay cut for the year, goes home and they have a beer over the rise, then get a huge shock at the big electric bill and shout at the kids as it must be their fault, and wonder why they can never win

    meanwhile mr banker has found that Porsche have crashed in price vrs their wages and tootle by me factory workers house thinking ‘what a shithole’ 

     

    I agree. I also think bitcoin was created as a means of quelling meaningful rebellion among millennials and those who missed the property boat. It's offering a canny few the opportunity of "money for nothing" , similar to the boomers and their bricks and mortar mantra. The almost scripted and unconditional recommendations of "buy buy buy" for crypto has a familiar ring to it and smacks of social engineering where the heroes are Satoshi and Musk instead of Kirsty and Phil, together with the same insane ramping and blatant price manipulation by whales etc. Real investing and financial sense is unfortunately not taught in schools. To coin an Internet cliche, "generating multiple income streams online" is not a zero sum game and any worthwhile investment or business takes effort. 

  13. Ironically, those heavily "invested" in bitcoin and gold spout about it being inflation proof but have they considered that if there is real hyperinflation or economic disruption that their assets will buy proportionately less in the real world as real prices escalate. There's also the threat of cyber attacks, loss of Internet and inability to swap assets for useable currency. 

    On the economy in general, isn't it true that anything of any value has already been effectively price fixed to maintain its real world value - in other words, the confluence of wage levels, interest rates and selective availability of credit all conspire to ensure that the average punter has no escape from lifelong serfdom? Whoever controls the credit taps has total control over house "values". 

    What really matters is your time and the amount of it you can say is yours , not how big your house or car is or how exotic your next holiday

  14.  

    I generally agree with this, the one exception is bounce back loans, they have been poring money into god knows what - mostly property I suspect which explains this years rise.

    On the other hand lots of people have been made redundant, salary reduction and furlough so this would be deflationary, no?

    Maybe an upcoming supply shock will do it (Covid container crisis and China power shutdown from lack of Australian coal).

    It's a precarious situation and I have considered deflation as a possibility . Could be turning Japanese?

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