Fairyland Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 Quote What makes a right a right? Universal secondary schooling, for example, was a controversial proposal, vociferously debated in its day. Prior to its introduction, children were expected to work – and opponents of the changes were insistent that altering this would be to bend the wills of fate: the market would no longer truly be free – and in any case, children were just responding to the laws of supply and demand. They wouldn’t be working unless they wanted the money. Sound familiar? Just think for a moment what the state of play might be if Britain was a place with free state housing for all. Like a free education, it would be based on the idea that every child in Britain has a right to prosper, or even to just get by. People have the right to sleep at night, free from the fear or actuality of cold, abuse, or prostitution. Of course, like those lords opposing universal education in the 1870s, people may scream murder about the free market Utopian thinking: Free housing should be a universal right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamnumerate Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 Free housing where is the question? Also wouldn't that cause mass immigration here? If when I was a teenager Germany or France had had free housing for all, I would have gone to live there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btd1981 Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 Maybe they're worried that it would 'de-motivate' the work force? That said, back in the south east my genuinely degree level job wouldn't be enough to buy me a house from a retired window cleaner, so the current system is barely working in that regard anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spyguy Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 Where's my free house? Chelsea? Or Blythe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bland Unsight Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 4 hours ago, spyguy said: Where's my free house? Chelsea? Or Blythe? Knowing your love (or rather our shared mutual admiration) of all things Gordon Brown, he did actually set out to achieve free housing for lots of people. owner-occupiers on interest-only mortgages were going to get free houses as HPI gradually reduced their LTV and increased their equity, so that houses paid for themselves renters in receipt of benefits got free housing (but the housing allowance was handed over buy-to-let landlords to help them service their interest-only mortgages) The only people who didn't get magic free housing were mortgaged owner-occupiers on repayment mortgages or private renters paying their rent with earnings. Maybe if we try the free houses thing again we can try and do it without the hundreds of billions of pounds of high-LTV interest-only lending? It would also be nice if this time round the plan included people mad enough to both work for a living and expect to pay for the things that they want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knock out johnny Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 6 hours ago, spyguy said: Where's my free house? Chelsea? Or Blythe? Hit the nail on the head Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlokeInDurham Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 If you had something along the lines of a Citizens' Income funded by a land tax (so that the a person in the nationally average house would be paying exactly their CI back in land tax, nett neutral), you would not need to worry about physical houses. Everyone would be entitled to a "house worth" of value to do as they wished. You could pay extra and get a posh house in Chelsea, live in Blyth and get extra cash, or live as a travelling minstrel with your entire CI to spend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamnumerate Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 14 minutes ago, hotairmail said: I don't think he has. The question that has to be asked is why are some towns richer than others. What is it about the way we run the economy that results in the greatest differences across the country in the whole of Europe. And by a very long way. The point is, it shouldn't really matter where your 'free' house is located. I can't imagine how all houses are of equal worth, ones with a nice view etc will always be worth more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayward Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 I dont want or expect a free house....all I ask is that the state stops distorting the market to benefit the rich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knock out johnny Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 19 minutes ago, hotairmail said: I don't think he has. The question that has to be asked is why are some towns richer than others. What is it about the way we run the economy that results in the greatest differences across the country in the whole of Europe. And by a very long way. The point is, it shouldn't really matter where your 'free' house is located. Rich people like to live near rich people - they feel safer (whether they are or not is another discussion) Poor people would like to live near rich people also - they can't (unless gov handouts distort the market) Rich people price out poor people to live in the rich areas - rich areas get richer That's why you have rich pockets spread around the country (although admittedly they become rarer the further you get from the SE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spyguy Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 40 minutes ago, hotairmail said: I don't think he has. The question that has to be asked is why are some towns richer than others. What is it about the way we run the economy that results in the greatest differences across the country in the whole of Europe. And by a very long way. The point is, it shouldn't really matter where your 'free' house is located. Oh I used to know why places were more expensive. When i cam down from the north to work in the thames valley people earned more. A shop girl in the north earned half the money. Ditto office workers and the likes. A financial services offered lots of high paying jobs. Now theres no difference. Previously high paying areas are now all on tax credits and public sector wages. Theres nothing other than low is, high benefits and monentum keeping high prices fir places in the South. I get shouted down in the othervplaces se ghanes valley threads - but uts true!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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