dog Posted September 8, 2006 Share Posted September 8, 2006 During the last election Gordon Brown bribed pensioners with a one off payment to keep the thorny subject of soaring council taxes off the agenda. It was a cynical gesture which has not been repeated. More recently, public servants have been bought off with big pay rises and concessions on their pensions. The number of consultants and managers have exploded and now we have a police investigation into the appointment of labour peers. These 'jobs for the boys' have been paid for by massive tax rises. Why did the British public go on voting Tony back in? The answer is house prices. By engineering the biggest property bubble in history, Gordon made millions of home owners feel instantly rich. This bubble has been sustained by artificially low interest rates, a flood of immigrants and a steady stream of 'new paradym' theories from the ODPM and other VIs. We now have unsustainable private debt, runaway public spending, rising interest rates, rising unemployment and rising taxes. Right now we need good leadership as never before. And what do we have? A labour party at war with itself. If (or when) Gordon Brown takes office, the fighting will only get worse. The most depressing thing of all is the conservatives have lost their nerve and reinvented themselves as Blairites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neitherbullnorbear Posted September 8, 2006 Share Posted September 8, 2006 During the last election Gordon Brown bribed pensioners with a one off payment to keep the thorny subject of soaring council taxes off the agenda. It was a cynical gesture which has not been repeated. More recently, public servants have been bought off with big pay rises and concessions on their pensions. The number of consultants and managers have exploded and now we have a police investigation into the appointment of labour peers. These 'jobs for the boys' have been paid for by massive tax rises. Why did the British public go on voting Tony back in? The answer is house prices. By engineering the biggest property bubble in history, Gordon made millions of home owners feel instantly rich. This bubble has been sustained by artificially low interest rates, a flood of immigrants and a steady stream of 'new paradym' theories from the ODPM and other VIs. We now have unsustainable private debt, runaway public spending, rising interest rates, rising unemployment and rising taxes. Right now we need good leadership as never before. And what do we have? A labour party at war with itself. If (or when) Gordon Brown takes office, the fighting will only get worse. The most depressing thing of all is the conservatives have lost their nerve and reinvented themselves as Blairites. Clever the way he coordinated this surge in house prices with the rest of the world, especially after he handed over the IR decision making process to the BoE. Perhaps one eye is more clever than we thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PropertyGuru Posted September 8, 2006 Share Posted September 8, 2006 By engineering the biggest property bubble in history, Gordon made millions of home owners feel instantly rich. I've had a think about it and have decided that Gordy didn't 'engineer the biggest property bubble in history'. It just happened due to world events (free Japanese money, 9/11. etc) and Gordy got a free ride on it. His economic insight is on a par with that of my 3 legged guinea pig Mr Truffles - i.e. non-existant as Gordy so ably demonstrated by selling the UK's gold at 200 bucks an ounce when he first got his hands on the controls... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abaxas Posted September 8, 2006 Share Posted September 8, 2006 I've had a think about it and have decided that Gordy didn't 'engineer the biggest property bubble in history'. It just happened due to world events (free Japanese money, 9/11. etc) and Gordy got a free ride on it. His economic insight is on a par with that of my 3 legged guinea pig Mr Truffles - i.e. non-existant as Gordy so ably demonstrated by selling the UK's gold at 200 bucks an ounce when he first got his hands on the controls... Dont quote me here but John Major was chancellor then he took over from Maggie.......... Then we got Normal Lamont and we all know what happened there . Gordon Brown is currently the chancellor, he is going to take over from Tony Blair in a leadership contest.... We get Normal NuLamont then........we all know what will happens........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Potter Posted September 8, 2006 Share Posted September 8, 2006 Must admit I dont see how GB could rig house prices. House prices rise because: a: There is relatively full employment. b: The banks are relaxing lending criterea. c: Mortgages are more affordable due to lower interest rates (than historically). d: People perceive that property is an alternative to their fading pension plan. e: There is increased public interest in developing/speculating due to programmes such as Property Ladder. He may be responsible for many things but I doubt he has rigged the Housing market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dog Posted September 8, 2006 Author Share Posted September 8, 2006 Must admit I dont see how GB could rig house prices. House prices rise because: a: There is relatively full employment. b: The banks are relaxing lending criterea. c: Mortgages are more affordable due to lower interest rates (than historically). d: People perceive that property is an alternative to their fading pension plan. e: There is increased public interest in developing/speculating due to programmes such as Property Ladder. He may be responsible for many things but I doubt he has rigged the Housing market. a: We have relatively full employment because Gordon is funded 4 million new jobs with tax payer's money. Real employment is falling and we have lost 1 million manufacturing jobs over the past 8 years. b: Through the Boe, the government has responsibility to ensure that banks do not lend recklessly. c: Interest rates would be much higher if a more honest inflation formula was used. d: Agreed e: Agreed He did not start the house bubble but he could have stopped it at any time (as he once promised to do). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp1 Posted September 8, 2006 Share Posted September 8, 2006 Must admit I dont see how GB could rig house prices. House prices rise because: a: There is relatively full employment. b: The banks are relaxing lending criterea. c: Mortgages are more affordable due to lower interest rates (than historically). d: People perceive that property is an alternative to their fading pension plan. e: There is increased public interest in developing/speculating due to programmes such as Property Ladder. He may be responsible for many things but I doubt he has rigged the Housing market. I'm of the opinion that Brown didnt start off with deliberate plan to engineer housing bubble, rather he & Balls stumbled across it in 2001, then realised that using house price inflation as a vector to channel debt into the economy, he could both keep the country happy [through the "feelgood factor"] and fuel the engine of his miracle with debt/printed money, in standard Keynesian style. Like all NuLabour policies, they are government engineered, market driven versions of old Labour ideas. Lets look at your list: a: There is relatively full employment. - Brown created millions of direct/indirect state employees b: The banks are relaxing lending criterea. - Encouraged by Brown, through his promise of "stability" [/color] c: Mortgages are more affordable due to lower interest rates (than historically). Thanks to accomodative inflation policies d: People perceive that property is an alternative to their fading pension plan - thanks to Brown making pensions worthless in his 1st act in office e: There is increased public interest in developing/speculating due to programmes such as Property Ladder. They see pensions as their pension, property is simple to understand. "Investors" like shopping Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dog Posted September 8, 2006 Author Share Posted September 8, 2006 I'm of the opinion that Brown didnt start off with deliberate plan to engineer housing bubble, rather he & Balls stumbled across it in 2001, then realised that using house price inflation as a vector to channel debt into the economy, he could both keep the country happy [through the "feelgood factor"] and fuel the engine of his miracle with debt/printed money, in standard Keynesian style. Like all NuLabour policies, they are government engineered, market driven versions of old Labour ideas. Lets look at your list: a: There is relatively full employment. - Brown created millions of direct/indirect state employees b: The banks are relaxing lending criterea. - Encouraged by Brown, through his promise of "stability" [/color] c: Mortgages are more affordable due to lower interest rates (than historically). Thanks to accomodative inflation policies d: People perceive that property is an alternative to their fading pension plan - thanks to Brown making pensions worthless in his 1st act in office e: There is increased public interest in developing/speculating due to programmes such as Property Ladder. They see pensions as their pension, property is simple to understand. "Investors" like shopping Nicely put! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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