Monday, October 17, 2011
How protests against inequality could affect the housing market
How protests against inequality could affect the housing market
People are getting ever more fed up with bail-outs that put banks and the wealthy above everyone else. That could lead to some nasty surprises when politicians are forced to act. John Stepek explains.
Posted by martingreen @ 09:34 AM (1373 views)
8 thoughts on “How protests against inequality could affect the housing market”
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Fameatlast says:
Vendors ALL need to have better business relations with their agents that don’t involve exaggeration, or undue praise for their properties. Descriptions need to be objective. A new order of ‘business dealings’ is needed. See ‘Secret Agent’ on Channel 4, for more.
mr g says:
Whilst these protests are morally right, many people, myself included, cannot support them because inevitably they will be taken over by a minority of anarchists or general trouble makers thereby destroying the credibility of the protest, witness the events in Rome this weekend.
If it could be organised, a run on a bank(s) by withdrawing money would be far more effective, the greedy barstewards would then take notice, as it is they are protected from the current futile protests by the forces of law and order and will continue to be in future.
drewster says:
mr g,
If you withdraw all your cash from the bank, where do you put it instead? Under the mattress? I’d rather have the bank look after it!
mr g says:
@Drewster
If I’m honest, I’ve got to agree with you.
However, something has got to be done to control the greed of the banks / bankers and the mega wealthy, even withdrawing your money for a day would send a message of intent to these people if done in sufficient numbers.
As I said in my earlier quote, occupations and sit ins are futile as most reasonable, thinking people will avoid them like the plague as they are organised by “professional” protestors and trouble makers who have time to waste and who have nothing in common with Joe Public of any political persuasion.
drewster says:
Well most of us are at work during the day, we haven’t the time to sit around and protest. Britain’s recent history of protests and marches doesn’t inspire much confidence either: Stop The War, Countryside Alliance, Brian Haw, etc. Politicians simply don’t listen to protesters.
You have to hit them where it hurts – your idea of a mass cash withdrawal would be effective. A general strike would do it too. The fundamental problem is nobody knows what the right answer is. What are we protesting for? I want lower house prices, but clearly it’s not a popular view with Daily Mail readers.
mr g says:
@Drewster
You can count me out of a general strike, it’s so passé and 1970’s.
Even though a large proportion of the population of the UK are more interested in Cheryl Cole and X Factor I doubt if most of them want a return to that decade!
What are we protesting for? A return to fairness is the simple answer.
drewster says:
Fairness isn’t always obvious though. Some people think it’s unfair for shops to buy goods cheaply and sell them on at a higher price. Some people think making any kind of profit is unfair. Some people think it’s unfair that nurses are paid less than the chief executives of tobacco companies. Some people think it’s unfair that people who bought cheap homes in the early 1990s got all that untaxed capital gain; whereas others think it’s unfair that the government wants to tax their capital gain. Fairness is very difficult to pin down.
mr g says:
@Drewster
I’ve got to agree with everything you say at 6.
IMHO people of all political persuasions have to come together, forget the tribalism of left and right wing views and work together to defeat the elites without violence. You don’t have to be a trade unionist or marxist to subscribe to the view that “union is strength”
As you say at 4, most of us are at work during the day so protests / sit ins are out of the question but if you have savings you still have leverage against the banks and financial “industry” (I hate that description) as I believe that savers are still in the majority over borrowers, therefore an organised campaign of mass cash withdrawal would make them sit up and think.
So who is going to organise a mass cash withdrawal or are we all too comfortable watching “reality” TV?