Question for Ferret

[Bagpuss]

I think a few people will find a surprise with house prices after the Tories get in. I believe that HIPS is having a seriously negative effect, and thankfully they have vowed to abolish this silly expensive bureacracy.

Lower interest rates next year plus hyper inflation could actually have a very positive inpact in pushing house prices upwards within 2-3 years, coupled with Tory policies.

Time will tell, but the problem with being out of the market is that you could miss the boat.

So you are looking forward to the Tories creating a New Labour type boom? Exactly the thing they shouldn't be doing, and hopefully won't. House prices NEED to come down not continue to rise.

[DimPrawn]

House prices can only go up. Everyone knows that.

Or at least that's what "Location Location New Life on a Property Ladder House in the Sun under a Hammer" was saying every evening on BBC, ITV, CH4, CH5, SKY for the last 10 years.

[TheBigYinJames]

So you are looking forward to the Tories creating a New Labour type boom? Exactly the thing they shouldn't be doing, and hopefully won't. House prices NEED to come down not continue to rise.

It's tempting to think that getting Labour out will bring an era of change and stability. I suppose it's doubly easy when you're only in your 20s and don't really remember the last Tory govt - in its final days it was as stupid and corrupt as this one is - that's a symptom of being in power for too long.

Most of the problem is a world recession. Labour can't really help much with that because it's spent all its money on foreign wars and doesn't have any leeway to ease the tax burden in areas which could help keep our economy halfway fluid (like lowering fuel duty, which would help all areas of the economy)

So while it may be cathartic to 'punish' Labour by ousting them at the next election (almost inevitable) it's also unrealistic to think that the plastic Tories in the shadow cabinet now will be able to do anything much except handwave until the world recession eases up.

[rootsnall]

Beware the dreaded carrot fly...

Nightmare and undefeatable in an enclosed garden. I've read that you need a large open space in your garden ( ie. like a farmers field ) to stand any chance, I've now got one and will give it a whirl next year !

[DimPrawn]

Most of the problem is a world recession. Labour can't really help much with that because it's spent all its money on foreign wars and doesn't have any leeway to ease the tax burden in areas which could help keep our economy halfway fluid (like lowering fuel duty, which would help all areas of the economy)
.

Public sector waste
Quangoes
External consultants
Benefits system
Unworkable IT systems
Civil servants
Fiddling expenses for MP's
Housing illegals
NHS waste
Ruining the education system
etc

[TheBigYinJames]

Public sector waste
Quangoes
External consultants
Benefits system
Unworkable IT systems
Civil servants
Fiddling expenses for MP's
Housing illegals
NHS waste
Ruining the education system
etc

All those too, but every govt has wasted money on those forever, so it's a fixed cost. Where our 'war chest' has gone is the real reason the exchequer has no money to ease the pain of recession.

[Bagpuss]

It's tempting to think that getting Labour out will bring an era of change and stability. I suppose it's doubly easy when you're only in your 20s and don't really remember the last Tory govt - in its final days it was as stupid and corrupt as this one is - that's a symptom of being in power for too long.

Most of the problem is a world recession. Labour can't really help much with that because it's spent all its money on foreign wars and doesn't have any leeway to ease the tax burden in areas which could help keep our economy halfway fluid (like lowering fuel duty, which would help all areas of the economy)

So while it may be cathartic to 'punish' Labour by ousting them at the next election (almost inevitable) it's also unrealistic to think that the plastic Tories in the shadow cabinet now will be able to do anything much except handwave until the world recession eases up.

Of course, interest rates will be determined by the state of the world economy and inflation therefore sucked into the domestic one. Cyberman lives in a Cloud Cuckoo land where the Tories create an economic wonderland by inflating the (already highly inflated) economy while simultaneously controlling inflation.

This wasn't the medicine Nigel Lawson was advocating last night on Newsnight. I think Cyberman is in for shock, the days of easy and free money are over.

[sasguru]

Nothing much will change, whoever is in power, as far as boom and bust is concerned. The problem is cultural rather than anything else - we are a short-term culture, unlike, say, the Germans.
As sure as eggs is eggs there will be another housing boom. And I intend to take full advantage of it as I did the last one.

[TheBigYinJames]

Nothing much will change, whoever is in power, as far as boom and bust is concerned. The problem is cultural rather than anything else - we are a short-term culture, unlike, say, the Germans.
As sure as eggs is eggs there will be another housing boom. And I intend to take full advantage of it as I did the last one.

I'm hoping for 2 years of depressed housing, that should give me enough time to save enough money to buy that smallholding just as they start to rise again. When I bought our current house i did the same thing in the last down dip inthe late 90s, which is why I have a tiny mortgage which is almost paid off now.

[TimberWolf]

Public sector waste
Quangoes
External consultants
Benefits system
Unworkable IT systems
Civil servants
Fiddling expenses for MP's
Housing illegals
NHS waste
Ruining the education system
etc

Just about anything they've touched.