Households on 'money knife-edge'

[eternalnomad]

Well if you live there or work in it, then it is yours. If you don't then it is up for anyone who has need of it.

Say you have a farm, if you work or live on the farm then it is yours, if you just own it and someone else works it, then that is theft. You are stealing the product of his efforts.

what if you have a farm and you are doing rather well, so well in fact that you need more land.

The farmer next door has been ill for a few weeks and therefore could not claim to be "working his land" - does this give you the right to now own his land on the basis that he hasnt worked it for a while ?

Who decides what period of "not working it" counts as valid before the lands is up for grabs for anyone to use ?

Lets say that this situation occurs several times per year in an area, causing much upset and argument every time it does so. The local wisemen (and women and those that havent yet decided) get together and agree that "non-worked land is land that hasnt been worked for 6 months or more"

So they pass a COMMON LAW to that fact (or locally accepted agreement which amounts to the same thing)....and there we are back at square one with a system of COMMON LAW which in time will quickly expand to cover all manner things

[expat]

The local wisemen (and women and those that havent yet decided) get together and agree that "non-worked land is land that hasnt been worked for 6 months or more"

So they pass a COMMON LAW to that fact (or locally accepted agreement which amounts to the same thing)....and there we are back at square one with a system of COMMON LAW which in time will quickly expand to cover all manner things

That's not Common Law, that is a gang with a common purpose.

"Common Law" is an oxymoron anyway.

[sasguru]

and that was an economics broadcast by the failed contractor techie who moved into the permy world of management - nice one.

Milan.

Stay in .NOT or not? I hope your Plan B is good, you'll need it.

[Lucifer Box]

I'm disgusted.

In which case you should be beheaded.

[Spartacus]

Que Spartacus

You rang?

[Fungus]

I don't see that many people will have financial problems in the near future. That sort of thing happens when people over extend themselves, and an economic gremlin awakes. In the past it's been unemployment, sudden and rapid increases in interest rates, and a crash in a housing bubble. We currently have considerable stability through-out the world. This is not due to Flash Gordon, though BofE independence helps, but it's a world phenomenon. We seem to be less dependent on oil prices, and globalisation seems to stabilise things.

Many economists think that people are not borrowing unduly large amounts.

Now if the gov. restricted immigration to sensible levels, then we would have less unemployment, but we would also see the housing bubble burst as it is currently being sustained only by a shortage of housing.

I say restrict immigration and let the over-extended gets suffer, have their houses re-possessed, house prices tumble, than I can buy a house cheap. Suits me nicely.

[stackpole]

You don't need to be an economist to know that debt is bad.

You need adequate brains though.

[Fungus]

You don't need to be an economist to know that debt is bad.

You need adequate brains though.

Well actually debt has driven the consumer boom of the last 10 years or so in the UK and the US. It has helped drive the economy. Excessive debt is bad, as seen in Japan for the last decade or so.

[OwlHoot]

You don't need to be an economist to know that debt is bad.

You need adequate brains though.

It isn't bad if you can put the money to good use and end up with more when the debt is repaid than you would have made with only your money.

[stackpole]

Well actually debt has driven the consumer boom of the last 10 years or so in the UK and the US. It has helped drive the economy. Excessive debt is bad, as seen in Japan for the last decade or so.

If you drive a consumer boom with increasing debt, it can only have one ending.

(edit) I should have added: the longer the boom, the worse the ending