Britain stuck with high inflation, meagre growth..

[Mich the Tester]

Here in NL the government is trying all sorts of things to get the housing market going again. Although they're talking about limiting mortgage interest tax relief a little bit in the very long term, in the short to medium term they're extending it to cover losses from selling a house at a loss; that's to try and get people trading up while they have negative equity. House prices keep falling and fiscal stimulus isn't working because our government, the banks, the estate agents and the building industry have failed to grasp a couple of simple facts; we've got enough houses and we've got more than enough offices. We don't need any more buildings. Throw as much cheap money at us as you like, but it won't get spent on stuff we already have. The building industry is in for hard times, for a long time to come.

At the same time, health insurance costs have gone through the roof, food and fuel costs have risen significantly and disposable incomes have fallen a bit. Stimulate the housing market as much as you like, but if people don't want to buy houses they won't buy them and the prices will continue to fall.

[BlasterBates]

I'm rather surprised to find I have no material desires at all any more.



Does this mean I have all the toys I've ever wanted?

Scary.

me too, most important thing is an adequate supply of comfortable leather shoes.

[sasguru]

Seriously though I have been reading it, although not really understanding everything.
.

Nothing to understand - just some mediocre IT jobbers waffling on and on about topics they haven't got a clue about.

[Mich the Tester]

mediocre IT jobbers waffling on and on

Try saying that quickly. Ten times.

[Sysman]

In a small and very unscientific survey, just look at the people I work with. They're all between 25 and 45, earning twice average income or more, and what do they talk about doing with their money? Travelling, eating out, going to concerts or the theatre and buying gadgets. Around the dinner table, nobody says he wants a big house, in fact most say they don't care as long as they have a decent place to live.

I found that was true of many friends and colleagues in Europe back in the 80s. While everyone my own age in the UK was busy crippling themselves with mortgages, in Europe we were wining and dining, seeing concerts and doing 3 holidays abroad every year.

OK I lost out on the UK property market in that period, but I had a much better time than having to constantly juggle bills.

And saw a bit of the world too.

[Sysman]

Relative prices might change but are very unlikely to change dramatically.

Do you remember the coffee and sugar shortages in the seventies?

The prices of both products doubled within just a few months, and never came back down again.

[AtW]

Britannia will be just fine.

HTH

[AtW]

Do you remember the coffee and sugar shortages in the seventies?

There was NO coffee in Soviet Union

Sometimes no sugar either and it would take lack of vodka to cause civil unrest

[Robinho]

Do you remember the coffee and sugar shortages in the seventies?

The prices of both products doubled within just a few months, and never came back down again.

No because i wasn't alive. However, did the price of houses plummet because coffee was more expensive?

[Mich the Tester]

No because i wasn't alive. However, did the price of houses plummet because coffee was more expensive?

The price of houses went up and down because in the 1970s most people didn't have this strange idea of houses as a means to generate income or as an 'investment'; they saw them as boxes to live in.