[Archived] Election

[Paul]

Made me smile on Saturday...........................parked outside the Swan with Two Necks, Chorley, two large, black Range Rovers all very shiny and clean. One was flying two St George's flags and carried large posters for UKIP. The registration number was EU 08 OUT

[JAL]

Unfortunately it is ingrained in our culture that houses are seen as an "investment" as well as a place to live. This has been true since the second world war but really took off in the 1980s when Thatcher bribed working-class people by virtually giving away council houses. The tax system has of course always been favourable towards property ownership (thankfully MIRAS was scrapped some years ago) but capital gains tax on the sale of a primary residence would be one good way of checking future house price rises.

Margeret Thatchers idea was an excellent one at the time for the council estaters as there was good value in it for the rentee of the time and the local authority. Now though that value has gone due to continued soring house prices, general escalating costs of living, squeezed or squashed wages and rising unemployment plus the non competitiveness due to overpaid shareholders and management teams.

Your Gordon the gopher has fuelled the rich jim over the past 13 years, leaving society not only distanced from one another in certain areas but hes also managed to create a new class in todays society namely the underclass.

We need someone with a pair of ###### to reign everyone in and bring back value and that closeness of society instead of fuelling the me, me and I's principally in the city of London and Westminster.

[thenodrog]

Understand your point yoda, whose right, whose wrong for me the UK housing market farce simply cannot continue and should be controlled so that people dont have to go to the @#/? banks for money to have a future were they owe more money for a lot, lot longer than say our generation - its simply not right!

The 'housing market farce' is all about supply and demand JAL. And thats that.

France is much more sparsely populated than the UK in comparison to the size of the country. The population growth within theses shores has simply exceeded housebuilding (and particularly so in certain areas) and therefore demand has risen. Immigration, child benefits, modern medicine has all contributed massively in the last 50 years. Goodness only knows how crowded we would be but for the very high levels of emmigration that we have seen in the same time span.

Your hatred of the banks is a little bizarre imo. Like many peoples hatred of the police. When we need them we are happy to use them.

I think his point was the error that Labour made in allowing fewer restrictions was one that the Tories have done and would do again.

You can't say that with any certainty. Thats just your own speculation.

Just because the very sick uninsured can get emergency treatment it means very little in a lot of situations.

On the contrary. It means they are following Darwins theory of evolution.

[thenodrog]

Unfortunately it is ingrained in our culture that houses are seen as an "investment" as well as a place to live. This has been true since the second world war but really took off in the 1980s when Thatcher bribed working-class people by virtually giving away council houses. The tax system has of course always been favourable towards property ownership (thankfully MIRAS was scrapped some years ago) but capital gains tax on the sale of a primary residence would be one good way of checking future house price rises.

You've ignored supply and demand too. People would given a choice still borrow up to the hilt on property. It's not the cost that ensnares people it's the commitment. That would not change. House prices wouldn't drop at all but instead the govt would get a cut. It would just be another stealth tax.

Can I asssume that you are basically advocating the old communist ideal of 'collective housing'? Blocks and blocks of those ugly cheap communist prefabs and tower blocks so prevalant in the old Warsaw pact countries.

[jim mk2]

People would given a choice still borrow up to the hilt on property.

Would they ? Given a choice I'm sure most people would say they would like to borrow as little as possible or, preferably, have no mortgage at all ! Borrowing "up to the hilt", or "gearing up" in financial parlance, only makes sense if prices are expected to rise because the gearing effect magnifies the gains. Supply and demand does have an effect on house prices but the tax system is still too favourable towards property investment compared to other sectors of the economy. Abolishing stamp duty (a tax on moving) would help movement in the property market and replacing it with capital gains tax (a legitimate tax on unearned gains and not a "stealth tax") could help to stem future house price rises, curb the activities of property speculators and would help to rebalance the economy.

[broadsword]

Front page of the Express today (not that I bought it, just had a glance in the newsagents - honest):

"House prices set to soar - interest rates to stay low"

Jeez, that's all I need. Hopuse prices are totally out of kilter with the earnings of teh average joe, something has got to give in the end.

[yoda]

Margeret Thatchers idea was an excellent one at the time for the council estaters as there was good value in it for the rentee of the time and the local authority. Now though that value has gone due to continued soring house prices, general escalating costs of living, squeezed or squashed wages and rising unemployment plus the non competitiveness due to overpaid shareholders and management teams.

Your Gordon the gopher has fuelled the rich jim over the past 13 years, leaving society not only distanced from one another in certain areas but hes also managed to create a new class in todays society namely the underclass.

We need someone with a pair of ###### to reign everyone in and bring back value and that closeness of society instead of fuelling the me, me and I's principally in the city of London and Westminster.

Back to my question,

Why did you buy your house JAL?

[berkshireblue]

Are you being deliberately obtuse?

I actually wrote...

This was a policy developed by Brown's economic mentor, Alan Greenspan in the US. Greenspan has since said he was wrong and apologised. This policy was one of the main reasons there was a credit crunch.

Greenspan developed the policy of low interest rates in order to fuel the housing market, he said, it gave the economy "a feel good factor". One of Greenspan's most avid followers was Gordon Brown, who met Greenspan many times on his trips to New England. All of this is chronicled in Alan Greenspan's autobiography, The Age of Turbulence.

Subsequently housing costs were not included in the Bank of England's inflation measure resulting in an overheated market here and record levels of personal debt.

I just get the feeling that if a Tory government had developed this policy you would be attacking it!

Gordon Brown's period as Chancellor has been a disaster.When he was in opposition he stated that " a weak currency is a sign of a weak government". Well sterling has lost 25% of it's value since Lehman Brothers, so the rest of the world hasn't got much confidence in UK plc, has it?

He s not obtuse Wiggy just a blinkered socialist

[JAL]

The 'housing market farce' is all about supply and demand JAL. And thats that.

France is much more sparsely populated than the UK in comparison to the size of the country. The population growth within theses shores has simply exceeded housebuilding (and particularly so in certain areas) and therefore demand has risen. Immigration, child benefits, modern medicine has all contributed massively in the last 50 years. Goodness only knows how crowded we would be but for the very high levels of emmigration that we have seen in the same time span.

Your hatred of the banks is a little bizarre imo. Like many peoples hatred of the police. When we need them we are happy to use them.

Hatred of the banks is too strong a term Theno, maybe contempt or dislike having been suckered into several schemes endownments x3, saving schemes, cash ISA's to be told you get this when the actual return has been far far less whilst theres been no continual updates to changes to these policies has left me a bitter man towards the banks.

The UK housing market highlights the banks canny financial traps being set in place to the unsuspecting public.

Raising house prices driving individuals to borrow far more money than they should so that they end up paying the banks a lot of money for a long, long, period of time, for me isnt ethical, fair, or in the interests of this countries short, mid and long term future no matter what the supply and demand is.

[JAL]

Back to my question,

Why did you buy your house JAL?

Ive never rented a house in my life, nor have my parents thats just the way its been, I, dont see my house as collateral for a future business its a home to enjoy and live in.

[Clitherover]

Don't know if anyone's seen this already but there's a more widescale poll for the election on this site. Seems Lib Dems are quite a way ahead in Popularity.

[yoda]

Ive never rented a house in my life, nor have my parents thats just the way its been, I, dont see my house as collateral for a future business its a home to enjoy and live in.

You can rent a home to enjoy and live in, so why buy when you can rent, you could have saved the deposit money.

You must have a preference to buy over renting, I was just asking why but you side stepped the question.

[only2garners]

I agree with his post because it is 100% true i dont see why that conflicts with my voting habits ? Im sure your not stupid enough to fall into the trap of thinking all BNP voters are racist are you ?

I think you need to spend a bit more time reading about the BNP's policies.I find it almost impossible to believe that anyone who is not a racist could seriously vote for the BNP if they had looked at their policies rather than listening to a few of nasty Nick's soundbites.

[philipl]

I see this bandied about, but I don't believe it to be true. Hospitals are forbidden to turn away the very sick, even without insurance, which is one of the reason that their budgets are under tremendous pressure.

It also fails to account for the many medical professionals who treat people (such as my uncle), and gives them samples, etc. when they don't have insurance to pay for the medication.

Looking at the statistics, I doubt that your picture of the American health system is accurate.

Andrew Sullivan has been a liberal more than a conservative for several years now. He still coasts on the conservative crediential, however, as it gets him press.

I took the test you suggested and pretended to be English. I came out BNP, UKIP and Conservative. I'm not sure how accurate it is, however, as the questions were fairly general and nuances aren't likely to come through. In the US, I consider myself a conservative-libertarian, or libertarian-conservative, depending on the issue.

Nate Silver is amazingly good. But his best work is just prior to an election, both (IMO) as the data is fresher and because he has more of an incentive to suppress his biases.

Good luck with your election. From what I've seen you don't have much in the way of good choices. Much like our last one.

Some interesting comments here.

On health care, the American system is completely rubbish. Utterly ridiculously expensive at 16% GDP to produce results that would get NHS Trust CEOs fired for poor healthcare outcomes.

Sullivan has remained conservative- the American right has fallen off planet earth.

"I came out BNP, UKIP and Conservative" and I bet you are considered middle of the road over there.

No good choices in the American election? You probably elected one of the greatest Presidents in your history. Wish we had Obama over here but glad he's on the much bigger stage in America.

[Steve Moss]

"I came out BNP, UKIP and Conservative" and I bet you are considered middle of the road over there.

No good choices in the American election? You probably elected one of the greatest Presidents in your history. Wish we had Obama over here but glad he's on the much bigger stage in America.

I'll respectfully disagree with you about President Obama and leave it at that.

As to my being middle of the road, that depends on the issue. I am to the right of Attila the Hun on some issues (national defense, for example) and liberal on others (I could care less if gays are allowed to marry but I am very much pro life).

I didn't like the test that labelled me BNP, UKIP or Conservative, not because of the results but because of the questions. For example, the fact that I am concerned about immigration and want to control the border does not mean I am opposed to immigration. I want to know, and control, who goes in and out of our country. Whether we then let a single immigrant or 10 million makes no difference to me, so long as they are participating in society (paying taxes and not selling drugs would be a very good start).

[American]

No good choices in the American election? You probably elected one of the greatest Presidents in your history. Wish we had Obama over here but glad he's on the much bigger stage in America.

If great=saying he wasn't going to do things and then going and doing them (i.e. being a liar), along with putting us in the ###### debt wise, then you're right (and I voted for him).

[broadsword]

Seriously worrying:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/election/article-1271457/General-Election-2010-Postal-vote-fraud-amid-fears-bogus-voters-swing-election.html

They shouldn't have introduced postal voting unless there was a rigorous way of ensuring that all votes were genuine.

Some dumb cow of a Labour MP is being investigated by police after revealing a sample of postal votes on twitter.

The Times is reporting that Labour is planning to introduce legislation in the next parliament to stop cheating in postal voting - very handy, shame they didn't think of it earlier.

Labour warned by electoral commission: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/feb/23/labour-postal-voting-glasgow-north-east

Labour has previous: http://www.libdemvoice.org/tower-hamlets-labour-activist-investigated-over-postal-vote-fraud-16086.html

You have to worry for the integrity of the electoral system. very naughty.

[BiggusLaddus]

Journalist attacked while investigating postal vote fraud.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-first-punch-came-landing-on-my-nose-sending-blood-down-my-face-1961464.html

Policew investigating as postal vote results released on Twitter by candidate.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/29/labour-candidate-apologises-twitter-vote

Not that it is new...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4406575.stm

High court judge on that case - "Anybody who has sat through the case I have just tried and listened to evidence of electoral fraud that would disgrace a banana republic would find this statement surprising."

[thenodrog]

No good choices in the American election? You probably elected one of the greatest Presidents in your history.

How on earth can you say that after such a short time?

[thenodrog]

You can rent a home to enjoy and live in, so why buy when you can rent, you could have saved the deposit money.

You must have a preference to buy over renting, I was just asking why but you side stepped the question.

I'd assume JAL bought a house cos for those buying over the past couple of generations property has been the best and safest investment.

[Wiggy]

The 'housing market farce' is all about supply and demand JAL. And thats that.

.

That's only apart of the story Drog and probably the minor part. There has been a shortage of housing in the UK for decades. The main issue was the supply and demand of money. Witness Ireland and Southern Spain where houses have been built,bought up and unoccupied over the last decade. Interest rates have been far too low for too long, banks have let people borrow stupid amounts of money and created a virtual Ponsi scheme. When the house of cards finally collapsed one commentator said that the downturn in the Costa del Sol was so massive that they would be giving away villas with four gallons of petrol soon. LOL.

Here in the UK the B of E was charged with keeping a lid on inflation by using interest rates alone. If they are then told to ignore housing in their calculations then inflation is inevitable.

Once the supply of money dries up lower prices are bound to follow. Here in the UK £200,000,000,000

worth of quantatative easing (printing money)has led to some recovery from the big drops 2007-2009. This is one reason why sterling has become 2nd or 3rd division (it may even be relegated again on Friday morning!).

Anyway, it still won't stop some board members from hailing the ex Chancellor (and soon to be ex PM) as some sort of economic genius.

[jim mk2]

for those buying over the past couple of generations property has been the best and safest investment.

Not for those who suffered negative equity and were forced to hand in the keys to their homes after the Tory inspired property slumps of the early 1970s and 1989 - 1992. The best investment trusts investing in international stock markets have beaten property over most periods you care to name.

[cletus]

I`ve seen lots of BIG posters all over Blackburn with a woman called Bushra on them. They`ve obviously spent lots of money on promoting her. I`ve also had a couple of nice glossy leaflets with her face on pushed through my door.

There`s one or two things that worry me about this woman. One of the leaflets i read said she`d resigned from the LibDems in Sheffield cos she`d been told she had a good chance of getting elected in Blackburn & the LibDems already had a candidate there. Another thing that caught my eye was her 'workshops' with the public only seem to be in the the asian parts of town.

I`m not being racist or trying to start a racist debate, but i get the impression that this Bushra woman will only be representing one part of the town`s population......if she managed to get in.

[thenodrog]

Not for those who suffered negative equity and were forced to hand in the keys to their homes after the Tory inspired property slumps of the early 1970s and 1989 - 1992. The best investment trusts investing in international stock markets have beaten property over most periods you care to name.

Really? And how about the worst ones?

As far as 89-92 is concerned it can be seen retrospectively as a short downward blip on a long upward graph and anybody who owned a property still saw a further growth in it's value within a year or two.

[thenodrog]

I`ve seen lots of BIG posters all over Blackburn with a woman called Bushra on them. They`ve obviously spent lots of money on promoting her. I`ve also had a couple of nice glossy leaflets with her face on pushed through my door.

There`s one or two things that worry me about this woman. One of the leaflets i read said she`d resigned from the LibDems in Sheffield cos she`d been told she had a good chance of getting elected in Blackburn & the LibDems already had a candidate there. Another thing that caught my eye was her 'workshops' with the public only seem to be in the the asian parts of town.

I`m not being racist or trying to start a racist debate, but i get the impression that this Bushra woman will only be representing one part of the town`s population......if she managed to get in.

Two sides to her glossy pamphlet. Front page dressed in western attire a nice pink suit and pearls and without her head covered and the back page dressed in traditional Indian style with head covered and indian gold. Covering all options I'd suggest.

Not without a bit of cheek either with her face rather amateurishly superimposed on the Statue of Liberty. Not sure what thats about. She prob mistakenly thought it was Brittania.