Labour bets the house with pledge to outspend Tories

[SpikeMac]

We need to stop spending money that we haven't got.

 

If we do that, the economy will certainly collapse.

 

Got a better idea?

[mossdog]

Sorry, is it National Pedants day or something?

 

Let me reword my last sentence:

 

"Until then, some affordable housing, or decent roads, or new railways, or urban regeneration projects, or similar socially useful projects would be nice."

 

Sorry if that appears a bit clumsy:rolleyes:

It would be nice!...........but that's going to involve a lot more Q E and borrowing! Governments already operate a giant "Ponzi" scheme,shouldn't we be thinking about making do for a few years.Generally speaking ,people have enough stuff in their houses to last for the next five years without needing to go down the High Street or Meadowhall to replace stuff from the Chinese emporiums...............mind you where would all the charity shops get their stock from then?

[MrSmith]

How do you suggest that we climb out of the mess then?

 

By accepting there is no mess to climb out of and living within our means, the UK needs to become more sustainable and that means allowing the population to fall instead of forcing it to rise.

 

Very high tax on second home ownership or banning second home ownership, banning buy to let, very high tax on empty properties and increasing interest rates would all help to lower housing costs, which is the one of biggest problems we have at this time.

[SpikeMac]

It would be nice!...........but that's going to involve a lot more Q E and borrowing! Governments already operate a giant "Ponzi" scheme,shouldn't we be thinking about making do for a few years.Generally speaking ,people have enough stuff in their houses to last for the next five years without needing to go down the High Street or Meadowhall to replace stuff from the Chinese emporiums...............mind you where would all the charity shops get their stock from then?

 

Not necessarily. I'm not sure whether you read my longer post that preceed the one that you quoted. I suggested some ways of freeing up cash.

 

Of course, rather than using QE to steal from savers, we could always stick income tax up for a while.

 

I do agree that domestically making do would be a good idea.

[I1L2T3]

We need to stop spending money that we haven't got.

 

Governments will always borrow money. Most of them will have debt they have no intention of ever clearing to zero.

 

A more accurate version of your statement would be we need to keep spending within manageable limits.

[SpikeMac]

By accepting there is no mess to climb out of and living within our means, the UK needs to become more sustainable and that means allowing the population to fall instead of forcing it to rise.

 

Very high tax on second home ownership or banning second home ownership, banning buy to let, very high tax on empty properties and increasing interest rates would all help to lower housing costs, which is the one of biggest problems we have at this time.

 

Increasing interest rates at the moment could seriously damage small businesses and young house owners.

[MrSmith]

Increasing interest rates at the moment could seriously damage small businesses and young house owners.

 

Not if they are raised slowly to give home owners and businesses time to operate more sustainably, anyone that can’t cope with 0.5% rise every six months for the next five years as clearly taken on more debt than was sensible.

[I1L2T3]

Not if they are raised slowly to give home owners and businesses time to operate more sustainably, anyone that can’t cope with 0.5% rise every six months for the next five years as clearly taken on more debt than was sensible.

 

Not often I agree with you twice in one day but this is a good post.

 

A gradual rise in rates is the kindest thing. People need to adjust back to more normal levels of interest rates.

 

Near zero interest rates are generally not a good thing.

[SpikeMac]

Not often I agree with you twice in one day but this is a good post.

 

A gradual rise in rates is the kindest thing. People need to adjust back to more normal levels of interest rates.

 

Near zero interest rates are generally not a good thing.

 

I think we have the beginnings of a useful and interesting debate.

 

I'd also like to see spending down, interest rates up and housing costs controlled.

 

If we went for proper rent controls in a gradual manner, we could get housing benefit down. That is one of the greatest drains on the treasury.

[MrSmith]

This is one of the reasons our economy isn’t growing, buy to let landlords spend as little as possible on the houses they own, tenants spend as little as possible on the house they rent, whilst home owners are happy to spend money improving and refurnishing their homes.

 

Proportion of home-owning Britons falls to 30-year low

ONS says past decade has seen the first rise in the percentage of households renting in almost a century

 

Home ownership peaked in 2001, when the level of owner-occupied households in England and Wales stood at 69 per cent. Now that figure is 64 per cent, while the number of renters has jumped by 1.6 million to 8.3 million. Between 2001 and 2011, the average house price for first-time buyers jumped by 96 per cent.