The results to last week's Fun Online Poll were as follows:
How would you feel if house prices fell by a third?
Pleased for the many "priced out" who can now afford to buy their own home - 88%
Angry that my "wealth" has been diminished - 12%
A good turnout with 97 votes, thanks to the other 8 people who retweeted and the 2 who posted on FB.
I was with the majority on this. Top comment:
The Cowboy Online: Another vote for 'Pleased'; it wouldn't be great for me personally, I would be stuck with negative equity, but I wouldn't lose my home and it would mean others would be able to get one.
Negative equity is a bugger for those owner-occupiers stuck with it, but if the house price fall were expected to be permanent or long term, it only seems fair to write down mortgages to the new lower selling prices. It was the banks who pushed up house prices and mortgage to silly levels and they ought to take the losses on the chin. BTL landlords can whistle for it though, they're supposed to be in it for the long term, and if they can't sell, so what?
The Homeys always use "the danger of nequity" as an argument against anything that would push house prices down. What it boils down to is bank propaganda: we'd rather keep creating mortgages of £200,000 each than have to write down some of our mortgage book and only be able to create mortgages of £150,000. Future buyers are being sacrificed, ostensibly in order to protect some recent purchasers, but actually to protect the banks.
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This whole Charlie Gard story is none of my business and as politicians like to say, "I can't comment on individual cases", but isn't that the whole point? This sort of thing is not the job of government-appointed arbitrators; and if politicians aren't prepared to face up to the individual consequences of laws they impose, isn't that copping out? That said, the NHS has to operate some sort of cost-benefit analysis, and if the NHS decides not to fund his further treatment, I've no problems with that.
So that's this week's Online Poll (no Fun, this week).
"If it were up to you, would you allow Charlie Gard's parents to take him to the USA for treatment?"
Vote here or use the widget in the sidebar.
Debate Magazine
