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( , Sun 1 Apr 2001, 1:00)
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but if you're going to blame people for making money on the housing market for squeezing families into small houses, maybe that social responsibility goes two ways.
after all, if you sell your house, and you've made a £100k profit, are you going to say, "oh no, i can't possibly take that money mr buyer, because it's ramping up the housing prices" ?
( , Thu 15 Aug 2013, 12:40, 1 reply, 12 years ago)

People were encouraged to view houses as an investment. This has driven the cost of housing up to the point where it is now unrealistic form most people to be able to afford to buy a house even to live in without assistance from family members (which is okay) or the government (which is not okay, and is simply making the problem worse).
I don't even know what you're saying about people needing to be able to afford their kids since if you aren't talking about benefit cheats, or to be more realistic, people who think that difficulty of raising another child is worth the small amount of extra money they receive in benefits, then you must be talking about either people who have got themselves into a situation by accident where they have more kids they can afford, or you're talking about a number of people so small, that it is totally insignificant in the grand scheme of things to base any policy on them, other than a policy of appeasing people too stupid to understand that that is what you're doing.
The blame for the situation first lies with the previous governments for knowing that a housing bubble was a bad idea, but doing nothing about it. This started with Thatcher, but was perpetuated under Labour.
But it's now at a point where the current government, despite knowing full well that what they are doing is economic suiicde, are continuing to promote house prices as a measure of growth, despite the fact that the majority of new mortgages are currently going to buy-to-let properties, because people once again view hosues as an investment.
( , Thu 15 Aug 2013, 12:48, Reply)

are you saying that ALL these poor (as in unfortunate) people found themselves knocked up accidentally?
i don't disagree with your last para at all. however, i do think it's a fact of life that people will always see property as an investment, and you're never going to change that mindset.
( , Thu 15 Aug 2013, 12:49, Reply)

which aren't being matched by rising wages.
Which bit of this don't you get?
( , Thu 15 Aug 2013, 12:51, Reply)
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