tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263577133333272085.post6129834554350295508..comments2024-03-28T11:04:16.315+00:00Comments on Boffy's Blog: Lessons of The Local Elections (1) - The Economic Foundations Of the Political CrisisBoffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08157650969929097569noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263577133333272085.post-13236081882151195322017-05-09T09:45:33.827+01:002017-05-09T09:45:33.827+01:00Yikes! I knew that roughly 40% of English councill...Yikes! I knew that roughly 40% of English councillors were estate agents by trade, but I imagined that they'd be overwhelmingly Tories (with perhaps a few Lib Dems)! If <i>Labour</i> councillors include a fair number of estate agents too...George Cartyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12170378024031141482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263577133333272085.post-56695580772633311272017-05-07T13:43:37.851+01:002017-05-07T13:43:37.851+01:00George,
Yes, see future posts. Back in 2005, jus...George,<br /><br />Yes, see future posts. Back in 2005, just before I stood down as a County Councillor, I had a discussion with the Labour deputy leader of the Council, in the pub at lunch time, which a friend of mine reminded me about a while ago.<br /><br />I had spoken several times in Council meetings about the disaster that was coming from the build up of private debt, and the reliance on cheap credit and asset price inflation. The deputy leader who was an estate agent was quite indignant at my argument that millions of people were being deluded, and led into disaster. The low interest rates he said had enabled millions of people who otherwise would not have been able to afford to buy houses, and the massive rise in house prices had increased peoples wealth.<br /><br />That was 2 years before Northern Rock collapsed, and before the US sub-prime crisis broke out, leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. The tragedy is that the measures taken since then have intensified the situation, so that when it blows up this time the effects will be far, far greater. Boffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08157650969929097569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263577133333272085.post-79470444872811971342017-05-07T08:30:03.698+01:002017-05-07T08:30:03.698+01:00Isn't it difficult for Labour to convince peop...Isn't it difficult for Labour to convince people of the truth behind the 2008 crash because so many people (especially in midland and southern marginal constituencies) have themselves enjoyed the fruits of mortgage equity withdrawal, and are therefore complicit in the build up of private debt that caused the crash?<br /><br />I suspect the real problem is that Britain's <i>current account</i> deficit has mushroomed since the Thatcher era, since her pro-land policies (the repeal of the Rent Acts and the sale of council housing) made property speculation far more attractive than productive investment. This caused most of the British SMEs equivalent to Germany's Mittelstand to be destroyed by asset strippers so that their sites could be converted to residential use, and more recently has contributed to the current account deficit as (for example) foreign oligarchs bought up property in prime Central London.George Cartyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12170378024031141482noreply@blogger.com