boom or bust
If you recall the old ‘6s & 9s’ management dilemma you’ll immediately see where this is going. It all depends on how you look at it – to one it’s a six and to the other it’s a nine, and they’re both right!
Earlier this month The Daily Hate Mail reported on one of Georgie Boy’s speeches with the headline “House price boom to last a decade”. The Garundiad opted for a rather more downbeat assessment of the same speech with “Housing crisis to continue for ten years”. And, as neither headline misrepresents what he actually said, they’re both right.
In his paean to the free-market economic forces of supply & demand the coalition chancellor does admit that price rises are fuelled by the perennial lack of supply. If you already own some bricks and mortar, you’ll benefit from a lack of supply and the price will remain high. If you don’t, you’ll suffer from it, and will have to either pay those high prices, or go without. Essentially, the problem is this: the ‘haves’ have an incentive to steer clear of increasing the supply, whilst the ‘have-nots’ have no influence to change anything in any event. Which is exactly why it’s so important to ensure that the creation of council housing (social housing, public authority housing) is treated as fundamental to the maintenance of a sound national infrastructure, and a cohesive and egalitarian social policy. Which, and to the shame of governments of all colour and persuasion, it has not been for over 30 years.
