Politics
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| 30 Day Post Breakdown | Female | Male | Unspecified |
| Posts (Contributors) | 11 (4) | 723 (35) | () |
Dec 2018
4:51pm, 14 Dec 2018
13,640 posts
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Chrisull
Alternatives to capitalism , well ask the visionaries and dreamers. Rutger Bregman : "Utopia for realists" amazon.co.uk Paul Mason : "Post-capitalism" amazon.co.uk I think the answer is something we're yet to create, but we're on our way. I suspect in a couple of hundred years we'll wonder why we were so wedded to a failing system. Probably the same reason feudalism persisted, it benefits a rich few in power, it gives enough to those below that they don't have reason/ability to rebel often, it suited the times, and because we are in the chicken coop together (to borrow Aravind Adiga's allegory from White Tiger on why chickens in Indian markets waiting for slaughter don't bother escaping when the coop doors are open most of the time), we can't imagine that there is something else. Try imagining what another universe might look like having only ever seen this one. What an arsenic based lifeform might look like when you've only known carbon ones. It is hard. I'd suggest environmental pressures, the extension of lifespan and possible elimination of death by old age, the sharing culture of the Internet, AI and extreme automation are gonna render capitalism partially obsolete. So we better be putting our input in and making sure the replacement is better, because otherwise left to idiots like Jobs, Bezos and Zuckerberg, they will screw our future for us. |
Dec 2018
5:06pm, 14 Dec 2018
3,451 posts
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jdarun
Yes Japan is great, the property tax can exceed the value so houses get abandoned (especially if the will leaves them to be shared and one of the owners can't be traced, meaning a sale is impossible) and just rot with no-one able to do anything. Bit of a tangent though. As for capitalism, I think a well-regulated market economy works pretty well, of course we can disagree on the level of regulation and perhaps it's not good enough for those who feel left behind. I don't find it very helpful to talk in absolutes, there is no such thing as a truly free market and neither does true communism seem very realistic. It's a matter of balancing the rights of individuals versus society, and businesses vs customers etc. |
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Dec 2018
5:07pm, 14 Dec 2018
13,641 posts
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Chrisull
Not saying Japan is great, but the concept of passing on a house to your children becomes completely defunct.
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Dec 2018
5:07pm, 14 Dec 2018
4,700 posts
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BanjoBax
The crazy thing is post WW2 we had increasingly fair distribution of wealth and rights for the masses, until 1979, since when we've been giving it all away.
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Dec 2018
5:09pm, 14 Dec 2018
29,804 posts
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Merry Christmas and Happy NewG(rrr)
When the Snatcher came to power! *shudders*  G
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Dec 2018
5:20pm, 14 Dec 2018
32,975 posts
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Diogenes
Any system where housing loses value, or is left to rot to avoid taxation, is a bad one. The rental market in this country is never going to be attractive all the time it’s cheaper to buy. Why would I effectively give away a significant proportion of my income each month for no lasting return? I think it is very natural for one’s home to be one's main asset, and for people to prefer characterful properties over functional dwelling units, especially those in large, homogeneous developments? |
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Dec 2018
5:23pm, 14 Dec 2018
32,976 posts
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Diogenes
I agree that the Right To Buy was a terrible thing. That really was a case of unearned income, even if you did have to wait a while before you could cash in.
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Dec 2018
5:51pm, 14 Dec 2018
8,271 posts
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rf_fozzy
Just read the Ivan Rogers speech posted earlier. We really are up Sh*t creek aren't we?
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Dec 2018
6:07pm, 14 Dec 2018
13,767 posts
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Bazoaxe
With my experience of student rentals ,its more expensive to rent than buy. My son was keen to go straight from a student rental to renting a flat with his GF, but in doing that they would never be able to save and afford a mortgage. Now if good property was available to rent at reasonable prices and without bandit landlords (of which I had one pretty awful experience and ended up out of pocket from but I cant go into details on as we had to sign an NDA to get out of contract and some of our money back) then rental might be an option. That said I do worry about my kids ability to get on the property ladder. I know I was lucky in timing and we bought/sold at the right times. That said, I could almost certainly not afford to buy the house I currently live in. |
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Dec 2018
6:47pm, 14 Dec 2018
13,643 posts
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Chrisull
Yep but the whole point of renting is it should be cheaper! You rent something because you can’t afford to buy outright! Yet in the uk it’s cheaper to buy it outright for various hard to fathom British idiosyncrasies. The British are crazy, no wonder my German and Czech relatives think we’re crackers over here!
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