Re: Copper theft



John Larkin wrote:

On Sat, 16 Sep 2006 03:49:59 +0100, Eeyore
<rabbitsfriendsandrelations@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

But the USA is doing fine.

I just heard your property bubble is about to burst.

Well, keep on hoping. What I'm seeing is a slowdown in the rate of
increase of property values.

I've heard it's come to a total halt.

You apparently hear a great deal about the US that's not true. It's
sure not true here in California. Any observations from the rest of
the country?

I was simply going by what I'd heard 'in passing'. Sorry I can't place the details now. I
have no doubt that California as ever is likely to have a healthier economy.


Which means you can't finance debt any more so
easily on increased property value, something that happned here in the UK about 20 ?
yrs ago and caused a major crash.

Some people got in over their heads, with nonsense like interest-only
variable-rate loans. There was a bit of a bubble, and there are always
the jerks who wait until the last minute to pile on, and they are
always are the ones who get whacked. But the demand for housing is
real and increasing - it tracks population, you know - so no general
crash is likely. Property values may have peaked and declined a bit in
some areas (I know they did in south coast Massachusetts, where we
sold a house just at the peak) but around here the rate of increase
has just moderated, which is good.

There's still an insane amount of construction going on. The contrast
with the UK crash is that real demand for housing is still strong
here.

The UK crash wasn't the result of lack of demand at all.


I did recently read that London has overtaken Tokyo as the planet's
most expensive city to live in... whatever that means.

Presumably by £ / $ sq ft / metre. Mumbai's pretty costly too btw.


And, anyhow, are high property values a
good thing?

Probably not but that's hardly the point when doing negative equity ( over-geared )
financing.


Europe and Japan are facing economic and
demographic time bombs.

You have to be joking !

A 1.2 birth rate per woman, and an ageing population that works fewer
and fewer years in a lifetime, well, yes, that's pretty funny. This is
a slow-motion avalanche, on its way down the mountain, probably
unstoppable. Mind you, I don't find this prospect pleasing, whereas
you seem to relish the prospect of misery in the USA.

Do elaborate.


What will be interesting is to see what happens to property values in
countries with declining population and a disappearing industrial
base. The obvious comparison is to the Great Plague, when entire towns
were abandoned back to the wilderness.

You're barking mad !

And you're bloody rude.

Mea culpa !


So, what happens to a population that averages 1.2 kids per woman?
That's right around the kill ratio of the 14th century.

1.2 ? Where did you get that number ?


oh, Mo just interrupted me to tell me about the new trans-sexual
Bluegrass band, the Chixie Dicks.

Eh ?

Graham


.

Quantcast