Kamala vs the Orange Felon - Presidential Race 2024 - Polls, News, Etc...

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fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
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pmv said:
But if you build more of it and it's all bought up by foreign investors who don't even live in it? Or it's crap quality with no services or jobs provided in the area? It clearly _does not_ respond to the 'same supply and demand situation as every other good', because it's a unique kind of good (not least because it depends on the supply of land, something that nobody is manufacturing more of, no matter what market signals tell them).

What is needed is more social housing - the system that worked pretty well until Thatcher deliberately destroyed it.
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The idea that new housing is bought by investors and therefore building more is not helpful is also internally logically inconsistent.

First, there is no evidence that significant portions of housing stock are purchased and then left empty. Second, when investors do buy housing they explicitly state in their prospectus that their reason for doing so is they anticipate that future housing construction will continue to fail to meet demand. They are coming right out and admitting if we built more housing it would be cheaper and their investments would not perform!

Again, houses are not magic and the same rules apply here as anywhere else. If you want it to get cheaper the answer is simple and free. Just stop banning housing construction.
 
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pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
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fskimospy said:
We have developed technology that allows us to stack dwellings vertically.
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We already do that. The result is extortionate maintenance costs that low income people can't afford.

I mean when I was looking to move I looked at many such places, but they all had sky-high service charges that I couldn't afford. Mostly it's the better off who live in such multi-story blocks of flats, because normal people can't afford the service/maintenance charges.

(Or the maintenance is messed up completely and you end up with Grenfell or Rowan Point, or that Florida apartment block).

Also they tend to have zero sound insulation (ask me how I know!).
 
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Lost_in_the_HTTP

Lost_in_the_HTTP

Lifer
Nov 17, 2019
13,245
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pmv said:
We already do that. The result is extortionate maintenance costs that low income people can't afford.

I mean when I was looking to move I looked at many such places, but they all had sky-high service charges that I couldn't afford. Mostly it's the better off who live in such multi-story blocks of flats, because normal people can't afford the service/maintenance charges.
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They kind of turn into flaming death pits.
 
F

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
87,723
54,722
136
pmv said:
We already do that. The result is extortionate maintenance costs that low income people can't afford.

I mean when I was looking to move I looked at many such places, but they all had sky-high service charges that I couldn't afford. Mostly it's the better off who live in such multi-story blocks of flats, because normal people can't afford the service/maintenance charges.

(Or the maintenance is messed up completely and you end up with Grenfell or Rowan Point, or that Florida apartment block).

Also they tend to have zero sound insulation (ask me how I know!).
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The idea that it is more expensive to live in an apartment than to live in a detached house is simply not true.

Again you might not want to hear it but the answer to the housing crisis is super simple. Just stop banning housing construction. The UK has incredibly restrictive housing laws - that’s a choice!
 
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K1052

K1052

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Aug 21, 2003
52,102
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GoPackGo said:
Exhaustion? I thought he was mister infinite energy and the healthiest person ever.
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Time catches up with everybody eventually. He's generally appeared quite grumpy he has to be doing this but it's his own fault. If he didn't do so many crimes in 2020 he would not have to run and even if he wins he's not going to be happy.
 
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fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
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K1052 said:
Time catches up with everybody eventually. He's generally appeared quite grumpy he has to be doing this but it's his own fault. If he didn't do so many crimes in 2020 he would not have to run and even if he wins he's not going to be happy.
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I know this gets tiresome but imagine the press freakout if Biden cancelled a bunch of events because he was too tired.
 
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K1052

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
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An example of what's going on with EV this year and why it is inadvisable to draw any conclusions. A lot of states don't even provide data that is this granular and another reason why making predictions from the EV is futile nearly everywhere. About all anybody can do is observe trends but they can't be projected out due to massive shifts in voting method from 2020 to 2024. A lot of people are going to revert to pre-COVID voting habits and we saw some of that in the midterms.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1847283479878193420
 
K1052

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
52,102
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fskimospy said:
I know this gets tiresome but imagine the press freakout if Biden cancelled a bunch of events because he was too tired.
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Wall to wall coverage for the week of course.

It is funny that he's spending his limited energy doing continual Fox hits for people that are already voting for him and the Al Smith dinner plus campaigning in the Bronx. Meanwhile Harris has basically moved into the swing states for the duration.
 
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fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
87,723
54,722
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K1052 said:
An example of what's going on with EV this year and why it is inadvisable to draw any conclusions. A lot of states don't even provide data that is this granular and another reason why making predictions from the EV is futile nearly everywhere. About all anybody can do is observe trends but they can't be projected out due to massive shifts in voting method from 2020 to 2024. A lot of people are going to revert to pre-COVID voting habits and we saw some of that in the midterms.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1847283479878193420
Click to expand...
I think trying to compare almost anything to the 2020 election is a bad idea because of how weird a year it was.
 
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pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
15,023
9,900
136
fskimospy said:
The idea that it is more expensive to live in an apartment than to live in a detached house is simply not true.

Again you might not want to hear it but the answer to the housing crisis is super simple. Just stop banning housing construction. The UK has incredibly restrictive housing laws - that’s a choice!
Click to expand...

But if the laws are so restrictive, how come multi-story blocks have gone up on all four sides of me in the last few years? How come London now has a skyline, when it didn't used to?

It's only in certain places that it's hard to build things - generally in affluent rural or semi-rural areas. I'm not saying all planning restrictions are good, but when there's a policy of scrapping them, it is always the ones that affect the wellbeing of less well-off and less politically-powerful people that go, not those in areas with wealthy and politically-astute people.

And it clearly _is_ more expensive to live in an apartment than a detached house. I saw many very nice places in high-rise blocks when I was looking to move (most of them ex-council). Some of them I really would have liked to go for, due to the fantastic views (and, to be honest, I thought that brutalist architecture was awesome, asthetically) . But the service charges were completely unaffordable. It's because the maintenance costs are so extreme on those things that you get disasters like that Florida block falling down (because nobody wants to pay for it).
 
F

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
87,723
54,722
136
pmv said:
But if the laws are so restrictive, how come multi-story blocks have gone up on all four sides of me in the last few years? How come London now has a skyline, when it didn't used to?
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This is a common complaint and misses the forest for the trees. People say this in NYC all the time too. The reason is because building is banned in so many areas that the few areas where building is not banned see huge amounts of development.

It's the market desperately attempting to meet demand in the face of supply bans but it's not enough. We need to lift the bans everywhere.
pmv said:
It's only in certain places that it's hard to build things - generally in affluent rural or semi-rural areas. I'm not saying all planning restrictions are good, but when there's a policy of scrapping them, it is always the ones that affect the wellbeing of less well-off and less politically-powerful people that go, not those in areas with wealthy and politically-astute people.
Click to expand...
The UK is renowned as an incredibly difficult place to build anything, not just housing. It's part of what's strangling your economy - it's impossible to make new things.
pmv said:
And it clearly _is_ more expensive to live in an apartment than a detached house. I saw many very nice places in high-rise blocks when I was looking to move (most of them ex-council). Some of them I really would have liked to go for, due to the fantastic views (and, to be honest, I thought that brutalist architecture was awesome, asthetically) . But the service charges were completely unaffordable. It's because the maintenance costs are so extreme on those things that you get disasters like that Florida block falling down (because nobody wants to pay for it).
Click to expand...
It is absolutely not more expensive to live in an apartment than a detached house. Imagine if they replaced the London skyline with detached houses. Would they be more expensive or less expensive to live in? I'm sure we agree detached houses would be more expensive.

On any given piece of land it is always cheaper to have apartments than detached houses. There is no exception to this I have ever seen.
 
Muse

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,505
9,990
136
pmv said:
Always thought Tony Blair's slogan "Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" was a perfectly good one (disregarding all his shortcomings in actually implementing any of it). You do need police, human nature means they are necessary. Without them it's the poorest in the roughest neighbourhoods who will suffer. Just need for them to act less like the biggest street gang in town.
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Cops should be well educated. It's not a bad paying job and if they're educated it's easier to do well. Still tough work, of course, but everybody benefits if done well and everyone suffers if done awfully, which is all too commonly the case as we all know.
 
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