22% more first-time buyers.  24% of homeowners facing repayment problems, even before interest rates rise,  Government thinks as long as it's selling something, the economy's sll right.   But its selling boom can rapidly turn to bust.

Call to Action

Bristol, Europe’s 2015 Green Capital, is crowd-funding housing.  Permanently-affordable homes on secure long-term tenancies, owned on behalf of the community so they can’t be sold off on the speculative market.  Shares offer good interest: invest now.  AEOBhousepeople.org.uk

What the Government is doing

All Government action on housing is directed at selling homes.  Even the adjustment to planning regulations to allow conversion of derelict office blocks simply lets big developers convert them into flats to sell.  This makes money for developers and for money-lenders, but does not solve the problem of lack of affordable homes.  And it is expanding debt, creating more of the sub-prime mortgages that precipitated the last economic collapse and meant banks had to have a billion-pound bailout from the taxpayer.  People taking the Government’s Help To Buy are mortgaging themselves to the limit of their income; and when interest rates go up, as they are bound to do, they will find themselves unable to cope, being repossessed and losing everything they have.

Britain’s total mortgage debt is now over £1.2 trillion – three-quarters of total GDP – and BORROWING TO BUY Is NOT reducing our national debt.  The only way to tackle the housing crisis is for local communities to raise their own money to buy in empty sites and empty buildings, convert them and own them to keep them permanently affordable, says the Abandon Empty Office Buildings campaign.  “We have already raised £150,000 in investments in our Community Share and this is a way for homes to be owned on behalf of the community, and keep banks, with their dangerous tricks, out of the equation,” says Tony Crofts, one of AEOB’s founders.  “We need to go on building this fund to enable us to buy and rescue buildings that are capable of producing good, secure, long-term tenancies for families.”

“Stonesfield Community Trust, in Oxfordshire, has only had two rent rises in twenty years, and is now letting at below-council rents.  It has paid all its debts and its still looking towards a £200,000 surplus to put into further social benefit for its village.  This has proved it is possible for a voluntary non-profit organisation to make affordable rents wash their own face.  We want to achieve the same for Bristol.  We aim to work with Bristol Energy Co-op, which is aiming to make Bristol self-supporting for energy generation by spreading photo-voltaic panels over an increasing number of houses.  Localising the economy is the answer to reducing the economic power of the big bullies.”  Go to AEOBhousepeople.org.uk or Tel. 0117 9265931 to learn how to make an interest-bearing investment of £50 to £20,000 for Bristol’s future.

riotjam

When you create a society that has no sense about it at all, you can't be surprised if people behave in destructive, irrational ways.  And if you set an example of unrestrained greed and freedom to behave vilely, you can't be surprised if people follow it.

David Cameron was involved in a shop window-breaking incident in Oxford when a member of the Bullingdon Club.  "Just youthful high spirits", of course.  He didn't spend any days in prison.  And bankers and company directors grab millions in pay and pension rights "to keep the best people at the top".

"What "utterly unacceptable,. criminal behaviour" actually means is "tug you forelocks and respect our property while we exploit society entirely to our advantage".   The government's own research has found that 64% of rioters came from the most deprived neighbourhoods, 42% were entitled to free school meals, 35% were on benefits, and two-thirds had special educational needs.

Forever debt

When businesses borrow to start producing, when they do so they have to charge a price for their products that covers the interest on their borrowings.  This means they are charging more for their stuff than they are paying out to their workers.  So there is always a perpetual shortage of buying power.  So consumers also have to borrow in order to purchase what they need.  This creates a continually-growing pool of debt, which makes it necessary for the economy to keep growing more and more which produces pollution and exhaustion of materials.  It also guarantees that some industries will have to go bankrupt as the demands for their products falls.  So we are condemned, by the continual creation of debt, to work longer and longer hours, have less and less time for our families, and endanger the planet's environment.

We need a different system, where the increasing productiveness of modern industry enables us to work LESS hours and use things up less fervidly.

save us

With land, food and water running out for the human race, we need to start working on sharing more systematically and fairly.  In housing in Britain, with a completely unregulated market, that means clubbing together to afford mortgage loans.  That doesn't just mean sharing the financial commitment: it also means becoming your own landlords and learning to work hard together to administer and maintain the property you occupy.  There is no longer a "landlord:" who will take care of a blocked drain or a slipped slate  It means getting to grips with the real cost of running a building.  (And forget that old chant about "rent being wasted money".  A lot of rent goes on maintenance; and only if the landlord is a bastard or overcharging, does he make a profit once he has serviced his debts and mended the house.

What it amounts to is learning to take responsibility - as chair, secretary, treasurer, housekeeper - like a grown-up; not always looking for a "leader" or Mummy or Daddy to see to everything.  Government from the grassroots up.

No Sense

If you construct a society with no sense in it, you can't be surprised if people behave destructively and irrationally.  And if you set an example of violent greed, you can't be surprised if people follow it.

David Cameron was involved in a shop-window-breaking incident in Oxford while a member of the Bullingdon Club.  "Just youthful exuberance", of course.  He didn't spend any nights in prison.

And if bankers and company directors grab millions in pay and pension rights, you can't be surprised if ordinary kids try to grab what they want.

What "utterly unacceptable, criminal behaviour" actually means is: "tug your forelocks and respect our property as we exploit society to our own advantage".  And "We'll throw your parents out of their homes if you don't behave," merely compounds the nonsense.