One way to look at the housing crisis is what did being in the top 1% of incomes get you 20,30 and 40 years ago?
Probably more than a 3 bed in Tooting. This flows through to all income levels.
@luke_broyles Need to discount for present value though - you wouldn't pay $9m despite your expectation because you probably think that won't happen for 15-20+ years
@2147mill If you're near an LTV band it could make sense - e.g. if paying Β£5k means your whole Β£500k mortgage comes down by X% then the effective return on that Β£5k is much higher. Also need to take tax into account as savings on mortgage payments are effectively tax free
Unilaterally changing a contract that 17&18 year olds were pressured to enter into in order to have a chance at success in the job market to terms that make them significantly worse off is immoral.
Worse still, the chancellor seems to think that student loans thresholds are there to be changed to suit the treasuries income needs, they are not a tax.
If a high street lender did this, the ombudsman would rule against them.
In Orwellβs 1984 the Ministry of Plenty cut the chocolate ration from 30 to 20 grams, but the Party presented it as an increase to 20 grams. People even took the streets to thank Big Brother...
Meanwhile, under Labour, the cap on bus fares has been raised from Β£2 to Β£3... π€
@HalfSpurs@RudolphN17 He's pivotal in the press (when we do actually press) both games against PSG he was our best player, the second goal on Wednesday having come from him winning the ball high up when pressing. Also covers serious distance so is a body in both defence and attack
1830: HMS Beagle stops at Tierra del Fuego, southernmost South America.
Charles Darwin encounters the Yaghan people. They're living as hunter-gatherers, wearing minimal clothing in freezing conditions, eating shellfish and seals.
Darwin's assessment: "I could not have believed how wide was the difference between savage and civilised man. It is greater than between a wild and domesticated animal."
The British Navy decides to "civilise" them. They take four Yaghan people back to England: Fuegia Basket, Jemmy Button, York Minster, and Boat Memory (who dies of smallpox immediately).
In England, the three survivors are given:
Proper clothing
Agricultural education
Christian instruction
English language training
"Civilised" manners
After one year, they're declared "successfully civilised" and returned to Tierra del Fuego with seeds, tools, and instructions to teach their people farming.
Darwin returns years later expecting to find a thriving agricultural settlement.
What he finds: Jemmy Button, completely naked, back to hunting and gathering. The agricultural tools abandoned. The seeds never planted. The "civilisation" discarded entirely.
Darwin is shocked. He expected gratitude. He found rejection.
But Jemmy explains something Darwin doesn't want to hear: "Plenty seal. Plenty fish. Not much work. Why plant seeds?"
The Yaghan had tried agriculture. For about three months. Then they calculated:
Seals provide more calories with less work. Shellfish are abundant year-round. The cold weather doesn't bother them: they're adapted. Agriculture means more labor for worse nutrition.
They chose to stay "savage."
Because "savage" meant working 15 hours per week and eating well.
"Civilised" meant working 60 hours per week and eating grain.
They weren't stupid. They did the math.
Darwin never understood this. He died thinking they'd rejected progress out of ignorance.
They'd rejected progress because they understood it perfectly.