economists are idiots

How about banks not loaning for inflated valuations, taking fuel from the fire?

That leaves the well-heeled to squander their money, and pay all the fool's tax they want.

Cheers, James Arthur

o redistribute some income to the army, the police, the justice system and the road-builders.

rious uses of other people's money. Hiring people for needed services is f ine.

Which is that James Arthur can't see any point in education, because he kno ws all he needs to know, in healthcare, because he isn't sick, and in soci al security because he's earning more than he is spending.

By the same token he doesn't defence, because nobody is doing an armed inva sion of the US at the moment.

The point is that education, health care and social security are all natura l monopolies, and most countries see the sense in managing them collectivel y, for the long term benefit of the country as a whole

James Arthur can't, because it didn't make sense back when the founding tax evaders wrote the US constitution, which he regards as perfect and thus in capable of improvement, despite the fact that it was written for a much poo rer country with a much lower capacity for making long term investments.

The fact that it was written by the fat cats, with the covert, but very rea l intent to maintain the advantages of their fat cat status, is also releva nt, but James Arthur can't recognise that - it wasn't what they taught him in civics back when he was at his most gullible.

That does nothing when more than 2/3 of the buyers are oligarchs looking for somewhere to plant their ready cash for a quick 20% annual return. It will obviously go pearshaped but not just yet. They don't need to get a mortgage - they are paying cash on the nail.

The other really weird quirk in the London market is sub-sub-basements added onto existing properties since real people can't afford to move.

The neighbours don't like it when troglodytes start digging furiously!

I am inclined to agree, but the problem is that you end up with a rabbit hutch in London costing more than a house in Liverpool.

If it's not being leveraged, who cares what they pay? Let 'em suck it.

So? It's a temporary situation. ...or you could do something like SF or NYC and institute rent controls. It works so well there! ;-)