On a very good turnout of 132 votes, thanks to everybody who took part, we conclude that:
Does "rap culture" glorify crime and violence?
Yes - 84%
Yes, but this doesn't affect people's behaviour - 12%
No - 2%
Other, please specify - 2%
So that's one of the 'right wing' explanations for the recent looting sprees dealt with, IMHO it does do so and did contribute, in however small a way.
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Let's now look a bit closer to home (sic) and ask what other factors might create the 'something-for-nothing' culture. The way the welfare system is designed also has a corrosive effect, which I have covered many a time, so let's skip that one. This is not to say that welfare payments are inherently 'bad'; a system of universal welfare payments, like Child Benefit (not Child Tax Credits!), the basic state pension and something similar for working age people would almost certainly be 'good'.
But what about the Home-Owner-Ist propaganda, that we can all become rich merely by 'buying' a house (with a crippling mortgage, in many cases) and watching house prices rise? This is one-sided economics at its worst, because it ignores the fact that the real value of those houses hasn't increased by one penny, and that this generation's higher selling prices is the next generation's additional debt burden, but hey.
So that's this week's Fun Online Poll: does this fuel the 'something-for-nothing' culture?
Vote here or use the widget in the side bar.
Monday, 22 August 2011
Fun Online Polls: David Starkey, rap music and the 'Something-for-nothing' culture
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3 comments:
What other investment increases in value as it ages and decays?
(Gold and fine art don't really age.)
If my car appreciated like my house does, I'd never need to buy another!
That must be a very special house, Ed. Speaking personally I find that the only way I can stop my house depreciating is to spend a fortune on maintaining it. Gutters get blocked, windows break, paint has to be renewed, gardens have to be weeded, roofs have to be kept watertight, etc., etc., etc. And if I don't fix the problems as they come up, it impacts the value of the house big time.
The only thing that appreciates is the location value of the land that the house stands on. Luckily most of us have made more money on that than we've lost on the house maintenance and depreciation over the last forty years. But the location value is "money for nothing" and there are no guarantees that it will keep on coming over the next forty.
Ed,
Wine, antique furniture, vintage cars all increase in value with age. Basically anything for which there is a fixed demand and a dwindling supply. Nothing, not even houses, increases in value as it decays. A C18th house in good condition will always be worth more than a C18th house in poor condition.
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