• Well, you’re right about the epic market crash, also right that it’s unpredictable, but then you go on to predict a bunch of things which seem extremely unlikely to me.

    The thing is, a “crash” is not just a lowering of prices until everyone can afford the repayments on a house.

    The kind of crash you’re taking about here is more like a market failure. Yes all banks would become insolvent but that’s kind of like saying the toilets on the titanic became “out of order” when it sank.

    You’d basically revert to subsistence farming. Everyone living in a community of more than a few hundred would die of starvation or disease. Mexico, China, or Russia would roll in to permanently “provide aid”.

    • Instigate
      link
      fedilink
      19 months ago

      What you say also seems extremely unlikely to me, given that humans who have sufficiently advanced to the state we live in now will be unwilling to accept subsistence lifestyle.

      I didn’t predict anything; you’ll note I said that this is what I would hope happens.

      I’m not talking about a market failure; I’m talking about trying to take away the whole concept of a ‘market’ applying to residential real estate altogether. Because it’s so intertwined with the value of our economies, taking it away will cause a significant, permanent shrinking of GDP and other economic measures, and I think that’s appropriate given the circumstances we’re in now.

      It’s a big and bold move, and as I’ve said before none of us can be exactly sure how it would pan out, but nothing is gained in life if nothing is ventured. We need to try something. I say this as someone who is lucky enough to be able to have a mortgage: it’s inherently unfair that my fellow citizens have to miss out on that opportunity.

      • Sorry, I meant that subsistence agriculture would be the only possible lifestyle, not a chosen one.

        Each of us are talking about a crash or collapse of completely different magnitude.

        At the risk of sounding too preppy, I think societal collapse is absolutely possible due to what we might think is a fairly minor supply chain interruption.

        Regardless, it’s a moot point. No one is going to crash the economy so you can buy a house I’m sorry.

        • Instigate
          link
          fedilink
          19 months ago

          No one is going to crash the economy so you can buy a house I’m sorry.

          I think you might have missed where I said this:

          I say this as someone who is lucky enough to be able to have a mortgage: it’s inherently unfair that my fellow citizens have to miss out on that opportunity.