5 thoughts on “Monday Message Board”

1. THE HOUSING CRISIS

   Our major parties will never solve our housing crisis. The policies necessary are known. They are attested to from historical experience. However, our major parties will never implement these policies.

   PART A – POLICIES

   Let’s start on the policies. What would work is;

   (a) remove negative gearing on investments including on shares and housing;

   (b) give negative gearing to owner-occupier, first home buyers;

   (c) build social housing for those who cannot take advantage of (b);

   (d) re-implement Housing Commissions in each state with Federal grants;

   (e) re-nationalise the Commonwealth Bank;

   (f) have the Commonwealth Bank provide low interest housing loans via State Housing Commissions; and

   (g) move to a land tax system which highly taxes owners (i.e. landlords) of multiple dwellings and/or commercial properties and/or owners of high value dwelling(s) and/or commercial properties.

   This is the ready and easy *financial* way to re-establish adequate housing supply for all in the Commonwealth: which title means, lest we forget, the common wealth, the common weal, the common good. Lovers of Milton’s works will notice the reference to “The Readie & Easie Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth and the Excellence therof Compar’d with the inconveniences and dangers of readmitting kingship in this nation”. Under neoliberalism, we have readmitted the kingship of capital.

   However, a ready and easy financial economy program does not and can not equate to a ready and easy real economy program. We must consider the manifest differences between the financial economy and the real economy.

   Even with the above financial measures expeditiously instituted, meaning in the one full legislative and administrative cycle necessary to properly implement them, we could not build the numbers of dwellings necessary without further policies to change the real economy. The real economy changes will naturally take longer to get the flow of new dwelling completions to increase. The real economy changes would include;

   (a) addressing the reasons for trade personnel shortages;

   (b) implementing a nationally funded apprentice and trade training system; and

   (c) targeting fully credentialed trade personnel highly in the immigration system.

   There are no doubt other necessary measures. I doubt that land (release) shortages are an important bottleneck but if they are then address that too. Also, other projects of a discretionary nature (in times of a critical housing crisis) should be shelved. I mean Olympics, sports stadiums and cultural centres. These are all nice to have AFTER you have properly housed EVERYBODY and NOT before.

   PART B – THE MAJOR PARTIES

   The major parties, beholden as they are to capital, corporations, big business, developers and landlords for donations will most likely NEVER implement the necessary policies. They will embroider around the edges with piffling policies and programs which make no significant difference to our real problems or to the rule of neoliberal capital.

   It is imperative to destroy the major parties at the ballot box. We must continue the drift or migration to electing centre left and left socialist and democratic parties and independents. The current major parties have to be deserted and must wither away before we can see real change. Or they will have to shift greatly to remain politically relevant. But I think their current generation of leaders, followers and fellow travellers will almost strongly resist any change to their comfortable accommodation with capital.

2. I am going to go out on a limb here. Trump is done. He is finished. I will elaborate in the next Monday Message Board.

3. I wait your elaboration with bated breath Ikonoclast. I’m not seeing it.

4. I’m also quite curious too. My visits to the Quiggin blog have been unusually high today on the lookout for it.

5. Mr. Quiggin, love your blog and book “Economics in two lessons”! Do you think a new updated edition will be out soon that would probably talk about Pandemic economics, given that the first edition was out before COVID-19? Cheers!