From Gino Risoli.
A HOME in a modern society should be the least that one should come to expect. So why has inflation driven by irresponsible lending been allowed to flourish without a definitive statement from our government?
Our homes are treated as if they are assets and indeed the banks see it that way. Most people see it this way. It is a mistake.
If you were a homeowner, new credit cards would flood through the post. Rampant inflation of the housing stock simply allowed for banks to lend even more. The inflationary circle is complete.
States Members should be seeking to introduce legislation so that secondary lending could not be recovered by seeking a judgment on one’s home. I would find a way of making States housing rental so cheap it would put pressure on the open market and lastly I would require a capital gains tax that would deter short-term speculation.
Now I see that some of you may cringe at this but a home should not be treated as an asset. Expensive homes mean that many families find themselves in a position of working so hard to the detriment of raising their children with all the subsequent problems that can occur. The pressure is immense. Banks are the main beneficiary of inflation followed by estate agents and lawyers. The cost to society is much larger than anyone is saying.
I remember some years ago I compared the cost of the average mortgage or rent with Germany. The UK at that time was paying at least a third more. However, we have chosen for years to bury our heads in the sand because the accumulation of imaginary wealth has been far more important than the quality of the society we live in.
We are ruled as a people rather than being represented properly. We have civil servants and public service workers paid for completely by the private sector but pensions in the private sector do not match that of the public sector. It is nonsense; it is a position that is patently unfair.
Government spending here in Jersey continues to be out of control and timidly asking for transparency will not change the die hards in the civil service. We need a quiet revolution in our thinking and a massively different approach to steer our way in this most demanding decade.
34 Queen Street,
St Helier.
