Update: here's the description of the book from the publisher's website:
Tim Wilson argues that it is time for liberals to offer Australia a new social contract that places the interests of the individual at the core of the Government’s policy agenda. Central to achieving this will be reforms that depart from the neoliberal era of equity extraction, and instead concentrate on decentralising power and increasing homeownership, in order to address the needs of Australia’s changing demography.Yep. Getting the feeling this is hardly going to be ground breaking.
Yes,
ReplyDeleteHe is looking for an intellect.
Well I don't know what he has to say. But I should just point out that a house is a consumer durable. If its treated as an investment good by public policy this is wealth destruction. Encouraging home ownership runs the risk of the house or apartment continuing to be the publics investment good. When what we really need is for a continual glut of good-quality high-rise living and working space to reduce living costs and the costs of doing business. The New urbanists tell me that we ought to be focusing more on the 3-5 floor situation. And they seem to know their stuff. But whether they are right or not its got to be a glut of high-rise. More cubic metres of high quality buildings, per capita, all the time. Because being cramped up like rats, and paying too much rent is not good enough for Australians. We would be better off focusing on reducing rents by way of continual spacial glut, rather than aiming at home ownership which is a bit of a vapid goal.
ReplyDeleteVanity press accords with his personality.
ReplyDelete