Thursday 11 November 2010

Ten Years Gone

Cross posted at Nourishing Obscurity.

I have often described the last decade as the pinnacle of Home-Owner-Ism - an economic philosophy which, in true 1984 fashion, represents the mutually exclusive beliefs that "Rising house prices are a good thing" and "It is important to encourage a wider spread of home ownership".

"Home-Owner-Ism" (with hyphens and capitals) just happened to be a phrase I coined started using* on one particular day, which has led to some people thinking that I am somehow against owner-occupiers or the idea of owner-occupation. Far from it! I was one in the past and fully intend to be one again in future (and Her Indoors is definitely in favour), it's deeply engrained in our national psyche and I wouldn't deny others that which I'd like for myself.

What I believe in is the second half of the Home-Owner-Ist mantra: I'd like to see a wider spread of home ownership, which entails lower prices and/or more new construction and/or lower taxation of incomes etc. Remember that during the Home-Owner-Ist decade, the proportion of household who are owner-occupier actually fell quite markedly (see page 9 of this).

So, without further ado, I've drawn up a Venn Diagram, with 'homeowners' (in the narrower sense) in the left hand set and "Home-Owner-Ists" in the right hand set. Of course there is a large overlap in the middle, and none of these categories are clear cut, but hopefully this will give you an idea of who is driving "Home-Owner-Ism" and who really benefits from it.

* DBC Reed and Lola both claim they invented it, see comments.

5 comments:

Trooper Thompson said...

'Needocracy' - I like that.

DBC Reed said...

You did n't coin the phrase HomeOwnerisn ,I did.

Lola said...

No. I'm Spartacus. I invented it. I have been using it, or certainly the concept, since oooo about 1995 ish.....

DBC Reed said...

@lola
Don't argue amongst ourselves: it clearly wasnt MW.In fact, it was me.
I have just coined a new one: Blatcherism which explains how Harriet Harman can attack Dough-face Clegg(he looks like an illustrated Victorian warning of the dangers of masturbation) for supporting tuition fees while supporting them herself.

Lola said...

DBCReed. So that's why Cleggy has sticky up hair. I always wondered.....