Bankers threw Six out of every Seven Bail Out Pounds at Property Speculation
Dr Tony Vickers reviews a new book by Josh Ryan-Collns, Toby Lloyd and Laurie Macfarlane, "Rethinking the Economics of Land and Housing" . This is an indictment of wastful austerity policies amd throws a spotlight on the Conservative strategy of socialism for the rich, ruthess capitalism for the poor. Vickers summarizes his review with the strong recommendation "This book is not by Liberal Democrats but it ought to be read by every Lib Dem campaigner." It highlights how in the last quarter century, the share of total bank lending to real estate has almost doubled to nearly 50% while the share lending to companies that create real new wealth has shrunk to a mere 15%. The post-crash quantitative easing by the Bank of England exacerbated this: six pounds out of every seven has gone into reflating the property bubble via bank lending.
