shareholders' values shoeboxes

BBC: Architects say new houses
are 'shameful shoebox homes'

This is a bit like asking for the number of wheels when shopping for a car:

"In the UK people buy homes based on the number of rooms. In the whole of the rest of Europe pretty much, and certainly North America, you know how many square metres you are buying when you buy it - and that's not available to UK consumers."

 

The article matches my experience; a good example was the Highland Housing Expo where 3/4 beds were put into so-called bedrooms that one could hardly enter into through doors stopped by those huge beds from opening. No room for any furniture unless from a doll house, en-suite bathrooms smaller than in any prison with sinks too small to wash one hand in.

Excellent for profit and the shareholders' values but not build for people to live in named customers.

Here is a comment on the above BBC article: no need to hide, Snowknight, you are hitting some of the nails on their heads:

Compared to housing in Switzerland and Germany British housing is sub standard. The insulation is a joke, damp cold rooms which cost a fortune. Good quality low energy homes can be built for £100,000, but banks and building companies are not interested at all. Shabby houses mean more money need as after 10years renovations are required! Good houses 75 years nothing!

Carpe diem!

bank recapitalisation, i.e. bailout #?

The book is worth reading, same for Simon Johnson's blog The Baseline Scenario. Yet, as for many economists if not for all the "turning in circles" is becoming a regular form of commenting as, really, this current crisis is now boiling down to the classical Catch-22 situation. I commented on Simon's blog post Should we expect another round of bailouts where he supports not another bail-out but "a full-scale recapitalisation program" for the banks...

“A full-scale bank recapitalization program is required, along with management changes at almost all major European financial institutions.”

Simon,

I disagree; this “full-scale bank recapitalisation” you suggest will be nothing else but another bailout!

Why would any private third party recapitalise any bank, if the bad debts (and any trailing Bad Bank) wouldn’t be taken over by who else but the tax-payer and how would you recapitalise and sort out e.g. the ECB, the Worst Bank next to the FED, I guess, sitting and whining on stacks or call it bombs of worthless PIIGS bonds?

And, what you call “management changes” – I suggest you replace the “almost” by the term “all” and add a “complete” – is what James K. Galbreith put into simple words in March 2009 , already – nobody listened, the Banksters got bigger and even more successful, since:

…as long as the old management is in place, there are no incentives to cooperate in the evaluation you need to make.

There was clearly a systematic failure. But that does not mean there was no criminal energy around.

When a bank is insolvent, the incentives for normal banking practice disappear. They become perverse.

“Perverse” might sound inappropriate, but it hits the nail on the head of a trade that lost its function, purpose and dignity – long ago.

One more point: even bailing out the banks again would not take us anywhere if at the same time this EURO problem wouldn’t be solved. It is a Catch 22 situation; call it a Gordian knot which according to the myth needs one hard swing of a sword to cut it, only; but then there is the Dollar, the YEN, China, peak everything and anything.

All in all it is going to be one long da.. hard touch down!

...

There is not much I could add at this point other than there will be no easy or simple solution for what Mr. Kohl and friends created when they played gods of all currencies and installed a completely immature EURO and at the same time there is no easy way forward for our world that is peak-almost-everything including coming up to 8 thousand million people living beyond its, our habitat's means on a finite and insolvent planet.

Carpe diem.

our culture of denial

...obviously comes with peak Man. Sigmund Freud would agree, even more so his daughter Anna:

The concept of denial is particularly important to the study of addiction. The theory of denial was first researched seriously by Anna Freud. She classified denial as a mechanism of the immature mind, because it conflicts with the ability to learn from and cope with reality.

Two examples:

Should you dislike the combination "climate" and "denial", may be it is easier to understand paired with the latest on Britain's Riots. There is lots of denial again and the fact that David Cameron has been brutally  ill-advised by his marketing boys, at least, I would like to believe he did not come up with that stupid idea himself; this, his, mission about this "Big Society" is pure rubbish and always sounded to me like the sales pitch of  a "double glazing window sales man" trying to distract from the truth by all means avoiding reality.

Obviously, I am not alone:

British politicians have espoused neo-liberal dogma for the best part of 30 years. A dogma based on consumerism and selfish individualism over shared responsibility.

And Britain, after 30 years, is a society more divided than at any other time since World War II. The haves have grown in wealth while the have-nots have grown in number.

... Social dissonance is no coincidence. Cameron's nebulous ideal of "Big Society" - that communities are stronger than the government in sorting problems out - has yetto prove of worth.
And so, in a time of austerity and a global recession lasting years, when people see their opportunities narrowing, services cut and the disappearance of the things they have for decades been told to expect, this is what happens.

Graeme Baker, NZHerald's news editor

The Big Society concept is not big enough to deal with the chronic problems that scar so many of our cities (and also some of our rural areas – extreme rural poverty is a growing problem). Throughout Britain, not just in London, not just in England, our society is virtually broken.

We have lost religion, we have lost economic power, and we are now in danger of losing social cohesion and social responsibility. This goes well beyond party politics. It will take, at least, a generation to put the pieces together again. The task will be doubly difficult against the background of a prolonged global financial crisis.

The key component in renewal must be better education. A decent education is something that far too many young people in Britain are still denied, despite the mind- bending sums of public money that have been spent on the education service in the past 20 years or so.

If better education is the key to progress, to self respect and to aspiration, it is still of no use if it just leads to frustration because our society cannot provide enough meaningful work, and, equally important, the motivation to undertake such work.

Harry Reid, Herald Scotland

And in case you need a reminder on that great picture marketed under the term Big Society (BBC):

David Cameron says it is his "mission" in politics to make the Big Society succeed - amid claims it is being wrecked by spending cuts.

This Big Society issue needs much bigger ideas than cuts (the worst are those and any into eduction)  with a huge emphasis on Society. We will never hear a "mission accomplished" by David Cameron the way things are dealt with now.

So, should you see him, tell him!

Carpe diem!

next winter might be a cold one...

...saw Germans putting up snow poles in the Highlands last night...


Carpe diem hiems!

Hey, architect(s)!

What about change (-ing sides)?

While the word's currencies and finances tumble we are looking for recruitment? 

Unbelievable? No!

Passiv Haus

We are looking for (an) enthusiastic architect(s), fluent in English and (hopefully soon in) German, to join our HANSE HAUS team based in Oberleichtersbach, Germany.

To apply, you must be a highly proficient AutoCAD user, with fast and precise drafting skills. You must have strong technical construction knowledge. Experience of drawing coordination with engineering consultants and statutory authorities would be an advantage. Good communication skills, in English and (soon) in German, are required as it will be necessary to work closely with the rest of the HH team, clients and consultants, both in Germany, the UK and probably beyond.

This is a full time position with accommodation, 30 days holiday and some return flights to the UK per annum; while the salary is negotiable it is depending on experience and on you meeting the challenge of the position's tasks.

To apply for this job you must be a UK citizen, have EEA right of residence or already have a valid UK working visa > e-mail

HANSE HAUS, in case you did not know, is a leading supplier of off-site pre-manufacturered highly energy efficient constructions; we regard Passiv Haus Technology as the leading way forward towards sustainable and affordable living.

It might help if we shared similar humor; mind you, the above is no joke!

Carpe diem!

the truth, here in German...

... nothing but the reality!


;

Dirk Mueller, one of the few speaking it out: the Euro (Greek) rescue packages is money irresponsibly wasted, peculated tax payers' money that nobody will ever see again in a situation that in normal circumstances, yours and mine, would be called "delay in filling bankrupcy", an act heavily enforced by penalty; this is all neglected for the sake of the banks, the banksters, who write the blueprint and dictate the conditions and are busy taking shelter. 

Greece will default once all the Greek bonds and related CDS - and those of the directly related PIGS and friends- will be in the safe tax payers' hands such as the government owned insurances and all kind of public and Bad Banks led by the wonderful ECB and its national fellow players.

All governments are slaves to the banksters, the very same who started it all. James Galbreith put it right, already in 2009 - nothing has changed but got worse for the masses.

Carpe diem!

Greece: a twofold problem...

 ... and a reset solving it, only!

 

Here is a link to watch a CNBC video with Michael Spence talking about Greece: he sees Greece's problem having two parts:

• sovereign debts
• lacking competitiveness

No surprise after discussing this for many months; he obviously wants to keep the logical rest of his analysis a secret; may be he wants to be invited back for coffee to be interviewed again; he should have added that certainly all the PIGS or GIPS (or into what ever you mix them) and many more of those in total 17 Eurozone countries face the same twofold burden; in fact Germany might be the only country being still competitive - however, the German sovereign debt problem is getting bigger with every cheque and guarantee signed and with every junk paper the ECB prints money against. In addition Germany's competitiveness will be hit hard, abruptly and brutally once its so-called European partners will be sick to the back teeth with austerity, cuts, unemployment, no-future chances, sell-offs and still more people demonstrating 24/7 against what more and more will be named "The rich Krauts' revenge!".

Michael Spence also mentions a possible sabbatical for Greece from the EURO; that wouldn't change a thing; only once the majority felt like taking one or two or more sabbaticals we might as well turn times back, press reset,  to 1979, the year when the very successful EMS was introduced.

I believe this reset is necessary; it is strongly advisable, I hope it will come soon! If it then takes us back to 1979, good! If the reset comes too late it might throw us back further; ante 1958 (Treaties of Rome); hopefully not beyond?

Carpe diem!

Peter Columbo Falk...

everything was iconic, his car, his coat, his cigar, his look, his questioning.

Rest in peace, inspector.

Carpe diem!

at the end of a day's work...

...Inglisssh becomes Work Laenquish!

I know, I have posted this long ago, but with all the in-efficiency and un-sustainability around me today I thought I need to have to rough laugh!

This Gentleman is Europe's Commissioner for Energy!  So, should you need some... feel free to ask him... may be not in Inglisssh but in Swabian!

Carpe diem!

p.s. You think, if it wasn't so serious, it'd be very funny?
       Correct!

it is so basic...

beware of cuts in training and education!

Want an example, read this: eight faulty wheels lost since 2009:

I find this unbelievable, dreadful, and incredible offensive; not only because our children might sit in one of those buses or you, or her, him, could be hit by the occasional wheel meeting your windscreen the odd moment. No!

Being part of this society in 2011 anno domini one would think that we have done and are doing enough to avoid such idiotic, simple, yet possibly mortal mistakes to where they become almost declared extinct; what about schooling, training, educating, warning, combined with some brains, some basic thinking? Yes, we did start in caves, but then we made tools that helped us on to where in the end (?) we flew to the moon and challenge nature and even life from all kind of angles.

It seems, now, with post-peak-manhood we seem to be producing stupidity, apathy and lethargy and the ever so efficient I-am-not responsible-crab; we seem to protect our children and in fact everybody to the very edge where the right of self-determination is dissolved by what is called Health and Safety but ends up in a flood of regulations that per se strangle real responsibility in what one is and one does, one wants and one gets.

Now, what did we get here? A "... faulty wheels warning"? It should rather be called "Beware of idiots". Idiots, because not the wheels were faulty! Idiots, because they very obviously did not know what they were doing and what is really frightening probably still have no clue of how to work, use or take advantage of common tools such like wheel-spiders, torque spanners, modern impact wrenches, and whatever is needed to fix a wheel to a bus. Any vehicle! Do we have to start from scratch again?

So, MBPs, MSP, etc. pp.! There are better things to cut or cut back on; it is definitely not education, schooling, training. The call for responsibility for what one is and what one does should also be preserved; I doubt this new "Curriculum for Excellence" is the way forward, but that is another blog some time later.

No, sorry, I am not offensive; it is me who is offended by this level of stupidity and cretinism. It does not help when you have to read in the same article:

And in the audit process there appeared to be a genuine attempt to find out what had gone wrong rather than cover up.

Hello!? Cover up? In the end this is sold to us as a success story. In 2011! In the UK! By man? Help!

Carpe diem!