Comments on: Houses Aren’t Cash Machines

By: My Loan Mod Story

My Loan Mod Story — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:06:05 +0000

I’ve been waiting for several months to get my loan modification off the ground. It seems they take forever and I wish I had better prepared myself by reading more blogs and articles like this…I think I coulda done better.

By: Roger Thornhill

Roger Thornhill — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:07:32 +0000

JohnB,

Those 80 people died of SMALLPOX. 400+ out of 6000 died in a particularly harsh environment, but it is hardly comparable to constructing an underground tube line…

NB.
Do not presume I fall for ‘tripe’. I don’t swallow the pap produced by the State either.

By: john b

john b — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:24:22 +0000

I’m not convinced by Levitt on abortion, not least because abortion skews middle-class while career crime skews working-class (ie the women who’re having abortions are not the one whose kids would have turned out to be criminals).

On Victorian railway building, countless people *did* die. Read the history of the Settle & Carlisle railway – too many people died to even count, including 80 at just one work site.

By: Ian B

Ian B — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 01:10:06 +0000

Well, it’s at least possible. Such stuff makes me a trifle queasy though.

By: Charlotte Gore

Charlotte Gore — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:57:23 +0000

AND.. (last one!)

“crime has fallen because criminals being aborted”

If it’s true, it’s not because ‘criminals are being aborted’ – it’s that children are not being born into environments which make becoming criminal more likely. It’s a subtle distinction, perhaps, but the former makes me sound like I’m into eugenics, which isn’t the case.

By: Charlotte Gore

Charlotte Gore — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:45:17 +0000

And also whilst they’ve made the case for this in America (the drop in crime applies across america with the exact time it starts depending on when abortion was made legal), no such studies have been done in the UK so to assume there’s a parallel would be inadvisable anyway. I just mention it because I’d been looking at the stats and was actually surprised to see what looks like a rather large reversal of an otherwise constant upward trend in crimes per thousand of population

By: Charlotte Gore

Charlotte Gore — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:41:36 +0000

Hmm. Well it’s not an uncontroversial opinion. Bunch of economists studied it and pinned the drop in crime on Roe Versus Wade – quite what conclusions one is supposed to draw from this I don’t know.

Women having babies when they’re ready for them (doesn’t cut the birth rate – women just have the babies later) does seem to have had a major impact on crime rates.

But yes, I know how it sounds.

Freakonomics

By: Ian B

Ian B — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:30:43 +0000

My comment box haunting is getting me a reputation? Ooer.

Charlotte, did I read you correctly that you’re suggesting that crime has fallen because criminals are being aborted?!

By: Charlotte Gore

Charlotte Gore — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:05:21 +0000

Hmm yes Ian’s brilliant.

The crime thing.. well since the establishment of the welfare state crimes been rising, except for the mid 90s when it does indeed begin to drop. The same thing happens in America, and I’ve read convincing analysis that attributes this to Roe Versus Wade a generation earlier – but in America the effect was more pronounced and happened quicker. It could be that our Welfare state lessened the effect and made it take longer, or it could just be a spooky coincidence.

By: Mark Reed

Mark Reed — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:36:48 +0000

You are exactly right. More expensive housing = less money for life.