Ordo Ab Chao

To the tune of "The Ugly Duckling"

There once was a little rundown country with fields of green and brown And the other states of, with wealth so great said Welcome to EC town So we went with a swagger and a roll and a gait and signed on the dotted line

So the poor little rundown country
a former colony with no wealth of its own
signed on the line
its future assigned
at a meeting they held in Rome.
yes a meeting, a treaty, a meeting they held in Rome.

So the poor little rundown country
finally had money to survive
The few rich made cakes
from overflowing butter lakes
and refridgerated everthing not alive.
refridgerated, yes refridgerated, we froze the bejaysus out of everything not alive.

(change in key)
All through the 70s and most of the 80s
we struggled and we scraped,
those of us with more, hid it all offshore

All through those years,
wealth was rare indeed
farmers made their livings from animals and seed

Til a proud and cunning king
who owned nearly everything
had a stunning revelation of the
power of low corporate taxation.

"Only the rich are saved
greed is good he raved
Invest in companies a chara
F*&king make it so O'Meara :)"

(change to original key and take deep breath!)
So the modestly wealth no-longer rundown country
with competitiveness statistics that enticed
Became the leading manufacturer, outside the US- in fact we were,
of everything from software to computer mice.

So our now quite wealthy little country
got the cash, we'd craved for years
When you've got BT's, you'd never want for Sears
Debt seemed very cheap, twas no surprise to see
a million quid spent recklessly on a 4 bed semi-D

(long pause to reflect)

Oh there once was a little country, that refused to face the facts
The construction industry has sold half the country into a life of slavery
Hours of traffic jams, 2 jobs, no kids unplanned
and the promise of negative equity.

Yes the promise, the guarantee, the absolute irrefutable fact of impending negative equity.

Ah sure, I don't mean it really. The government are as much if not more to blame :)
Apologies for the bad rhyming, I guess it's the sentiment that counts. I'm buying a house at the moment and am totally fed up of the vested interests (aka auctioneers) telling me that

• The market isn't affected really, there's a lot of scaremongers about.


• Houses at this price level aren't affected (lucky me!)


• There's a few years of boom to go


• It's a fair price, we're only acting in the best interests of the seller


• We're taking the houses off the market, it's always easier to sell in the new year and we'll be putting the prices up I'm afraid.


• There may be a dip but we're confident of a "soft landing"

Cobblers, as they say. How is it that with supply outstripping demand by almost 2 to 1, thousands of empty houses and apartments all around the country, crazy multiples of income to debt and thousands of jobs dependent on a sector which has been showing signs of slowing down for over 18 months will there somehow be a miraculous "soft landing". Caveat emptor.