"John Cartmell" wrote in message
...
In article .com,
wrote:
John Cartmell wrote:
In article . com,
wrote:

In the 1800s, with nearly zero regulation, anything went, and
everything was built. The free market addressed quality issues as
usual. Generally the good stuff survives, and the bad is almost
entirely erased. The result was the country gradually built up an
increasing stock of quality builds.

Are you forgetting the people who lived at eg 22 Back Blacow Street
Preston -

am not familiar with the address unfortunately. There was a lot of very
poor housing in Victorian times, and I believe I addressed that
question.

What you failed to address was the misery of the people forced to live
there.

If you have any doubt I could give you a detailed description of life
in
a non-regulation house.

Uncoincidentally I lived in one for 9 months or so, and am glad I was
fortunate enough to do so. It was very basic, had a steel roof, and
enabled
me to save up lots of money, which at the time was precisely what I
wanted.
It really opened my eyes to this whole question to some extent. Its an
experience I'm fortunate to have had. It has eliminated those illfounded
fears most people today in Britain have.

You are deluding yourself. Non-regulation does *not* mean very basic.
Non-regulation means illness and poverty and debt. Do tell me how many
kids
you brought up under your steel roof, how far you could tust the water
that
was supplied, how much it cost to heat the room, and how you dealt with
the
black mould.

As I said, the mistakes of the Victorian period are easy to avoid today.

They are, By strict regulation. If you're suggesting that companies are
much
more benign today you are seriously unhinged.

The great thing about the latter part of the Victorian era was that they
introduced standards. Hygiene, water, housing, building control,
engineering (screw threads etc). Because of what they saw in the early part
of the 1800s, they changed matters. This has been going on even to today.
Some, like planning went too far and is a classic case of regulation to
suppress.

A free for all creates poverty and greed. The free market has it place, but
only when inside a framework that works for all.