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What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

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Re: What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

#631

Post by dehrmann »

r00fus wrote: post #324
dehrmann wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

REITs aren't the problem; it's a lack of construction.

You can build all you want the corporate and foreign wealth will still buy it before people can.

And do what with it? If they do nothing, they're paying property taxes. If they rent the units, that's housing on the market. If construction continues faster than people move into the city, rents will go down.

> corporate and foreign wealth

These terms are dog whistles. Unless you want to argue for something Marxist, but then "private wealth" would suffice.

Re: What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

#632

Post by amrocha »

dangwhy wrote: post #560
amrocha wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, Canada's system has problems. But any system that discriminates based on class is automatically worse.

of-course, You are free to think that. Making absolute statements based on your gut feelings has no place in rational thinking.

Killing people is bad is not a feeling. I'm sure you can find some rational logic to justify it, but that doesn't make it ok, it just makes you feel less bad about it.

Re: What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

#633

Post by toyg »

whiddershins wrote: post #516
toyg wrote: post #463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Central Europe is also under the renewed threat of Russian invasion. I know a few businesses that were hit by Herr Putin's latest adventure.

Why are you comparing Putin to Hitler instead of Stalin.

Because his rule and values look more similar (at least from what I can see from outside the country) to the ones in Nazi/Fascist regimes than in Soviet ones. Stalin wasn't Russian, his rhetoric was about transnational collectivism; whereas Putin is firmly in the traditional nationalistic mould, "my nation first".

Also, Stalin organized his underlings and allies in a monolithic fashion, inside the party; punishments were mostly distributed with demotions or convictions, as internal to the system. Putin keeps his oligarchs at arm's length, in charge of companies and institutions that are nominally independent, occasionally even abroad; punishments are inflicted by "fall from balcony" and indirect ostracism, again closer to the Nazi model than the Soviet one.

Re: What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

#634

Post by [deleted] »

watrami wrote: post #103

It seems like it's the same story everywhere I look. Housing is the main driver of inequality and there is little change happening. We have the same problem here in Germany. I am currently living in Munich to finish my CS Master's at TUM and build a startup, and it is absolutely impossible to find anything remotely affordable. I am supported by two startup scholarships and make enough to get by, but no landlord even…

[deleted]

Re: What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

#635

Post by luckylion »

ido wrote: post #603
luckylion wrote: post #599

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, doing it with kids is extra hard. I have friends in Berlin who moved to Prenzlauer Berg in like 2005 and got a great deal. At some point, with kids that apartment just didn't cut it any more, but they can't move too far for the reasons you mention, so they looked long and hard and accepted paying quite a bit more and moving to the other side of the Ring in Pankow. Not as nice, but close enough to keep the kids…

I have many friends in Brandenburg (the state, not the city) and internet speeds tend to actually be great out there from what Ive heard (still in the towns/cities not literally in the middle of nowhere, but there are loads of small to mid sized towns). In fact I believe it may be better than in Berlin! I wonder if it was because it was easier to upgrade/replace the East German infrastructure & as such it's relativel…

I guess Pankow is also pretty large. The parts I stayed at had mostly wide streets with lots of traffic, but it includes Prenzlauer Berg and goes all the way to the north, so it'll have plenty of different places. And gentrification likely changes it as well.

You're right about small towns, they're probably a good compromise before looking at villages, but it is a very different life style, so probably not for everyone that currently lives in Berlin or Hamburg by choice. I'm curious how it will develop, and I feel fortunate that my personal preferences align with what's cheaper. I feel for those who desire the hustle and bustle of the inner city.

Re: What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

#636

Post by swexbe »

danaris wrote: post #615
satvikpendem wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is wealth? How do you define it? How can you tax it? If it's in stocks, what does it mean to tax it? If I own a company worth X billion, does that mean I have to sell my shares to withdraw enough cash to pay my taxes, thereby tanking the value of my own company? If I pay a lot in a downturn but my company does better in a boom, will I get refunded the extra tax I paid? It's not as simple as "make it illegal to h…

> What is wealth? How do you define it? Anything you own with a quantifiable monetary value. Yes, even if that value is not fixed. > If I own a company worth X billion, does that mean I have to sell my shares to withdraw enough cash to pay my taxes, thereby tanking the value of my own company? Yes. > If I pay a lot in a downturn but my company does better in a boom, will I get refunded the extra tax I paid? No. How d…

So if your company tanks the day after the tax year cut off you're suddenly stuck with billions in debt and no assets? Seems like a pretty good reason to put your money elsewhere.

Re: What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

#637

Post by rickydroll »

jopsen wrote: post #485
rickydroll wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

item 3 is solving the wrong problem. people will have babies when they have space and feel like they can give their kids a better future. trying to move people into dense urban living it the opposite of space needed for kids. right now, we cannot give kids a better future in the current billionaire run world. we need to depopulate the billionaires and with the freed up wealth, fix the environmental problems so we hav…

> we need to depopulate the billionaires and with the freed up wealth You don't free up wealth that way, more likely you destroy it.

as a rule, billionaires don't create wealth. They play games with power, accumulating wealth locked up in financial engineering systems that produce more wealth by taking money out of the hand of real wealth producers. The people that create wealth are inventors, scientists, engineers and laborers that create, figure out how to make and move the product out the door. capitol is needed to produce goods but is not the only recipient of the results of work.

Re: What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

#638

Post by rayrey »

nickersonm wrote: post #616
rcarr wrote: post #543

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's always an option to move to a cheaper location! If you’ve got no savings and are trapped in debt, how do you suggest people do this? How are these people managed to scrape together the deposit and moving costs? The people who would need to do this the most are locked out of it. If you don’t have family members to stay with, what you end up with is skyrocketing homeless numbers which seems to be what is happeni…

Sell all your furniture and all but irreplaceable and critical belongings, possibly including selling any cars you may have. Use a few thousand dollars of that money for airfare or gas money and move yourself and minimal belongings to a new location. Stay in a long-term-stay hotel (<$100/day) for a week or two until you can get the cheapest apartment you can find. Slowly repurchase essentials as needed. Done.

I will point you to a book called “Nickled and Dimed”

Re: What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

#639

Post by illiarian »

cudgy wrote: post #626
illiarian wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That you have more shops than one. More restaurants than one. Theaters. Clubs. Sports. Connectivity. Places and activities for kids. Places for hobbies. Concerts. Other various activities and events. There are significantly more of each in a big citu.

> That you have more shops than one. More restaurants than one. Theaters. Clubs. Sports. Connectivity. Places and activities for kids. Places for hobbies. Concerts. Other various activities and events. Then open a shop, start a restaurant, start a theatre group, gather some kids for sports, organize some concerts, and become an active member of your community, instead of expecting it to be handed to you on a platter.

So I've opened a shop. Now waht? Are you in all seriousness telling me that a small town can provide the same amount of things as a big city?

You'll run out of people long before you get on par with what a big city offers.

Re: What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

#640

Post by listenallyall »

mthoms wrote: post #264
listenallyall wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no power other than arranging the name tags on the lunch tables The WEF itself would starkly disagree. For more than 50 years, the Forum has engaged global Partners to drive significant impact – creating historic initiatives, industry breakthroughs, economic solutions and tens of thousands of projects and collaborations – improving the state of the world That's a lot more than arranging name tags. https://www.wefor…

That’s not what “power” means. They don’t have the power to force anything to happen outside their little get together. The only “power” they have is limited to what participants can or can’t do while attending. Such as: they have the power to require attendees wear their name tags as a condition for attending. (Not sure if that’s actually a thing; it’s merely illustrative)

If you only think power = force, you don't understand how real power is wielded. You're absolutely correct, WEF will not jail you if you do something its members don't like. If you assume that means it doesn't have any power other than enforcing name tag rules, you're naive.
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