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> minorities were in chains
Actually just one particular group. Minorities aren’t homogenous. And the war that ended that was almost 200 years ago. So that was far before any “good old day” talk,
Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore
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Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore
#72Landlords are the least productive class in society, and it's not even close in terms of ranking.
inb4 a rentier-class swoops in to "well actually" this because interest rates are up: you need to draw a box around the capital interests (current owner, previous owners, bank, bond holders) and treat them as a group counterparty to the renter if you want to understand the system. Otherwise you'll get kited by each free-money-recipient pointing to the other and saying "look over there!" Which members of the group are living it up vs under pressure at a given moment changes, but what remains constant is the gigantic flow of money that comes out of the renter and remains with the capital interests after subtracting off expenses.
Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
In 1970 a $300/month apartment would be ~$2000/month in today dollars. I do think rents are too high as productivity and supply chains are much more efficient. I think in the 70s we were still using black pipe for gas, iron septic lines, and copper pipes for water. But, I don't think new builds or renovations are cheaper inflation adjusted (harder to estimate). Cost of money (inflation), building, and maintenance is…
Were apartments $300/month in the deep suburbs of cities though? Because I'm always surprised to hear my parents tell me rents for 1 bedrooms in the place I grew up in outside of Boston are in the $2-2.5k range (confirmed just now, not an affluent suburb). Census data seems to put the equivalent in Massachusetts at $120/month in 1970, which would be roughly $1k/month in 2026. $300/month in 1970 might even be high for…
In 1970, median rent was $108 a month, utilities included.
https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/08/archives/108-a-month-rent...
Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore
#74Landlords are the least productive class in society, and it's not even close in terms of ranking.
It's worth being precise about this because it's a really important point. Most people who we call "landlords" are simultaneously a landlord and a property manager. Property management is an important and productive job. But the vast majority of such people's financial outcome is actually from being a landlord , that is doing literally nothing except holding a piece of paper granting them monopoly on a plot of land.…
> If you remove landlords (but keep property managers, developers, etc
In this scenario, who owns the property? And if you are advocating that everyone should own their home, what is the point of a property manager? What about the people who do not actually want to own their home?
Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore
#75Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
one bedroom (and living alone) is a luxury and always has been
Is this true? I think SROs were very common in the US in metropolitan areas. It was common plot point in media to: 1) kick your kids out at 18, 2) if two men lived together they were assumed to be dating.
yep, a ton of SROs have been lost in cities like SF
https://ccsroc.net/s-r-o-hotels-in-san-francisco/
also - gentrification of apartment housing stock over time raising the price floor and phasing out of public housing
Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore
#77Is it the wages or that shitty one bedroom apartments go for $2000+
In 1970 a $300/month apartment would be ~$2000/month in today dollars. I do think rents are too high as productivity and supply chains are much more efficient. I think in the 70s we were still using black pipe for gas, iron septic lines, and copper pipes for water. But, I don't think new builds or renovations are cheaper inflation adjusted (harder to estimate). Cost of money (inflation), building, and maintenance is…
Could have all the best reasons in the world,
Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
> minorities were in chains Actually just one particular group. Minorities aren’t homogenous. And the war that ended that was almost 200 years ago. So that was far before any “good old day” talk,
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No, obviously everyone was affected.
You want to try clarifying what you want to argue?
Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Look at real, median household income. It's been going up and up. The things that have gone up in relative cost are housing (because we heavily regulate building it) and premium services like healthcare and education because of Baumol.
Does median represent the normal anymore?
The median alone doesn't paint the whole picture. We need to compare the spread as well. The median doesn't care if you make just under the median, or $1 a month.
Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore
#80In most European countries this 30% rule has never worked. It's always been a completely out of touch rule, and, especially for single people, rent has always easily been 50% of their net income in major European cities.