Housing is not the root of the problem. The root of the problem is our current inflationary debt-based monetary system. Banks create currency by giving out mortgages, and mortgages are backed by real estate. Currency used to be backed by gold, and now it's backed by real estate. In other words, real estate has become money.
Housing is at the root of many of the rich world’s problems (2020)
81–90 of 817 posts
Re: Housing is at the root of many of the rich world’s problems (2020)
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
One the the core issues with capitalism IMO is that it struggles to function as a meritocracy, because the reward for having merit - money - is itself an effective substitute for merit.
> because the reward for having merit - money - is itself an effective substitute for merit. True! It's exactly what happens with, for example, the richest man in the world right now. Everyone loves him because they think he has so much merit, but he's just a glorified recruiter and/or magnate, he doesn't have any technical knowledge at all.
If you're talking about Elon, he does in fact have pretty deep technical knowledge. Both from reports of his employees and just watching technical interviews with him.
I get the hate about him, but it's reached the point where people just make stuff up and it gets swept up into "truth" just because it feels good.
Re: Housing is at the root of many of the rich world’s problems (2020)
#83Nothing will change while the homeowners have more political power than the renters. Even in the cities where the renter population is bigger than the homeowners, such as in Seattle, half of the votes come from people of > 65 years old (all of whom are homeowners, likely more than one home). Young people simply won't vote at all. There is very little incentives for the young people to vote. Even if you cancel all the…
I think you are more than exaggerating.
Thinking of someone who's 65 now and owns several homes, these people are utter fools. How much would money put into houses 40 years ago when they bought, and put into stocks at the same time, would make? You don't even need to google up to know the answer.
SP500 would make 96x with dividends reinvested and 37x without. Median home price is not even 10x, and the median home has increased in size 1.5x in the meantime, plus required upkeep.
Fix to housing problem is nothing but financial education for people.
Re: Housing is at the root of many of the rich world’s problems (2020)
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you are free and able to vote but won't do it, it's hard for me to feel too much pity for your situation. I started voting when I was 16 (my birth country allows that) and voted on every single election until I immigrated to the US - and then voted on every US election since becoming a citizen.
Some people find it difficult to vote, for reasons I suspect disproportionately affect renters. Where people must be registered with their home address in order to vote, renters are at more risk of being unregistered at election time, because they move home more frequently. People experiencing economic hardship (who are more likely to be renters) are less likely to make time for voting (especially if polling stations…
I was curious on the data on this. I mean difficulty voting certainly is a major narrative and passes the smell test but the survey in this article suggests 3/4’s of non voters say it is easy to vote:
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/561886-whos-not-voting-...
This is however contrasted by the confusing bit that not being registered was the biggest reason people didn’t vote, above apathy and political disengagement.
Re: Housing is at the root of many of the rich world’s problems (2020)
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
We probably need some service (an app or a site) that gives clear instructions on how, where and when to register. Yes, it is harder for renters, but it is designed to be harder. This is to prevent renters from having political power and making homeowner's houses more expensive. One more reason to fight, from my point of view.
We have all that and more. There are even groups that seek people out to teach them to vote. When you file a change of address with the post office, they send you a packet with all kinds of moving resources including how to re-register. In addition, a really quick Google search gives you all you need to know to register and vote. I don't understand why some people pretend the process is difficult. If people still are…
You're probably correct in many (or even most) cases, but I still believe that it's too difficult for some people, for two reasons:
1) Some people are under more stress than others, and are less able to summon the effort to vote. Admittedly, this does also include people in rather different circumstances, such as elderly homeowners who become unwell at election time (especially after the postal vote deadline).
2) Voting arrangements aren't uniform between countries (or even within one country), and travelling some distance to a polling station and then queuing to vote is a burden some voters might experience much more than others.
Re: Housing is at the root of many of the rich world’s problems (2020)
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is very good for productivity when many jobs are concentrated in one location. This unlocks the possibility for serendipitous connections. It is awesome when you can meet a founder, a leading engineer, an investor, a designer and a PR person in a coffee line, forming a new company before finishing your morning coffee. Talents concentrated in one place gives significant boost to their productivity. This is called a…
I'm not so sure about this, i believe the optimal curve for city population looks like the optimal stress response, after a certain level having more is just detrimental. There should be enough people where opportunities arise but no so much that your mind is too influenced by noise where you can't accurately make good decisions.
If there is such a level, we haven't reached it yet. There are 40 million people in Tokyo; would that city be improved if people left?
Re: Housing is at the root of many of the rich world’s problems (2020)
#87Housing is not the root of the problem. The root of the problem is our current inflationary debt-based monetary system. Banks create currency by giving out mortgages, and mortgages are backed by real estate. Currency used to be backed by gold, and now it's backed by real estate. In other words, real estate has become money.
> Currency used to be backed by gold, and now it's backed by real estate
No it isn't. Mortgages are not the only kind of fractional reserve banking. The currency is also fiat, its backed by the market's belief in the strength of the US government and economy. Gold back currencies also had pricing shocks, inflation/deflation and a myriad of other weird issues.
You're parroting the least informed version of Austrian Economics.
Re: Housing is at the root of many of the rich world’s problems (2020)
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, you can't vote where you don't live. The large problem is the lack of appropriate land taxes in high cost municipalities. And you can't vote to change that until you live there, and once you live there, you are much less incentivized to vote against your self interests.
Most of the laws regarding property taxes are set at the state level, not the municipal level. In California, a voter in Modesto can influence tax rates in San Francisco. Local votes only control minor things like special additional school district assessments.
That is a California specific phenomenon due to various caps they put at state level on the rate at which property taxes can be increased
Re: Housing is at the root of many of the rich world’s problems (2020)
#89Nothing will change while the homeowners have more political power than the renters. Even in the cities where the renter population is bigger than the homeowners, such as in Seattle, half of the votes come from people of > 65 years old (all of whom are homeowners, likely more than one home). Young people simply won't vote at all. There is very little incentives for the young people to vote. Even if you cancel all the…
[deleted]
Re: Housing is at the root of many of the rich world’s problems (2020)
#90Not housing per-se, but concentrating too many jobs in few locations. Which causes issues with housing.
It is very good for productivity when many jobs are concentrated in one location. This unlocks the possibility for serendipitous connections. It is awesome when you can meet a founder, a leading engineer, an investor, a designer and a PR person in a coffee line, forming a new company before finishing your morning coffee. Talents concentrated in one place gives significant boost to their productivity. This is called a…
China has this in spades, where you can build a (hardware) product and source everything needed from the same city. And not just distributors of those parts, the actual manufacturers are all right there building what you need.
Run out of anything and it's just a 20 minute drive to go grab more from the factory.