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One of the paragraphs that stood out to me the most: I asked Bing Thom about the changes. The property boom has, of course, been good for the architectural pro
by nugget 11y ago
One of the paragraphs that stood out to me the most:
I asked Bing Thom about the changes. The property boom has, of course, been good for the architectural profession, but Thom, who is now in his early seventies, is troubled by what is happening to his home town. “By all accounts, I have done pretty well in my business, but I made more money from sitting on my Vancouver property than I made by working an entire lifetime,” he said. “That tells you something.”
- maxxxxx 11y agoIsn't that where we are heading generally? Working gets turned into a commodity and only the people with capital receive economic gains?
- eru 11y agoIt's not capital. It's land. Returns on capital are also pretty low.
- nugget 11y agoEru beat me to the answer. Since the 1970s we witnessed a bunch of major trends: interest rates (lending costs) drop near 0, household incomes increase significantly due to women entering the workforce, continued urbanization, and rapid population growth. All of these trends supported massive appreciation of land and real estate. My perspective on this is that (especially urban) landowners were beneficiaries of an economic lottery that is unlikely to reoccur in our lifetimes.
- solidsnack9000 11y agoWanted to thank you for bringing up this distinction.