4 ms·

In SF/London/etc? All of them. 'Occupations' don't get you a middle class lifestyle any more. You fundamentally have to play the capitalist game and maximise y

In SF/London/etc? All of them. 'Occupations' don't get you a middle class lifestyle any more. You fundamentally have to play the capitalist game and maximise your income, you can't just 'do a good job' any more. Look at London. A family home in zone 6? ~400K. 20% deposit, that's 320K -> ~90K annual income required to buy it. Ninety thousand pounds. I don't think people really 'get' how much this is. It's 7x minimum wage. It's not a wage that you work hard and get, it's limited to an exclusive elite. You might be able to manage that, I might be able to manage that, but the city as a whole is knackered. I don't think people understand what it means that massive swathes of the population can never own a home, or can never save after paying for their rent. You're saying that teachers, bus drivers, shopkeepers, don't deserve anything other than to go to work over and over again. It's a total bloody disaster. I hear people moaning that tube drivers earn 50K. 50K! These guys run the god damn city, without them you couldn't get to work, and you want to pay them so little that they're unable to ever buy a studio flat. What's the solution? I will work hard and earn lots. Everyone who can't do that is knackered. That sounds like a reasonable way to run a society - winner takes all, everyone else gets shafted.

lmm 11y ago
As a single person in London you can have a very comfortable lifestyle on 50K - I'm speaking from personal experience. Two years ago I paid 175K for a modern flat in good condition in Zone 3 - very close to a major bus depot actually, if it's the bus drivers you're worried about. I could buy what I wanted, go out more than I cared to, and was still saving money. Fundamentally there are only so many houses and a lot of people want to live in London. Maybe the young people will push the families out, and then migrate out in turn when they themselves grow up and want a big house to raise a family in. If so then that's no bad thing in my book (and I don't think it's anything new). The young people are probably getting a lot more value out of living in London, since they're the ones going to the restaurants, theatres, gigs, clubs etc. - let them.
- lzappa 11y ago
  You need to check current property prices: "Last year most property sales in London involved flats which sold for on average £466,589." http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/London.html http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/London.html Yes, you can certainly find cheaper flats, but these days they're in zone 6 and far from "good condition".
  - lmm 11y ago
    An average will be very skewed by the high end, and there's a lot of variation between expensive and cheap areas even quite close to the centre. I don't believe prices have changed that much in two years.
    - yomly 11y ago
      Probably about 25%, the question is, how many people's salaries have gone up 25% in that space of time?
return0 11y ago
Why don't people move? Haven't they learned to vote with their money? > These guys run the god damn city, without them you couldn't get to work I don't know, there are cities where there aren't even drivers in the metro.
- tamana 11y ago
  People want to live there because high paying jobs are there, but then housing knocks the wind of them.

lmm 11y ago

As a single person in London you can have a very comfortable lifestyle on 50K - I'm speaking from personal experience. Two years ago I paid 175K for a modern flat in good condition in Zone 3 - very close to a major bus depot actually, if it's the bus drivers you're worried about. I could buy what I wanted, go out more than I cared to, and was still saving money. Fundamentally there are only so many houses and a lot of people want to live in London. Maybe the young people will push the families out, and then migrate out in turn when they themselves grow up and want a big house to raise a family in. If so then that's no bad thing in my book (and I don't think it's anything new). The young people are probably getting a lot more value out of living in London, since they're the ones going to the restaurants, theatres, gigs, clubs etc. - let them.

lzappa 11y ago
You need to check current property prices: "Last year most property sales in London involved flats which sold for on average £466,589." http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/London.html http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/London.html Yes, you can certainly find cheaper flats, but these days they're in zone 6 and far from "good condition".
- lmm 11y ago
  An average will be very skewed by the high end, and there's a lot of variation between expensive and cheap areas even quite close to the centre. I don't believe prices have changed that much in two years.
  - yomly 11y ago
    Probably about 25%, the question is, how many people's salaries have gone up 25% in that space of time?

return0 11y ago

Why don't people move? Haven't they learned to vote with their money? > These guys run the god damn city, without them you couldn't get to work I don't know, there are cities where there aren't even drivers in the metro.

tamana 11y ago
People want to live there because high paying jobs are there, but then housing knocks the wind of them.