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I'm a systems engineer in Seattle. Thanks to my student loans I can't afford a house, I can't afford to have a child with my wife - thankfully my employer is ki

by tjr225 8y ago

I'm a systems engineer in Seattle. Thanks to my student loans I can't afford a house, I can't afford to have a child with my wife - thankfully my employer is kind enough to provide health insurance or else I'd probably be screwed there, too. Anyone who thinks this economy is booming is kidding themselves.

saosebastiao 8y ago
It's booming for some people. You and I are not those people.
- ataturk 8y ago
  Uh, that also sounds kind of entitled. I think people talk themselves out of easy solutions. If you really want to have children, there are plenty of ways to go about affording that decision. It's called "making a sacrifice" which I watch a lot of narcissistic types having problems with. Maybe learn some Zen? Take your ego out of the equation and see where it takes you.
cylinder 8y ago
We think the economy is booming because these costs are increasing (inflation). Stupid. Same with GDP. A 50 car pileup will increase GDP!
- ibeckermayer 8y ago
  Can you please explain this to me in more detail? Costs inflating causes economists to think the economy is booming, how? Is it based on how they measure “economic boom”? Why would a 50 car pile up “increase GDP”? I’ve heard similar criticism of how we measure GDP, but don’t understand precisely what the problem is.
  - daxorid 8y ago
    1. Most central bank economists have abandoned the standard of price stability, and now target a specific CPI number. The Fed targets 2%, for example. 2. A 50 car pileup will employ EMS personnel, hospital staff, tow truck drivers, road cleanup crews, etc. Then later, new car assembly, transportation, DMV workers, and car salesmen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window
    - repolfx 8y ago
      It's worse than that. Central bankers define 2% inflation as price stability. 2% isn't even stable, it's compounding, prices go up more every year than in the previous year, and CBs say they achieved "stability". Odd use of the word!
andrew_ 8y ago
Myopic and hyperbolic. While this may indeed be what you're experiencing, and while it sounds as if you're being very negatively impacted, your experience is not universal and is likely due to a number of contributing factors (a couple of which you've hinted towards in your post). Myself and many of my peers have had a decidedly opposite experience during the last 2-3 years and are enjoying a thriving economy. I'd suggest you're kidding yourself that it's -not- booming, and are suffering the results of choices made despite the state of the economy.
- tjr225 8y ago
  I'm actually rather happy with the choices that I've made in this economy. I would be much worse off not making these choices - however, almost everything I want is unaffordable....things that I view to be human rights. Whatever you may suspect to be the cause of my circumstance, I am positive the good things you are experiencing are a result of good timing and luck(I'm sincerely happy for you, don't get me wrong but please stop patronizing me - the world is filled with real people) Forgive me for wanting a future where those things aren't necessary for housing or family-raising.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
hellogoodbyeeee 8y ago
Maybe it is time to leave Seattle? It is pretty entitled of you to say that it is your human right to have a house in one of the most expensive metros in the country. The economy is booming. Go find a new job. You will be able to and you'll get a pay raise.
- saosebastiao 8y ago
  Cities aren't inherently expensive. Even in some of the richest and most prosperous cities in our human history, there have always been people less well off that could afford to live there. The only reason we have this concept of cities that only exist for a certain class of people is because we have deliberately made them that way. People don't choose cities the way they choose a home. This isn't like someone thinking they have to live in a nice apartment when all they can afford is a nice apartment. Cities are places where people can choose to live, but more likely than not they are where they haven't chosen to live. Their choice to stay is a choice to be with family that they need or that needs them. Or a choice to advance a career that they are unlikely to find elsewhere. Or to stay in a place that is culturally important to them. We can afford to give people the possibility of not having to leave a place that they love, or comfortably afford a city they can't leave for whatever reason. It may mean that some people don't get rich off of rent-seeking housing markets, but it is entirely possible, and we should do it. It isn't any more entitled to want to do so than it was for our entire nation to want Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness when we didn't have it.
  - hellogoodbyeeee 8y ago
    I'm sympathetic to people living near where they grew up or where there family is at. I live where I live because of family. If it weren't for them, I would have left after college and never looked back. Cities are inherently expensive. The more people you have wanting to bid up the limited amount of real estate in a city, the more expensive it will get. This pressure could be alleviated with higher density housing, but no one has a right to that.
    - saosebastiao 8y ago

by tjr225 8y ago

saosebastiao 8y ago

It's booming for some people. You and I are not those people.

ataturk 8y ago
Uh, that also sounds kind of entitled. I think people talk themselves out of easy solutions. If you really want to have children, there are plenty of ways to go about affording that decision. It's called "making a sacrifice" which I watch a lot of narcissistic types having problems with. Maybe learn some Zen? Take your ego out of the equation and see where it takes you.

cylinder 8y ago

We think the economy is booming because these costs are increasing (inflation). Stupid. Same with GDP. A 50 car pileup will increase GDP!

ibeckermayer 8y ago
Can you please explain this to me in more detail? Costs inflating causes economists to think the economy is booming, how? Is it based on how they measure “economic boom”? Why would a 50 car pile up “increase GDP”? I’ve heard similar criticism of how we measure GDP, but don’t understand precisely what the problem is.
- daxorid 8y ago
  1. Most central bank economists have abandoned the standard of price stability, and now target a specific CPI number. The Fed targets 2%, for example. 2. A 50 car pileup will employ EMS personnel, hospital staff, tow truck drivers, road cleanup crews, etc. Then later, new car assembly, transportation, DMV workers, and car salesmen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window
  - repolfx 8y ago
    It's worse than that. Central bankers define 2% inflation as price stability. 2% isn't even stable, it's compounding, prices go up more every year than in the previous year, and CBs say they achieved "stability". Odd use of the word!

andrew_ 8y ago

Myopic and hyperbolic. While this may indeed be what you're experiencing, and while it sounds as if you're being very negatively impacted, your experience is not universal and is likely due to a number of contributing factors (a couple of which you've hinted towards in your post). Myself and many of my peers have had a decidedly opposite experience during the last 2-3 years and are enjoying a thriving economy. I'd suggest you're kidding yourself that it's -not- booming, and are suffering the results of choices made despite the state of the economy.

tjr225 8y ago
I'm actually rather happy with the choices that I've made in this economy. I would be much worse off not making these choices - however, almost everything I want is unaffordable....things that I view to be human rights. Whatever you may suspect to be the cause of my circumstance, I am positive the good things you are experiencing are a result of good timing and luck(I'm sincerely happy for you, don't get me wrong but please stop patronizing me - the world is filled with real people) Forgive me for wanting a future where those things aren't necessary for housing or family-raising.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

hellogoodbyeeee 8y ago

Maybe it is time to leave Seattle? It is pretty entitled of you to say that it is your human right to have a house in one of the most expensive metros in the country. The economy is booming. Go find a new job. You will be able to and you'll get a pay raise.

saosebastiao 8y ago
Cities aren't inherently expensive. Even in some of the richest and most prosperous cities in our human history, there have always been people less well off that could afford to live there. The only reason we have this concept of cities that only exist for a certain class of people is because we have deliberately made them that way. People don't choose cities the way they choose a home. This isn't like someone thinking they have to live in a nice apartment when all they can afford is a nice apartment. Cities are places where people can choose to live, but more likely than not they are where they haven't chosen to live. Their choice to stay is a choice to be with family that they need or that needs them. Or a choice to advance a career that they are unlikely to find elsewhere. Or to stay in a place that is culturally important to them. We can afford to give people the possibility of not having to leave a place that they love, or comfortably afford a city they can't leave for whatever reason. It may mean that some people don't get rich off of rent-seeking housing markets, but it is entirely possible, and we should do it. It isn't any more entitled to want to do so than it was for our entire nation to want Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness when we didn't have it.
- hellogoodbyeeee 8y ago
  I'm sympathetic to people living near where they grew up or where there family is at. I live where I live because of family. If it weren't for them, I would have left after college and never looked back. Cities are inherently expensive. The more people you have wanting to bid up the limited amount of real estate in a city, the more expensive it will get. This pressure could be alleviated with higher density housing, but no one has a right to that.
  - saosebastiao 8y ago