4 ms·

If middle class means the choice to own your own home, then the maybe tech workers stayed middle class and everyone else dropped right out of it. I'm concerned

If middle class means the choice to own your own home, then the maybe tech workers stayed middle class and everyone else dropped right out of it. I'm concerned that homeownership and retiring locally are luxuries now. American culture is already far too fractious these days. We don't need to jeer at people for being able to afford roots in their local communities.

dunpeal 8y ago
> If middle class means the choice to own your own home, then the maybe tech workers stayed middle class The average tech worker has not been able to afford a house in SV for at least a decade now. So by this definition, the average tech worker in SV is lower class. > I'm concerned that homeownership and retiring locally are luxuries now. I don't know about retiring, but home ownership is certainly still widely possible outside of SF, LA, and the other usual suspects. > We don't need to jeer at people for being able to afford roots in their local communities. If it's any comfort, I don't think the majority of residents of SF/Bay currently were born and raised there. More likely, they moved there for work. How many people were actually born and raised in places like Palo Alto, MTV, or even SF a generation ago? Remember, MTV before the tech boom was a rather sleepy little suburb...
- justboxing 8y ago
  MTV = Mountain View? Had to think about that for a few seconds... ( flashback to 80s )
  - evasote 8y ago
    It still throws me, and I live and work out here. I see buses with this marked on them, I always think they're buses the to TV network, then I go 'Duh'
dublidu 8y ago
People are not reading the cited article, which proposes lowering the cost of basic needs (such as housing) as the main solution to this problem.
- humanrebar 8y ago
  It suggests four actions, one of which is "provide affordable housing", which isn't as broad as your reading. It could just mean "build housing projects". The bulk of the article implies some sort of zero sum problem. But Bay Area salaries in general aren't bad. The problem is almost entirely cost of living and transportation related. It's strange to think the tech elite are preventing better infrastructure and housing development.

dunpeal 8y ago

> If middle class means the choice to own your own home, then the maybe tech workers stayed middle class The average tech worker has not been able to afford a house in SV for at least a decade now. So by this definition, the average tech worker in SV is lower class. > I'm concerned that homeownership and retiring locally are luxuries now. I don't know about retiring, but home ownership is certainly still widely possible outside of SF, LA, and the other usual suspects. > We don't need to jeer at people for being able to afford roots in their local communities. If it's any comfort, I don't think the majority of residents of SF/Bay currently were born and raised there. More likely, they moved there for work. How many people were actually born and raised in places like Palo Alto, MTV, or even SF a generation ago? Remember, MTV before the tech boom was a rather sleepy little suburb...

justboxing 8y ago
MTV = Mountain View? Had to think about that for a few seconds... ( flashback to 80s )
- evasote 8y ago
  It still throws me, and I live and work out here. I see buses with this marked on them, I always think they're buses the to TV network, then I go 'Duh'

dublidu 8y ago

People are not reading the cited article, which proposes lowering the cost of basic needs (such as housing) as the main solution to this problem.

humanrebar 8y ago
It suggests four actions, one of which is "provide affordable housing", which isn't as broad as your reading. It could just mean "build housing projects". The bulk of the article implies some sort of zero sum problem. But Bay Area salaries in general aren't bad. The problem is almost entirely cost of living and transportation related. It's strange to think the tech elite are preventing better infrastructure and housing development.