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It's an absurd nitpick and still upholds the article's original point that you need to learn about one's living situation before making comparisons due to Ameri

It's an absurd nitpick and still upholds the article's original point that you need to learn about one's living situation before making comparisons due to America's decentralized governance.

oefrha 7y ago
It’s not absurd to point out that the picture painted by TFA that almost all Americans spend a large proportion of income on rent or mortgage is not true for a significant chunk of the population, especially considering investment/skilled worker immigrants typically earn above average. If you earn 10x while having to pay 20% of that as rent or mortgage, you do still end up with 8x. Not to mention non-home owners are also prevalent in most of the developing world.
- prophesi 7y ago
  And this "significant chunk" of the population assuredly would not include one's Armenian relative who immigrated to America. As stated in the article, most Armenians are likely home-owners due to the collapse of the USSR, so it's irrelevant that renting is prevalent globally. Again, I agree the author shouldn't have said "almost all" Americans, but it's still a silly nitpick in context to the rest of the article. Rent/Mortgage is just a slice of the pie of costs that one may have to pay in decentralized America.
  - oefrha 7y ago
    > And this "significant chunk" of the population assuredly would not include one's Armenian relative who immigrated to America. Where does that "assuredly" come from? If you just immigrated (non-investment), probably not. If you're like my immigrant relatives who immigrated 20 years ago -- just run-of-mill Silicon Valley electrical engineers, they have been mortgage-free for a long time, and they live right next to 1 Infinite Loop where cost of living is pretty damn high. This article is overall fairly objective but the hardships described in the housing section seem quite exaggerated, from "Armenians are sometimes under the impression that lots of Americans own houses, too. This is a misapprehension; ..." onward. (For one thing, unless I'm terribly mistaken, those who do own houses generally own better houses than Armenian apartments; same for those who financed houses.) To be fair, I can understand the exaggeration, as this article targets those who are "righteously indignant about stingy relatives in the US". (Which btw I don't understand -- why are rich relatives obligated to help the poor? I guess it's a cultural thing.)
    - prophesi 7y ago
      > just run-of-mill Silicon Valley electrical engineers, they have been mortgage-free for a long time, and they live right next to 1 Infinite Loop Is this sarcasm, or do you genuinely not see how exceptional that is?
      - oefrha 7y ago
        No, this is not sarcasm, and genuinely ordinary among skilled immigrants. There are just too many examples around me to count, and if they’re not there yet, they are on the same path. That’s the point: you don’t need to be filthy rich to be a home-owner in the U.S, just relatively well-off (and not even that if you’re willing to choose a less desirable destination).
- FabHK 7y ago
  > non-home owners are also prevalent in most of the developing world. Yes, but not ex-USSR states. For them, three quarters of households having to pay for their housing is an extremely high proportion. You could argue that “most” would be a better description than “almost all”, but it doesn’t make the article grossly misleading.

It's an absurd nitpick and still upholds the article's original point that you need to learn about one's living situation before making comparisons due to America's decentralized governance.

oefrha 7y ago

It’s not absurd to point out that the picture painted by TFA that almost all Americans spend a large proportion of income on rent or mortgage is not true for a significant chunk of the population, especially considering investment/skilled worker immigrants typically earn above average. If you earn 10x while having to pay 20% of that as rent or mortgage, you do still end up with 8x. Not to mention non-home owners are also prevalent in most of the developing world.

prophesi 7y ago
And this "significant chunk" of the population assuredly would not include one's Armenian relative who immigrated to America. As stated in the article, most Armenians are likely home-owners due to the collapse of the USSR, so it's irrelevant that renting is prevalent globally. Again, I agree the author shouldn't have said "almost all" Americans, but it's still a silly nitpick in context to the rest of the article. Rent/Mortgage is just a slice of the pie of costs that one may have to pay in decentralized America.
- oefrha 7y ago
  > And this "significant chunk" of the population assuredly would not include one's Armenian relative who immigrated to America. Where does that "assuredly" come from? If you just immigrated (non-investment), probably not. If you're like my immigrant relatives who immigrated 20 years ago -- just run-of-mill Silicon Valley electrical engineers, they have been mortgage-free for a long time, and they live right next to 1 Infinite Loop where cost of living is pretty damn high. This article is overall fairly objective but the hardships described in the housing section seem quite exaggerated, from "Armenians are sometimes under the impression that lots of Americans own houses, too. This is a misapprehension; ..." onward. (For one thing, unless I'm terribly mistaken, those who do own houses generally own better houses than Armenian apartments; same for those who financed houses.) To be fair, I can understand the exaggeration, as this article targets those who are "righteously indignant about stingy relatives in the US". (Which btw I don't understand -- why are rich relatives obligated to help the poor? I guess it's a cultural thing.)
  - prophesi 7y ago
    > just run-of-mill Silicon Valley electrical engineers, they have been mortgage-free for a long time, and they live right next to 1 Infinite Loop Is this sarcasm, or do you genuinely not see how exceptional that is?
    - oefrha 7y ago
      No, this is not sarcasm, and genuinely ordinary among skilled immigrants. There are just too many examples around me to count, and if they’re not there yet, they are on the same path. That’s the point: you don’t need to be filthy rich to be a home-owner in the U.S, just relatively well-off (and not even that if you’re willing to choose a less desirable destination).
FabHK 7y ago
> non-home owners are also prevalent in most of the developing world. Yes, but not ex-USSR states. For them, three quarters of households having to pay for their housing is an extremely high proportion. You could argue that “most” would be a better description than “almost all”, but it doesn’t make the article grossly misleading.