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""" But the Facebook engineer making $500,000/year? They’re the ones buying up the houses and driving middle class people out of neighborhoods. """ Wait this s

""" But the Facebook engineer making $500,000/year? They’re the ones buying up the houses and driving middle class people out of neighborhoods. """ Wait this sounds like demonizing the FB engineer for making the 500k even though he would now have to pay millions for a medium size/class/type home that was previously owned by (and sold for) a crazy amount by said "middle class". I get very worried when I see this sentiment where somehow the employees of these companies are responsible for killing the previous fabric but what is driving them to these decisions is somehow sacred?

bhupy 6y ago
I wouldn’t call it “demonizing”, per se, but it’s a real phenomenon. I live in Brooklyn where rent isn’t the cheapest. The rents aren’t driven up because I’m in a bidding war with Jeff Bezos; they’re driven up because I’m in a bidding war with other high earning millennial yuppies. The blue collar “middle class” worker doesn’t stand a chance in our neighborhood. In contrast, my folks live in Wisconsin, where the same blue collar “middle class” worker probably doesn’t care about rent bidding wars because they just put a down payment on a nice starter home.
- flashgordon 6y ago
  I agree demonizing is a strong characterisation. What would you suggest is the solution for these "ridiculous" salaries impacting the middle class? (Not considering the high real estate prices also disproportionately contributing to property taxes).
rayiner 6y ago
I’m not demonizing anyone. But the inequality that affects every day people directly—rising housing prices in formerly middle class suburbs, competition for good school districts, rising prices in restaurants, etc., is driven by the large growth in upper middle class salaries. (My parents wouldn’t have been able to afford the 1,100 square foot 3BR 1950s house I grew up in at today’s prices. The neighborhood isn’t full of parked Saudi money. It’s the explosion in upper middle class incomes.) Housing prices in full Silicon Valley suburbs aren’t exploding because of a handful of billionaires, it’s because of a vastly larger number of engineers making $500k.
- flashgordon 6y ago
  I do apologize for the over reaction :). Engineers like anybody else are going to flock to where the money is (the intent of capitalism). To me it sounds like Engineers aren't wilfully driving away middle class as much as congregating closer to their employers for convenience. No? The same 500k eng would drive up a price no matter where they are located. So instead FB should limit salaries so that these engs cannot inflict this (unwilling) damage?

bhupy 6y ago

I wouldn’t call it “demonizing”, per se, but it’s a real phenomenon. I live in Brooklyn where rent isn’t the cheapest. The rents aren’t driven up because I’m in a bidding war with Jeff Bezos; they’re driven up because I’m in a bidding war with other high earning millennial yuppies. The blue collar “middle class” worker doesn’t stand a chance in our neighborhood. In contrast, my folks live in Wisconsin, where the same blue collar “middle class” worker probably doesn’t care about rent bidding wars because they just put a down payment on a nice starter home.

flashgordon 6y ago
I agree demonizing is a strong characterisation. What would you suggest is the solution for these "ridiculous" salaries impacting the middle class? (Not considering the high real estate prices also disproportionately contributing to property taxes).

rayiner 6y ago

I’m not demonizing anyone. But the inequality that affects every day people directly—rising housing prices in formerly middle class suburbs, competition for good school districts, rising prices in restaurants, etc., is driven by the large growth in upper middle class salaries. (My parents wouldn’t have been able to afford the 1,100 square foot 3BR 1950s house I grew up in at today’s prices. The neighborhood isn’t full of parked Saudi money. It’s the explosion in upper middle class incomes.) Housing prices in full Silicon Valley suburbs aren’t exploding because of a handful of billionaires, it’s because of a vastly larger number of engineers making $500k.

flashgordon 6y ago
I do apologize for the over reaction :). Engineers like anybody else are going to flock to where the money is (the intent of capitalism). To me it sounds like Engineers aren't wilfully driving away middle class as much as congregating closer to their employers for convenience. No? The same 500k eng would drive up a price no matter where they are located. So instead FB should limit salaries so that these engs cannot inflict this (unwilling) damage?