3 ms·

One of the commenters suggested that today a $13/hr wage buys you “a lot more house”. I feel that’s very wrong, housing feels like the most it’s ever been.

lozenge 5y ago
A suburban house would have been useless in Dickens' time due to the lack of automobiles.
- eru 5y ago
  Britain already had some railways in 1843. The 1840s were the time of railway mania. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Mania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Mania (Compare also the earlier Canal Mania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal_Mania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal_Mania ) But, yes, obviously 19th century Britain didn't have anything like the modern American car-commuter suburb.
CapitalistCartr 5y ago
$13 per hour where I live, in Florida, won't buy any house.
- rowanajmarshall 5y ago
  And $13/hour will leave you in a shared rental in a dodgy part of todays London.
  - eru 5y ago
    The inflation adjustment was made for Britain as a whole. You might want to do a cost-of-living-in-London adjustment?
JohnJamesRambo 5y ago
https://inflationchart.com/home-in-income/?time=20%20years https://inflationchart.com/home-in-income/?time=20%20years It’s reaching the highest in 20 years. Save up for the inevitable crash.
- eru 5y ago
  That website doesn't inspire confidence.. The sidebar says > You're now losing -1% of your money to inflation per year or 1.0% per month That math doesn't seem to check out. I don't really know whether I can trust anything else there.
  - JohnJamesRambo 5y ago
    The guy that made it posts here you can ask him. I think his numbers on that quote probably come from counting M3 money or something similar. Which isn’t that wild of an idea.
    - eru 5y ago
      Oh, I wasn't even questioning the questionable choices about M3. I was just questioning how they came from -1% per year to 1% per month. That's some weird math.

lozenge 5y ago

A suburban house would have been useless in Dickens' time due to the lack of automobiles.

eru 5y ago
Britain already had some railways in 1843. The 1840s were the time of railway mania. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Mania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Mania (Compare also the earlier Canal Mania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal_Mania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal_Mania ) But, yes, obviously 19th century Britain didn't have anything like the modern American car-commuter suburb.

CapitalistCartr 5y ago

$13 per hour where I live, in Florida, won't buy any house.

rowanajmarshall 5y ago
And $13/hour will leave you in a shared rental in a dodgy part of todays London.
- eru 5y ago
  The inflation adjustment was made for Britain as a whole. You might want to do a cost-of-living-in-London adjustment?

JohnJamesRambo 5y ago

https://inflationchart.com/home-in-income/?time=20%20years https://inflationchart.com/home-in-income/?time=20%20years It’s reaching the highest in 20 years. Save up for the inevitable crash.

eru 5y ago
That website doesn't inspire confidence.. The sidebar says > You're now losing -1% of your money to inflation per year or 1.0% per month That math doesn't seem to check out. I don't really know whether I can trust anything else there.
- JohnJamesRambo 5y ago
  The guy that made it posts here you can ask him. I think his numbers on that quote probably come from counting M3 money or something similar. Which isn’t that wild of an idea.
  - eru 5y ago
    Oh, I wasn't even questioning the questionable choices about M3. I was just questioning how they came from -1% per year to 1% per month. That's some weird math.