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Blaming it all on the pandemic is an absolutely hilarious misdiagnosis. Everything seems to be on the brink of collapse all the time, housing prices are absolut

Blaming it all on the pandemic is an absolutely hilarious misdiagnosis. Everything seems to be on the brink of collapse all the time, housing prices are absolutely bonkers in most cities and wages are, in the best scenario imaginable, same they were 20 years ago for your average professional who lives paycheck to paycheck. Politicians have no vision, they are just parasitic entities that benefit electorally from violent asinine confrontation between voters on pointless cultural issues that never find any satisfactory or permanent resolution. Mass media are fully immersed in a two decades long psychic war against the general public that only seems to be accelerating. There are too many structural weakness in our society to point out without having to write a full essay, but this mental health decline is the direct result of our failing political and economic systems and our apparent impossibility to challenge them in any productive way.

onlyrealcuzzo 5y ago
> Everything seems to be on the brink of collapse all the time, housing prices are absolutely bonkers in most cities and wages are, in the best scenario imaginable, same they were 20 years ago for your average professional who lives paycheck to paycheck. Personal income per Capita went from ~$30k to ~$63k in the last 20 years [1]. REAL weekly earnings are at an all time high [2]. Debt service reached an all-time low during the pandemic [3]. Even for new buyers with house prices at their peak, with interest rates where they WERE, mortgage payments were historically quite low. Now that interest rates have gone up, payments are ~20% higher. But unsurprisingly, the insatiable demand has also dried up. [1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A792RC0A052NBEA https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A792RC0A052NBEA [2] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q [3] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TDSP https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TDSP I honestly feel sorry for all the people like you who can't see how manipulated prices are and realize that it's a good deal. The market shouldn't be this manipulated (by our government) and confusing. It's screwing over so many people who think common sense still applies.
- Aeolun 5y ago
  I really don’t understand what you are trying to say. Are you arguing the buying a home is within reach of the average man anywhere outside of the middle of nowhere?
  - onlyrealcuzzo 5y ago
    It WAS within reach everywhere beside the most desirable parts of the most desirable cities. You only need to put 3.5% down. When interest rates were at 2.75% and PMI is only .5% for 3 years - the median HH could EASILY afford the median house. At 2.75% - almost 40% of your mortgage payment is principal - even in the first year. This made the true cost of your housing absurdly cheaper than rent.
    - sjg007 5y ago
      Uh no, not in the Bay Area… or any place that requires a jumbo loan.
      - Der_Einzige 5y ago
        Owning a house is so much better than renting in Portland and you need jumbo loans here. It's only places like the bay and other ultra hcol locations where renting is cheaper. I specifically bought my house to escape renting in the bay area when my job went remote. I do not want to rent anywhere near Portland. More than Half the rent price for a third of the home prices...
        sjg007 5y ago
        Right but you can't do that with 3.5% down.
        Der_Einzige 4y ago
        I did it on 5% down...
missedthecue 5y ago
Why would the price of a single family home make a 13 year old depressed? They've easily got a decade and a half until they need to worry about that.
- manuelabeledo 5y ago
  Because the pressure it puts on their parents and the consequences of it? I think this one is pretty obvious.
  - kurofune 5y ago
    Off-topic, but love to see a galician surname. Greetings from an asturian neighbour.
    - manuelabeledo 5y ago
      We are everywhere, brother :)
- Valgrim 5y ago
  Because even if it's their parents that pay for the mortgage, they are still affected by the consequences of high housing prices (longer travel times, less disposable income, lack of space, bad neighborhood, lack of social mobility, etc...)
- mescaline 5y ago
  13 year olds don't worry about houses, they worry about things shared online by their peers. That's on Silicon Valley, folks. Denial of our own hand in this is real.
- kurofune 5y ago
  Are you sure you can't imagine why the terrible economic situation a family is living in could impact the mental health of a 13yo? We love problem solvers in this site.
  - 5y ago
notacoward 5y ago
It depends on what you count as part of the pandemic. At its core there's just the disease itself and the risk of catching it. Then there's the chance of knowing someone who has been severely ill from it, and the precautions taken to mitigate that risk. A few kids were fine with remote learning; for many more it absolutely sucked. Then there's the fact that those precautions have precluded many other activities, leaving even more time to read all the doom and gloom online. For high-school seniors (like my daughter) there's the college-admission situation which is an absolute mess right now due to two years of pandemic-related issues. Stressed out parents, cabin fever, contentious battles with friends and neighbors over vaccines and masks ... the list goes on and on. If you interpret "the pandemic" as just that core, maybe it's a misdiagnosis. If you include all of the secondary and tertiary effects, the case is much stronger.

onlyrealcuzzo 5y ago

> Everything seems to be on the brink of collapse all the time, housing prices are absolutely bonkers in most cities and wages are, in the best scenario imaginable, same they were 20 years ago for your average professional who lives paycheck to paycheck. Personal income per Capita went from ~$30k to ~$63k in the last 20 years [1]. REAL weekly earnings are at an all time high [2]. Debt service reached an all-time low during the pandemic [3]. Even for new buyers with house prices at their peak, with interest rates where they WERE, mortgage payments were historically quite low. Now that interest rates have gone up, payments are ~20% higher. But unsurprisingly, the insatiable demand has also dried up. [1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A792RC0A052NBEA https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A792RC0A052NBEA [2] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q [3] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TDSP https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TDSP I honestly feel sorry for all the people like you who can't see how manipulated prices are and realize that it's a good deal. The market shouldn't be this manipulated (by our government) and confusing. It's screwing over so many people who think common sense still applies.

Aeolun 5y ago
I really don’t understand what you are trying to say. Are you arguing the buying a home is within reach of the average man anywhere outside of the middle of nowhere?
- onlyrealcuzzo 5y ago
  It WAS within reach everywhere beside the most desirable parts of the most desirable cities. You only need to put 3.5% down. When interest rates were at 2.75% and PMI is only .5% for 3 years - the median HH could EASILY afford the median house. At 2.75% - almost 40% of your mortgage payment is principal - even in the first year. This made the true cost of your housing absurdly cheaper than rent.
  - sjg007 5y ago
    Uh no, not in the Bay Area… or any place that requires a jumbo loan.
    - Der_Einzige 5y ago
      Owning a house is so much better than renting in Portland and you need jumbo loans here. It's only places like the bay and other ultra hcol locations where renting is cheaper. I specifically bought my house to escape renting in the bay area when my job went remote. I do not want to rent anywhere near Portland. More than Half the rent price for a third of the home prices...
      - sjg007 5y ago
        Right but you can't do that with 3.5% down.
        Der_Einzige 4y ago
        I did it on 5% down...

missedthecue 5y ago

Why would the price of a single family home make a 13 year old depressed? They've easily got a decade and a half until they need to worry about that.

manuelabeledo 5y ago
Because the pressure it puts on their parents and the consequences of it? I think this one is pretty obvious.
- kurofune 5y ago
  Off-topic, but love to see a galician surname. Greetings from an asturian neighbour.
  - manuelabeledo 5y ago
    We are everywhere, brother :)
Valgrim 5y ago
Because even if it's their parents that pay for the mortgage, they are still affected by the consequences of high housing prices (longer travel times, less disposable income, lack of space, bad neighborhood, lack of social mobility, etc...)
mescaline 5y ago
13 year olds don't worry about houses, they worry about things shared online by their peers. That's on Silicon Valley, folks. Denial of our own hand in this is real.
kurofune 5y ago
Are you sure you can't imagine why the terrible economic situation a family is living in could impact the mental health of a 13yo? We love problem solvers in this site.
- 5y ago

notacoward 5y ago

It depends on what you count as part of the pandemic. At its core there's just the disease itself and the risk of catching it. Then there's the chance of knowing someone who has been severely ill from it, and the precautions taken to mitigate that risk. A few kids were fine with remote learning; for many more it absolutely sucked. Then there's the fact that those precautions have precluded many other activities, leaving even more time to read all the doom and gloom online. For high-school seniors (like my daughter) there's the college-admission situation which is an absolute mess right now due to two years of pandemic-related issues. Stressed out parents, cabin fever, contentious battles with friends and neighbors over vaccines and masks ... the list goes on and on. If you interpret "the pandemic" as just that core, maybe it's a misdiagnosis. If you include all of the secondary and tertiary effects, the case is much stronger.