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Housing is a fixed cost that everyone is required to pay. I can stop buying chicken. I can't stop paying for housing. There are peculiarities about housing as a

by Sakos 3y ago

Housing is a fixed cost that everyone is required to pay. I can stop buying chicken. I can't stop paying for housing. There are peculiarities about housing as a "product" that make it nonsensical to compare to other products or markets. The housing market can easily increase prices as much as it wants without losing out on revenue or potential gains, and in many markets it has done so to the degree that millions of people are priced out or relegated to spending all their discretionary funds on it, as well as forcing them to reduce their food, heating and/or transport budgets.

zabzonk 3y ago
many homeless people would disagree - food is more important
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  We're not talking about some poor African country suffering form famine. Food affordability is not as big of an issue in the west compared to the cost of housing. We have mastered agriculture, supply chain and economies of scale to have cheap mas produced food that can keep even the poor from starving(and even affording them enough calories to get fat if they wish), but we did the exact opposite for housing so we can monetize it. By design, western housing doesn't have the same political and market dynamics that drive cheap food to also drive cheap houses.
  - zabzonk 3y ago
    the first thing you need is food. i can't understand what you are talking about here - food is not free.
    - 0x000xca0xfe 3y ago
      Food is much, much cheaper than housing. If push comes to shove, you can easily survive on <$50/month. You simply cannot scale back on housing as easy as that.
    - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
      Yes, food is more important for survival, but food is also much more abundant and much cheaper than housing, making it less of a concern. (in the west)
Gigachad 3y ago
There is no standard unit of housing. I currently rent a 2 bedroom apartment to myself. But if it got too expensive I could switch to a 1 bedroom or get a roommate. If it got even more expensive I could move in with my parents. If it got much cheaper, I might switch to a 3 bedroom.

by Sakos 3y ago

zabzonk 3y ago

many homeless people would disagree - food is more important

FirmwareBurner 3y ago
We're not talking about some poor African country suffering form famine. Food affordability is not as big of an issue in the west compared to the cost of housing. We have mastered agriculture, supply chain and economies of scale to have cheap mas produced food that can keep even the poor from starving(and even affording them enough calories to get fat if they wish), but we did the exact opposite for housing so we can monetize it. By design, western housing doesn't have the same political and market dynamics that drive cheap food to also drive cheap houses.
- zabzonk 3y ago
  the first thing you need is food. i can't understand what you are talking about here - food is not free.
  - 0x000xca0xfe 3y ago
    Food is much, much cheaper than housing. If push comes to shove, you can easily survive on <$50/month. You simply cannot scale back on housing as easy as that.
  - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
    Yes, food is more important for survival, but food is also much more abundant and much cheaper than housing, making it less of a concern. (in the west)

Gigachad 3y ago

There is no standard unit of housing. I currently rent a 2 bedroom apartment to myself. But if it got too expensive I could switch to a 1 bedroom or get a roommate. If it got even more expensive I could move in with my parents. If it got much cheaper, I might switch to a 3 bedroom.