4 ms·

> home shoppers need to earn 50% more than they did prior to the pandemic to afford a typical US home in today’s market Isn’t this all that matters? That’s a h

> home shoppers need to earn 50% more than they did prior to the pandemic to afford a typical US home in today’s market Isn’t this all that matters? That’s a huge problem. How are we supposed to build a middle class like this?

supportengineer 3y ago
You should be asking if the ruling class wants the middle class to exist. What is in it for them?
- harshalizee 3y ago
  If you're in the ruling class and even remotely intelligent, you'd realize a decently sized middle class is absolutely essential to their own prosperity. Throughout history, when too many people get pushed lower in the social/economic strata is a great way to ignite a rebellion. The masses have nothing left to lose at that point.
  - mixmastamyk 3y ago
    More to the point, you need folks to be able to buy your products.
  - 3seashells 3y ago
    The middle class was a historic accident brought about by the lessons learned from ww2 and the fear of socialism by the ruling class. They want another gilded age..
  - kelipso 3y ago
    You need people literally going hungry and starving to death for something like that to happen, which is pretty unlikely.
    - calamari4065 3y ago
      It really isn't. In the US we have almost no social safety net. We're cutting back on food assistance budgets, cutting back homeless aid, cutting back medical aid. If you become homeless, suddenly you have next to no chance of finding a job again, and no help from the government. Cost of living is spiraling out of control while wages stagnate. People ate already having trouble affording the basic necessities. We are precariously close to having a starving peasant class.
      - trogdor 3y ago
        >wages stagnate Median real wages in the United States have gone up over the last year. Same thing over the last five years and the last ten years. Source: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q
        SamoyedFurFluff 3y ago
        Has it gone up 50% over 3 years?
  - kderbyma 3y ago
    100% - Without mobility.... desperate choices become the only choices.
- trealira 3y ago
  It's not a conspiracy of the ruling class that housing has gotten more expensive. It's due to regulatory restrictions on housing and new homeowners being able to afford high prices through locked in low interest mortgages. The regulations are there because NIMBYs are against building, and homeowners want their property value to rise over the course of their lifetimes to fund their retirement.
  - supportengineer 3y ago
    Regulatory restrictions - who controls those? The ruling class.
Spivak 3y ago
Well the "I can't fix systemic issues alone and need housing" solution is buy a not very nice house in a less than ideal area. House prices are definitely out of control in my area but really only in already well established nice neighborhoods. If you're not choosy you can find perfectly good houses for 70-200k but it's on you to make them Pinterest worthy.
- t-writescode 3y ago
  All those jobs demanding that we "return to office" certainly don't want people to be able to do that.
waveBidder 3y ago
owning housing is neither necessary nor sufficient for a middle class. See Germany. it's a stupid political and cultural quirk of the US to think this
- k9unit 3y ago
  If you mean people should live in apartments. Then those apartments should be owned by the government, or by the people, not greedy corporations who want to own you like property and fix prices for their apartments because you can't afford their houses. If I pay the government for housing, I can at least hope they will use the money to improve my life or someone else's. If I pay Micro$oft for my apartment, I know they will push everything to the edge of terrible then beyond so they can make more money while harming my living experience and indoctrinating me into thinking that's normal.
  - waveBidder 3y ago
    At least partially Glgov owned isn't the worst idea, though a land value tax and breaking up monopolies would address most of your conerns.

supportengineer 3y ago

You should be asking if the ruling class wants the middle class to exist. What is in it for them?

harshalizee 3y ago
If you're in the ruling class and even remotely intelligent, you'd realize a decently sized middle class is absolutely essential to their own prosperity. Throughout history, when too many people get pushed lower in the social/economic strata is a great way to ignite a rebellion. The masses have nothing left to lose at that point.
- mixmastamyk 3y ago
  More to the point, you need folks to be able to buy your products.
- 3seashells 3y ago
  The middle class was a historic accident brought about by the lessons learned from ww2 and the fear of socialism by the ruling class. They want another gilded age..
- kelipso 3y ago
  You need people literally going hungry and starving to death for something like that to happen, which is pretty unlikely.
  - calamari4065 3y ago
    It really isn't. In the US we have almost no social safety net. We're cutting back on food assistance budgets, cutting back homeless aid, cutting back medical aid. If you become homeless, suddenly you have next to no chance of finding a job again, and no help from the government. Cost of living is spiraling out of control while wages stagnate. People ate already having trouble affording the basic necessities. We are precariously close to having a starving peasant class.
    - trogdor 3y ago
      >wages stagnate Median real wages in the United States have gone up over the last year. Same thing over the last five years and the last ten years. Source: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q
      - SamoyedFurFluff 3y ago
        Has it gone up 50% over 3 years?
- kderbyma 3y ago
  100% - Without mobility.... desperate choices become the only choices.
trealira 3y ago
It's not a conspiracy of the ruling class that housing has gotten more expensive. It's due to regulatory restrictions on housing and new homeowners being able to afford high prices through locked in low interest mortgages. The regulations are there because NIMBYs are against building, and homeowners want their property value to rise over the course of their lifetimes to fund their retirement.
- supportengineer 3y ago
  Regulatory restrictions - who controls those? The ruling class.

Spivak 3y ago

Well the "I can't fix systemic issues alone and need housing" solution is buy a not very nice house in a less than ideal area. House prices are definitely out of control in my area but really only in already well established nice neighborhoods. If you're not choosy you can find perfectly good houses for 70-200k but it's on you to make them Pinterest worthy.

t-writescode 3y ago
All those jobs demanding that we "return to office" certainly don't want people to be able to do that.

waveBidder 3y ago

owning housing is neither necessary nor sufficient for a middle class. See Germany. it's a stupid political and cultural quirk of the US to think this

k9unit 3y ago
If you mean people should live in apartments. Then those apartments should be owned by the government, or by the people, not greedy corporations who want to own you like property and fix prices for their apartments because you can't afford their houses. If I pay the government for housing, I can at least hope they will use the money to improve my life or someone else's. If I pay Micro$oft for my apartment, I know they will push everything to the edge of terrible then beyond so they can make more money while harming my living experience and indoctrinating me into thinking that's normal.
- waveBidder 3y ago
  At least partially Glgov owned isn't the worst idea, though a land value tax and breaking up monopolies would address most of your conerns.