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Other than water and veggies, pretty much everything I buy has always been better than what I had 2,5,10 years before, but only housing has been becoming increa

Other than water and veggies, pretty much everything I buy has always been better than what I had 2,5,10 years before, but only housing has been becoming increasingly prohibitive.

lazide 2y ago
It isn’t just housing actually - costs of education and healthcare have similarly skyrocketed out of control. These are all areas with similar levels of ‘desirable is constrained’. Or perhaps worded better as ‘people want the top x percent, not just the same thing in bulk’. Most of the other things you’re talking about, it’s easier to scale up production without hurting desirability. For instance, if commute/neighborhoods/climate literally didn’t matter, everyone complaining about housing costs would just move to Rural Kansas or North Dakota and problem solved for dirt cheap. Instead everyone is complaining about how nice new housing in city-of-choice-close-to-work is unaffordable. Well of course it is - people are restricting building to keep it nice (by their standards), which is why folks want to move there, which is restricting supply - and with easier money (historically) that is causing increased bidding and increased costs.
- eru 2y ago
  The knowledge acquiring part of education has become cheaper than ever: most of the resources are available for free on the internet. And the cost of eg getting access to lab equipment has probably fallen (thanks to Alibaba etc). The cost of hiring a coach / teacher to help you has probably risen in line with general wages. What has become more and more expensive is the get-a-piece-of-paper-at-the-end part of education. That being also the most regulated part of education, I wouldn't necessarily blame in on 'markets' or 'capitalism'.
  - lazide 2y ago
    I agree - and i’d even say the issue here is literally not markets or capitalism. If anything, without markets or capitalism the issue would be a lot worse. At least there is still an option to get those things (in most cases) rather than ‘wait in a line for 20 years’ like in other systems. (cough USSR)

Other than water and veggies, pretty much everything I buy has always been better than what I had 2,5,10 years before, but only housing has been becoming increasingly prohibitive.

lazide 2y ago

It isn’t just housing actually - costs of education and healthcare have similarly skyrocketed out of control. These are all areas with similar levels of ‘desirable is constrained’. Or perhaps worded better as ‘people want the top x percent, not just the same thing in bulk’. Most of the other things you’re talking about, it’s easier to scale up production without hurting desirability. For instance, if commute/neighborhoods/climate literally didn’t matter, everyone complaining about housing costs would just move to Rural Kansas or North Dakota and problem solved for dirt cheap. Instead everyone is complaining about how nice new housing in city-of-choice-close-to-work is unaffordable. Well of course it is - people are restricting building to keep it nice (by their standards), which is why folks want to move there, which is restricting supply - and with easier money (historically) that is causing increased bidding and increased costs.

eru 2y ago
The knowledge acquiring part of education has become cheaper than ever: most of the resources are available for free on the internet. And the cost of eg getting access to lab equipment has probably fallen (thanks to Alibaba etc). The cost of hiring a coach / teacher to help you has probably risen in line with general wages. What has become more and more expensive is the get-a-piece-of-paper-at-the-end part of education. That being also the most regulated part of education, I wouldn't necessarily blame in on 'markets' or 'capitalism'.
- lazide 2y ago
  I agree - and i’d even say the issue here is literally not markets or capitalism. If anything, without markets or capitalism the issue would be a lot worse. At least there is still an option to get those things (in most cases) rather than ‘wait in a line for 20 years’ like in other systems. (cough USSR)