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> Literally untrue for variable mortgages that are now the rule. This is incorrect. 92% of US mortgages are fixed-rate [1]. > Then if the house goes up in pri

> Literally untrue for variable mortgages that are now the rule. This is incorrect. 92% of US mortgages are fixed-rate [1]. > Then if the house goes up in price and you sell it, old and depreciated, How can a house go up in price and become depreciated? If your home value goes up and you need to make repairs to it, you can take out a loan on the surplus value of your home also known as a reverse mortgage. > You never mentioned anything about the income curves by decile - inflation is a redistribution tool, it results in increasing income inequality which we observe. I gave you the explanation for that correlation. Yes this is largely because lower income deciles tend to hold more cash than assets [2] and inflation affects the purchasing power of cash directly while asset prices are "secured" by the value of the asset itself. Because the richer tend to hold more in assets they eat less impact with inflation. Now that home ownership rates are so low among folks younger than 40, a big source of inflation-decoupled assets is unavailable. Though there's a greater question around whether it's even possible for homes to both appreciate and be affordable at the same time. Honestly this discussion could use more sources and less pontificating. [1]: https://fortune.com/article/current-arm-mortgage-rates-09-22-2025/ https://fortune.com/article/current-arm-mortgage-rates-09-22... [2]: https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/october-2023-changes-in-us-family-finances-from-2019-to-2022.htm https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/october-2023-cha...

bigbadfeline 1y ago
> Honestly this discussion could use more sources and less pontificating. That's absolutely true, it's nice to have. Maybe one day we'll have participants from the circle of people who are in positions to make meaningful decisions, hopefully that would be motivating enough for me to do better.
ajross 1y ago
> Yes this is largely because lower income deciles tend to hold more cash than assets That's true, but it's important to point out that this is because the bottom of the income curve simply doesn't have meaningful assets at all. So what they have tends to be cash, and subject to inflation. But they don't have much, so the impact is very low. Their wages, however, do inflate along with the rest of the market. And that's a problem that there's no wealth accumulation available to the bottom of the income curve! But it's not remotely a problem with monetary policy and "fixing inflation" isn't going to do anything for these people. And in particular, trying to characterize inflation as a "tax" on them is voodoo nonsense.
- Karrot_Kream 1y ago
  > But they don't have much, so the impact is very low. Their wages, however, do inflate along with the rest of the market. Yeah and the really poor don't have much by way of savings so it's not like their wealth is being meaningfully impacted. > And in particular, trying to characterize inflation as a "tax" on them is voodoo nonsense. Yeah I agree with you FWIW.

bigbadfeline 1y ago

> Honestly this discussion could use more sources and less pontificating. That's absolutely true, it's nice to have. Maybe one day we'll have participants from the circle of people who are in positions to make meaningful decisions, hopefully that would be motivating enough for me to do better.

ajross 1y ago

> Yes this is largely because lower income deciles tend to hold more cash than assets That's true, but it's important to point out that this is because the bottom of the income curve simply doesn't have meaningful assets at all. So what they have tends to be cash, and subject to inflation. But they don't have much, so the impact is very low. Their wages, however, do inflate along with the rest of the market. And that's a problem that there's no wealth accumulation available to the bottom of the income curve! But it's not remotely a problem with monetary policy and "fixing inflation" isn't going to do anything for these people. And in particular, trying to characterize inflation as a "tax" on them is voodoo nonsense.

Karrot_Kream 1y ago
> But they don't have much, so the impact is very low. Their wages, however, do inflate along with the rest of the market. Yeah and the really poor don't have much by way of savings so it's not like their wealth is being meaningfully impacted. > And in particular, trying to characterize inflation as a "tax" on them is voodoo nonsense. Yeah I agree with you FWIW.