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If you want to make housing more affordable, destroy demand for housing in the US. In other words, make the country less prosperous. And by doing this, those

If you want to make housing more affordable, destroy demand for housing in the US. In other words, make the country less prosperous. And by doing this, those hoped for high paying construction jobs may never materialize. As I said, this is not a problem that can be addressed quickly or easily or to anyone's satisfaction.

toomuchtodo 7mo ago
> In other words, make the country less prosperous. Prosperous for who? Shareholders? Asset holders? No loss, citations below. Wages must go up, that is it. And constraining the domestic labor supply is one component of that. "Line go up" is not a serious strategy, "American Prosperity" is a fairy tale told to and believed by the unsophisticated to continue the grift. Prosperity theology at nation state mythology level. > And by doing this, those hoped for high paying construction jobs may never materialize. Jobs will continue to exist so long as demand exists, and wages will be bid up as the US working age population declines, compressing prime working age population cohort (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS12300060 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS12300060). See "The Great Demographic Reversal: Ageing Societies, Waning Inequality, and an Inflation Revival" (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42657-6 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42657-6) for details and models on this topic. US Labor Force Demographics Are Worsening - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47492787 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47492787 - March 2026 31% of Wealth Owned by People Over 70 - https://www.apolloacademy.com/31-percent-of-wealth-owned-by-people-over-70/ https://www.apolloacademy.com/31-percent-of-wealth-owned-by-... - December 7th, 2025 Investors are making up the highest share of homebuyers in 5 years - https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/07/home-sales-investors-make-up-highest-share-of-buyers-in-5-years.html https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/07/home-sales-investors-make-up... - October 8th, 2025 ("Investors continue to own about 20% of the 86 million single-family homes in the country") A Visual Breakdown of Who Owns America’s Wealth - https://www.visualcapitalist.com/a-visual-breakdown-of-who-owns-americas-wealth/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/a-visual-breakdown-of-who-o... - March 4th, 2025 The wealthiest 10% of Americans own a record 89% of all U.S. stocks - https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/18/the-wealthiest-10percent-of-americans-own-a-record-89percent-of-all-us-stocks.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/18/the-wealthiest-10percent-of-... - October 18th, 2021 ("The wealthiest 10% of Americans own a record 89% of all U.S. stocks") Per the St Louis Fed: https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.stlouisfed.org/institute-for-economic-equity/the-state-of-us-wealth-inequality https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.stlouisfed.org/ins... ("The State of U.S. Wealth Inequality | February 05, 2024") > How much wealth inequality is there in the U.S.? The top 10% of households by wealth had $6.5 million on average. As a group, they held 66.6% of total household wealth. The bottom 50% of households by wealth had $50,000 on average. As a group, they held only 2.6% of total household wealth. (to understand the system, you must decompose the system; the purpose of the system is what it does)

toomuchtodo 7mo ago

> In other words, make the country less prosperous. Prosperous for who? Shareholders? Asset holders? No loss, citations below. Wages must go up, that is it. And constraining the domestic labor supply is one component of that. "Line go up" is not a serious strategy, "American Prosperity" is a fairy tale told to and believed by the unsophisticated to continue the grift. Prosperity theology at nation state mythology level. > And by doing this, those hoped for high paying construction jobs may never materialize. Jobs will continue to exist so long as demand exists, and wages will be bid up as the US working age population declines, compressing prime working age population cohort (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS12300060 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS12300060). See "The Great Demographic Reversal: Ageing Societies, Waning Inequality, and an Inflation Revival" (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42657-6 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42657-6) for details and models on this topic. US Labor Force Demographics Are Worsening - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47492787 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47492787 - March 2026 31% of Wealth Owned by People Over 70 - https://www.apolloacademy.com/31-percent-of-wealth-owned-by-people-over-70/ https://www.apolloacademy.com/31-percent-of-wealth-owned-by-... - December 7th, 2025 Investors are making up the highest share of homebuyers in 5 years - https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/07/home-sales-investors-make-up-highest-share-of-buyers-in-5-years.html https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/07/home-sales-investors-make-up... - October 8th, 2025 ("Investors continue to own about 20% of the 86 million single-family homes in the country") A Visual Breakdown of Who Owns America’s Wealth - https://www.visualcapitalist.com/a-visual-breakdown-of-who-owns-americas-wealth/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/a-visual-breakdown-of-who-o... - March 4th, 2025 The wealthiest 10% of Americans own a record 89% of all U.S. stocks - https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/18/the-wealthiest-10percent-of-americans-own-a-record-89percent-of-all-us-stocks.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/18/the-wealthiest-10percent-of-... - October 18th, 2021 ("The wealthiest 10% of Americans own a record 89% of all U.S. stocks") Per the St Louis Fed: https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.stlouisfed.org/institute-for-economic-equity/the-state-of-us-wealth-inequality https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.stlouisfed.org/ins... ("The State of U.S. Wealth Inequality | February 05, 2024") > How much wealth inequality is there in the U.S.? The top 10% of households by wealth had $6.5 million on average. As a group, they held 66.6% of total household wealth. The bottom 50% of households by wealth had $50,000 on average. As a group, they held only 2.6% of total household wealth. (to understand the system, you must decompose the system; the purpose of the system is what it does)