They can always go program
My grandfathers generation were mostly farmers not auto workers.
They could still afford homes and even farms because the prices were not astronomical then.
In fact i bought my 1st house 14500 ( 1100 sq ft brick) and had it paid off in 7 years.
You really can’t do that anymore on middle incomes because of prices.
Maybe after the Great Recession which is surely coming housing prices will go back to normal.
When neo-liberalism encouraged corporations to outsource jobs to gain larger profits…this is the end results 30 years later. Both party’s supported that…of course this is when many dems were basically Republican lite… including Clinton.
cue the lame neoliberal meme
You cued it.
You work for a corporation. Without corporations, you’d starve.
AI is going to take those jobs first ironically.
2 Likes
Dude…do you think suppliers have minimum wage employees that also required their wages raised? How about those who supply the suppliers with the items they need to make what they supply? As I said, you do not understand business so please…close your mouth and learn.
2 Likes
My fault. I should have specified.
Holy crap, that payment is absurd. Am I the only one that won’t suffer huge monthly payments? People have some ridiculous car payments as well.
Up until 2017, when my wife retired, we combined for over 170k a year minimum. My mortgage plus taxes was just shy of 2000 dollars, and I thought that was a lot. I like my expendable cash too much. I don’t have any car or mortgage payments anymore. I like the house in your first picture better anyway. Love the dethatched garage.
3 Likes
Agreed on all counts (although for most people a basement is preferred over a 2-car detached garage.)
Anyway
- If you’re the fry guy at McDonalds, and you never ever get a promotion, never get a skill, never get a better job, you cannot afford to buy a house here.
—> Gaius says “Who cares?”
To buy a halfway decent house here in Cape May County NJ, here is what it takes:
- If, after a few years, you get one promotion at McDonalds, and you have a spouse who has done the same, then together you can afford the first house I pictured, but not the second one.
—> Gaius says, “Well, the economy ain’t so good, and houses do cost too much, but we are not in a crisis. Homes here are not totally unaffordable.”
1 Like
Here is a little background folks might find helpful.
The Fed gov’t has only limited data available about the hourly wages of fast food workers.
Let us, therefore, use the hourly wages of retail workers as a close substitute.
In 1972 (earliest data available) retail workers were not paid “too much.”
Too little? Maybe. Just right? Maybe, but certainly not “too much.”
We can see from the chart below
- Since 1972, the hourly wages of retail workers have not kept pace with inflation, (blue line is below red line) and
- Post pandemic (the Biden years) the problem is getting worse, (The lines are growing farther apart.)
There are a number of ways to solve this including any combination of:
- Limit inflation, so the problem stops getting worse. (When you’re in a hole, stop digging.)
- Limit the number of unskilled immigrants.
- Expand government by raising the mandatory minimum wage.
I like solutions 1 and 2 myself, but I always have been one of the cool people 
3 Likes
The whole thread is about why government is not a valid or viable solution.
Glad you prefer solutions 1 and 2. I’m with you 100% on those.
1 Like
It’s a viscious cycle. Inflation causes prices to go up, then people can’t afford the COL, so they ask for a higher wage, then companies have more cost for employees, so they raise their prices, which then makes things less affordable.
1 Like
I think it is obvious that it wasn’t just that one law. But when Pizza Hut fires all of their delivery drivers as that law goes into effect, it is safe to say that the law was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Wouldn’t you agree? I don’t know. You seem to be way more advanced than I am at seeing these trends. I stay out of most of those topics.
2 Likes
You can’t get a basement everywhere. Plus I just love a 2 car detached garage. I love that first house you showed. Especially for the price. My current house, which isn’t all that great, 1400sq ft with no basement and a 1 car garage, 3 BR 1 and 1/2 bath that sells for over half a million dollars right now. I would love to go from here to there.
I’m in Howell NJ. If I could retire now, I would make that purchase and have money to spare. It’s only me and my wife, and a dog.
But I get your point. My cousin and his wife just bought a house in NJ for under 400k. Similar situation as you described. But it took them a long time to find it.
1 Like
Just to be sure I have beaten this horse enough . . .
There is still another tier down.
Each of these homes is imperfect but they are still bank-eligible.
(electric works, sewer works, etc.)
The more-expensive of these homes comes with an $1,800 monthly payment.
That requires a combined income of $33.60/hour.
Indeed.com indicates that’s what an auto mechanic make here.
.
.
.
Every time I look at it, I keep coming up with the same results.
- Homes too expensive? – Yes.
- Economy shaky and heading the wrong direction? – Yes
- “The end of the American dream?” “A major catastrophe” – No
That’s definitely an important part of the cycle.
As the chart above shows, this does not mean wages always keep up with inflation.
One-minute video.
They are calling it Restaurant Armageddon and it is nationwide.
(I am not sure they are using the term correctly, but Armageddon implies a battle . . . some restaurants are thriving and killing the ones that are not.)
I think you could say, that once again, the government is putting its foot on the scale, helping to pick winners and lovers.
1 Like
