The life satisfaction chart is what caught my eye.
Everyday I am more convinced that the high real state prices are eating away a lot of the income in the economy. Prices are not to bad in median cities with houses around $150k, but most larger cities start around $250k. This is income that cannot be used to buy other things. But the prevailing mindset requires you to have a lot of space between your family and your neighbors. Which IMHO is unsustainable.
And many jobs that lead to personal financial gain very rapidly are concentrated in and around city centers.
This means that most people are playing the 250k+ game and not the 150k game.
And all they are doing is bidding on how close they want to live to work usually.
Now imagine all of the good things you could put that money towards that isn't just rent-seeking.
Things that will result in wealth/value creation (better medicine, better technology, higher median net worth).
And then cry a little inside, because despite the technology existing for many people to work remotely, the 500 companies who control most of the world's wealth generally don't allow it.
What I wish is that houses were closer together and more of my property taxes went to creating nice parks which I could always walk to. I once met someone from Minnesota who just had some empty space behind their house that was fully closed in by people's backyards so they couldn't really build any more houses there. Apparently the HOA built a tennis court and a pond, which was used mainly for ice skating and hockey. Apparently their HOA fees paid for it and it was the most wonderful thing growing up.
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 15.2 ms ] threadEveryday I am more convinced that the high real state prices are eating away a lot of the income in the economy. Prices are not to bad in median cities with houses around $150k, but most larger cities start around $250k. This is income that cannot be used to buy other things. But the prevailing mindset requires you to have a lot of space between your family and your neighbors. Which IMHO is unsustainable.
And many jobs that lead to personal financial gain very rapidly are concentrated in and around city centers.
This means that most people are playing the 250k+ game and not the 150k game.
And all they are doing is bidding on how close they want to live to work usually.
Now imagine all of the good things you could put that money towards that isn't just rent-seeking.
Things that will result in wealth/value creation (better medicine, better technology, higher median net worth).
And then cry a little inside, because despite the technology existing for many people to work remotely, the 500 companies who control most of the world's wealth generally don't allow it.