News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:How Many Years of Life Does That House Cost? by zaroth on Friday September 08, 2017 @05:08PM (#15203980)
Well the only way to drive down price is to either increase supply or decrease demand. So make cities shitier and denser.

Is this a case where a small increase in supply would decrease the price significantly? I doubt it.

So, is there some reason we (as a nation) need to double population density of our largest cities? With the huge advances we are likely to see in autonomous zero-emission delivery infrastructure and remote communication over the next 20 years, not to mention the increasing likelihood of natural disasters and WMDs hitting these cities, I really don't see the point of pushing for so much urban growth.

Re:How Many Years of Life Does That House Cost? by brightball on Friday September 08, 2017 @05:36PM (#15204129)
Because I keep seeing articles pop up over the last few years trying to convince me that suburbs are basically evil incarnate for some reason. It gets to the point where it feels like a political platform.
Re:How Many Years of Life Does That House Cost? by zaroth on Friday September 08, 2017 @07:40PM (#15204763)
There's definitely a political platform here. Economic models claiming suburbs are beyond bankrupt and destined for failure. [1]

Apparently my property taxes can't even cover the cost of pavement and water mains, and yet we just built a new school, and are in the process of planning a $20 million library.

[1] - https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/1/9/the-real-reason...

Re:How Many Years of Life Does That House Cost? by throwawayjava on Saturday September 09, 2017 @08:56AM (#15206854)
> Apparently my property taxes can't even cover the cost of pavement and water mains, and yet we just built a new school, and are in the process of planning a $20 million library

From the link: "If they operated on accrual accounting -- where you account for your long term liabilities -- instead of a cash basis -- where you don't -- they would have been bankrupt decades ago"

The PF analogy to what you're saying is "yeah I'm dipping into savings to make mortgage payments and need to replace my roof next year and repair a major crack in the foundation. But they let me open a credit card and get a loan for a car, so what's the problem?"

Re:How Many Years of Life Does That House Cost? by kelnos on Friday September 08, 2017 @09:02PM (#15205031)
> Well the only way to drive down price is to either increase supply or decrease demand. So make cities shitier and denser.

That's just, like, your opinion, man. I prefer living in denser environments.

Re:How Many Years of Life Does That House Cost? by zaroth on Friday September 08, 2017 @11:41PM (#15205455)
Shitier may be orthogonal to denser.

But to your point, if denser is so much better, will increased density lead to lower prices, or just create more demand and keep prices the same?