Re:The Great American Single-Family Home Problem
by lisper on Saturday December 02, 2017 @12:56PM
(#15833068)
If you want to look at it that way, all of human civilization is a giant Ponzi scheme. Exponential growth cannot be sustained indefinitely on a finite planet, or even in a finite universe.
Re:The Great American Single-Family Home Problem
by TulliusCicero on Saturday December 02, 2017 @02:36PM
(#15833583)
No, because human civilization doesn't depend on that growth. A stable population works fine.
Whereas, the whole "enrich myself off property values" thing only works if those values are continually increasing.
Re:The Great American Single-Family Home Problem
by lisper on Saturday December 02, 2017 @03:15PM
(#15833809)
> A stable population works fine.
That is far from clear. No human civilization has ever had a stable population.
> the whole "enrich myself off property values" thing only works if those values are continually increasing.
That's true, but that's not what I was talking about. What I was talking about is people's reasonable desire for a stable environment. Rising housing costs is just a side-effect of that plus population growth.
You might as well blame the situation on people who have babies as on people who want to limit growth in their communities.
Ever increasing property values caused by artificially restricted zoning is basically a generational Ponzi scheme. It's stupid and wrong and it can't last forever. And like real Ponzi schemes, the only people who benefit are those who got in early.