News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Fewer young men are in the labor force, more are living at home. Parent comment

Re:Fewer young men are in the labor force, more are living a... by mjevans on Friday June 11, 2021 @10:44PM (#27480993)
Entirely the rent, and the rent seeking, and the complete lack of housing, sheer greed that drives all the problems.

Hidden deeply on another page someone references a site with numbers from 50 years ago, 1971. (#1) I don't really care what the agenda of that site happens to be; but the numbers. Compare the numbers to today:

Everyone is FAR worse off today and in my generation.

US nationally (today 2021) about 85K is equivalent to the cited 25K 1971 numbers. :: ~10X cost of living (edited, I unconsciously compared to the wrong number.)

Seattle is far more distorted, with housing beyond out of control (I don't know what kind of house was being looked at for the 1971 numbers, but it really doesn't matter, there's almost nothing even remotely near the national price within the region).

Seattle's rent is completely out of control; beyond any rational measure. No wonder neither I nor my generation can make any savings; it's all being consumed by rent seeking land owners.

  Income   10600 %Income71
  House    25200   237.736
  Car       3600    33.962
  RentYear  1800    16.981
  UniYear   2600    24.528
  Gas5000mi  100     0.943
  Mail500invite 40   0.377
  -
  USA 2021        Equiv71
  House   269000   113151
  Car      30500    89806
  RentYear 14400    84800
  UniYear  26100   106408
  Gas5000mi  483.33 51233
  Mail500invite 290 76850
  -
  Seattle 2021    Equiv71
  House   750000   315476
  Car      30500    89806
  RentYear 36000   212000
  UniYear  31200   127200
  Gas5000mi 533.33  56533
  Mail500invite 290 76850
#1 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27476654 #2 https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Fewer young men are in the labor force, more are living a... by azemetre on Saturday June 12, 2021 @12:50AM (#27481631)
You should look into the Powell Memo and how corporations and big business galvanized around the idea of destroying the working class and unions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_F._Powell_Jr.#Powell_Mem...

The timing also coincides with the idea of neoliberal economics starting to take hold. Most famously in NYC when the city almost went bankrupt.

[ Parent | on HN ]