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A comment on The real use of money is to buy freedom. Parent comment

Re:The real use of money is to buy freedom by malandrew on Tuesday December 24, 2013 @12:24PM (#6960199)
Even in among the lower middle class lifestyles, you'd have exactly the same minus the "relatively large house".

However, if you go back 50 years earlier, the lower class lifestyle was not that different from the favella living in slums around the world, where entire families lived in one or two rooms and everyone in the family who was able was responsible for contributing to making ends meet.

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Re:The real use of money is to buy freedom by akgerber on Tuesday December 24, 2013 @12:46PM (#6960296)
The lower middle classes can't afford a house/apartment in places with laws that make it difficult to build new houses or apartments, including many places with lots of tech jobs. But in rural areas, or many Midwestern cities, or much of the Sunbelt, a house is still very much within reach. But many of the most productive regions of the country are zoned such that very little new housing is built, and rising incomes for some just mean more competition for existing housing.
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Re:The real use of money is to buy freedom by gress on Tuesday December 24, 2013 @01:03PM (#6960369)
Of course houses are cheap in places with no jobs.
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Re:The real use of money is to buy freedom by dllthomas on Tuesday December 24, 2013 @02:12PM (#6960682)
A basic income would help jobs follow people.
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Re:The real use of money is to buy freedom by malandrew on Wednesday December 25, 2013 @08:05AM (#6962924)
I've never seen this argument for a basic income, but it's a super interesting one to think about.
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Re:The real use of money is to buy freedom by gress on Tuesday December 24, 2013 @12:36PM (#6960249)
The lower middle classes can't own any house at all with just one wage earner.

Your second point (which I agree with) seems to imply that the US standard of living peaked in the 50's

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Re:The real use of money is to buy freedom by bmelton on Tuesday December 24, 2013 @01:04PM (#6960375)
> The lower middle classes can't own any house at all with just one wage earner.

The lower bound on lower middle class is, according to Wikipedia, $32,500. There are plenty of houses available for purchase in the $60,000 range, which is well inside of affordability ranges.

There are a plethora of rural homes available within those ranges, but that level of income isn't necessarily exclusionary to city dwelling either. Dallas, San Antonio, Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Tampa, etc., are all very affordable, and at least according to MSN[1], has homes available for less than the lower bound on lower middle class.

[1] - http://realestate.msn.com/what-you-must-earn-to-buy-a-home-i...

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Re:The real use of money is to buy freedom by gress on Tuesday December 24, 2013 @01:07PM (#6960394)
Are there plenty of jobs near those cheap houses?
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Re:The real use of money is to buy freedom by bmelton on Tuesday December 24, 2013 @01:16PM (#6960448)
In Cincinnati, Tampa, etc., one would have to assume so. Regardless, that wasn't the point -- the point was that

> The lower middle classes can't own any house at all with just one wage earner

is not a true statement. If you'd like to qualify it further, feel free. I suspect I'd have to research more to answer, and I don't necessarily disagree with the sentiment you're suggesting, but presenting falsities as facts doesn't do any argument any particular good.

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