bravokilo wrote on May 15 at 2:57 AM "...I'd give substantial odds that the young complainers are predominately public-schoolers from agnostic households."
Let's talk a little bit about that.
Public school teachers are one of the last bastions of unions.
Unions "create" jobs by demanding that members do "only their jobs and nothing more."
When a Language Arts teacher teaches a song to a class, then a Music Teacher gets fired. Or so their thinking goes. Not every teacher, but every student is likely to encounter several teachers over the years who are trapped in this mindset.
A good, dues-paying Union teacher does not steal the custodian's job by doing any maintenance or vacuuming her own carpet. A good Union, dues-paying teacher takes care to not teach outside her subject to the point where individual subjects are taught as stand-alone silos.
A good Union teacher supports her comrades in education by telling all of her students that they have to continue on to college and (probably) advanced degrees.
Hold that thought...
Home Ownership
The supply of new housing has been choked by NIMBY home owners who want to protect the high assessment of their house as it is often the single greatest asset they own. Constricting the flow of new housing units in their neighborhood accelerates the appreciation in desirable neighborhoods.
The same home owners also approve of regulations that increase the cost of building new homes for the same reasons. It is estimated that in Michigan, regulations add $90,000 to the cost of a new, stick-built, single housing unit.
If home ownership is the path to building wealth*, then the only elevator up for most young people is to purchase an older home in an older neighborhood and the best prices are in dodgy neighborhoods.
Can the typical new college graduate:
- Fix a toilet that keeps running
- Change a light bulb
- Reset a tripped breaker
- Fix a leaky faucet or clean the aerator
- Clear a plugged drain
- Clean a bathroom
- Dry out flooded bathroom or laundry room
- Find a wall stud to hang a shelf or artwork
- Fix a hole in the dry-wall
- Paint a wall
- Change a wall switch or power outlet
- Change the filters in their HVAC unit (do they even know what HVAC means)
- Clean a dryer vent
- Find a gas leak
- Move an appliance
- Bypass a power garage door opener that is on-the-fritz
- Clean the gutters
- Mow the grass
- Shovel the walk
- Dig a hole
- Divert water run-off away from your foundation
- Pour a slab of concrete
- Call tradesmen for quotes
- Hire a tradesman when appropriate and be able to communicate the issue and expectations
- Tighten screws to fix loose doors, strike-plates, hand-rails, etc.
- Lubricate a lock or a hinge or replace a door-handle
- How to set a mouse-trap? Where to set it? How to bait it? How to remove the dead mouse?
- Deal with a bad neighbor
Remember, these kids have been soaking in an environment where "Not my job" is the default response. Many of them don't have a dad or uncle whose expertise they can tap.
I wholeheartedly agree that these kids' futures have been sabotaged by "The System" which resulted in many/most growing up in women-headed, single-parent households and then being brainwashed in government run schools. It isn't that they can't learn. It is that they have been filled with misinformation and they have been told they cannot learn and that learning those skills is beneath them.
They have also been brainwashed into believing that labels are permanent: Example "I am a Language Arts teacher and that is all I (can) do." That is very limiting when it comes to picking up second and third jobs. Even a person in construction (nowadays) won't consider picking up a second job working in a fast-food joint. A person who works at McD's won't consider painting, and so on.
* "only elevator up" is the conventional wisdom and is historically true.
Just because something is historically true does not mean that it will continue infinitely into the future.
In real (physical) terms, houses are in a constant state of rust, rot, decay and depreciation. Their value is inflated by external forces like increasing population (without immigration our population would be imploding), proximity to desirable jobs (gotta fiber-optic, broadband connection?), low-crime neighborhood and the universal expectation that values will ALWAYS go up and that minor flat-spots in appreciation will be temporary and of short duration. The people who play the market call that "animal spirits".
All of these secular trends that created an up-draft in house values are waning.
- Older Americans are cashing-out, downsizing and moving to leisure/health-centered/low-tax locations.
- Section 8 housing is popping up everywhere as politicians jockey to put reliable voters in every district.
- Knowledge work can be done from home (or India).
- The cost of maintaining a house is going up as more (experienced) tradesmen retire than (unskilled) apprentices enter the trades.
- Major appliances have a 10 year life-expectancy and need more frequent replacement.
- Rising interest rates make using your (presumably ever-increasing) home-equity as an ATM to fund your life-style is less attractive.
The waning and reversal of those mutually-supporting secular trends suggests that housing as a wealth-builder may not be a sure-bet in the future.
"In real (physical) terms, houses are in a constant state of rust, rot, decay and depreciation.'
ReplyDeleteLOL. I have a sign above the back door of my 156 year old house: Entropy Manor
And I bless my late father every day for never saying "You can't do that because you're a girl", and "Figure it out......"
DeleteI came to the conclusion years ago that the real benefit of owning a home was an increase in quality of life, not so much as a great financial investment. When you factor in property taxes, maintenance (including the oppurtunity cost of your time), and insurance, even with appreciation the ROI isn't what everybody claims it to be.
DeleteI hate public educators with the heat of 1000 suns. These are NOT nice people. I'm sorry, it's a rotten thing to say, but if any of them were any good, and if any of them actually DID care about the kids as they piously claim... they wouldn't have let the school system degenerate into what it is today. Putting kids in some public schools constitutes child abuse. You kids will be exposed to drugs, degenerate behaviour and leftist indoctrination.
ReplyDeleteIf you HAVE to send them to public schools, then get off your ass, GO to the PTA meetings and watch what goes on there, and take an active role in trying to re-introduce sanity. Better yet - don't do any of that and homeschool your kids.
This is the hell of it - we look at these derelict children and we blame the teachers. They in turn point the finger right back and blame the parents.
If you take your child's education seriously you will be surprised at how dumbed-down the curriculum actually is. And you will be blown away at your child's capacity to learn.
I taught in a public school for 1 year and saw how bad things were from within. Anyone who fights for real learning won't last with all the perverse incentives that are baked in.
DeleteHousing as wealth building in the future is probably going to vastly diminish in the future solely because so few will be able to afford any.
ReplyDeleteDo you really believe what you wrote in the first two paragraphs of
ReplyDeleteHome ownership? I find that it is absolute speculative hyperbole.
You seem to be a person of intelligence, and what you wrote is not worthy of you.
Blogger keeps eating my comments.
DeleteLet me condense it to the greatest possible degree.
I apologize for your having such a high opinion of me. I will try to avoid making that mistake in the future.
I take it, fellow Anonymous, that you have no useful rebuttal to add, thus your condescending rhetorical questions and ad hominem attack upon our esteemed author.
DeleteI have little doubt that the principle in the first two paragraphs of the Homeownership section can be accepted as a postulate, without further proof, especially if “regulations” are understood to encompass such restrictions as zoning ordinances and HOA / deed restrictions. One buys in an expensive neighborhood where a dense hive of undesirables cannot be built because one wants the 1 acre lot to be undisturbed by, say, 20 illegal aliens crammed in a shanty next to you. Of course it keeps the price of your property elevated above the 1 acre parcel of dirt across the tracks with a tin roof shack, and a fridge and car on blocks in the yard. I also fear that previously safe investment, which I am guilty of making, is seriously threatened by demographic trends and the leftist push to destroy the zoning of expensive suburbs so dense hives can be built therein, allowing the metropolitan leeches to migrate into the ‘burbs.
ReplyDeleteThe demographic trend to watch for us the young can't afford childbirth. Young family members in my calendar told me it was $17,000 copay to have a kid. The only people who can afford to get pregnant are on welfare. So who is going to be able to afford and want that 4 bed, 3 bath suburban built out to the lot lines?
DeleteAlthough there is a lot I did not buy into from the "Rich Dad Poor Dad" craze, his comment of a house as a liability (or at best, a place to live) and not an asset has always stuck with me.
ReplyDeleteTo the comment about NIMBY home owners, it can just as easily be they do not want additional homes built because they want to enjoy things the way they now find it. They moved out "to the country"; the last thing they want is more development. And thus, their property appreciates due to scarcity.
And indirectly, voters elect the politicians that pass the regulations, so they bear some responsibility in the overall increase in cost. The amount of times that I have heard complaints about the cost of housing and upon further reflection, find out how individuals voted, is usually pretty colloquially indicative.
ERJ, last year you did an extended timeline cost breakdown on homeownership. I was appalled, no wonder I was broke all the time. Don't forget to mention that new homes are great for 7 to 10 years, than something needs fixing every year, FOREVER. Old homes are worse! But more fun and character.
ReplyDeleteSo to summarize, read ERJ and watch YouTube.
Why you young whippersnappers, back in the day we had to learn it by reading books
I find it interesting that most of the areas known for high growth have less regulation in general and in some cases none at all.
ReplyDeleteFor example, in Texas, Wyoming, and Tennessee (among other states), most counties have minimal or no planning, permitting, or zoning outside city limits.
We are seeing growth and population movement from highly regulated and taxed areas to less regulated and taxed areas. It's not a coincidence.
Jonathan
It is not just young people that think such tasks are beneath them.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I see around here, they buy the house anyway but can't be bothered to fix it up or mow. Many such cases in my neighborhood. Nice car, they pay to have the back lawn and patio sculpted. But the rest? Nope. I saw one such millennial out mowing his foot high lawn. Probably after the city cited him. Because he let it grow to high, then walloped it, it'll die off in a month or two when it gets dry.
ReplyDelete