Do you like a "winner takes all" economy?

Post away! Stats are always fun... I would really need to see hard evidence to convince me that the American standard of living has *declined* since the 70's!

I'll admit that there are things that frustrate me (particularly the costs of housing, the need for two incomes, and the current potential for too many of the white collar jobs to evaporate too quickly), but I don't see these things as correctable through sweeping govt policy change.

 

Oh! well, a stat as straightforward as that I know offhand.

Here ya go:

http://www.dol.state.ne.us/nwd/workserv/jobcareer/ed/econind/pcdata.htm

Per capita income has steadily increased since 1969 at least. It's increased in advance of inflation most of the time and in most regions too. I think the problem is that some regions are hit a lot harder than others at certain times and housing costs have increased on a different scale entirely.

Of course the value of per capita data only goes so far since it doesnt represent inequities in distribution. The point is, though, that wages have been growing across all sectors, its just that they are growing more quickly at the high end. Inflation has tended to remain fairly constant and I think, across all sectors, wages have increased ahead of it.

The big problem, again, is real estate. The widening gap between the tiers coupled with the big tax benefits for real property ownership are effectively shutting more and more people out every year.

As a small example, I have some friends who own multiple properties in NYC because they got in at the right time and are of a certain income level, while I have other friends who make a very nice living, yet had to move to Pennsylvania (and face a 2+ hr commute) just for a primary residence.

Homes are the one non-luxury item where an income divide becomes dangerous. Health care is another potential problem long term, I should think.

 

Thats in line with what Im saying... I think its really a case of real estate appreciating at unprecedented (and ridiculous) rates for a period of about 25 years.

I look at it this way... Everyone I know in their 30's (my age) is doing better than their parents in every area *except* housing. They have more obvious purchasing power (it's easy to compare car cost in 1960-1975 with today in relation to income, or food cost, or entertainment), but they just can't afford housing. As a result, most of my friends either move a far distance away to where housing is still somewhat affordable (for now), or live with parents (a strange trend).

The reason for this is that housing across all ranges is desired by everyone. An extremely wealthy person benefiting from the trend towards more wealth shifting to a smaller percentage doesn't just buy the apartment they live in. In all likelihood, they also compete with middle class people for additional residences in lesser areas as "investment". This drives prices up.

As an example, a beautiful home near me just sold for $800,000 in cash. The new buyers have gone ahead and built a condo complex on the land RIGHT next to the house. The condo complex cost approximately $1M to build and ended up with four units. These units are small 1 bedroom types, but are going to go for nearly $400k each. It's nice work if you can get it! Meanwhile, the buyer of the whole place isnt even living there and bought all of it to rent/flip. This is a $600k profit on a $1.8M investment on a block where most people are 70 years old and bought their houses in the 60's for $20k. This trend is the problem as I see it. As more and more people have disrectionary income that hits MASSIVE levels while the rest of us slowly evolve, scenarios like this will become the rule. As it is, a $100K income in NYC means you can basically afford to live in a small studio apt.

Now keep in mind that Tokyo is 125% WORSE than NYC!

I did some searching and some number crunching...

In 1975, the average computer programmer made $245/week, paid $2900 for a crappy Chevy or $8300 for a nice Vette.

In 2003, the average programmer made $1000/week, paid $10,000 for a crappy Chevy or $50,000 for a nice Vette. Food has increased fairly linearly as well. This goes along with my theory. The luxury item (the Vette) has increased disproportionalty to match the growth of new wealth. The crappy Chevy, however, is actually a bit cheaper and is a much better car than the 75 Chevette. With the exception of luxury items and housing, things have gotten a little better every year since 1975 for the programmer.

Here's an interesting article on what Im saying with real estate:

http://www.detnews.com/2001/realestate/0108/12/g03-265349.htm

Of course housing is the most critical thing in our lives, so this isn't exactly a happy ending. The increasing inability of even fairly high paid workers to find decent housing is, in my mind, a budding crisis.

 

Food for thought: Properly regulated hunting preserves the Food Chain.

 

Britain ran the world before the Americans did... Where did America's mother tongue originate from?

 

In the end it all comes down to one thing.......

"Whine or work"

I chose to work.

 

Got that right !! Short, sweet and too the point.

 

That's a cool quote. You couldn't have said it better with a book explaining it to the bigots. Good job Kds!