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Strategist
2014 Apr 28, 12:57am
Wow Jazz, how can you say that. Remember.......there is a reason no one wants to leave America.
Exactly. In fact, many want to come. Despite some flaws, America has the most fair and equitable system.
You need to get out more.
Btw, I was not born in USA and has been in USA for less than 20% of my life.
How exactly does that make the US the most fair and equitable system? Are you saying you've experienced all the other systems.
It's the opportunities. Starting from day one when they loaded up the Mayflower with people looking for an opportunity to practice their own religion.
They haven't stopped since.
Late 2008/2011 was an opportunity of a lifetime.
I would think opportunity of a lifetime was before the scam-laden peak. That gave the opportunity of selling very high if you were willing to live in a house for well less than a decade. So much for settling-down.
2008-2011 is just the most recent better looking opportunity and in the Bay Area it still meant buying a place for 8-10 times an unusually high take-home income.
Now if I was trying to retire and hadn't sold my house during 2004-2006, I'd be really pissed at myself.
It's the opportunities. Starting from day one when they loaded up the Mayflower with people looking for an opportunity to practice their own religion.
They haven't stopped since.
There is a lot more opportunity other places. The problem is that other places require you to have education and/or skills before letting you in. US residency is a lottery for the poor in the third world. Something like 30% of immigrants to the US don't even have a high school diploma and 60% don't have a college degree. You can't get a residency at all in other first world countries without a hs diploma. Most places you can't get residency without a college degree or a specific recognized skill. So the US is the only option if you're poor and uneducated. They come here because they can.
Strategist
2014 Apr 29, 7:15am
Jazz, check this out. I don't know how the East India Company comes into the picture.
http://stufffromthelab.wordpress.com/2007/11/12/why-did-the-pilgrims-come-to-the-new-world/
Who writes stufffromthelab? I didn't see an "about" section or any other way to determine whether the writer had studied the subject with any rigor.
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Dear Boomers,
I was wondering if everyone over forty could please stop calling exorbitant home prices a "recovery," or hailing prices as "stabilized" only when prices are almost as high as the year that brought us the bubble burst. Since most of you over forty bought your home when a median home was twice the median income, I find your euphemisms patronizing, at best they reek of propaganda or spin doctors at play.
Great, most boomers feel house rich and secure, and those of you in California with Prop 13 feel like you won a lotto. I'm happy for you, truly, but if you get pleasure from this feeling of security than maybe you will understand my plea for understanding.
I know you all worked hard, but we have too. Consider that we are not only expected to pay for a median home with three or four times the median income, but closer to six times in most areas and in the Bay Area ten times that. If someone under forty owns a home they are probably in the 1%, received money or an inheritance from family, or they got into a loan that could possibly make debt slaves of them, or cost them the loss of the home and their savings. There are a few people under forty who owe home ownership to anything but the above three scenarios, and when we hear about the few who didn't follow the above it feels like hearing about a unicorn sighting.
And what about renting? Have you seen recent rental prices? We are back to slum lords at best.
Also, consider that statistics show that a the majority of boomers over 55 bought their home with ONE income. No one under forty can do that without being in the 1% or family money. We also have far higher student loan debt. We are also not expected to receive a pension in most jobs and unions are being outlawed, along with our other civil liberties, so we have few ways to fight back. There is talk that we will not receive social security. We also inherit a trillion dollar debt, that is mostly to China; an evil communist/plutocracy and a private bank (called the Federal Reserve) which is the very institution helping the demise of the middle-class and turning our republic into an oligarchy. We are also going to have to do something with the landfills, pollution and general environmental destruction we are left to clean up.
We are humans just like you. We want the same things: security, safe living spaces, a living wage for work, a quality education, real food, clean water and air.
The middle-class is dying, and this practice of exorbitant home prices is shoving the middle-class right out the door. The middle-class in America is going to die with the boomers if we don't make changes.
All I am asking is that people take responsibility and simply admit that the housing "recovery" is for the boomers, the mega rich, real estate agents and foriegners. Admit that's what you mean by "recovery" and admit we have it tough. Go ahead keep up your "grab all" living, I am not asking you give up your high standard of living in sacrifice for the next two or three undeserving generations, all I ask, with a heartfelt plea, is that you admit people under forty have it rough, give us some credit, and stop using the term recovery or stabilized.
Sincerely,
Someone who cares about the future
#housing