Wage Needed to Rent 2 Bedroom Unit in Each State

a reply to: MALBOSIA

I imagine it's a similar situation in Seattle and other US west coast cities too. After all this is said and done I think the Chinese are going to have all the money. I mean what can you expect when Europe, N. America are all reliant on cheap Chinese stuff?

This isn't any kind of sustainable system. Eventually the top of the ladder is going to become to top heavy.

The wealthy have been stripping the bottom and middle classes. Eventually there won't be anyone to buy the products their companies make.

The whole thing is eventually going to tumble apart, as it can't continue to keep operating this way.

Something very, very bad will have to happen -- and things will have to get a whole lot worse before they ever get better. By then though the wealthy will live in their pleasure domes, with robot servants. The "little people" will fight over what remaining jobs exist to the death.

a reply to: Char-Lee

That is a good price on a home! That would be at least 4 to 500 grand where I live. What state did you find that in?

Raising wages is a double edged sword. It's good for the people but bad for small businesses. The only companies that would be able to pay a substantial increase in minimum wage are large corporations. But most are too busy paying out dividends to shareholders and paying CEO's ridiculous wages.

However there are other ways to make life "livable" than raising the minimum wage or forcing businesses to pay more benefits. For instance businesses used to give employees more stock than now a days after a certain time period worked.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

I think your 100% correct. This is why I hope this "Economic Crash" or whatever happens sooner or later. That way we can rebuild a better society.

Humanity will either fall together or succeed together. We can't keep screwing each other over or we'll never get anywhere better.

a reply to: asmall89

That is a good price on a home! That would be at least 4 to 500 grand where I live. What state did you find that in?

CA northern, but for sale by owner I was the first to arrive and said "I'll Take It!" within a minute! So it was luck really!

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
This isn't any kind of sustainable system. Eventually the top of the ladder is going to become to top heavy.

The wealthy have been stripping the bottom and middle classes. Eventually there won't be anyone to buy the products their companies make.

The whole thing is eventually going to tumble apart, as it can't continue to keep operating this way.

Something very, very bad will have to happen -- and things will have to get a whole lot worse before they ever get better. By then though the wealthy will live in their pleasure domes, with robot servants. The "little people" will fight over what remaining jobs exist to the death.

I agree that what we are doing is not sustainable but, I think stopping it is the answer, not expanding it.

It has been the 16th amendment and direct federal taxation of citizens circumventing the states entirely that has sapped and whittled down the middle class while simultaneously acting as a brake on upward mobility from the bottom.

The War on Poverty – $40 Trillion Funding Failure

Last year the United States celebrated the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty begun by LBJ in 1964. Over that time the country has spent approximately $40 trillion on welfare and redistribution programs of one sort or another – and that number doesn’t include expenditures for Social Security or Medicare. The program started out slow, but has steadily picked up steam so that today the United States spends over a trillion dollars on welfare programs every year. To put that $1 trillion in perspective, that is more than the GDP of every country on the planet except for the 15 largest. It’s bigger than the GDP of Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, the Netherlands and around 175 others.

We have given this the old "college try". $40 trillion is nothing to sneeze at.

How about we try freedom instead? It has worked before.

I work in San Francisco and have actually been harassed a few times by natives hell bent on taking out their aggravation on us "techies". I understand the anger associated with the sky hi living costs in SF, but that's exactly why i don't live there. ( That and i'm not a city guy, I like space so I live in the suburbs.)

I know there's prestige in some circles regarding living in "the city", weather it be NY SF LA Seattle but seriously why get pissed at the people who make city wages and commute into said city? And why throw a fit about the costs associated with city living when it's a given that it's expensive? In Highschool I new it was expensive and almost 20 years later it's still expensive.

I guess my question is if costs of living has been increasing since forever, why do people throw such a fit when they feel it, acting as if the system is out to ruin them specifically? I've had roomates and I've lived alone.
All the partying, convenience and metropolitanism of city living can't compare to having your own space and a reasonable cost of living in my mind. Not every french person lives in Paris, not every Saudi in Dubai, why do Americans get up in arms over not being able to afford to live in a specific place?

I honestly think the outrage at the costs of living in these areas is more about self privilege than an actual financial problem. There are plenty of real signs of our out of control economy without random complaining about why you can't live somewhere.

a reply to: nemonimity

It's not just the inner city prices that are out of control it's the suburbs too. The majority of cities in my state are made of suburbs. Even in some cities like Baltimore a good portion of the inner city is made of lower income housing.

Yes cost of living has been rising since the early 70's but it's the lack of wage inflation that's hurting people. Housing, College Tution, and Medical Care has all risen dramatically in the past decades. Since the mid 90's the feds have hiked the minimum wage once to 7.25 from 5.15. That's a 71% increase, the average wage in the US is not much better. Compare that to housing which is about 200 to 400 percent and tuition at a whopping 1000% since the 90's.

It wouldn't be an issue if peoples wages could keep up with inflation. This is the weakest economic "recovery" since the Great Depression.

a reply to: greencmp

A lot of these Government programs that are supposed to "help the poor" do more damage than good. People with disabilities, the elderly, and poverty stricken individuals do need help and we should not leave them behind because of their situations. However, families used to take care of their own more... instead of sending Grandma and Grandpa to a retirement home they would usually live with their children until they died. A Billionaire looking to change the world would do better to help his family, friends, and community with his money rather than lobbying congress to get a bill for welfare passed IMO.

This is why i bought a 34 foot motor home for $4000 with 29,000 miles on it a few years ago and live in it.

I pay $278 a month for space rent that includes water. sewer. the first $50 power, and basic cable tv and $20 internet.

And if i get mad at my landlord it does not take long to move.

I just read an article praising Ventura, CA for how modestly priced it is because a small 3-bedroom tract home in 'midtown' is around $600,000 US. I think part of the problem with this whole concept of affordable housing is what people consider "affordable." In addition to the requirements of vehicle in that area (I lived there for 20 years), how much money would a person have to make at a job to make 600 grand "affordable" for a family?? Most the jobs there, as I recall, were banking and food and retail -- no money in them.