[Ashendar]

' I think a significant amount of money is going into advertising, pointless startups, entertainment and social media.' My suspicion is that a lot of it is going into housing, driving up the costs for home buyers with no productive benefit for the economy.

[laotzu]

Well that is obvious after 2008. Last I checked there are around 5 vacant houses for every homeless person in America. According to anthropologist David Graeber, the real original (pun intended) meaning of the phrase "real estate" was royal estate, referring to the British monarchies' royal estate in the 17th century.

[nwah1]

You'd be correct. http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2015/03/wealth-i...