[phkahler]

>> House price over 20 years 10x.

Mortgage payment over 20 years 2x. House prices vary inversely with interest rates. When you go to get a loan the bank figures out how much cash flow you've got and assumes some percentage will go to paying the loan back. They start from that monthly payment and figure out how much you can borrow at the current interest rate (this is where lower interest rates mean borrow more money for the same monthly payment) then you run off to but a house and everyone (seller, agent, appraiser, everyone) has an incentive to get you to spend as much as you possibly can. So ultimately you're 30 years of payments will be based on your income. How much of that money goes to the bank vs the seller depends on interest rates. Low rates mean higher prices and more money to the seller. High rates mean lower prices and more money to the lender.

This all stems from people living paycheck to paycheck too, so the affordability of things has nothing to do with price and everything to do with size of payments.

[Frogolocalypse]

> Mortgage payment over 20 years 2x

Completely and utterly false.

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_united_states_of_...

Furthermore that attitude makes me physically sick. You are a debt slave providing the fruits of your labor to the banking industry, all priced at the maximum value that can be extracted for the longest period. All because inflation punishes savers.

[imtringued]

The problem is that you cannot save everything the same way you can save money or gold.

Food you consume has to be produced. We can't just produce a lot of food in one year and then store the excess for 100 years until you finally want to consume it. The food is gone. Your deflationary currency is worthless if you can't buy anything with it.

[phkahler]

I stand by my statement. Payments have not gone up nearly as much as housing prices and it's due to the lower interest rates - which have mostly fallen over the last 40 years. The attitude makes me sick too. I never said it's MY attitude, just how the world works for enough people to drive the trend. I live more responsibly.