[as367]

Properties are being gobbled up for any price, sight unseen, by wealthy investors flush with cheap low-interest cash, based on their expected future cash flow from renting to tenants. This is especially prevalent in the single family home market.

Eventually only the super rich will be able to afford to own a home.

Is this what the world economic forum meant by "You will own nothing and be happy."?

[ppf]

Try explaining that to the "any death with Covid must be avoided at all costs" crowd. There is a good chance that the months preceding the global lockdown will mark the high point for all forms of progress on wage, wealth, and gender equality, and that the post-lockdown world will strongly favour the already wealthy and powerful.

It really makes me mad how predictable this has all been.

[api]

We’ve been on our way there for a long time my friend. The downfall of the US middle class started in the early 1970s. COVID may have accelerated some of those trends, but on the flip side it also vastly accelerated telework which allows people to escape cities with insanely high costs.

[ppf]

>on the flip side it also vastly accelerated telework which allows people to escape cities with insanely high costs

Not really. We aren't lucky enough to have space in our family home for an office for either my wife or I to work from home For that reason, I am very grateful that I work in a company that has allowed staff to work on site for the last year.

I don't know what she's going to do when she comes off maternity leave. I'm sure that women less determined than her will just return to becoming the defacto childcare for the family.

Teleworking will favour some and disfavour others.

Edit: Your general point is, in my opinion, correct. Covid lockdowns have massively accelerated all that was going wrong, and stopped everything that was going right. Given that at least some forms of gender, wealth, and income inequality were previously going in the right direction, that is one of the things that has been stopped.

[kQq9oHeAz6wLLS]

> women less determined than her will just return to becoming the defacto childcare for the family.

Don't discount those women who stay home to take care of baby. I know many women that, after having a baby, realize that they're in a situation that allows them to hang up the rat race and settle into a more simple life of raising a child.

How many YT channels and IG influencers flout their "simple" life and people flock to them? Now imagine you suddenly not only have the means, but a really good excuse to simplify and focus on things that you've come to realize in the last year matter more to you than work. That's where many women (and men) find themselves these days, especially after having many previous leisure activities unavailable. Some have come to realize they really didn't find actual joy from those things, so they cut them out.

And it's why the "return to work" stats for women will continue to be lower than expectations for a good while yet.

[gremlinsinc]

"all costs" could be avoided if conspiracy nuts would just wear masks, stay home when not needed, avoid crowded spots, and get vaccinated.

But "my freedumb" is more important than other's lives. So the only choice officials have is "force" us to take this serious since we can't be responsible adults.

[ppf]

If only it were that simple to contain an airbourne virus!

It's incredible to me just how quickly "not wanting to live under house arrest" has become a "freedumb", and sad how quickly people are willing to throw away hard-fought liberties in the name of supposed public safety.

To briefly address your point - how did India, which certainly did not wear masks, distance, stay at home, or avoid crowded spots, only just have their "second wave" (such as it is, as it is very hard to find any actual data instead of emotionally-appealing news headlines and pictures), when countries that largely followed the rules (like the one I live in) had one over the winter?

What happened to South Korea, once lauded as the example of what can happen if everyone would just wear a mask?

There is very little in the way of a clear indicator that one approach is better than another.

[throwaway0a5e]

Those people got played like a fiddle by the people who are too smart to let a good crisis go to waste.

[sofixa]

Seriously. What does a politician win by ordering mask wearing and closure of non-essential businesses? Why the heck do people think that it's something anyone enjoyed doing?

Some limitations imposed were of course abused to also hamper democratic processes in some countries ( of course not in countries where the people are the loudest on the matter), which is tragic, but so are makeshift morgues, and once the pandemic subsides populations will expect all limitations to be rolled back, and they will be.

[pandaman]

Serious money. You have a crisis of your own making and you need to "save" all the people who lost their livelihood because you are literally fighting the Black Death, which kills people in small shops but, by miracle, spares them in Costco or Best Buy. And this money needs to be distributed. And you are in charge of the distribution. What's to gain here indeed?

[sofixa]

I find your tone a little peculiar.

> You have a crisis of your own making and you need to "save" all the people who lost their livelihood because you are literally fighting the Black Death, which kills people in small shops but, by miracle, spares them in Costco or Best Buy

You are probably aware, but people need to eat to survive. So, when trying to limit community spread of an airborne disease, closing down everything is basically as good as you can do - everyone stays home or outdoors in limited groups, and the disease will just stop spreading. However people need to eat, and move, and the fire department, medical services, etc. are still needed, and you can't stop all of that. Is it really that difficult to comprehend why some things were allowed to stay open while others were not?

And considering the example stores you used, you're probably American. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's local government who did the closing, but the the money to indeed save everyone impacted is coming from the federal government. How does a governor or whatever the equivalent is at the county level profit from the money the feds are giving businesses?

[pandaman]

You are probably aware that shops like Best Buy, Ikea, BB&B etc are not primarily selling food? I don't think Best Buy sells any food at all, maybe some candy at the register... So no, you have not slain me with facts and logic and smugness here just yet.

>How does a governor or whatever the equivalent is at the county level profit from the money the feds are giving businesses?

Feds give money to the states too and in much greater quantities than to any business.

[Guest42]

I find it peculiar that this part goes mostly unmentioned although it accounts for a large portion of the purchases (forget the numbers off the top of my head).

[chrisseaton]

> sight unseen

This is a weird phrase when you think about it. Doesn't unseen imply sight? What does 'sight unseen' mean over 'unseen'?

[Tsiklon]

I think perhaps it implies that the person hasn’t viewed the property in person, over having just viewed the photographs provided on the listing.

Someone who has viewed only the photos could be argued to have seen the property, yet still remain sight unseen of the property

[throwaway9980]

In this context sight has a couple of meanings. The first is like the sighting of land from a ship. The sight of the house is a glimpse of it. The second is simply the condition of the house.

I might tell my kids, “I can’t stand the sight of your room right now.” Which means I am upset by viewing the condition of their messy room.

[croon]

I would assume the phrase originates from "sight" as a noun.

[throwaway6734]

Move to places with cheaper housing

[dukeyukey]

People are - there's a heatmap in the article of where house prices are increasing the most. Increases are highest in poorer, generally rural areas (central-North England, Wales, South-west England) and the least in the most expensive areas (London, South-east England, Oxford/Cambridge).

[api]

It’s a big world. The best workaround for this is to move. Leave the overpriced cities and even overpriced countries. If enough people do this these rent seekers will not get a good return and will start unloading property.

On a related note it’s important to fight for telework culture or this can’t work. Remote work could be the single best thing to happen for the middle class in a generation or two.