Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Breaking News: Debt and Rent Not Part of Economy

July 29, 2015
More millennials living at home, and you can't blame the economy

Got it. Can't blame the economy. So what can we blame?

1. Part of the problem can be linked to student loan debt, which can hinder independent living, according to the report.

2. The report doesn't go into more detail about why millennials are choosing to live with their parents, but Fry said rising rents in metropolitan areas, along with a change in attitudes about moving back home, could be part of it.

In summary, we can't blame the economy for millennials living at home. We should instead blame debt and rent.

Forehead. Desk. Whack. Whack. Whack.

See Also:
The New Yorker: The Debt Economy
CBS News: The Rental Economy's Big Problem: Apartment Rents

6 comments:

  1. Housing is the largest sector of the private economy (healthcare is ~$1T bigger if you count public spending).

    But if you read the paper, it's full of cheerleaders and everything is shaded to benefit them -- rising home prices are always portrayed positively as "improving" as if it was an unalloyed good thing.

    But it's not! Half the population under 30 rents, and thus number is much higher in the many cities like SF, LA, NYC, where the entire population of renters is like 60-80% of the total.

    The odd thing is that somebody figured this out back in the 19th century, but the rent-seekers bought their way into the academy to shut this line of analysis out of the mainstream (by conflating land wealth with capital wealth)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Troy,

    1. I would have predicted that you would have an opinion on this.

    2. Your opinion sounds a bit like a conspiracy theory.

    3. Not all conspiracy theories are bogus, just the majority.

    4. I agree with your opinion.

    One person's excessive inflation is just another's excessive rental income. Go figure.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Not all conspiracy theories are bogus, just the majority.

    The Gov't got the JFK assassination story "right". Lone gunman! Brilliant! If it's just one person, by definition it can't be a conspiracy. Every competing theory is...... you guessed it - a crack-pot conspiracy theory!

    Heads we win, tails you lose!


    ReplyDelete
  4. mab,

    What if JFK killed JFK? Maybe the politics got to him? Or maybe JFK simply pretended to kill JFK? He's still alive? Last seen eating donuts with Elvis? Or maybe JFK intended to pretend to kill JFK but someone else replaced the lone gunman's bullets with real ones? Maybe Elvis?

    Just questions few others seem willing to ask!! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Let's just say conspiracy theorists have Suspicious Minds!

    Is it any wonder that was Elvis' last #1 "hit"?

    ReplyDelete
  6. mab,

    Can't be a concidence!

    Oops, I "accidentally" left out an I!

    ReplyDelete