Sometimes joking about silly concerns make us forget for one second about the hard ones. That's why I love watching old episodes of ALF complaining about he's not allowed to ride a washing machine ^^
I want to show an alien a worker from food production and Justin Bieber. Stand them side by side. Explain to the alien that one of these people plays a vital role in providing food for the colony, and one grabs his nuts and says "baby baby baby ooh". Then ask him which one he thinks is a ball-hair away from starving on the streets and which one has more resources than they could realistically consume in a lifetime.
It's sad to live in such a contradictory world. A construction worker needs to work a few months to build a home, but would need to work 50 years to pay it. The problem is that most of people just get used to, instead of consider that something completely unacceptable, that's why there's no reaction, and the few people who dear to react are considered "weirdos" by the rest who just conforms.
Leaving aside the value of land which is a whole other can of worms - how much time do you think building said house would take if you first had to gather the raw materials?
There's a lot more labour involved in building a house than that of the construction worker.
Yep, you're right. But the example I gave above is a symptom that something is broken. Many decades ago, in many countries within the Western hemisphere, a middle class worker with NO university at all was able to buy a home in only 10 years, whilst feeding a family of 4. Nowadays we reached the situation where some cities in the world are renting capsules for individuals: in L.A., for instance, there are renting capsules for living at a monthly price of $750 (check the video about it).
Take in mind that the video above was published in 2019, the capsules price are very likely higher now. Bart Simpson's tree house was bigger and healthier than that. I'm not an economist, but I think the proof that buying homes can be much easier is that it was already done in the past.
You're not wrong, but a lot of it is the fact that everyone wants to live in a few big cities where all the fun stuff is. Nearly 20 million people live in the vicinity of LA. NYC metropolitan area is over 20 million and the 5 boroughs themselves have over 8 million people. London is 9 million for the city proper.
If you live in bumfuck, nowhere... Prices are way different. Still worse than "many decades ago", but nowhere near as bad as in the big cities.
Yeah, I live in a country where the median pre-tax income is a bit below 2k EUR, and I moved to a small town because my childhood home is here and after my ex-wife fucked up my finances, this is the one place where I don't have to pay rent and have a garden where my toddler can comfortably run around and play (with me watching of course)
Renting an apartment nice enough for a single person would be like 230 EUR a month here. For a family, maybe 300. Less than half of what it is in the "cities" in this country, but I'm an hour away from the two or three bigger ones and they're not even that big. Take a big country like the US and you have much more drastic differences. Manhattan vs Queens is already a major difference, but try Manhattan vs some random small town in upstate NY that isn't near the great lakes or anything else spectacular. You're bound to have at LEAST a 10x difference in price per square foot, but it could be like 20-30x by now.
Universal WFH for office workers that don't have a good reason to be in the office would do so much for housing affordability, it's not even funny. Because so many people would just leave the big cities for small towns or even literal forest cabins as long as they can get internet access somehow.
25 Comments
WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.today · 37 pts · 98d
I wish that was the biggest concern regarding our culture. This is kinda like complaining that a meth addict drinks too much soda.
coolansplanet@lemmy.today · 9 pts · 98d
Sometimes joking about silly concerns make us forget for one second about the hard ones. That's why I love watching old episodes of ALF complaining about he's not allowed to ride a washing machine ^^
MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 98d
Well, now I'm intrigued. Are meth addicts known for their soda consumption?
Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 97d
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/294258687_Soda_Consumption_Among_Methamphetamine_Users_in_the_USA_Impact_on_Oral_Health
Yes.
coolansplanet@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 97d
hahah, I can't believe you've really searched for that 🤭 🤭 🤭 🤭 🤭 🤭 🤭
Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 97d
I had a family member who used to use meth and consumed more mountain dew than anyone I knew, so I had to look it up.
coolansplanet@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 97d
Sorry to read that Corky 😟
yermaw@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 98d
Those cans for makeshift bongs gotta come from somewhere. Might as well drink it first.
Asafum@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 98d
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 98d
Someone should make a meme about this.
coolansplanet@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 98d
haha, you're right ^^
undergroundoverground@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 98d
Our toxic culture is an employment based, market fundamentalist culture. Any smart alien would run from that.
yermaw@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 98d
I want to show an alien a worker from food production and Justin Bieber. Stand them side by side. Explain to the alien that one of these people plays a vital role in providing food for the colony, and one grabs his nuts and says "baby baby baby ooh". Then ask him which one he thinks is a ball-hair away from starving on the streets and which one has more resources than they could realistically consume in a lifetime.
coolansplanet@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 98d
It's sad to live in such a contradictory world. A construction worker needs to work a few months to build a home, but would need to work 50 years to pay it. The problem is that most of people just get used to, instead of consider that something completely unacceptable, that's why there's no reaction, and the few people who dear to react are considered "weirdos" by the rest who just conforms.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 96d
Leaving aside the value of land which is a whole other can of worms - how much time do you think building said house would take if you first had to gather the raw materials?
There's a lot more labour involved in building a house than that of the construction worker.
coolansplanet@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 96d
Yep, you're right. But the example I gave above is a symptom that something is broken. Many decades ago, in many countries within the Western hemisphere, a middle class worker with NO university at all was able to buy a home in only 10 years, whilst feeding a family of 4. Nowadays we reached the situation where some cities in the world are renting capsules for individuals: in L.A., for instance, there are renting capsules for living at a monthly price of $750 (check the video about it).
Take in mind that the video above was published in 2019, the capsules price are very likely higher now. Bart Simpson's tree house was bigger and healthier than that. I'm not an economist, but I think the proof that buying homes can be much easier is that it was already done in the past.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 95d
You're not wrong, but a lot of it is the fact that everyone wants to live in a few big cities where all the fun stuff is. Nearly 20 million people live in the vicinity of LA. NYC metropolitan area is over 20 million and the 5 boroughs themselves have over 8 million people. London is 9 million for the city proper.
If you live in bumfuck, nowhere... Prices are way different. Still worse than "many decades ago", but nowhere near as bad as in the big cities.
coolansplanet@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 95d
Good point! 😮
boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 94d
Yeah, I live in a country where the median pre-tax income is a bit below 2k EUR, and I moved to a small town because my childhood home is here and after my ex-wife fucked up my finances, this is the one place where I don't have to pay rent and have a garden where my toddler can comfortably run around and play (with me watching of course)
Renting an apartment nice enough for a single person would be like 230 EUR a month here. For a family, maybe 300. Less than half of what it is in the "cities" in this country, but I'm an hour away from the two or three bigger ones and they're not even that big. Take a big country like the US and you have much more drastic differences. Manhattan vs Queens is already a major difference, but try Manhattan vs some random small town in upstate NY that isn't near the great lakes or anything else spectacular. You're bound to have at LEAST a 10x difference in price per square foot, but it could be like 20-30x by now.
Universal WFH for office workers that don't have a good reason to be in the office would do so much for housing affordability, it's not even funny. Because so many people would just leave the big cities for small towns or even literal forest cabins as long as they can get internet access somehow.
coolansplanet@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 98d
Future episodes will cover that topic 😉
undergroundoverground@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 98d
Looking forward to it
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 98d
recentSlinky@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 98d
That's not true! And I have a meme to prove it
IAMgROOT@lemmy.wtf · 2 pts · 80d
plot twist: theyre looking at the earth 300 light years away and seeing the 1700s, we're gonna catch em off guard