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Rising Prices Are Bad, but Plummeting Prices Are Worse: Americans may envy China’s deflation. They shouldn’t (CW: The Atlantic) (archive.ph)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net
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Living in China is getting cheaper. Because rents in my neighborhood in central Beijing are dropping, my wife and I pressed our landlord to reduce ours by $140 a month in a new lease that we signed last month. He wasn’t too happy about it, but he’s lucky that we didn’t move out. Given the desperation of local landlords, we probably could’ve saved another $500 a month had we switched to a comparable apartment nearby.

BUT AT WHAT COST?

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[–] 47 points 9 months ago (9 children)

One of the funnier things to say to libs here in the US is "real estate prices should drop by 90%" which forces them to confront one of their basic contradictions, which is gesturing toward "affordable" housing while wanting their house to continue going up in value.

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  • [–] 25 points 9 months ago (6 children)

    Tbf I don’t know how to square the contradiction, the value of houses needs to drop sharply but we’ve organized our society and retirement system around the idea that the value of a house will always increase. If home value drops 90% like it should, a lot of people no longer have money for retirement.

    I guess the answer is just “triple the payout of social security”

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  • [–] 21 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Hand the deed over to their person living there

    Forgive all mortgage debt

    Forbid ownership of housing you don't live in

    Nationalize excess housing

    Construct housing based on needs of people living in an area/protected growth etc. Planned.

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  • [–] 6 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Legitimately, what is their retirement plan if the value is stored in the house? Sell it and live on the streets?

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