General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy I refuse to say the system is broken
I'll add to that: lack of access to a toilet is essentially identical to the "extreme poverty" graph.
This is absolutely the best time to be alive in human history. The Washington consensus worked. Globalized regulated capitalism worked. Populism is an attempt to destroy the greatest thing that ever happened to the human race. I oppose it.
BeyondGeography
(39,276 posts)Recursion
(56,582 posts)I don't know where people got the idea that affording your own apartment at any point was normal. It's certainly not normal worldwide.
BeyondGeography
(39,276 posts)Where are you from?
Recursion
(56,582 posts)Take Long Island City, where Amazon is moving to
In 1880 it was a farming village
In 1900 it was a bedroom town
In 1920 it was movie studios
In 1940 it was dockyards
In 1960 it was factories
In 1980 it was skid row
In 2000 it was hipsters and banks
In 2020 it will be Silicon Valley East
In 2040 it will be something else
Neighborhoods change, constantly. Fighting that is a fool's errand.
BeyondGeography
(39,276 posts)and weve lost about 300,000 affordable apartments. You can read about it here:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/20/nyregion/affordable-housing-nyc.html
But weve danced this dance before with you and judging from your OP such facts matter not at all.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(48,775 posts)There has been some wage rise, but the lower middle class and poor wages have essentially not risen much at all when buying power is factored in.
Yes, a new car or new pocket computer (smart phone) has more features for a buck these days, so people are somewhat assuaged from the stagnation, but wage stagnation is there all the same.
www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/01/04/5-facts-about-the-minimum-wage/
Recursion
(56,582 posts)Which means they have been rising in lockstep with the cost of living.
One of the problems is that the median new home size in 1979 was 950 square feet, and in 2019 it's 4800 square feet.
riverine
(516 posts)"the world is more prosperous than ever before and yet our societies are marked by uncertainty and unease," the president wrote that, "it is important to remember that capitalism has been the greatest driver of prosperity and opportunity the world has ever seen."
President Barack Obama
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/obama-defends-capitalism-international-free-trade-economist-essay/story?id=42614080
Recursion
(56,582 posts)That's exactly right
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,775 posts)When it leads to the current levels of wealth and income inequality, it is untenable and dangerous. In the past this has lead to revolutions.
It can be fixed peacefully. It must be.
Ferrets are Cool
(21,059 posts)BeyondGeography
(39,276 posts)If you dare to speak up against rampant inequality and runaway housing, health care and education costs, it doesnt make you anti-capitalism. Now is not the time for empty paeans to the status quo or blanket condemnations of populism. Unless you think everything is hunky dory. We need much better capitalism.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)This is absolutely the best time to be alive in human history. Whatever we've been doing, we need a lot more of it.
BeyondGeography
(39,276 posts)Who ya thinking about supporting in 2020 there, Recursh?
Recursion
(56,582 posts)Ferrets are Cool
(21,059 posts)But arguing with you will be useless, so I will leave it be.