Economy: Rent price controls might be a root cause of high housing costs
Rent price controls might be a significant factor in today's housing shortages.
Follow up: Economic forecast models mostly useless
The New York Times also chimed in on the poor forecasting record of economists Monday in a separate story, “New Normal or No Normal? How Economists Got It Wrong for…
Economy: Mean net worth of American households exceeds $1 million … but …
Impressive numbers, but not everyone is average. Hence, the median number also tells us a bit more ...
Workforce: Ageism is ingrained in the work world
Employers much more likely to hire someone less than 45 years old. After that, participation in the labor force begins to drop off sharply. According to an OECD report which…
Economy: Americans grew rich by borrowing from their future
Not even a peep about how government transfer payments increased household wealth – by taking on huge government deficits: US household wealth surged at record pace during pandemic, Fed says…
Media: “The cost of homeownership spiraled upwards last year”
Everything about financing a home purchase surged last year, from mortgage rates to fees and discount points, according to a report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on mortgage costs.…
Finance: Assumable mortgages are back
Finally! A story writer adds accurate context: Assumable mortgages were popular in the 1980s“For the last 40 years, rates have been falling, so nobody cared about assumability,” said Tod Tozer,…
Economy: Inflation as low as long as you don’t buy stuff that is rising in price
If you remove all the things that are rising in price, inflation is low, says expert.
Economy: Boomers saved too much for retirement but … a silver lining
"Boomers" over saved for retirement and now have resources to spend, which may help keep the economy humming as we near recession territory.
Automation: “Rethinking the Luddites in the Age of AI”
Writer suggests Luddites should have sought tax on machine made fabric. How about a tax on words written on word processors?
Economy: Most home buyers put down 6%-7% for a down payment
The typical home buyer today puts forth a down payment of 6%-7%, not the 20% that was typical of the past.
Economy: 60% living paycheck to paycheck
"60% living pay check to paycheck" is about the same % as this has always been, year after year.
Climate: “83 percent of home shoppers consider climate risk”
Wild - the average duration of home ownership is 16 years. Most people move around a bit.
Climate: We need carbon taxes, congestion charges and eliminate all polluting vehicles
The co-authors said that this distrust in climate science is one of the challenges to the successful implementation of climate action policies, such as climate change taxes (carbon taxes), congestion…