3 Responses to Links 1/29/11

1. Kaleberg says:

   January 29, 2011 at 10:13 pm

   Your link to that article on affordable housing reminded me of why I stopped subscribing to Forbes when Malcolm died. (1) The author doesn’t give any numbers. Does moving to a place with less expensive housing lower one’s ratio or raise it? He doesn’t say. (2) The author doesn’t realize that most people borrow to buy a house, so affordability has as much to do with interest rates as the number of years income it would take to buy. (3) He ignores the desire of younger people to live in cities. In fact, most people want to live in cities, which is why nations urbanized despite the higher mortality rates in town. (4) He glosses over the high government costs of low density housing because these are usually covered by other tax bases.
   Basically, Forbes hired a lot of guys from Pravda back in the mid-80s. They spout the party line, and it doesn’t have to make any sense.
2. Kaleberg says:

   January 29, 2011 at 10:15 pm

   (Actually, the big change was in the 80s, under blessed Saint Ronald Reagan, when housing prices rose from 600 hours a year to 800 hours a year, and never recovered. Income matters too.)
3. Katharine says:

   January 29, 2011 at 10:44 pm

   Off-topic a bit, but regarding the atrocious attempt to redefine rape going through the legislature right now, I’d like to deliver a big box of half-burnt bibles to the Family’s complex in DC.

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