Ever seen a business close due to being unable to find employees?

[brycejones]

Honestly, I think the real question is, WHY have home prices and rent increased so much exactly?

We haven't built enough housing. 2008 made it worse.

That's it. Full stop.

 

[PumpkinCake]

So you think there should be no restaurants, no Uber drivers, no grocery stores, no Amazon delivery, none of that shit in San Diego?

Personally I wouldn't care if San Diego literally sank into the pacific

 

[brycejones]

Yeah, so move.

if your skills aren't enough to live in a super high COL area you need to move.

Fuck you, I will not get off your lawn.

Well then I guess we shouldn't hear any whining about not being able to hire staff for any kind of retail.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Personally I wouldn't care if San Diego literally sank into the pacific

Way to dodge the question.

 

[Vic]

Get your data and facts out of here


Honestly, I think the real question is, WHY have home prices and rent increased so much exactly?

Also, for the vast majority of the population, higher education is a scam. When it costs $3-400k of debt to get a job making $70k, you should be in the trades instead.

Housing costs have increased because of the following:
- beginning about 20 years ago, Wall Street began pumping up the mortgage market by buying bad mortgages,
- which they then dumped in 2008 in a low interest rate environment triggering an overall housing bust,
- conservative media talking heads then took to the airwaves encouraging people to default on their underwater mortgages because "Obama's socialism" meant the housing market "would never recover" (these same media talking heads simultaneously bought up distressed properties),
- Wall Street also jumped in to buy up distressed properties on the cheap (fun fact: I worked for a mortgage servicer at the time and roughly half of our short sale and REO buyers were institutional investors),
- homeownership dropped from 70% to 63%, correspondingly increasing the number of renters,
- tax reforms in 2017 enabled large investors to hold significant amounts of housing vacant without incurring any penalties, decreasing available housing supply,
- NIMBYs, HOAs, and local zoning laws have worked to block new housing construction, further reducing supply,
- loose monetary policies from the Fed kept interest rates low which enabled buyers to get larger mortgages (and thus pay more).
- all the while, existing homeowners (myself included) have made a killing and are exerting tremendous social and political power to keep it. This is why the media is always careful to frame homelessness as a problem that afflicts the housed and for which the homeless are singularly responsible.

Any questions?

 

[Vic]

So you think there should be no restaurants, no Uber drivers, no grocery stores, no Amazon delivery, none of that shit in San Diego?

How dare you point out the logical consequences of his ideas? Lol

 

[Fenixgoon]

I have increased pay by an average of 30% since covid hit. I pass that 30% directly to the client. The client passes that on as well. Which results in.... inflation. Which means I am not paying staff enough again.

From my perspective, it's really not a wage issue, it's more of a work ethic issue. I'm in a professional/licensed field that requires a bachelors and most have a masters.

It feels like some kind of cultural shift for the lower skill/no skill jobs needed for small business. Our dog groomer has increased fees 40%. She's about to close her retail shop because she's losing customers and can't afford a space.

Are your profit margins increasing, decreasing, or staying the same? Because greedflation is most definitely a thing.

Also, 30% over federal minimum wage is still poverty wages.

 

[fskimospy]

And nothing will ever be done about it in the US because the homeless are there to scare the shit out of labor and keep them compliant.

It’s something that’s happened in the last ten years so it’s not exactly endemic.

 

[repoman0]

Are your profit margins increasing, decreasing, or staying the same? Because greedflation is most definitely a thing.

Also, 30% over federal minimum wage is still poverty wages.

30% over the $15/hour minimum wage some states have enacted is still poverty wages.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

It’s something that’s happened in the last ten years so it’s not exactly endemic.

It absolutely is endemic in the US, it has just gotten a lot worse in the last 15 years.

 

[fskimospy]

It absolutely is endemic in the US, it has just gotten a lot worse in the last 15 years.

Well that’s my point - the severity is very new.

 

[Paratus]

Get your data and facts out of here


Honestly, I think the real question is, WHY have home prices and rent increased so much exactly?

Also, for the vast majority of the population, higher education is a scam. When it costs $3-400k of debt to get a job making $70k, you should be in the trades instead.

I fall in the @fskimospy camp that I think the biggest cause is lack of supply, caused by nimby local laws that protect incumbent home owners (of which I am one) and this trend towards large investment firms buying and holding real estate.

 

[fskimospy]

I fall in the @fskimospy camp that I think the biggest cause is lack of supply, caused by nimby local laws that protect incumbent home owners (of which I am one) and this trend towards large investment firms buying and holding real estate.

And the investment firms buying real estate is due to the lack of supply. They buy it because they think it will increase in value due to continued lack of building.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

How dare you point out the logical consequences of his ideas? Lol

His lEArn 2 c0De argument is basically saying if you work in the service economy this nation has been hollowed out into then fuck you, loser. Also lol the just get into the trades. This whole inflation fiasco started off with the first domino being trucking companies in 2021 refusing to raise wages to make up for all the drivers who got sick of the shitty pay and left in 2020, leaving a bunch of product in port. Truck driving used to be a great career. My closest childhood friend's dad was a driver and they had a nice home and could comfortably support a family of 8 on the money he made and my friend's mom didn't need to work. Now it's just another high stress poverty wage job in America.

 

[alien42]

It’s one of those threads

And one of those posters.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Disagree it makes them a loser. Housing market is insane. Living at home at 30 isn't uncommon now. I wouldn't call all of those young folks losers either.

You are also pulling a classic survivorship bias with the self made man rhetoric. There are eleventy billion reasons why not everyone can do what you did. That old "If I can do it anyone can." is complete and utter horseshit.

I'm 40, finally cracked 6 figures gross this year (single income), and I'm living with my MIL (shared home, we 'rent' from her). I realistically couldn't afford to move out without massively downsizing my standard of living because I couldn't get the house I'm in now for less than probably 500k without moving like an hour away. We were in a 1200sqft rental several years ago before this place and that was still $1400/mo.

 

[BoomerD]

We are 3 pages in and I already know this guy. His views are so generically boomer, it's like a programmed routine.

 

[brycejones]

It does kind of fit your posts....

 

[IronWing]

I’m coming around to the idea that the OP is a bot.

 

[ivwshane]

I’m coming around to the idea that the OP is a bot.

If true that would be very scary. I don’t think he is though. He’s just not familiar with what’s been going on for almost 50 years now that has lead us to this moment. His “both sides” was the key give away.

The main takeaway is that for the last 40+ years we were in an employer market when the employer had the power and the ability to set wages at a much lower level than normal. However with the mass retirements of the boomer generation, it’s now becoming a workers market and they are slowly realizing that they have the power to set the wages now. I suspect that the industries that paid the least will be impacted the hardest. I predict we will also start seeing a consumer backlash if greedflation continues which will either lead to companies raising pay, shutting down, or consolidating.

The government answer is to raise taxes on businesses in a progressive manner as well as make it so that stock buybacks are heavily penalized. This, along with a more competitive labor force will force companies to invest in their profits into their workforce, research, or consolidation. Now would be a good time for Congress to get tough on monopolies to make consolidations less appealing or harder.

 

[MrSquished]

A dime a dozen this guy is. Literally tens of millions of his clones are running around voting GQP.

 

[BoomerD]

It does kind of fit your posts....

Dammit…I must be mellowing in my old age.

 

[PumpkinCake]

Rofl, I'm not a bot.

I've been an "employer" for the last 6-7-8 years. I'm 40. I've seen both sides. Both sides are difficult. And both sides are blind to the other side's problems.

 

[PumpkinCake]

If true that would be very scary. I don’t think he is though. He’s just not familiar with what’s been going on for almost 50 years now that has lead us to this moment. His “both sides” was the key give away.

The main takeaway is that for the last 40+ years we were in an employer market when the employer had the power and the ability to set wages at a much lower level than normal. However with the mass retirements of the boomer generation, it’s now becoming a workers market and they are slowly realizing that they have the power to set the wages now. I suspect that the industries that paid the least will be impacted the hardest. I predict we will also start seeing a consumer backlash if greedflation continues which will either lead to companies raising pay, shutting down, or consolidating.

The government answer is to raise taxes on businesses in a progressive manner as well as make it so that stock buybacks are heavily penalized. This, along with a more competitive labor force will force companies to invest in their profits into their workforce, research, or consolidation. Now would be a good time for Congress to get tough on monopolies to make consolidations less appealing or harder.

You are arguing this from the perspective of lumping small business owners (#1 employer in america) with mega corps.

 

[fskimospy]

I’m coming around to the idea that the OP is a bot.

I think he’s a guy most of us disagree with but he’s been reasonable and civil and it’s nice to have people like that here.