From: kfl@KeithLynch.net   
      
   Scott Dorsey  wrote:   
   > Keith F. Lynch  wrote:   
   >> Presumably it's actually worth far more than $168,089 today,   
   >> meaning that the official inflation rate is an enormous   
   >> underestimate.   
      
   > This may be true, although the price for a small three-bedroom   
   > house in this town isn't much more than that these days.   
      
   What town is that?   
      
   > However, although the price for housing has increased far faster   
   > than inflation, the price for food has not increased anywhere near   
   > as much as inflation.  In the fifties, food was often the largest   
   > expense in a family budget, whereas today it is usually housing   
   > (or medical expenses).   
      
   Food inflation may be relatively small averaged over all the decades   
   since the 1950s, but I think it's relatively high over the past decade   
   or two.  I'm spending about twice as much on food as I did at the turn   
   of the century, and I'm certainly not eating twice as much, nor am I   
   eating a higher grade of food.   
      
   I'm eating a lot less cereal.  Cereals that were about $2 a box in   
   2000 are now often about $6 a box.  I wish I knew why.  Has there been   
   a massive crop failure?  Or are corn and other grains mostly going to   
   make "green" car fuel rather than to feed people or animals?   
      
   > A lot of this is because rental houses that used to be owned by   
   > independent landlords are now being bought up by real estate   
   > investment trusts which basically optimize everything for maximum   
   > return.  There are many apartment buildings in NYC which are   
   > completely empty because the reit that runs them can't rent them   
   > out at market rate, and if they rented them below market it would   
   > reduce the value of their other properties.   
      
   Maybe in NYC, but around here there are few vacant houses or   
   apartments.  I also don't see how the price-demand curves can be such   
   that vacancies benefit landlords.   
      
   > The rental problem is less the consequence of the housing shortage   
   > as a consequence of direct market manipulation.   
      
   I'm hoping that this will be mitigated by the replacement of surplus   
   office buildings with apartments, now that more people are working   
   from home.  For instance the office building I was falsely convicted   
   of burglarizing nearly half a century ago was demolished this year,   
   to use the land for apartments.   
      
   But inflation isn't just concentrated on housing and medical care.   
   Schooling (from infant day care through university), legal services   
   (a good felony defense costs more than a house), construction (the   
   new Yankee Stadium cost a thousand times the old one, and seats fewer   
   spectators) and maintenance are also increasingly unaffordable.   
      
   Speaking of stadia, Virginia just agreed to spend billions of taxpayer   
   dollars on two new sports facilities.  And they're not even for football   
   or baseball (they're for hockey and basketball).  I can't see why tax   
   money should ever pay anything for sports.  The sports fans should pay.   
      
   The DC Metrorail system is once again demanding higher fares and   
   higher subsidies, and once again threatening to cut service to the   
   bone if they don't get everything they want.  I wish someone would   
   call their bluff.  Fire them all and start over with people who are   
   more competent and less greedy.   
   --   
   Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/   
   Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)