Part-time and an apartment -the new Norm

[Nova78]

The Trade: American Dream Now a Part-Time Job and an Apartment

The American Dream used to be a house to call your own that you paid for with a steady paycheck after an honest day's work. But in this post-financial-crisis nation, the dream for many now means having a part-time job and being able to rent an apartment.

And with unemployment and wages stagnant, as well as uncertainty about the costs of the new health care act for employers, the pared-down expectations may be a trend for years to come. "The quality of the jobs being added are quite low, especially relative to the jobs that were lost," said an economist from a major Wall Street investment bank, who declined to be named because he hasn't published on this trend yet. "Homeownership, especially for the younger, is quite low, showing perhaps some secular decline."


Welcome to America ,where everything is Free........or may-be all that free shit has caught up with us....

 

[Friends]

The Trade: American Dream Now a Part-Time Job and an Apartment

The American Dream used to be a house to call your own that you paid for with a steady paycheck after an honest day's work. But in this post-financial-crisis nation, the dream for many now means having a part-time job and being able to rent an apartment.

And with unemployment and wages stagnant, as well as uncertainty about the costs of the new health care act for employers, the pared-down expectations may be a trend for years to come. "The quality of the jobs being added are quite low, especially relative to the jobs that were lost," said an economist from a major Wall Street investment bank, who declined to be named because he hasn't published on this trend yet. "Homeownership, especially for the younger, is quite low, showing perhaps some secular decline."


Welcome to America ,where everything is Free........or may-be all that free shit has caught up with us....

It sounds as though you blame this on President Obama. Job creation under George W. Bush was lower than it had been since the beginning of the Great Depression.

Bush On Jobs: The Worst Track Record On Record - Real Time Economics - WSJ

On every major measurement, the Census Bureau report shows that the country lost ground during Bush's two terms. While Bush was in office, the median household income declined, poverty increased, childhood poverty increased even more, and the number of Americans without health insurance spiked. By contrast, the country's condition improved on each of those measures during Bill Clinton's two terms, often substantially.
Closing The Book On The Bush Legacy - Ronald Brownstein - The Atlantic

Since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 real after tax income for most Americans has declined, while for the best paid 20 percent it has grown. For the one percent it has grown dramatically.

The Vampire Economy | DNDN Message Board Posts

The decline in America's middle class has been going on for quite some time. The Democrats are not blameless. For decades employers in the U.S. have been importing cheap labor while exporting good jobs, and getting richer as a result.

Sen. Ted Kennedy promoted the Immigration Reform Act of 1965 which greatly increased immigration to the United States.

President Bill Clinton promoted and signed the Free Trade Agreement in 1993. This made it possible for American manufacturers to move well paid unionized factory jobs to low wage countries, and import the produce back to the United States without paying tariffs.

Nevertheless, Republican economic policy is to reduce assistance to the unemployed, reduce payments for Social Security and Medicare, and to cut taxes once again for the rich.

 

[Sallow]

The Trade: American Dream Now a Part-Time Job and an Apartment

The American Dream used to be a house to call your own that you paid for with a steady paycheck after an honest day's work. But in this post-financial-crisis nation, the dream for many now means having a part-time job and being able to rent an apartment.

And with unemployment and wages stagnant, as well as uncertainty about the costs of the new health care act for employers, the pared-down expectations may be a trend for years to come. "The quality of the jobs being added are quite low, especially relative to the jobs that were lost," said an economist from a major Wall Street investment bank, who declined to be named because he hasn't published on this trend yet. "Homeownership, especially for the younger, is quite low, showing perhaps some secular decline."


Welcome to America ,where everything is Free........or may-be all that free shit has caught up with us....

It was Ronald Reagan that broke Unions.

With the exception of a slight uptick during the Clinton administration, wages have been stagnant for common folks ever since.

CEO however, have seen their compensation skyrocket.

So what's your problem with that?

It's what conservatives designed and wanted.

Here it is.

 

[Friends]

Republicans like to gloat about the persistence of high unemployment under President Obama, but they oppose any efforts to help the unemployed. They think those who are unemployed deserve to be unemployed, and those who are rich deserve to be rich.

Herman Cain perfectly articulated the Republican attitude:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHMEC8Xk9cg]Herman Cain: "If You Don't Have A Job And You're Not Rich, Blame Yourself" - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Katzndogz]

Correction. It's a part time job and an apartment with roommates.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

It sounds as though you blame this on President Obama.

Of course, he's president- right? Under Obama's idiotic liberal policies, like Obamacare, U6( real unemployment) has leveled off at 14% almost double the pre-recession norm.

Its worst performance since Depression. Obama should be impeached for pure liberal stupidity.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

It was Ronald Reagan that broke Unions.

Just a little perhaps but not enough to prevent 30 million union jobs from going off shore to more competitive labor markets. If only Reagan had been able to make unions illegal again all those jobs would still be here.

A simple lesson but one a liberal will lack the IQ to understand.

 

[Friends]

It was Ronald Reagan that broke Unions.

Just a little perhaps but not enough to prevent 30 million union jobs from going off shore to more competitive labor markets. If only Reagan had been able to make unions illegal again all those jobs would still be here.

A simple lesson but one a liberal will lack the IQ to understand.

Countries that have weathered the Great Recession better than the United States include the Scandinavian countries, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. They have stronger labor unions than the United States.

Trade union membership statistics - Countries Compared - NationMaster

When you talk about "more competitive labor markets" what you really mean are "third world levels of poverty." That is what you want to reduce American employees to. A better policy would be to repeal NAFTA and similar legislation and to require all goods manufactured in other countries to pay high tariffs.

 

[Friends]

It sounds as though you blame this on President Obama.

Of course, he's president- right? Under Obama's idiotic liberal policies, like Obamacare, U6( real unemployment) has leveled off at 14% almost double the pre-recession norm.

Its worst performance since Depression. Obama should be impeached for pure liberal stupidity.

Under Ronald Reagan the unemployment rate reached 10.8 percent. Under Barack Obama it reached 10.0 percent. Since then it has declined.

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/data/UNRATE.txt

Of course, under Herbert Hoover unemployment reached 23.6 percent.

United States Unemployment Rate 1920?2010 | Infoplease.com

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

It sounds as though you blame this on President Obama.

Of course, he's president- right? Under Obama's idiotic liberal policies, like Obamacare, U6( real unemployment) has leveled off at 14% almost double the pre-recession norm.

Its worst performance since Depression. Obama should be impeached for pure liberal stupidity.

Under Ronald Reagan the unemployment rate reached 10.8 percent. Under Barack Obama it reached 10.0 percent. Since then it has declined.

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/data/UNRATE.txt

Of course, under Herbert Hoover unemployment reached 23.6 percent.

United States Unemployment Rate 1920?2010 | Infoplease.com

so do you think Obama should be impeached for the 14% unemployment?

 

[waltky]

Granny says it's gettin' to where only rich folks can afford to buy a house...

US Homeownership Rate Back Down to Pre-Bubble Level
December 27, 2013 – The federal government’s aggressive intervention in the housing market, which eventually included a $188 billion taxpayer bailout of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, was supposed to increase the percentage of Americans who own their own homes.

However, the rate of homeownership at the end of November was down to 65.3 percent, according to data released Dec. 20th by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. This is the same level of homeownership that Americans enjoyed in 1996, before the federal government stepped in to help. Although negative equity has decreased 21 percent since November 2012, 10.8 million American homeowners – 1 in 5 - owed $805 billion more than their homes were worth at the end of the third quarter, according to Zillow’s Negative Equity Report.

Non-Hispanic whites are still more likely to own their homes (73.3 percent) than members of other races (55.2 percent), the Census Bureau reports. Black households had the lowest rate of homeownership (43.1 percent), down from 44.1 percent in November 2012 and down six percentage points from the peak (49.1 percent) in 2004, the same year Congress passed amendments to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977 designed to help more minority families buy homes.

But the CRA also helped inflate the housing bubble, and black families were hit the hardest by the foreclosure crisis that followed. Not surprisingly, more than three quarters of all households (79.9 percent) with family incomes greater than or equal to the median own their homes, compared to half of households with family incomes below the median. Homeownership rates were also “highest in the Midwest (69.6 percent) and lowest in the West (59.5 percent),” the Census Bureau reported.

Americans over 65 years of age are more than twice as likely to own their homes as those under 35. The rate of homeownership in the 65+ category was 81.2 percent in the third quarter of 2013, compared to just 36.8 percent for those under 35. Younger Americans’ mobility has fallen to a 50-year low as economic pressures force them to defer plans to buy a house and start a family. However, householders aged 55 to 64 also lost some ground this year, with a homeownership rate (76.2 percent) at the end of November slightly lower than it was the same time last year (76.9 percent).

US Homeownership Rate Back Down to Pre-Bubble Level | CNS News

 

[hjmick]

Jesus wouldn't it be refreshing if - oh never fucking mind...

 

[waltky]

Home buying becoming more out of reach for most people...

Millions of Americans Can't Buy a Home, and That's Not Changing
Nov 19, 2014 — It's disturbing enough that millions of adults can't fulfill the American dream and buy a home. What is really alarming is that home unaffordability isn't a temporary problem.

While younger Americans struggle to get out from under student loans and the resulting negative savings rate, annual incomes for older Americans just aren't keeping up with the rising cost of owning a home. Interest.com says households with median income can afford a median-priced home in only 10 of the country's top 25 largest metropolitan areas. Median home prices rose by 6% in the past year in those top 25 markets, while incomes rose by only 2%, according to Interest.com. There is some wiggle room for buyers, but not much.

"Low mortgage rates are helping home affordability to some extent, but the key ingredient — which has been missing to this point — is substantial income growth," says Mike Sante, managing editor at Interest.com. "We're seeing a flattening out of housing prices, but I don't think they'll flatten out enough for income increases of 2% or 3% to catch up." Looking forward, Sante sees "a lot of what we saw through the '80s and '90s, unfortunately, which is homes becoming less affordable little by little. Ten years from now, I fear we'll look back and a lot more cities will be getting D's and F's in our rankings."

Some urban areas still offer hope. Minneapolis, Atlanta and St. Louis are the "most affordable" cities, where median income matches up well with home prices. On the other end of the scale, San Francisco is rated as "least affordable" among U.S. cities, primarily because its median income level is 46% lower than needed to buy a decent-sized home. San Diego, New York and Los Angeles also rank low on the list.

Millions of Americans Can t Buy a Home and That s Not Changing - Page 2 - MainStreet

See also:

Living in a Shipping Container: The New Look of Affordable Housing?
Nov 17, 2014 — The increasing challenge of affordable homeownership has been well documented – and renting an apartment is getting to be a similar fiscal strain. But if you could build a home for less than half the square foot cost of a conventional home, would you make the move? What if it meant living in a shipping container?

Maybe it's time to think inside the box. Steel shipping containers – stacked aboard ships and trains to haul freight around the world - eventually land empty and unused. There are estimated to be some 20 million surplus containers ready to be repurposed. A 40-foot-long container costs anywhere from $1,400 to $4,000, and with a little patch of land, the installation of a foundation, electricity and plumbing, you've got yourself a sturdy little 320-foot homestead. And at about half the cost of a conventional house, according to the website of home renovation expert Bob Vila.

And nobody says you have to stop with just one. These things can be stacked up to nine high and then connected and assembled as sprawling units. The trend is spreading, not just for homeowners but for renters – particularly Millennials who prefer convenient urban living and compact spaces. "We lock them together," Micheal Kenner, a Nashville developer, told The Tennessean. Whatever you can do with Legos, you can do with these." Kenner is transforming about a dozen of the units into "micro apartments" in the Music City. Nearly two dozen were recently converted into retail stores, restaurants and offices in a Nashville healthcare and technology development.

New York-based SG Blocks, container provider for the Nashville projects, has delivered the units for projects around the nation: from a beach home in the Hamptons and a Starbucks in Salt Lake City, to the South Street Seaport in New York. "It represents a progression in the technology of construction," Paul Galvin, CEO of SG Blocks told TheStreet recently. "We repurpose containers from intermodal units of transportation into intermodal units of construction that are stronger and greener and more-efficient than traditional construction." The company says the containers meet or exceed structural safety codes, are corrosion resistant and reduce construction time by up to 40%. And you would think that these heavy steel boxes would absorb heat and transfer cold indoors, but SG Blocks says proper insulation provides "more than adequate heat and cold protection."

Living in a Shipping Container The New Look of Affordable Housing - MainStreet

 

[Esmeralda]

Republicans like to gloat about the persistence of high unemployment under President Obama, but they oppose any efforts to help the unemployed. They think those who are unemployed deserve to be unemployed, and those who are rich deserve to be rich.

Herman Cain perfectly articulated the Republican attitude:

[ame=[MEDIA=youtube]SHMEC8Xk9cg[/MEDIA] Cain: "If You Don't Have A Job And You're Not Rich, Blame Yourself" - YouTube[/ame]

We are currently enjoying the longest period of private sector job creation in American history.
We have now had 54 straight months of private sector job creation. That is the longest period of job creation since the Department of Labor has been keeping statistics. See the link below. Obama Outperforms Reagan On Jobs Growth And Investing - Forbes

Obama 8217 s claim that businesses are in the 8216 longest uninterrupted stretch of job creation 8217 - The Washington Post

 

[Esmeralda]

To me, it's like Americans are complaining that they don't have a high salary for a job that takes no education or special skills, or only requires vocational training (no higher education). You complain because you can't afford a brand new car for each member of your family over the age of 15. You complain because your kids might have to work to help pay for their college tuition. You complain because you might have to live in an apartment instead of a house. You complain about every goddamn thing, essentially. You complain about a price for gas that most of the rest of the world has been paying for decades. And then you complain about immigrants wanting to come to America. Why do you think they want to come, because it's a bad place to live where you all have to suffer living in apartments and only having one car per family? Get a grip on reality and stop whining about everything.

 

[Moonglow]

My 30 year old son drives a big rig truck and makes 50k a year..they only need 400,000 drivers over the next decade....
I am a mason, they make 18-20 dollars an hour and they are in short supply where I live...
You live by what you teach yourself to accept...
If all you have is a part time job, get a trade and education or a skill in demand and ho yourself out to the highest bidder...

 

[Moonglow]

To me, it's like Americans are complaining that they don't have a high salary for a job that takes no education or special skills, or only requires vocational training (no higher education). You complain because you can't afford a brand new car for each member of your family over the age of 15. You complain because your kids might have to work to help pay for their college tuition. You complain because you might have to live in an apartment instead of a house. You complain about every goddamn thing, essentially. You complain about a price for gas that most of the rest of the world has been paying for decades. And then you complain about immigrants wanting to come to America. Why do you think they want to come, because it's a bad place to live where you all have to suffer living in apartments and only having one car per family? Get a grip on reality and stop whining about everything.

My family has money but when growing up I still had to work to get an allowance..and that's the way I taught my kids..

 

[Moonglow]

It was Ronald Reagan that broke Unions.

Just a little perhaps but not enough to prevent 30 million union jobs from going off shore to more competitive labor markets. If only Reagan had been able to make unions illegal again all those jobs would still be here.

A simple lesson but one a liberal will lack the IQ to understand.

Many non union jobs went over seas, can we still blame the president and labor unions?

 

[Esmeralda]

To me, it's like Americans are complaining that they don't have a high salary for a job that takes no education or special skills, or only requires vocational training (no higher education). You complain because you can't afford a brand new car for each member of your family over the age of 15. You complain because your kids might have to work to help pay for their college tuition. You complain because you might have to live in an apartment instead of a house. You complain about every goddamn thing, essentially. You complain about a price for gas that most of the rest of the world has been paying for decades. And then you complain about immigrants wanting to come to America. Why do you think they want to come, because it's a bad place to live where you all have to suffer living in apartments and only having one car per family? Get a grip on reality and stop whining about everything.

My family has money but when growing up I still had to work to get an allowance..and that's the way I taught my kids..

I don't think it's the same today. People today, and I'm referring here to Americans, have this sense of entitlement I just don't understand. I have a higher degree and make a good income, but I don't put my income in a lot of debt, no car, no house. I rent apartments and feel just fine about it. I use pubic transportation and am okay with that. But I live in an economy where that can be necessary, unless you live beyond your means. I don't. I am debt free. And I worked my way through 6 years of university. My parents spent about 1,500 dollars toward my 6 years of higher education: 20 bucks every once in a while. Yep.

 

[Moonglow]

To me, it's like Americans are complaining that they don't have a high salary for a job that takes no education or special skills, or only requires vocational training (no higher education). You complain because you can't afford a brand new car for each member of your family over the age of 15. You complain because your kids might have to work to help pay for their college tuition. You complain because you might have to live in an apartment instead of a house. You complain about every goddamn thing, essentially. You complain about a price for gas that most of the rest of the world has been paying for decades. And then you complain about immigrants wanting to come to America. Why do you think they want to come, because it's a bad place to live where you all have to suffer living in apartments and only having one car per family? Get a grip on reality and stop whining about everything.

My family has money but when growing up I still had to work to get an allowance..and that's the way I taught my kids..

I don't think it's the same today. People today, and I'm referring here to Americans, have this sense of entitlement I just don't understand. I have a higher degree and make a good income, but I don't put my income in a lot of debt, no car, no house. I rent apartments and feel just fine about it. I use pubic transportation and am okay with that. But I live in an economy where that can be necessary, unless you live beyond your means. I don't. I am debt free. And I worked my way through 6 years of university. My parents spent about 1,500 dollars toward my 6 years of higher education: 20 bucks every once in a while. Yep.

I worked through college also and all I was given was 100 dollars from my grandmother.Many kids expect to have things thrown in their lap, but it ain't gonna happen. It takes work to live no matter who you are. I agree with you, stay out of debt. I don't even have a credit card. If I don't have the stash of cash it's a no go...