First - I support your efforts. And I will sign the petition. But honestly, my feeling is this - people on TV (and everywhere else) are constantly talking about people who are losing their homes or losing their savings or investments etc., and yeah, my heart definitely goes out to them, and I feel many of us have been wronged by the wealthy and greedy.
But - what about people like me who can’t even think about buying a home? People who don’t even have investments, or savings or 401ks? Who are too poor to even consider having a family or children? No one I personally know has enough money to buy a house. Almost all of my friends are single and rent. I’m 49 years old.
So why is everyone babbling about how awful it is for them (people who have money or investments or savings or or who could afford to even entertain the notion of buying a house)? I mean yeah, it is… but how do you think that makes me feel? I don’t have squat! So all I’m saying is it seems to me that people who are really poor and have something to worry about too are getting left out of the conversation here - and rather ironically it seems to me that we’re the ones who are in the gravest danger and need the most help.
Another issue that people don’t seem to discuss is the ridiculously high cost of just renting a place to live! I went to S.F. and my friend lives in this old, substandard, dingy apartment and I asked him how much it was thinking “Yechh! - how dreadful and depressing - I would never want to live in place like this” and assuming it must be cheap. I thought “I would pay maybe $300 max for this dump” and I asked him how much it was and he said “$1,000 a month”. I almost barfed!
I mean, it’s insane! what the hell is going on here? I personally think it’s just out and out greed. I talked to a lady who attended U.C. Berkeley in the early sixties and she was able to pay her tuition and live in a nice apartment near the campus on her salary from working three afternoons a week in a bookstore. My English teacher said he rented an entire house working as a dishwasher around that time too. And I hear stories of multiple kids crashing in huge houses in the Haight with only one person working and bringing in an income back then too. NOW you can’t afford to move or do anything or go anywhere!
So what I want to know is why is reasonable (or cheap or affordable) housing not a much bigger priority. And why is college so ridiculously expensive? The idea that we have to take out loans and go into debt as a standard and acceptable practice is absurd, to me. Our whole country is rapidly becoming unaffordable! We’re getting priced out!!! Anyway, you guys are rad. Keep up the excellent work.
