Re: The Decline of the Middle Class


"Mason A. Clark" <masoncERASETHIS@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:5e0ta1hnrk6hi8ccs9h00svvf7o4l3js4k@xxxxxxxxxx
> On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 20:58:13 -0400, "Dan in Philly" <djr8@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> >"Jim Blair" <jeb@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> >
> >> Some complain that people now "can't afford to buy a house". But the
> >> fraction that now does own or is buying a house is at its historic all
> >> time
> >> high.
> >
> >There's often stories about housing in the San Francisco Bay Area, how
> >hardly anyone can afford a home, etc. But last time I was there I drove
from
> >the bay area to the Sierras, and there is a whole lot a building going on
in
> >the Central Valley (a couple hours from SF). Tracy, Manteca, Oakdale:
those
> >used to be tiny hick towns, now they're sprawling communities. Thanks to
> >cheap homes.
> >
> >Dan in Philly
>
> I'm here. You wanna commute two hours each way? Good. You can
> work here in Silicon Valley and live in Patterson. My secretary and
> husband tried it. Then they moved into a shared mobile home here
> because the commute was impossible. Article in the San Jose paper
> the other day about guys *flying* into the valley once a week so they
> could live elsewhere.

Hi Mason,

I thought that BART was supposed to make it practical to commmute in the San
Francicso area. What happened?

There was talk here of building a housing development next to a small
airport in Middleton WI for people who owned a small plane and wanted to
commute to a job in downtown Chicago. They could land in Megs field.

But that was dropped, in part because anyone who could afford an airplane
could also afford to live in downtown Chicago.

>
> Imagine a "worker" -- non-union of course (it's 2005) -- buying a
> $500,000 house here. Good imagination or good bankruptcy.

SOMEBODY must be buying those houses, or else why would they be building
more of them? Even in 1950 the factory workers lived in smaller houses than
the rich, and in the less desriable parts of town.

>
> Wanna buy my house? I'll move to the Central Valley -- but I don't
> commute any more.
>
> Mason c
> >
>

I'm glad that I can ride a bicycle to work.



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