OPEC, Petrodollars, and the 1980s Homeless Crisis (2017)
...What assets do, if those holding them have any say in the matter, is appreciate. After all, why not? You've already got the thing, all you need is for it to increase in value. One classic mechanism for which is to constrain the supply. And there are lots of ways to do that with housing: big lots, big houses, construction and zoning laws, lousy infrastructure (crime, schools, transportation). So that the limited supply that is attractive keeps getting bid up. That's one of the big changes. And it was happening like gangbusters in the 1970s and 1980s especially, and since.
At the same time, a bunch of the upward-mobility-escalator stuff starts disappearing. Especially factory jobs, that let high-school (or less!) educated people, and especially males, earn a solid, high-income, and really fucking reliable income....
A thinking-out-loud piece I'd written back on G+ (hence the IA link), on how homelessness kicked off bigtimes in the US in the late 1970s / early 1980s, perhaps as housing became financialised due to A Combination Of Many Things.
Stumbled across this looking for other things (as one does) and thought it might be of interest to others.
HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43294222
