Low-income Americans’ financial condition has gotten worse over the last year and more shoppers are going without basic necessities.
That’s the worrying message coming from Dollar General, which sells inexpensive items and is thus considered a bellwether for low and middle-income shoppers’ health. Dollar General’s “core customers” earn under $40,000 a year, and the chain has more than 20,000 stores, primarily in rural areas.
The de facto policies of US governments are to criminalize housing production, and legalize all immigration (well, until Trump on immigration).
Keep these twinned policies in place for 30-40 years...and we are reaping the results. And yes, poor people are hit hardest.
BTW, this problem of enforced housing scarcity is by far the biggest economic problem the US has.
Instead, the macroeconomics profession has been obsessed with inflation for decades. Sure, no one is for inflation, and inflation much above 3%-4% is problem. Yes, hyperinflations are bad.
Entire careers and economics departments are devoted to expounding on these truths over and over again.
Meanwhile, the elephant in the room---housing shortages---is a cause of much lower living standards and inflation (as measured) but is nearly an orphan child.
Some of this is explicable, after all, most of the housing shortages are caused by the cumulative effects of local housing restrictions (although as Erdmann points out, shutting off financing will also cramp supply). Tough to figure a solution. There are some, and macroeconomist should be talking tirelessly about possible solution. Not, "2.8% inflation, such a disaster."
Well, kudos to Erdmann for staying the course.
Erdmann may wish to post on living standards in Sapporo Japan and Los Angeles---after the typical consumer pays the rent.
Are US living standards as high as depicted?
At bottom, I believe in free markets and private enterprise. Whether people in the bottom half of the US income/wealth picture will believe in free enterprise/free markets anymore...well, wait and see.
I think what you'd find re: LA vs. Sapporo is that income inequality in LA is much worse than the standard measures imply because rent inflation is highly regressive.
ew York
CNN
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Low-income Americans’ financial condition has gotten worse over the last year and more shoppers are going without basic necessities.
That’s the worrying message coming from Dollar General, which sells inexpensive items and is thus considered a bellwether for low and middle-income shoppers’ health. Dollar General’s “core customers” earn under $40,000 a year, and the chain has more than 20,000 stores, primarily in rural areas.
---30---
Housing kills Dollar General?
The de facto policies of US governments are to criminalize housing production, and legalize all immigration (well, until Trump on immigration).
Keep these twinned policies in place for 30-40 years...and we are reaping the results. And yes, poor people are hit hardest.
BTW, this problem of enforced housing scarcity is by far the biggest economic problem the US has.
Instead, the macroeconomics profession has been obsessed with inflation for decades. Sure, no one is for inflation, and inflation much above 3%-4% is problem. Yes, hyperinflations are bad.
Entire careers and economics departments are devoted to expounding on these truths over and over again.
Meanwhile, the elephant in the room---housing shortages---is a cause of much lower living standards and inflation (as measured) but is nearly an orphan child.
Some of this is explicable, after all, most of the housing shortages are caused by the cumulative effects of local housing restrictions (although as Erdmann points out, shutting off financing will also cramp supply). Tough to figure a solution. There are some, and macroeconomist should be talking tirelessly about possible solution. Not, "2.8% inflation, such a disaster."
Well, kudos to Erdmann for staying the course.
Erdmann may wish to post on living standards in Sapporo Japan and Los Angeles---after the typical consumer pays the rent.
Are US living standards as high as depicted?
At bottom, I believe in free markets and private enterprise. Whether people in the bottom half of the US income/wealth picture will believe in free enterprise/free markets anymore...well, wait and see.
I think what you'd find re: LA vs. Sapporo is that income inequality in LA is much worse than the standard measures imply because rent inflation is highly regressive.
Last I checked, rent in Sapporo, 1-bed apartment, was around $345 a month.
https://findhokkaidoagents.com/sapporo/average-rent-prices#:~:text=We%20begin%20to%20get%20closer,a%20living%20room%20(2DK).
Same apartment in Los Angeles is $2,100 to $2,500 a month, depending on what source you use.
After paying rent, the average Sapporo resident is better off.
I agree with your assessment, that yes, higher rents are eating at lower-income residents even more so.
A presidential candidate who promises national rent control might have shot. A terrible idea, but you reap what you sow.
Thankful for the FHA loan I took out at age 24 to purchase my first house. I’d never have been able to save 20 percent.