Real Estate And Real Wages

Warning this article is from a middle to lower class perspective. Please do not take offense if you do not agree!

I am constantly frustrated by the price of houses especially where I live. If you want something decent in a decent neighborhood be prepared to spend $225,000+ easy. Most homes in decent areas sell for $300K+. What I would like to know is who can afford all of these homes on top of their Audi and Lexus cars with three kids? I know wages aren't increasing a smudge but everything else around us is. The housing bubble has finally burst but it is only affecting the lower end of the housing market. These overpriced homes outside the ARM fiasco are still increasing in price. So with everything increasing in price how do people continue to afford these things when wages never increase? When will we hit the point when house prices have gone too far and people truly can't afford houses anymore? Either the bubble is just starting and we have a long way ahead of us or it is only going to affect the lower end of the market. Either way it seems a long way off before those in the middle class actually living within their means will be able to afford a slice of the pie.

Thats just the thing though. Living within your means seems to be a rarity these days. However to me stepping over that line into extreme debt just to get the nice car or the nice house scares the crap out of me. I look at it in a similar fashion as having handcuffs put on you. With the nice car and the nice house comes servitude. You have to pay off that debt and still support your family so you stick with the job you may not like. You put up with the crap and your job knows it so they will just pile it on more. To me it seems that corporations know and take advantage of people who are stuck. This is why wages are not increasing.

Because we exist in a debt fueled society there is no need to increase the pay for employees because everyone has to work now and can't sit on the line to wait for something better. You no longer sell yourself to companies and companies no longer sell themselves to you because you are forced to work. A wage slave if you will. If you are a wage slave then all that is needed is to pay you enough to keep you stuck where you are at thus providing a lifetime of continual servitude for mediocre pay. Once you get near retirement chasing the carrot on a stick that is your pension out the door you go and in with the college grad with $60K in debt! Let the next wave begin.

Who made you want the damn Lexus anyway? Why do you want it? Perhaps if we weren't so entrenched in debt things would be a bit brighter. Until then we are an army of 9-5 zombies. Working to continue working. Living is what you do for 14 out of 365 days if you can afford it. However I do have to say that new Lexus IS-F is pretty nice!