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Comment by hanoz | Hacker News Reader

Homeowner property wealth is a ponzi scheme, enriching early adopters and money lenders at the expense of wealth generators - like teachers. Helping people get on at bottom, while it may help them outbid their compatriots, ultimately benefits the higher ups to the detriment of everybody else.

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Land is like any commodity of fixed supply. It is increasingly valuable as incomes and inequality grows. Until such a time that the supply/demand dynamic in cities is significantly altered, it will be valuable (whether it is properly priced is another matter altogether).

I guess I'd rather live in a place that has more distributed ownership of land, rather than less :)

So would I, but propping up the pyramid is decidedly not the way to achieve that. Land may be in fixed supply, but the supply of borrowed-into-existence money is not.

No land is plenty, even in markets like bay area, its the schools that are limited commodities. add to that various building restrictions and you have perfect recipe for the mess SV is in.

I recall around 2006 Elizabeth warren did a study for most markets in US and found for every single point deviation in school performance there was 2 point deviation in housing cost. translation people are mortgaging themselves to the hilt to get the best opportunities for their kids. commute is the second factor. essentially people extend their commute till they can afford the house/school.

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