Comment by MereInterest | Hacker News Reader

Comment by MereInterest | Hacker News Reader

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I can't tell if you're being facetious or not, because this reads like the standard "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" arguments. I'll answer the questions on the assumption that you're being straightforward, and you can tell me if the joke went over my head.

> Killing housing values will take money away from hundreds of thousands of people who worked hard for what they have.

Making housing more affordable will allow hundreds of thousands of hard-working people to own their own homes, rather than being at the mercy of a rental market that can kick them out on short notice. For context, I consider significant increases of rent to be equivalent to kicking somebody out, and short notice to be anything less than half a year, as moving is a stressful and time-consuming prospect.

> Why can’t we champion hard work?

That's exactly why the housing market needs a correction. Because currently, hard work is not sufficient to get into the housing market.

> Why should anyone get anything for free?

To answer the question at face value, because we are all human, and every human deserves to have their basic needs for food, shelter, clothing, and health-care met. To answer the question in context, that's why propping up the housing market to the benefit of real-estate speculators and homeowners need to stop, because that is given a benefit for free.

I say these as somebody who is in a similar position, having recently purchased a house to live in. What I got out of it is a place to live that I can modify and improve as I want. It isn't an investment opportunity, it's a place to live.

I am being straight forward, I understand the logic behind your thinking but I cannot support it personally.

> That's exactly why the housing market needs a correction. Because currently, hard work is not sufficient to get into the housing market.

Work smarter not harder. You were able to work smart and afford a home. Many people have. Not all people are equal, your ability to navigate life and the world has a direct input on your quality of life.

Pardon my language, but I was damn lucky. Not "lucky" meaning that I bought a lottery ticket, speculated on stocks, or any other form of gambling, but that many things outside of my control aligned such that my hard work corresponded to results.

(Also, my apologies for this becoming a longer reply than I had planned. I have a cat sitting on my lap, and cannot move.)

* Stable home life, with active teaching from two educated parents. At no point growing up did I need to expend effort worrying about what I would eat, or where I would sleep. Instead, I could focus on education and hobbies.

* No financial need for a job during secondary education. My family's finances were stable enough that I didn't need to expend effort on a job. Instead, I could focus on advanced courses.

* Didn't need to take on college loans. One of my parents is a professor, and so I had free tuition at their university. As a result, I could focus more on coursework during the school year, and STEM research programs during the summer.

* Receiving a stipend while working on my terminal degree. This is typically only the case in STEM fields. I was lucky that my interest and talents led me to a more in-demand field.

* Reasonable health insurance at all points of my life. From being covered through my parents' insurance (thanks Obama), to being covered through graduate student insurance (thanks to the student union), to being covered through my employers (thanks to being in a field where this is typical). I haven't had any major medical expenses, but I've had the safety net of having reasonable periodic care.

* Interest in an industry that built desirable skills. My PhD ended up requiring me to build custom analysis software to perform large amounts of data analysis, which built skills that have been tremendously useful and in-demand. But I couldn't have predicted either the skills required or their broad applicability when I started on that path. Back in high school, I just knew which subjects I enjoyed more and focused on getting even better at them.

I'm not saying that you and I haven't worked hard. It isn't that we didn't make plans, didn't strive toward those plans. Where I was damn lucky was in circumstances outside my control, allowing that hard work to translate into results.

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