zlacker

> They could be billionaires next door for all I care and that doesn't harm me or anyone else in the city.

Unless, of course, they buy up a bunch of properties, making it unaffordable for the average income folk to own a home on a reasonable timescale.

When is HN going to learn that simplistic views like "rising tide lifts all boats" and "iTs NoT a ZeRO SuM GAme" are not helpful at all and blatantly false in most cases.?

>>antist+(OP)
If you can't afford your own home, that is a living standards problem. It can be improved while still having rising inequality. Indeed, the focus on inequality is a distraction from the large number of relatively normal people who own houses and want policies that push the price up.

Which is a problem, but the problem isn't the inequality. The problem is stupid housing policies that overemphasise debt and restrict construction.

> ... "rising tide lifts all boats" and "iTs NoT a ZeRO SuM GAme" ...

Using erratic camel case does not make an argument. It is obviously not a zero sum game or we'd all have Roman Empire era living standards.

>>roenxi+13
I don’t see an answer to the example. How can less restrict construction policy solve the problem that a minority is able to buy all real estates? Unequally is a problem as the word says since power is distributed unequally.

>>obrhof+Lt2
For the same reason that people can afford food even though a minority is able to buy all the food.Just because a minority can buy something doesn't mean they will. If it gets easy enough to build more housing then it won't make sense to buy houses as an investment; the threat of oversupply would be too great.

FWIW, unrelated to this topic, I think we should adopt Georgist tax policies. That has nothing to do with inequality and it would resolve the situation of wealthy people buying property neatly.

>>roenxi+rK2
Thats a really bad comparison since food is a consumable and most time not a investment since its expires (with exceptions like whisky).

Housing is a good example since our planet has a natural limit which can't be worked around. Otherwise please tell me why Bill Gates owns about 270,000 acres of farmland. There is a famous quote about it. “Buy land—they aren’t making it anymore.”

If you got spare money you are pressured to invest it, since the inflation will reduce the value. But not everyone is able. Thats where your financial gains are coming through you investments. By people who are not able to invest themself and the cake is getting smaller every year.