Here in the US it looks a bit different, but we also feel fucked over. We both graduated with advanced degrees 10 years ago (medical doctor and PhD) and work full time, yet we’re renting indefinitely due to student loan debt, plus a tax burden that doesn’t take the loans into account. We pay $50k per year in student loans. The cost will be about $500,000 total when we’re done. Meanwhile, my retired boomer parents live in a big house in the suburbs, purchased on one income in the 1990s. 🙃
How does someone get so wise at 31? At some point the Ponzi scheme will fall apart as the contributors will not be able to keep up with the non-contributors.
One thing that frustrates me is that there is a much more reasonable criticism of Henry Hill's piece, that if there aren't enough houses in London then more houses should be built, rather than equilibrium being achieved by classist mass evictions. But your fellow passengers, wholly unaware of their own privilege, instead preferred to frame it in the selfish terms of "who's going to do the minimum-wage jobs which make my own life more convenient?"
Won't building more houses be sold at the current housing price?s Wouldn't you need to build a shit load of houses so their prices would come down? And prevent them from beconing just another set of socially subsidised housing?
I know you only mentioned it in passing here Louise, but I’d love to hear your full take on the AI singularity. Perhaps it ties into The Case for Having Kids; there’s a lot of “the end is nigh” narratives flying around that weigh in to some people’s decision (even if it’s as a cope) to not have children but the AI singularity one is I think the most convincing
No chuck, you can't have your cake and eat it too. We either dismantle the welfare state, which we pointed out would wind up exactly where it has when the idea was first floated, and build something that actually works; or we get killed when the building falls in on us.
There is some space in between the two extremes, e.g. there’s a strong argument for offering social housing to a small number of the working poor who are rooted in the local area. Rather than drive all the cockneys out to Kent and Essex (oh whoops....)
It’s a British politics joke - ‘Who Funds You?’ is an org that monitors think tank funding, and the phrase WHO FNUDS YOU is a conservative meme used at the expense of Lefties who try to damn all of their political opponents by linking them to dodgy money
As you mention it, whilst reading the article, and whenever I see Peckham Rye mentioned, it flashes across my mind that that this was where Blake was said to have seen "'A tree filled with angels, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars.'"
Here in the US it looks a bit different, but we also feel fucked over. We both graduated with advanced degrees 10 years ago (medical doctor and PhD) and work full time, yet we’re renting indefinitely due to student loan debt, plus a tax burden that doesn’t take the loans into account. We pay $50k per year in student loans. The cost will be about $500,000 total when we’re done. Meanwhile, my retired boomer parents live in a big house in the suburbs, purchased on one income in the 1990s. 🙃
SOUND.
Great piece, Louise. Very insightful and articulate - and terrific use of fuck!
How does someone get so wise at 31? At some point the Ponzi scheme will fall apart as the contributors will not be able to keep up with the non-contributors.
Indeed! At some point this Ponzi scheme must come crashing down
Hi Louise, please publish this more widely
Being a Sci-fi fan, love the Blade Runner reference. A brilliant piece that lays bare the misguided benevolence of the left.
One thing that frustrates me is that there is a much more reasonable criticism of Henry Hill's piece, that if there aren't enough houses in London then more houses should be built, rather than equilibrium being achieved by classist mass evictions. But your fellow passengers, wholly unaware of their own privilege, instead preferred to frame it in the selfish terms of "who's going to do the minimum-wage jobs which make my own life more convenient?"
Won't building more houses be sold at the current housing price?s Wouldn't you need to build a shit load of houses so their prices would come down? And prevent them from beconing just another set of socially subsidised housing?
You'd need to build a shitload of houses, but equally you'd need to evacuate a shitload of residents.
I know you only mentioned it in passing here Louise, but I’d love to hear your full take on the AI singularity. Perhaps it ties into The Case for Having Kids; there’s a lot of “the end is nigh” narratives flying around that weigh in to some people’s decision (even if it’s as a cope) to not have children but the AI singularity one is I think the most convincing
No chuck, you can't have your cake and eat it too. We either dismantle the welfare state, which we pointed out would wind up exactly where it has when the idea was first floated, and build something that actually works; or we get killed when the building falls in on us.
There is some space in between the two extremes, e.g. there’s a strong argument for offering social housing to a small number of the working poor who are rooted in the local area. Rather than drive all the cockneys out to Kent and Essex (oh whoops....)
Could someone explain to me the significance of spelling the title, 'FNUDS'? Feeling dumb but hoping it's just a British reference I don't get :)
It’s a British politics joke - ‘Who Funds You?’ is an org that monitors think tank funding, and the phrase WHO FNUDS YOU is a conservative meme used at the expense of Lefties who try to damn all of their political opponents by linking them to dodgy money
Hahah okay got it, thanks, Louise!
Straight to the like button for that Roy Batty meme!
And while I'm at it, this link ties Blade Runner to Blake and is on theme for this piece: http://thaoworra.blogspot.com/2009/11/nam-william-blake-orc-and-blade-runner.html?m=1
As you mention it, whilst reading the article, and whenever I see Peckham Rye mentioned, it flashes across my mind that that this was where Blake was said to have seen "'A tree filled with angels, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars.'"
Louise should do a whole episode on Blake. Fascinating figure in the history of the sexual revolution.