General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why are you so *angry*, Manny? [View all]Blanks
(4,835 posts)I'd still do it, if the local infrastructure was set up to accommodate bicycle and pedestrian traffic.
I don't agree with your assertion about 'people living within their means hurting the greater economy'. I think if people looked at how much more they pay for interest and insurance on the two most expensive items in their life (houses and cars) - the only sectors that would be damaged would be the banking and insurance industries (and car dealerships). That, and all these retirement Ponzi schemes.
Everyone would have enough left over for plenty of other consumer goods. Of course not many people can buy their home out of savings, but over the years my wife and I have bought houses for $3800 which we lived in for 2 years and then sold for $10,000 we bought a house for $12,000 which we lived in for 2 years and sold for what we paid for it. A house for $14,500 which we lived in for 3 years and sold for a little bit of a loss. We had another house that we bought for $3500 and one we paid $12,000 for.
Of course you can't buy real estate like that without some ability to work on the plumbing and electrical, but I've learned as I go. I think that's what's missing is that there isn't the 'repair mentality' that there used to be. If we had more people geared toward restoring and repairing - there would be more money in neighborhoods and small communities, but in just rambling now.