[Fasces]

I am talking about structural strength. You don't want to live somewhere that will suddenly collapse don't you

Do Chinese buildings collapse more frequently? Is there evidence of this, or just one of those "facts" all Hong Kongers and Taiwanese know about the mainland?

[QatzelOk]

There's a reason Bill Gates is buying farmland, and it isn't the fat profit margins from farming.

Is it because he's worried about not being able to buy food for his family?

Or is it so that he can starve people to death if they don't give him more power and money?

(please choose one)

[blackjack21]

Is it because he's worried about not being able to buy food for his family?

Or is it so that he can starve people to death if they don't give him more power and money?

(please choose one)

Other. He thinks hyperinflation is on the way.

[Patrickov]

Other. He thinks hyperinflation is on the way.

How is this related to him buying farmland? What do you think he is going to do with it?

(Don't worry, I am asking for an opinion)

[Patrickov]

Do Chinese buildings collapse more frequently? Is there evidence of this, or just one of those "facts" all Hong Kongers and Taiwanese know about the mainland?

Well, the fear comes from the Mainland so I think it's unfair to say it's "our" imagination.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tofu-dreg_project

"Good deeds over 3 years are hard to be known, but a day of wicked behaviour could spread all over the globe"
-- Li Shimin on Sima Yi

"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it"
-- Warren Buffett

[blackjack21]

How is this related to him buying farmland? What do you think he is going to do with it?

It's an inflation hedge, and Bill Gates is very, very credit worthy. So he will just lever up on hard assets.

[Patrickov]

It's an inflation hedge.

Sorry I only see this part useful to our discussion.

And I still don't understand. How is it an inflation hedge? Does that mean he is to sell it another time?

Are you suggesting that he's going to do nothing on those pieces of land?

[Unthinking Majority]

Housing prices in the West are inflated by extremely strict zoning laws and building codes. Housing could be solved in any major city in the US by building high-res neighborhoods. But people in Manhattan or Paris insist that housing must look like this:

Tear them down, build for the needs of the population and not just aesthetics, and increase the supply of low and middle income housing in city centers. Better for the environment, better for the people.

There are many, many condo high rises going up in many big western cities and they go for ridiculous sums.

Mass immigration also means these people head straight for the big and medium size cities and driving up demand. Foreign investment drives up the price further. Domestic speculation drives it up more. Low interest rates drives it up more. Dual income homes drive them up more. There's many factors.

Print money and give it to the middle class and they will go up more.

[wat0n]

Housing prices in the West are inflated by extremely strict zoning laws and building codes. Housing could be solved in any major city in the US by building high-res neighborhoods. But people in Manhattan or Paris insist that housing must look like this:





Tear them down, build for the needs of the population and not just aesthetics, and increase the supply of low and middle income housing in city centers. Better for the environment, better for the people.



I lived one metro stop from People's Square in Shanghai, smack dab in the city center, for $520 a month. Can't do that in any major urban center in Europe or North America.

Indeed, the current zoning politics in large Western cities is both harmful and absurd. But it seems to be made less relevant by the move towards working remotely.

[Rancid]

Housing prices have inflated from low interest rates. Housing prices have inflated from women working and the rise in 2-income families. You give the middle classes money it's going to go straight into bidding wars on housing prices. The middle class cannot raise their standard of living very much (without leaps in technological innovation), because they're all competing in bids for the same houses. It's a hamster wheel.

Some of the savings of baby boomers and old Gen Xers is going into down payments and sometimes mortgages to help their kids out in the bidding wars. So now you have 2 generations having their wealth sucked out from under them.

After COVID, housing prices will explode because a lot of this extra income people have in the stock markets and whatnot is going to go into housing.

MMTers who want to print money are insane. They want money to grow on trees because they're left-leaning idealists but reality isn't that simple, actions have consequences. Chaos theory. There's no magic pill to cure the global scarcity of resources that is and always has been our physical reality.

Give the money to poor people then!

[Fasces]

There are many, many condo high rises going up in many big western cities and they go for ridiculous sums.

Because of overreliance on a development model that favorites luxury housing over affordable. This is a solved problem, to be frank, and it's only over commitment to protecting profiteering preventing the West from implementing the solution.

[Fasces]

Well, the fear comes from the Mainland so I think it's unfair to say it's "our" imagination.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tofu-dreg_project

"Good deeds over 3 years are hard to be known, but a day of wicked behaviour could spread all over the globe"
-- Li Shimin on Sima Yi

"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it"
-- Warren Buffett

Even your article is referring to projects from 50 years ago. There is no issue with modern Chinese buildings. Turns out doing something for millions and millions of hours is a good way to get really really good at it.

[Unthinking Majority]

Because of overreliance on a development model that favorites luxury housing over affordable. This is a solved problem, to be frank, and it's only over commitment to protecting profiteering preventing the West from implementing the solution.

Not sure we agree on the exact dynamics, but we probably agree that housing developers and banks are in bed with the politicians to maximize their profits over the concerns of housing affordability of ordinary working people.

Many people in the West don't seem to understand that legal corruption is still corruption, and bribes are bribes by any other name.

[Rugoz]

Tear them down, build for the needs of the population and not just aesthetics, and increase the supply of low and middle income housing in city centers. Better for the environment, better for the people.

Have you gone completely mad?

[Fasces]

No, why? I'd love to see you justify a three story rowhouse in the middle of Manhattan, forcing low income workers to sacrifice literally hours of their existence every day on meaningless commuter routes.

@Rugoz

[Rugoz]

No, why? I'd love to see you justify a three story rowhouse in the middle of Manhattan, forcing low income workers to sacrifice literally hours of their existence every day on meaningless commuter routes.

@Rugoz

Manhattan is already full of high rises, but most European city centers are not, for good reason.

Besides, Shanghai seems to be among the most expensive places in the world to rent an apartement, and I doubt wages are equally high.

[Fasces]

Manhattan is already full of high rises

Which low income workers cannot afford to live in.

most European city centers are not, for good reason.

Which are?

Shanghai seems to be among the most expensive places in the world to rent an apartement

Yes, but there is widely available low rent housing in the city center.

[Rugoz]

Which low income workers cannot afford to live in.

Low income workers cannot afford a lot of things.

Which are?

Because they're beautiful as they are.

Yes, but there is widely available low rent housing in the city center.

An obvious contradiction. Without market prices you have to restrict access in other ways. Low-rent housing is quite common in European cities as well, but it's not easy to get in, even as a low-income worker.

[Fasces]

You wonder if I'm sane? If it is not easy to get in, there isn't enough. In any case, you clearly don't have good reasons - "aesthetics" is not a good reason to force hundreds of thousands of low-wage workers to waste hours of their day to get you your morning coffee.

[Rugoz]

You wonder if I'm sane? If it is not easy to get in, there isn't enough.

I was talking about Shanghai. If rents are so much higher on the free market, the access to the low-renting housing must be restricted by other means. They cannot be "widely available" as you claim.

In any case, you clearly don't have good reasons - "aesthetics" is not a good reason to force hundreds of thousands of low-wage workers to waste hours of their day to get you your morning coffee.

That presumes most people work in the city centers and not in the outskirts, and it presumes public transit is bad.

"aesthetics" and the preservation of historical buildings are good enough reasons for the people where I live. Construction projects have to be approved in referendums. Luckily we don't leave that decision to a bunch of bureaucrats with no sense of aesthetics or history.