The MSM and people in general have been in a tizzy over gas prices and house prices. They're mad as hell and aren't going to take it any more because gas is $3.70 a gallon. It used to be $1.70 a decade ago and damn it, that's just not fair. For a typical driver who drives 15,000 miles a year with a car that gets 20 MPG it's an extra $1500 a year. Outrageous!
But then the very same people are freaking out about the prices of homes falling. Somehow the idea that a 3 bedroom shitbox in the middle of nowhere should cost $370,000 became the norm. The same house that used to cost $170,000 a decade ago that is. So the very same people who complain about an extra $1500 a year in gas, think nothing of paying an extra $15.168. That is the difference paid in mortgage payments at 6.5% for a $170K house vs. a $370K house.
Nobody ever makes this comparison. Yet almost unanimously the media cheered the outrageous housing bubble pricing that made millions of people destitute, while lamenting the gas price bubble which is at worst making people cut back on some driving and eating out. That's because the vast majority of people, and especially those in the media don't know how to think critically anymore.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Good bubble, bad bubble
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I'd actually say it goes further than the MSM unable to think critically...this goes to a fundamental diminishing of the American character.
To wit, there's no money in buying gas. Here's the skinny:
You, me, my GF, EVERYone buys gas. You don't have a choice; gotta go to work, grocery store, etc. So gas is a outright necessity.
But (even more) so is shelter; you really, really need a fixed place to live. However, one can (and many did) "flip" said real estate for a profit.
IOW, the MSM plays along with the current paradigm of American Wealth: that is, you can get something for nothing (the Las Vegas syndrome) by simply announcing something is worth what has been declared.
The problem with this paradigm should be (here's where the lack of critical thinking skills come into play) obvious: it's a classic "musical chairs" game, wherein there will always be one player in the game that loses.
We call them "taxpayers"...
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