Nobody Can Afford a Stick House With Acreage

That is because real estate outfits back in the 1970s decided to exploit women's greater workforce participation by jacking up home prices to the point where it is completely unaffordable for most TWO-INCOME households.

It was all about lining these moguls' pockets, and not about the good of individuals, families, and communities.

Homeownership is now at the lowest rate it has been since 1967--48 YEARS.

Owning a home, meaning a stick house on a lot or acreage, has always been the cornerstone of the American Dream. It used to be one person could afford a house, whether or not that person was married and had a family, and if one had a spouse, that spouse could stay home with the kids. Single people could actually buy a house back then if they so desired, at least if they were men. Women still had a hell of a hard time back then getting credit.

But when women entered the labor force in far larger numbers in the 1970s, all of that changed. Real estate developers found a way to make a killing by jacking those housing costs up, because, after all, there were now TWO income earners, and they could "afford" to pay more. This effectively shut single people out of the housing market unless they bought condos or manufactured housing, neither of which is as desirable as a stick house on a plot of land. And because real estate ownership is the primary avenue of a financing a decent retirement, single people basically have to work until they die, especially if they are women.

And then, when unions were gutted and offshoring millions of jobs were encouraged by ruinous trade agreements passed by a corrupt Congress and White House, housing became more out of whack in price, but for the sliver of the top one percent, that was okay. All they had to do was buy out the people who could no longer afford to keep their homes and turn those places into rentals.

Can't afford rentals? Well, there are always camper trailers, tiny houses, tents along the river, and cardboard "homes" you can construct yourself. Or you can share a one-bedroom apartment with eight or ten other people, just like they do in the third world.

The third worldization of America is all but official.