In reaction to the article published June 30 with the headline “Marin median home price reaches 2-year high,” I decided to try to find out how house prices have changed compared to inflation. I used research published on AnytimeEstimates.com, an online real estate calculator.
The bottom line is that home prices nationwide have increased 1,608% since 1970, while inflation has increased 644%. In 2021 alone, home prices rose 20%, while inflation grew at a 7.5% pace. The average baby boomer in the 1980s paid 26% of what millennials had to pay in 2019. Since 2000, overall prices of goods have risen 67% but the median American household income increased by just 7% in total or 0.3% per year.
House prices reflect a free market for homes where anyone can get the highest selling price if there are buyers who can pay it. This is known as “seller’s inflation.” It is the same thing corporations do to keep profit margins. Accordingly, rents reflect the high cost of purchasing rental properties to make a profit. It would be very difficult trying to control capitalistic free markets.
There are people who can compete in the free housing market and those who cannot.
The socialist-humanist in me proposes that if we want to stop seeing tents in our city streets and people sleeping outside, we need to also have a “non-free market” for some. I optimistically think that we learned enough from the past that we can creatively develop the 21st century version of public housing.
Imagine a system, widely distributed over all communities (as well as all socio-economic levels), in which the monthly rent for a studio is 30% of the full-time monthly paycheck of the local minimum wage. A one-bedroom dwelling could be priced at twice that. Could the free housing market help finance the other one?
— John Bischoff, San Rafael
Marin Municipal Water District directors need to stop with the studies and make some decisions. Enlarging our reservoirs to provide more storage makes sense.
I moved here in 1983 and, not too many years later, the reservoirs were dug out to remove eroded soil. Now, decades later, I think that should be the first move again. Addressing the pumping system to make the water more accessible is also a sound plan. I believe one of the many studies MMWD has commissioned recommended raising the sides of some reservoirs — that’s sensible too.
Basically, we need to store more water from the sky. After all, rainwater is free (once the expansion infrastructure is completed). Desalination plants are very expensive to build and operate. They should be a last resort. The big plant in San Diego County took about 15 years and 14 lawsuits to come online. I would expect Marin’s timeline to be much longer in today’s political climate.
Meanwhile, my MMWD bill has approximately doubled and not enough is happening to increase water storage. I have issues with how Director Larry Russell directs money to be spent. His seat is up for election in November. I hope there will be challengers.
— Diane Lynch, Tiburon
In many cultures, the elders are seen as wise and there is little judgment about their physical and mental manifestations of aging. In recent years, we have made progress on the themes of racism, feminism and homophobia. When it comes to ageism, it is unfortunately a very different story.
Many of my liberal friends, all of whom are passionate about anti-racism and anti-sexism, lack understanding and compassion when it comes to aging.
In the recent presidential debate, Republicans and Democrats rushed to the conclusion that President Joe Biden is unfit to be commander in chief. When former President Ronald Reagan was showing signs of slowing down and had memory lapses while still in office, I don’t recall people declaring that he should resign.
Cognition is not a black-and-white issue. Stress and fatigue can impact alertness and speech. While I am not trying to make excuses for a poor performance, someone like Biden, who is uncomfortable with interactions that involve verbal attacks, could easily exhibit cognitive symptoms in a combative situation.
There is another aspect of cognition that rarely gets discussed. Former President Donald Trump, who was alert and articulate in the debate, shows serious signs of delusional thinking. How serious is this for a commander in chief?
— Dennis Portnoy, Greenbrae
