I'll give up 100% of my silicon-based technology if in exchange I can afford to own some land. Easy choice.
You can't possibly be serious. Why aren't you already in Nebraska, then? There's plenty of land in the United States, most of it dirt cheap (being dirt). If you're not already from the country, you probably don't know why we all left the country. (Myself included.)
I'm not talking about any crappy dirt pile anywhere, I'm talking about owning my own place to live in a community where there are jobs and 1960s technology.
I could move to Nebraska but it is unlikely I could find a job that would afford me a residence.
This isn't about social norms, this is about whether the computer revolution has been worth it for the great majority of Americans.
A lot of Americans would kill right now for a job in steel or coal. And in 1960s America you didn't even need a high school diploma to own a house.
No, I'm pointing out that just owning land isn't enough. If you want to idealize the 1960's, no skin off my nose, although you're probably white and male. And you weren't alive in the 60's.
The only reason to put "owning land" on a pedestal is because you can grow food on it. There's no other reason to care about land ownership. But you don't want to be a caveman and actually grub in the dirt - no, you want to be an industrial worker, apparently. One without silicon technology - just steel and coal. Because that world was just fantastic.
I want land. I want to build my domain. I want to be master of my kingdom. I want to landscape it how I want. I want to pick which trees grow and which get cut. I want to slowly aquire/make the appliances I want. I want to build storage to house my wares. I want to have a machine shop. Honestly, for me, owning land gives me just another creative outlet. It's one more thing to 'Hack'. Do I line the driveway with sugar maples or cypress tress? Do I build a deck with a pergola, or screened in porch. And don't take this the wrong way, I mean actually build with my own hands. Dig holes with my own spades. mix my own mortar and lay my own foundation. A lot of the desire to own land stems from the (perhaps instinctual?) urge to build a HOME, not just a place to stay.
Well, OK, granted - I own my own home for exactly these reasons as well. But I bought my foreclosed home - bricks and mortar and 14 rooms and a carriage house - for $8000, in Richmond, Indiana, two years ago. I make my own freaking job online, which anybody here ought to be able to do.
The only reason to complain about the high cost of home ownership is if you think you must, must, must live right next to everybody else. Well, you can't. Not until you've gotten rich. But the rest of the planet is right here waiting for you to make it your own, and anybody who hangs out on this site should be more than capable of doing good deeds without hand-holding by all the cool kids.
In fact, if you want bricks and mortar in your cheap, cheap house, I heartily encourage you to adopt one of our antiques here in Richmond, Indiana. I'll help you pick one out and I'll even teach you how to mix mortar.
No one is worried about well educated, literate, healthy, young software engineers. And no one should be.
I don't post here about poverty for my own sake. Anyone here can handle themself.
I'm posting for all the people who are in trouble right now and facing homelessness because software engineers made their job obsolete and they have no money to re-educate, no job, and no government help. It's not right to just say these people deserve what they get and should find their own way out or die or become homeless. Our society is wealthy enough that no one should ever be without the basics.
Anyone who can afford $8000 is not in trouble. A huge portion of the population today cannot. (Also, most people don't have the tremendous unprecedented luxury of being able to make money online.)
If you honestly want to live in the 60s, you can pick up 1960s era farm equipment for the price of a song. The job is right there on your land. Commodity prices are strong right now and with no real machinery capital outlay, you'll have no trouble making a living as a farmer.
You can't possibly be serious. Why aren't you already in Nebraska, then? There's plenty of land in the United States, most of it dirt cheap (being dirt). If you're not already from the country, you probably don't know why we all left the country. (Myself included.)