Inflation Tweet

This twitter thread from Nicole Thomas-Kennedy (NTK) is receiving many replies underscoring her message.

-20 years ago, working as a server, I lived in a corner 1 bdrm apt downtown with amazing water views for $700/month. 

-A similar apt now $3,600/month, more than 5x as much. 

-As a lawyer at age 47 I am unable to afford living in the apartment I did at age 27 while waiting tables

There are other differences of course. 

I know how a small family (& we couldn't fit in a one bedroom anyway.) 

I mostly practice public interest law which is not the best paying. 

I also have six figures in student loans, but back then I had no debt at all.

Despite these differences, I still make significantly more money now than I did back then, but because of the astronomical cost of housing I  have a very similar standard of living.

I would also add medical and childcare along with housing into running in place mix. After those three things I am mostly back to where I started in 2002. 

And I almost forgot student loan payments are set to start up again. Good thing I went to school.

Also also - my partner is a therapist. It's not like I am carrying these financial burdens (or the student loan debt) alone. I cannot imagine what it's like for single parents. I really and truly do not get how they are doing it.

The most remarkably sad thing about the comments is how it’s the same or similar pretty much everywhere in North America- from Nova Scotia to Tampa, Seattle to San Diego. 

Ppl need to stop saying “move” -there’s barely anywhere to move to.

Replies include these...

• Long story short. If your family didn’t own a home before 2008 there is a very slim chance that you will ever own a home. The only way to get a home now is to be given one by your family. And people say this generation doesn’t want to work. Work for what? 
• I literally bought a home at 23 in 2018. The secret is not having student loan debt. I went to trade school and paid it off in a year.
• The real secret is being in buffalo. Houses are cheaper in areas people don’t typically want to live. We can say this is actually a solution and have the population disperse more, but it’s hard for people to move and it’s an advantage to people that already live in these areas.
• 20 years ago, I rented a carriage house for 350 a month. I paid for it with a bartender position while in school. I saw a similar place for rent the other day for 3200 a month. I have a PhD ans couldn't afford that now. It's out of control
• What strikes me about that story is that an ordinary person in 2022 can't afford to live where a horse lived and a carriage was parked 100 years ago!
• (Before anyone pounces: I know it can be economically justified, I just find it an interesting observation)
• I was forced to sell my house at the end of GW's recession, 2008, got laid off, couldn't find work, let alone a FT job. Took 4 yrs to find a PT job that paid only $11 an hr. I did side freelance writing jobs, but minimal money. I can't afford today, to buy the house I once owned.
• My dad is 73, bought his first home when he was 20 for 10k, he still lives there and it’s now worth over $650k I know it’s 50 years but still it’s right next to a bloody busy train line lol
• 20 years ago I bought my first house. A 1/2 duplex, with 3 bedrooms, a small yard. It was "below my means" but costly. Now that same house cost 6x as much. If I started now I could not afford that house. If I started now I could afford a crummy 1 bedroom apartment. Same job.
• My apartment complex had an almost 60% increase this year alone, rents went from $1200 to $1900 for 600 sq feet 30 minutes outside of Tampa in Odessa. In 2019, this area was renting for $1060 max per month.
• My kid got a promotion to middle management, making over twice what she was hourly. And she's living with us because a 1 bedroom apartment in a shit part of town is over $1700.
• The kicker: she makes more than what the two of us combined made as teachers before we retired.
• My friend won the lottery in the early 2000's. He sold his house and moved to a beautiful house in France. A few years later he attempted to move back. He had been priced out of the market. HE HAD WON THE LOTTERY and still was priced out.

Nicole Thomas-Kennedy ran for election for Seattle City Attorney in Washington. She lost in the general election on November 2, 2021. Her professional experience includes working as a managing attorney at NTK Law LLC. She earned a degree from the University of Washington in 2012 and a J.D. from Seattle University in 2016. Thomas-Kennedy has been affiliated with the National Lawyers Guild.  LINK