It's just getting too expensive in Los Angeles (San Diego, Merced: low income, section 8)

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by FlorianD

Sorry, but that is completely nonsense. Of course it's important that the Americans think that the cost of living is low compared to Europe. So they think that they are still well of with those starvation wages. Of course the Economist will state, that the U.S. is a cheap country to live in. It's always praised the predatory capitalism. The stupid BigMac index is also an "invention" from the Economist. It's also very stupid to compare the rents in Paris with those in New York. New York is very large city, but Paris is very small. In Paris the rich people live in Paris itself. In New York, the rich people live often in the suburbs. Food at french grocery stores is significant cheaper than in American grocery stores.

A basket of food items at a grocery store in Germany for €10 would cost about $17 at Walmart in Ohio.

Fees for tv, phone, internet or cell phone plans are about 2.5 times more expensive in the U.S. than in Germany.

Building material for €100 at a German DIY store would cost about $200 at Home Depot in the U.S.

Rents for apartments in the U.S. are nearly double the rents in Germany. The rents in Munich, the most expensive city in Germany, are nearly half the rents in Los Angeles.

This forum is full of threads, where persons complain, that they are unable to make end meets, and with median incomes in average regions. There are some exceptions, but most prices, at least those for domestic made products in the U.S. are so completely overpriced.

It seems the most expensive European city is probably London, at least from what i've heard.

One big advantage of large european cities is their public transit, many don't need to own cars.
Car ownership really adds up.

In NYC rich people live in the suburbs? Not sure how accurate this is . There are tons of rich people rich in the manhattan and the other boroughs.

Interesting about tv,phone,cell being 2.5 times more expensive in U.S

I was surprised when I looked at apartments in Germany...I didn't look at Munich but Berlin.

In Europe it seems that they actually do try to keep the cost of things down for people, while in the U.S there is a lot of talk about it ...but doesn't happen in reality.

Of course many could view Europe as being more socialist versus the U.S too.

When one looks at the services especially healthcare in Europe and other things to help normal people and the amount of vacation time,etc.

In Germany it looks like average vacation time is 34 days, 3rd highest in the world . This is despite the fact that their economy is very strong.

On holiday: Countries with the most vacation days

"The United States is the only developed country in the world without a single legally required paid vacation day or holiday. By law, every country in the European Union has at least four work weeks of paid vacation."

I think many people in the U.S would be pretty shocked that EVERYONE in the EU has a MINIMUM of 4 weeks vacation.

EVEN fast food workers.

I'm all for capitalism and free enterprise and I think that's something that makes America great..but it's obvious that the ones that benefit are the business owners rather than the ones working in the business especially for minimum wage.

It seems to me someone that is going to be in a low wage career and doesn't have greater ambitions is much better off in Europe versus America.

[909er]

Nobody cares about Europe. And their socialism is bankrupting them.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by jm1982

City politicians including the Mayor is always chanting about "the importance of affordable housing" but it's just that ...Talk.

Garcetti announces goals - but no details - on ending LA's housing crisis | 89.3 KPCC
Funny he has a GOAL but no DETAILS!
Sure the city can force developers to sell units below market or force apartment owners to rent below market but that's just going to be a tiny tiny drop in the bucket.

They are at least smart enough to realize people are frustrated housing is so expensive, but what are they going to tell them?
They obviously won't recommend moving to a cheaper city..

They are going to promise they are "going to do all they can to make housing affordable for working Angelenos" blah blah blah

At the Presidential level...I read that Hillary Clinton is going to focus her campaign on raising Middle Class wages
Not sure how shes' going to do that..and didn't Obama and maybe even Bush say their priority was the same thing too?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/12/us...nday.html?_r=0

Looks like she's also planning to go after Uber and other companies in the sharing economy..

Hillary Clinton Plans To Cite Uber’s Contractor Economy For Dampening Wages | TechCrunch

To me this is kind of crazy..Many people are driving for Uber because they can't find another job somewhere else that pays as much...Many people also work regular full time jobs and do Uber part time on the side..

I think this attack on the sharing economy is misguided personally.

Without Uber or similar services where would these people be making $20 an hour+ or whatever they end up making?

Same thing up here. Any time a new densepack development goes in, there are maybe a couple or three below market units, the rest are all geared toward the high rent crowd (or in the case of places you buy, the high cash flow crowd).

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by jm1982

Yeah of course it will take a while , and the tourist places will always be more expensive because they have higher rents and know they can charge more to tourist versus locals.

If you look at apartment prices in Paris...they really don't look that crazy.

Paris Logement à louer - craigslist

I think that many Americans think they could never afford to live in Paris because they associate it with luxury and high expense, designer labels ,etc.

But a lot of these places look cheaper than L.A ... euro looks to be 1.10 dollar now so you'd have to add 10%

Paris Logement à louer - craigslist

Berlin,Germany looks really cheap to rent apartments.

Berlin flats/housing for rent - craigslist

It looks like it's not hard to find something under 500 Euros to rent...which is much cheaper than L.A
Pretty amazing really for a world class city.

Europe has many countries in it though and they will vary in price of course.

I maxed out on a legal stay in Paris several years ago (was working remotely from there although much of the work involved stuff going on in Europe). There are lots of short term apartments at prices well within Bay Area and LA norms.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by FlorianD

Sorry, but that is completely nonsense. Of course it's important that the Americans think that the cost of living is low compared to Europe. So they think that they are still well of with those starvation wages. Of course the Economist will state, that the U.S. is a cheap country to live in. It's always praised the predatory capitalism. The stupid BigMac index is also an "invention" from the Economist. It's also very stupid to compare the rents in Paris with those in New York. New York is very large city, but Paris is very small. In Paris the rich people live in Paris itself. In New York, the rich people live often in the suburbs. Food at french grocery stores is significant cheaper than in American grocery stores.

A basket of food items at a grocery store in Germany for €10 would cost about $17 at Walmart in Ohio.

Fees for tv, phone, internet or cell phone plans are about 2.5 times more expensive in the U.S. than in Germany.

Building material for €100 at a German DIY store would cost about $200 at Home Depot in the U.S.

Rents for apartments in the U.S. are nearly double the rents in Germany. The rents in Munich, the most expensive city in Germany, are nearly half the rents in Los Angeles.

This forum is full of threads, where persons complain, that they are unable to make end meets, and with median incomes in average regions. There are some exceptions, but most prices, at least those for domestic made products in the U.S. are so completely overpriced.

This. And it sickens me when I see all these 20somethings in our barrios with phones nicer than mine. Technically they cannot afford them but have been convinced they are must have items. Meanwhile the carriers (e.g. criminals) laugh all the way to the bank.

Meanwhile over in Europe I can get plans that are out of this world for really cheap.

Americans are so naive about this. No one questions it, so the beat goes on.

[jm1982]

I heard that Paris is now cracking down on short term rentals

Paris Confronts Airbnb

I guess they are saying that it negatively affects residents ...looks like other countries are planning to do the same thing.

Personally I think people should be able to do what they want with their properties, and this kind of regulate of private property is not a good thing.

Same thing with rent control in L.A - Regulating how much someone that OWNS the property can charge!..its kind of crazy if you think about it.
Since L.A has had it for a long time people don't even think about it.

Funny that the places with the strongest rent control are also the most expensive; LA,SF,NYC

[znlwovuhrjw]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

This. And it sickens me when I see all these 20somethings in our barrios with phones nicer than mine. Technically they cannot afford them but have been convinced they are must have items. Meanwhile the carriers (e.g. criminals) laugh all the way to the bank.

Meanwhile over in Europe I can get plans that are out of this world for really cheap.

Americans are so naive about this. No one questions it, so the beat goes on.

And yet you fail to mention the extremely high income taxes in all of Europe and the immigration surplus that has overwhelmed the number of available jobs.

[jm1982]

That is a good point, many european countries have really high unemployment. I've heard their social programs are more generous than the U.S though which is why people are able to be unemployed and still survive.

Italy is at 13% , In France its 10.2 percent but that's nothing compared to Spain at 26.3 percent..

This is the list if anyone is interested to look at the different rates
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...mployment_rate

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by kingdomkz

And yet you fail to mention the extremely high income taxes in all of Europe and the immigration surplus that has overwhelmed the number of available jobs.

That has nothing to do with rates charged for phone, internet, cable. Fact is, we're getting ripped off but most Americans are not aware of it, having never experienced anything different.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by PDF

So OP, why haven't you left LA?

We'll never get an answer to that question. (Just more threads on how bad it is here.)