• yeah, wages, housing inventory, housing prices compared to wages, public sector spending on social programs, stable employment, and consumer good inflation were all different back then too. one might say the fundamental material conditions of those earlier times were less bleak for workers.

    which is why boomers all bought houses even at 7%.

    borrowing 2-3x your salary at 7% is way different than borrowing 8-10x at 7%.

    the rapid spike in interest rates is completely kneecapping already struggling people, because taking on debt hurts much worse in a credit crunch.