You have heard that the ten richest of the 750+ US billionaires enjoyed a gigantic pandemic windfall that raised their fortunes by at least 70%. How about that for a return on your investment! In this country it is no crime to exploit your advantages to get as super-rich as you can, even if it brings an American authoritarian to power based on calculated misinformation you help to proliferate, or casts people out into the streets to live dangerous, shortened lives in makeshift homes. Why should real estate billionaires not have the same chance to profit from misery that tech billionaires enjoyed?

That’s what America is all about, the right of winners to win, in a totally Free Market, no matter how many millions of losers might quibble and commit mumbling class warfare against them, as each of those losers rightfully and legally lose a safe place to live. Don’t let anybody tell you anything else, loser.

As this recent Washington Post article points out (and the graph above, from the article, shows) average rents across the nation have gone up 14% over the second half of 2021.

Average rents rose 14 percent last year, to $1,877 a month, with cities like Austin, New York and Miami notching increases of as much as 40 percent, according to real estate firm Redfin. And Americans expect rents will continue to rise — by about 10 percent this year — according to a report released this month by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. At the same time, many local rent freezes and eviction moratoriums have already expired. . .

Let’s hit the old calculator, see how many hours a $15/hr minimum wage worker has to work to pay an average rent of $1,877. 125.13 hours. Shoot, that’s barely three full forty hour work weeks… and a half day shift.

The pandemic has exacerbated inequalities in many parts of life, and housing is no different. Homeowners benefited from rock-bottom interest rates and surging home prices, while renters have faced surging costs with little reprieve. And unlike markups in other categories — such as food or gas, where prices can waver in both directions — economists say annual leases and long-term mortgages make it unlikely that housing costs will come back down quickly once they rise.

And, an added benefit of wildly increasing residential rents, for opponents of social change and the right to live in a home instead of on the street, is that skyrocketing rents fuel inflation. Inflation makes Biden look weak, even as the overall economy has exceeded all recovery expectations, even as most of his larger, ongoing economic stimulus plans have been filibustered. So, by all means, raise the rents, fuel inflation, make Biden a one term LOSER. It’s win-win, for the winners, just another loss for the vast population of powerless American losers. USA! USA!!!