• Sanctus@anarchist.nexus
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    8 days ago

    - Make car dependant infrastructure for every single city or town
    - Refuse to innovate, build only “luxury” models
    - ???
    - Profit

    • riskiedingo@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Similarly with housing. Why make cheap starter homes when you can make so much more with “Luxury” homes and condos.

      • worhui@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        It cost nearly the same to make a luxury unit as a stripped down one. Most of the cost is labor. Spend 5 k in fancier materials and get 50k for the unit.

      • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        7 days ago

        Similar to literally every market that involves ‘things’, as we transition from failing liberal capitalism to horrifying technofascist neofeudalism (aka cyberpunk dystopia).

        The next step is… well they won’t lower the luxury prices, everything becomes renting, loaning, etc, even further and harder… untill you end up with bundled subscription plans / leases on a diverse array of physical things, as we currently have with bundles of online services.

        We literally going to transition to a subscription based model for just being alive.

        … unless enough people actually do something effrctive about it.

        Other wise, the K shaped economy becomes a === shaped economy. You’re either on top, or you’re not, and you’re basically treated as a kind of cattle; raised, milked, then expended whenever it is most profitable to do so.

        • IamSparticles@lemmy.zip
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          4 days ago

          We literally going to transition to a subscription based model for just being alive.

          Isn’t that just health insurance?

          • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            4 days ago

            Yes, that’s true, but I meant more like uh…

            The Disney+ life supscription is partnered with Starbucks, which is also partnered with Amazon Whole Foods and Trader Joes, and Verizon, and Subaru and GM.

            The Netflix life supscription is partnered with Costco, Cox, and McDonalds, Chevy and Toyota.

            The HBO Max life supscription is partnered with Walmart, ATT, Honda and Ford.

            And then also some kind of alliance type structure with various regional or national landlords/land developers.

            Like, uh, roughly the idea of a Japanese Keiretsu, or a Korean Chaebol, but kind of inverted, applied much more thoroughly to the consumer side, than to the finance/internal corporate structures.

            So yeah, you just pick one of those three life subscription plans, they all have various tiers, etc, and you… well you rent or lease or finance basically everything.

            • IamSparticles@lemmy.zip
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              4 days ago

              I gotcha. Hell, we’ve been there before. The company towns essentially owned every aspect of the lives of the people that lived there.

      • Maeve@kbin.earth
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        7 days ago

        There’s a difference between “cheap” and “inexpensive.” Mcmansions are cheap.

      • SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        People wanted those mcmansions and rebuilds jack up prices. Now those massive suburban mcmansions are getting old in tooth and no one wants to buy them. They are realizing they need to build smaller homes finally. We’ll probably see more townhomes with shared structures (walls/roofs).

        • hark@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          Before they were building mcmansions and charging a fortune for them. Now they’re building sardine cans and charging a fortune for them. Much better.

        • almost1337@lemmy.zip
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          7 days ago

          I follow some home inspectors who post videos from their new home inspections, and holy crap the things they find are ridiculous. Like, construction companies should lose their licenses bad.

          • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
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            7 days ago

            I visit some partially built homes from time to time, and recently saw one just after it had been inspected. On one wall, on the insulation, the inspector had scrawled STUD? In red felt.

            The stud was completely missing from the wall. It was just an empty frame filled with insulation. You’d think someone would have noticed earlier during construction, but obviously the actual contractor had just let the day labor go to town and never bothered to review their work before inspection.

            • Maeve@kbin.earth
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              7 days ago

              A lot of times, it’s the contractor cutting corners and hoping no one notices.

        • quoll@lemmy.sdf.org
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          7 days ago

          lol, that is 100% every australian apartment built in the last 15 years. the window frames are plastic and the cladding is combustible… but it’s got Italian tiles and “European appliances” so it’s an “executive suite”. that will be $1.5million fuck you very much.

        • CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          Amateur hour, my government funds ‘affordable’ housing projects that cost 300 grand and immediately turn into overpriced rentals.

          • Maeve@kbin.earth
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            7 days ago

            I recently read an article about “affordable” apartments being constructed an hour or so away. 900 SF, one br and bath, $2200, in a right to work, $7.25/hr minimum wage state.

                • TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world
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                  5 days ago

                  20 bucks an hour

                  minimum wage isn’t low income. most people in low income housing make well above mimimum wage.

                  stop conflating these two things. also, just because you think it’s too expensive doesn’t mean it isn’t. other people have different price thresholds than you. i know people making half what i make paying way more rent than I am, because that’s what they’ve chose to do because they believe they ‘need’ to live very expensive places. plenty of people are willing to vastly overpay for ‘new’ housing, as it’s an amenity. just like in my city you pay an extra $1000 to live near a subway stop and if you go 1km away, the rent is way cheaper. or that if you want pets the rent goes up $500+

                  • Maeve@kbin.earth
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                    5 days ago

                    I live in a state where people do make minimum wage, or $8 send I told you what the situation is in my state. But go on and act like you know better than the one living here.

          • Guitarfun@lemmy.world
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            7 days ago

            At least housing is actually being built, but I know what you mean. Theres no real affordable housing near me and the wait list for what little is available has been closed due to budget cuts.

      • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.ca
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        7 days ago

        They do have it. It’s the value they generate while working. That’s what we’ve always taken, regardless of the exact financial tool used.

        • NotSteve_@piefed.ca
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          7 days ago

          We’re way ahead of you! Our engineers have worked tirelessly to come up with an extra flat front that maximises impact with unsuspecting pedestrians

      • frongt@lemmy.zip
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        7 days ago

        Even they aren’t selling them as much in the US any more. You don’t really see many new Accords or Camrys any more, you see CR-Vs and Rav4s.