[lit-ideas] Re: [lit-id] The Poverty of Heritage

  • From: "Judith Evans" <judithevans1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 25 May 2006 05:09:17 +0100

LH>I never said anything about the cost of housing in Europe.

I didn't say you -- or anyone else -- did.  I knew the report
talked about size.
My point was as follows

1.  Ceteris paribus, large dwellings cost more than small ones
2.  Ceteris paribus, dwellings in the European cities mentioned
cost
more and normally very much more than dwellings elsewhere,
certain
areas of the US apart.
3.  Therefore it is prima facie possible and indeed likely that
the "average
poor" of the US, spread across the whole of the US, have more
living space
than the "average city dweller" in such cities.

Since then I've found why Pollitt said what she did and
have posted to the list to say so, I quote

>Apparently US dwellings are massively larger than
>European ones.  So -- ceteris paribus -- we could
>expect the "average poor person"
> in the US (I think that must mean something like "modal
>poor person") to have more living space than the average
>European city dweller.

stop press:

>At the moment, Ms. Crescini, 51, and her fiancé are sharing
>her four-bedroom house in San Jose, Calif., with two of her
>three adult sons, a daughter-in-law, a 3-year-old
>granddaughter and a brother who comes and goes.
>Exorbitant housing costs, layoffs and children who yearn
>for family togetherness have coalesced to make her the head
>of a multigenerational household.
>In a society where the most common type of household is led
>by those who live alone and where the scattered family is
>almost a cultural institution, many grandparents, adult
>children and grandchildren are gathering to live under the same
roof.
>The last census showed these "multigenerational households" -
> defined as those of three or more generations - growing
>faster than any other type of housing arrangement.
>The number of multigenerational households is still
>relatively small: 4.2 million, or 4 percent of all types.
>But they grew by 38 percent from 1990 to 2000, and
>professionals in real estate and the building industry say
> the trend has accelerated since then.
......
>fancy, multimillion-dollar homes are not the norm
>when generations choose to live together. Census officials
>say multigenerational families are most common in states
>like California, where the high cost of housing forces
>families to double up, and in states where high rates
>of out-of-wedlock childbearing lead to home sharing
>by the mother, her children and her parents.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/25/us/25multi.html?hp&ex=1148529600&en=01c5665d07459e6f&ei=5094&partner=homepage

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Lawrence Helm
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 4:38 AM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: [lit-id] The Poverty of Heritage


You've lost track of the fact that I quoted certain items from
the Heritage report and that various people including you took
issue with what I quoted.  I never said anything about the cost
of housing in Europe.  I only quoted the report which referred to
size.  That is the issue.  If you want to have a different
discussion, about cost, then I shan't join because I haven't run
across anything on that.


------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html

Other related posts: