Dec07
They Think You’re Stupid, America
on December 7, 2012 at 7:32 amAnd you just proved them right.
[Update a few minutes later]
This seems related, somehow: Why I’m not a Republican. We have one party that thinks we’re stupid, and one that is stupid itself.
I was in a bit of a susceptible mood when I first ran across the “small house movement”. After reading a bit, I realized these were just upscale mobile homes, cabins, and cottages. It’s a retro fad. Having said that, it is something I’d consider since I really don’t want to maintain or pay for a lot of house and a studio apartment-sized house on a postage stamp lot really is more my speed (which is kinda funny given the unabomer jokes I’ve endured over the years).
I do have to wonder how many of these “tiny houses” are going to just turn out to be glorified mobile homes complete with the same unhip crowd that currently resides in mobile homes. I bet the more “successful” of these tiny house complexes will come up with large home owner association fees and other hurdles to keep the riff raff out.
When I was discharged from the Air Force in 1982, I became a full-time college student. Not having much money and having zero desire to live in a dorm, I bought a used camper for $2000. It was 23 feet long (counting the hitch and rear bumper) and just under 8 feet wide. As a single guy, it had everything I needed: bed, stove/oven, dining area, bathroom. The total interior volume was perhaps 150 square feet and I lived comfortably in it for 8 months. If you want to see examples of efficient space utilization, go look at camper and RV designs. They’ve been doing this for a long time.
Could I live like that again if I had to? Sure. It wouldn’t be my first choice if I had options but it’d be sufficient. A good used camper would likely be a lot more economical than some of these small homes and, if you don’t like the neighborhood, you can easily move.
When I was first looking to get my own place I would have been happy to make enough to rent an old detached one-car garage remodeled into an apartment.
In the cities where these things are so popular though, the monthly rent would exceed our current monthly mortgage payment on a 2300sf house 30 miles SW of Atlanta. And then there would be the crime, taxes, and depending on the landlord for maintenance and repairs — and the fact no matter how long I paid I’d still hold no equity in the place.
I’d agree the Republicans often appear politically stupid, but then, it’s hard to hide your flaws in the close-up glare of a media complex determined to take you down. But, as the ancient bon-mot goes, the Democrats are evil, and the Republicans are stupid, and the only time bipartisan legislation passes is when it is both stupid and evil. Is it better to be stupid, or evil?
There’s also a little of that faux poverty chic going on here. Spending large sums to live like or dress like what you think a poor person does.
Sort of like going to a Mexican restaurant in the US which has been fixed up, at considerable expense, to appear as an antiseptic facsimile of what a stereotypical real Mexican restaurant would look like.
Before I call the Republicans Stupid, I will have to see what they do with actual control of the government, like FDR and Obama had. Presidency, Veto proof majority in House and Senate, solid control of the Courts. So far, all I have seen of “stupid” is bizarre frustration that W, with one vote in the Senate, could not run amok like Obama did with his huge margins. Leading to such appalling stupid things as “Porkbusters”, sigh.
I think you mean filibuster-proof. If Congress and the POTUS are the same party veto-proof is not a huge concern unless one or the other goes rogue.
No, while the Senate doesn’t have to formally worry about the Veto, it’s still a useful metric to deal with the fact that whatever you do is going to break someone’s bowl. Having a “veto proof” majority lets you lose the 10-15% you are going to lose. Actual control of the Senate, as opposed to the one vote “control” the Republicans had under W.
My wife and I live in a 40 foot Motorhome. It’s a step up from the 30 footer we lived in for a couple years. It’s actually by choice, not need. Don’t like the neighbors? Move. Weather get too cold? Head for Arizona for a few months!
Having a small house like the ones at the link would be ok if you never had company or children or needed counter space to cook a meal. It would work as long as you could go outside and enjoy your yard but if you are in spitting distance of your neighbor, well the allure would quickly fade.
Micro-house + small or no yard + crowding + no way to escape = prison.
Wait a moment… This is a step forward from the usual Leftist idiocy that “If we forbid anything that isn’t high-quality then the poor will also have high-quality stuff.” In other words, Leftists are doing something right for once and we should not stand in their way.