Crass Quote Of The Day: Making Housing Affordable 1 comment


From a federal reserve economist:

Firefighters who want to live in high-priced cities can work two jobs, said W. Michael Cox, chief economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. “I think it’s great,” he said. “It gives you portfolio diversification in your income.”

If the grammar wasn’t so good you might think he was from Crawford instead of Dallas.
That firefighter’s family probably already has three jobs: the firefighters, domestic engineer and the out of house job the other partner has. And this guy wants them to go for a fourth?
A much better response on the firefighter’s part will be to choose a city to work in that pays them enough to live there. Of course, this might mean that some cities will go without firefighters until they pay them enough to live in the million dollar + condos that seem to be the dominant form of new housing sprouting up in the big cities.
Perhaps the congress critters and other legislative bodies need to get out of the marriage definition business and realize that in the future it will take 3, 4 or more adults in a family to both earn an adequate income and properly care for the family’s children or that it might take 2 or more families living in a house or apartment to make it affordable.
Via Kevin Drum who notes the euphemism here:

“portfolio diversification in your income.”…means working two jobs because housing costs are too high. Brilliant.

Yea, I still think Cox might be from Crawford.


One thought on “Crass Quote Of The Day: Making Housing Affordable

  • KipEsquire

    Not to dilute the point, but one might also note that firefighters often work quite bizarre hours (not traditional 8-hour shifts) that do not lend themselves to “income diversification,” and many municipalities also forbid their public safety employees from moonlighting at all.
    Just a thought…

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