I thought it was well understood that the best predictor for success was the ZIP code you grew up in.<p>The examples of people rising above their economic class are touted loudly for sure, but still incredibly rare. A winning lottery ticket is a solid analogy. Yet, you’ll find an endless supply of arguments that grit and perseverance are all thats needed, but Id wager there are many more wallowing in failure who exercise those very traits every day.
This feels like an ivory tower take. I worked at a job reentry program. The difference in outcomes between those working hard and those not looked pretty stark to me. Ignore the billionaires. Focus on what you can control.
Some of us have been watching the Fed for more decades than merely the most recent three.<p>>I spent more than three decades with the Federal Reserve System as an executive and as a widely cited research economist. My training was mainstream. I learned economics from leading scholars at Princeton and Harvard. As director of the research department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, I attended dozens of the Fed’s monetary policymaking meetings—the Federal Open Market Committee meetings—in DC under each of the past five chairs, observing up close how the sausage is made. All of this was rewarding and fascinating.<p>So back then this was recognized long ago as part of the problem that would keep the Fed from performing in the best interest of most Americans. Even more fascinating in the 1970's and like everything else since then less rewarding to boot.<p>>Then, about 15 years ago, the Fed partnered with a host of institutions in midsized, postindustrial New England cities to figure out how to bring back economic vitality. I was fortunate to be involved in numerous in-person discussions with residents and leaders of these low-income, often majority-minority, communities. The more I learned about their lives, the more I became aware of gaps in mainstream economics.<p>With that kind of background, for the professionals inside the Fed it's not surprising for it to take 15 years before a more realistic picture can be made which reflects the outcome from a mainstream system which insidiously includes too much of a predatory component.<p>And this looks like one of the more open-minded, aware Fed economists.
With housing (/real estate) prices the way they are, and also where they’re headed, it is no surprise that the already wealthy (being real estate asset owners) have better capabilities with a head start in financial success than those starting out without or with less.