Nothing New Under the Sun

There’s no doubt that prosperity has smiled brighter and brighter on the last four generations. My grandparents, like many newly arrived from the Hell of Central Europe, lived in the attic above their ramshackle store. Their grandchildren however ramble around in what they would consider a mansion, fit for Polish nobility. My daughter, in the real estate business, tells stories that shock the skinflints of my generation: She routinely sells million dollar homes. One Million Dollars! How much did Versailles cost Louie XIV? She’s not sure, but had she been there, she’d have grabbed the listing and probably cut it to 4%. She tells stories of seemingly rational people spending $20,000 on kitchen counter tops. $10,000 to renovate closets. And new wooden flooring for tens and tens of thousands of dollars. Poverty cringes. Such is the economic bonanza that even a diluted capitalism has brought us. And of course “tear downs” are popular. Here’s a lot in a neighborhood you love. But the house, though eminently livable, is not to your taste. (”I hate that brickwork! Who could sleep there beside the 3 little pigs?”) Crummy house, nice lot — no problem. You tear down the house and build whatever you like. (”I couldn’t stand that stone gable with the gray roof.”) My daughter, as truthful as her father, swears to this practice. Has even shown me the candidates for destruction. Amazing that we can afford such vanity. Prosperity grins. As we toured the city, she pointed out a typical upscale, long-established shopping center. “They’re gonna tear it all down,” she says, “and replace it with glitzier clones of each store. And they’ll build higher, thereby gaining more space on the same land.” ergo more income. One major innovation is the stacking of condo’s over the retail shops eliminating long commutes for owners and employees, she tells me. Yeah, just like my grandparents who lived above the store.