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Musings Report 2017-34 8-27-17 Where Do You Really Want to Live?
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For those who are new to the Musings reports: they are basically a glimpse into my notebook, the unfiltered swamp where I organize future themes, sort through the dozens of stories and links submitted by readers, refine my own research and start connecting dots which appear later in the blog or in my books. As always, I hope the Musings spark new appraisals and insights. Thank you for supporting the site and for inviting me into your circle of correspondents.
Welcome to August's MUS (Margins of the Unfiltered Swamp)
The last Musings of the month is a free-form exploration of the reaches of the fecund swamp that is the source of the blog, Musings and my books.
Where Do You Really Want to Live?
In your heart of hearts, where do you really want to live? It's a question without a universal answer, as it draws upon each individual's intuitive attractions to places and cultures, and each person's sense of romance and wonder.
The answers tend to fall into a few categories: places yet unvisited that hold a profoundly romantic charm, and places we've visited that elicited fantasies of moving there and starting a new life.
Each of these further break down into urban and rural: some dream of living in the heart of one of the world's great cities (Paris, for example), while others dream of rural idylls (south of France, for example).
While we might not find others' choices appealing, we understand the universal appeal of a Different Place that is suited to the Real Me.
It turns out my brother has lived in both inner Paris and in the south of France, and currently lives in Switzerland on the shore of Lake Geneva--another spot many view favorably.
As a result of family visits, I've spent a fair amount of time in these desirable locales, and understand the appeal of each--an appeal sharpened by numerous romanticized films, novels and first-person accounts.
As a full-time resident of Hawaii for almost two decades and as a part-time resident in the present, I've witnessed the dynamic many time: a visitor, enamored of the islands, takes the plunge and moves to Hawaii.
New residents soon discover that everyday life--especially if one has to work for living--is not the same as visiting. The romantic vision fades with time, even in the best of circumstances, and is replaced with either a refreshed (and more realistic) appreciation or it's replaced with disappointment: life is harder than anticipated, and lonelier (people not as friendly as expected). In many locales, the difficulties of learning the language and adjusting to the cultural differences create unexpectedly steep learning curves.
It always surprises me how many people sell their house and make the move with relatively little preparation or appreciation of the risks of moving to an essentially unknown place.
Some find or build their dream house, and then discover there's very little to do in their idyllic surroundings other than work in low-paying service or agriculture jobs. Those with the means may find themselves bored with what they'd imagined would sustain them--daily rounds of golf, fishing, etc.--whatever they'd dreamed of doing daily in their previous workaday life.
Some people do indeed find contentment in their daily leisure pursuits, and they find new friendships in those environments. But many others find the charm of daily leisure activities wears thin.
It seems we don't have enough experience of the transition from romantic vision to reality to enable realistic assessments of the pitfalls.
Common-sense advice such as "why don't you rent a place and live there for six months to test the waters" often falls on deaf ears, as if doubt was an enemy rather than a useful ally.
Then there's the money: wages in desirable places such as Hawaii and the South of France are typically much lower than the wages paid in the places being abandoned.
If the wages/income are similar, then the cost of living in places such as London, Manhattan, San Francisco, Tokyo, etc. are high enough to drain all but the mightiest reserves of capital/income.
There is one solution to this financial mismatch between what we have/earn and the cost structure of where we'd like to live: discover a desirable locale a decade or two before everyone else discovers it, when it's still cheap, and buy a wonderfully located home or piece of land.
This reflects the troubling reality of many (and possibly most) desirable locales: those who bought long ago are now wealthy in ways newcomers are not. Newcomers may arrive with millions earned elsewhere, but they're not arriving with normal wages/savings and becoming wealthy via buying a piece of Paradise.
The rapid rise in land and home valuations then attracts global wealth seeking a secure haven, and this inflow of global capital pushes prices even higher.
This trend is self-reinforcing, and eventually it leads to the desirable locale being pockmarked with empty homes and flats, as the super-wealthy have bought 2nd or 3rd homes as investments. This leaves even fewer homes for local residents, and pushes prices even further out of reach.
Cities can fight back by imposing high taxes on 2nd homes (Paris is trying this), but it's difficult to track ownership (how do you contest claims of primary residency?) and problematic for other reasons (the wealthy are politically connected and influential, for example).
There's usually a way for us commoners to rent modest shelter for a few months to try living in our dream locale. That experience has value regardless of the outcome; in three months, we learn enough to know our vision was not quite aligned with our True Selves, or we're anxious to make the many sacrifices necessary to pursue our new life in this increasingly familiar but still enchantingly different locale.
From Left Field
Exploring the Shadows of America’s Security State (via LaserLefty) -- first-person account, well worth a read....
Our best shot at cooling the planet might be right under our feet -- soil, the unexplored ecosystem we all depend on...
Deep History of America’s Deep State (via LaserLefty)
'X’ Marks the Spot Where Inequality Took Root: Dig Here -- break visible in the mid-70s--why is complex...
For years, Richard Florida preached the gospel of the creative class. His new book is a mea culpa.
Why we fell for 'clean eating' -- and diet crazes in general...
RECLAIMING "REDNECK" URBANISM: WHAT URBAN PLANNERS CAN LEARN FROM TRAILER PARKS -- low-cost, accessible, dense neighborhoods...
Red Famine review – did Stalin deliberately let Ukraine starve?
American Thought: from theoretical barbarism to intellectual decadence -- long-winded but sharp Leftist critique of the American left's descent into incoherence....
Why Elon Musk is Wrong about AI -- a common-sense view of AI...
Inside the new economic science of capitalism’s slow-burn energy collapse--And why the struggle for a new economic paradigm is about to get real
Why Climate Change Isn’t Our Biggest Environmental Problem, and Why Technology Won’t Save Us (Richard Heinberg)
“One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.” Andre Gide
Thanks for reading--
charles |
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