NY Times Story on Pilot Population Decline

On Apr 26, 6:32 pm, Mxsmanic wrote:
Marco Leon writes:
Yes, and yes. While I don't think that the reasons you mentioned are the
primary reasons, I do think they play a part. Salaries are indeed higher but
so are the housing prices. A "starter" house in Long Island, NY for example
is around $450K. Paying for that mortgage while bringing up a family leaves
little room to blow $7K on a year's worth of flight training.

Forty years ago, a "starter" house might cost 1.5 times the annual salary of a
person in the middle class. Now it may cost ten times the annual salary of
such a person (although the middle class is disappearing).

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There is also a huge change in the definition of "starter". Once upon
a time, it was under 1,000 sf, had electricity and gas, a washer in
the laundry, one bathroom, and perhaps an attached carport. Now it's
wired like a computer business, has AC (but is not any better
insulated than in 1950), a small gourmet kitchen, complete laundry in
the air conditioned space, probably two enclosed garages, a fireplace
even if you live in the desert, and most likely you are forced to pay
homage to an HOA. After that, you MUST have HDTV, DVD, Satellite TV,
cable, digital phones, internet capability hooked up, automatic garage
door openers, security system, automatic porch and garage lights, the
fridge has two doors with auto ice and water, the kitchen has a
garbage disposal, dishwasher, perhaps a wine cooler. You now have a
"master suite" with its own separate bathroom, a whirlpool tub and
separate shower, and two sinks.
In short, the starter house, or any other house, has a lot more stuff
than it did in 1950, and it all costs money.