No one expects young men to do anything and they respond by doing nothing (2022)

Housing affordability and homeownership

• Large subthread debates whether “most people can afford a home.”
  • Some cite US homeownership rates ~66% and data showing ~30–40% of under‑35s own homes, plus Gen Z matching or slightly exceeding Millennials at the same age.
  • Others argue these stats are misleading: homeownership is measured per household, not per adult; many owners are older; rates are declining; and mortgages are larger/longer with higher debt burdens.
• Several note rising housing, education, healthcare, childcare and food costs outpacing wages, calling housing “the” central problem for young people.
• Disagreement on investor impact: some say institutional and small STR investors meaningfully squeeze supply and enable rent‑setting “cartels”; others claim institutional ownership is marginal nationally and the core issue is a 4–5M unit supply shortfall plus zoning/NIMBYism.
• YIMBY vs. SHIMBY (social housing) and rent control debates: more supply seen as necessary; some worry “luxury only” builds and warehousing keep prices high.

Inequality, capital, and corporate incentives

• Many tie young men’s stagnation to deindustrialization, shareholder primacy, and offshoring without retraining.
• Others emphasize globalisation’s consumer benefits but concede housing/education/healthcare have not followed the cheaper‑goods story.
• Some argue elites and asset owners now extract outsized value (housing, land, IP, AI, agribusiness) and externalize costs on labor and the young.

Family structure, gender roles, and norms

• Strong disagreement over causes of family instability:
  • One side stresses economic precarity, legal changes (easier divorce), and women’s labor‑force participation making exit from bad relationships viable.
  • Another emphasizes cultural loosening of norms around marriage, fatherhood, and “submissive attitude toward the boss,” arguing low‑status men respond rationally to reduced expectations.
• Several note a class split: affluent people quietly maintain stable two‑parent households while publicly endorsing more fluid norms; others say this “elite hypocrisy” thesis is under‑evidenced.

Religion, meaning, and culture

• Some link male drift to loss of religion and shared purpose; others counter that non‑religious people still form stable families.
• Broader concern that societies have over‑monetized life (GDP, shareholder value) and under‑supplied meaning, duty, and civic purpose.

Policy and pragmatic responses

• Proposed levers: more social housing; zoning reform; tying immigration to affordable housing capacity; better retraining; stronger unions; easier voluntary sterilization and contraception to reduce unwanted births.
• There is no consensus on primacy of culture vs. economics, but broad agreement that young men face weak incentives, high housing barriers, and a thin sense of future.