Property taxes in the city that I used to live in.

So, my one (Romanian) colleague was passing through town on his way back to the city that I used to live in, and he stopped by and brought some food that his mom made and we went to the local brewery and got some beer and ate stuffed cabbage and this addictive little salad made up from roast eggplant and maybe olive oil too or something like that.

And, he was saying that he got his second property tax installment for the year, and it leapt it from like $1600 to like $4200.

And, he lives on the edge of a bleh neighborhood in a good apartment, but no-where that's particularly convenient or attractive.

He said that a number of neighborhoods have been like that, including my old neighborhood that I used to live in and an adjoining neighborhood to that and a portion of a (black) neigborhood way on the other side of the city, and it's been in all of the papers.

First of all, I can't imagine what those valuations will do, when they trickle down and reach renters; renters just don't have the money to spend, especially given how gas and electric and food inflation has been squeezing everyone this year.

Second of all, his monthly cost including the assessment on his building is still what I was paying in rent every month!

So, on the one hand I feel bad, but at least he has equity, unlike all the money I was burning a month, and that in a 1BR that had been a good deal, at that.

It's like my one (half British) (half Sudanese) friend (the brother of the brother-sister pair) observed to me earlier this year; his rent and heating at a really really shitty multi-person apartment way at the far edge of London are more than an old coworker's of his who had stayed in the same job and moved up a little bit on the career ladder and who had boughten a condo in a good neighborhood way back when, where the property value went up sky high, but at least he has that asset, and he's paying less in taxes and heat to boot than low-end renters who are barely scraping by.

I was texting about this with my one professor friend who studies (modern) (Czech) literature, and she was astounded by how much property taxes went up, but she also thinks the world's gone mad, with how that compares to rent.

All I can say is, I made a very wise decision to move. I can't imagine having to deal with all of this financial chaos, and right when the recent minimum wages increases in the city had petered out, too, with all of the politicians claiming that it's all okay because minimum wage is finally $15 an hour and indexed to inflation. Just super out of touch.