Dunno where you live, but NONE of this is applicable to where I live (Des Moines/Omaha).
Where in the article does it say that? If this is not in the article where did you get your information from?
The cost of housing, not inlcuding interest rates, is sky high
Long term interest rates have been falling for five months and are still at historically low levels. The cost of housing takes a smaller chunk of our budget today than it did a generation ago.
Wealth producting industries are closed or declining
Is that why our household net worth is at record levels and has almost doubled during the last ten years?
People whose wages have been cut do not have extra money for investing.
Yet, the percentage of working Americans who are invested in the stock market has increased from about 25% in 1980 to almost 60% today. You should probably get some facts before posting your doom and gloom nonsense here.
When minimum wage was $1.25, regular gas was 26 cents a gallon, now minimum wage is $5.15 and regular gas is around $3.00 a gallon. A cottage that rented for $65 back then rents today for $1,200. A minimum wage worker would need to work 52 hours to pay $65 rent and 233 hours (assuming no taxes) to rent the same cottage today. A $1.25 would buy 4.8 gallons of gas contrasted with $5.15 buying 1.7 gallons of gas at $3.00 a gallon.