The housing boom may be about to go bust

This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a cursed generation of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. Sign up here.Today’s Agenda The housing boom may be ab [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a cursed generation of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - The housing [boom may be about to go bust](. - The [U.S. Postal Service may not be](. - Spotify needs to [let Joe Rogan go](. - America’s [frackers to the rescue](. Millennials Face Yet Another Rug-Pull As we all know, millennials are America’s most economically [cursed]( generation. Now that they’re hitting their 30s and 40s, they’re [not even cool]( anymore. And the housing market might be about to stick it to them once again. As we recently wrote, millennials are [finally]( buying houses after years of being sidelined by such catastrophes as the dot-com bust, Sept. 11, two long wars, the financial crisis and its jobless recovery, a pandemic, and the endless musical career of Chris Brown. In its foolish haste to analyze, this newsletter suggested this could be a way for millennials to wreak a bit of economic vengeance on the world by helping push home prices even further past the moon. But what if it’s actually just another trap for the broke generation? Americans think this is the [worst time]( ever to buy a house, according to a recent poll. Gary Shilling has many, [many charts and numbers validating that sentiment](. Interest rates are rising, and housing affordability is approaching rock-bottom. One silver lining is that home builders are starting to ramp up supply. Oops, it turns out that silver lining is actually a sharpened katana dropping on the neck of anybody buying a house right now, with all this [new supply hitting just as soaring costs crush demand](. That’s not to mention the rising odds of a Fed-induced recession, which would be the third one of those since the millennium began. Oh, and if you buy a house in the ’burbs, you’ll need a car, unfortunately. Best of luck ever getting a bargain on one of those again. Conor Sen points out that, even when the supply constraints that have boosted car prices ease, automakers will do [everything they can to make the new higher prices stick](, to help cover the expenses of the switch to electric vehicles. Ugh. Once again, our apologies to the millennials. If it helps, please enjoy this photo of a puppy named Beyonce in a coffee mug: Doesn’t it make you feel better? (Sorry, that’s a Gen X lyric.) Source: NBC NewsWire/NBCUniversal via Getty Images Fifty Billion Dollars Buys a Lot of Stamps And hey, the U.S. Postal Service may not be dying! That’s nice, isn’t it? This may not be as relevant to millennials as it once was to Gen Xers and other elder generations, but it’s still pretty important, particularly in the age of mail-in voting. The USPS has been bled dry by decades of neglect, health costs and the [endless]( bureaucratic career of Louis DeJoy. But Congress, in another one of its recent, encouraging spasms of actually doing stuff, is putting together a [reform package that could solve a lot of its problems](, writes Tim O’Brien. No, it doesn’t get rid of Louis DeJoy. Only a hero pure of heart answering the Old Mailbag Troll’s three riddles can make that happen. But it does free up many tens of billions of dollars in retiree-benefit obligations that could keep this vital service alive for another generation.  Spotify Does Not Need This Joe Rogan Headache Let’s get this out of the way right up front: The First Amendment does not apply to private companies. The U.S. government may not be allowed to abridge free speech, but a private company can abridge to its heart’s delight. We mention this because the time has come for the private company known as [Spotify to finally cut Joe Rogan loose](, writes Tae Kim. His vaccine misinformation was bad enough, even if Rogan and Spotify promised steps to minimize the danger of his nonsense. But then videos surfaced of Rogan throwing around slurs and racist tropes. Rogan claims he’s being [railroaded](, and maybe he just accidentally said the “n” word dozens of times, for science. But with artists and users leaving Spotify over the controversy, the company may soon realize it’s not worth the trouble of keeping him around. And don’t worry: Spotify ending its partnership with Rogan won’t even come close to censoring him. Rogan’s wildly popular podcast will still be available on many, many other platforms. The First Amendment, and Joe Rogan, will be fine. Telltale Charts Coming to the rescue of a world short on oil is [the U.S. shale patch](, which will soon be producing more of the stuff than ever, writes David Fickling. Like American frackers, [European banks are financially healthier now](, and still relatively cheap, writes Paul J. Davies. Further Reading With Covid in retreat, it’s [time to end mask mandates in schools](. They’re doing more harm than good. — Bloomberg’s editorial board A [huge backlog of President Joe Biden’s appointees]( is in limbo because the GOP insists on filibustering them all. — Jonathan Bernstein How Donald [Trump blew his best chance]( to get his border wall. — Ramesh Ponnuru Many lessons we’re learning the hard way with Ukraine could be [applied to preventing disaster in Taiwan](. — Hal Brands  Pfizer is raking in huge Covid profits, and it’s [spending them on new mRNA drugs](. — Lisa Jarvis It’s not easy to rap, or to [launder $4.5 billion in Bitcoin](. — Matt Levine The IRS is trying to [grab a share of gig income](, but it’s going about it all wrong. — Alexis Leondis ICYMI The Fed might [super-size its first rate hike](. The Super Bowl will be [legalized gambling’s coming-out party](. Eileen Gu is only giving interviews to [China’s anti-graft agency](. Kickers Charles Dickens’s coded notes have [finally been decoded](. (h/t Ellen Kominers) Area zoo hires Marvin [Gaye impersonator to sing to monkeys]( to get them in the mood. (h/t Mike Smedley) Area scientists take a [big step toward nuclear fusion energy](. A [Mediterranean diet could add 10 years]( to your life, a study has shown. Notes:  Please send coded notes and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like Bloomberg Opinion Today? [Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more](. You’ll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. 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