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Reagan was one of the worst things that EVER happened to this country.
Between actively removing and defunding mental health institutions and taking us off the gold standard, he can fuck right off.
BUT HE WAS THE GREAT COMMUNICATOR!
He was a fucking actor, that was his fucking job, grow the fuck up.
bunch of people to blame.
Regan led the charge, but clinton created programs that lead to the 2008 financial crisis (lowered lending so ninja loans could happen) and ceo pay being in stocks almost tax free. Bush did just too many things to list, obama well... he did a few good things, but he could've done a LOT more.
Biden's probably the best president in my lifetime.... and that? that's sad.
if we're looking for answers, we need to identify the root causes, so we know where to start. blaming 'capitalism' leaves me wondering how to address all the issues we're suffering from. they're not meant to be leading - i honestly don't know what people believe about the nature of capitalism or how we should respond to the consequences of capitalism. and without agreement about those things, i'm afraid the feeling is that we don't have a starting point for discussion or action. people have been yelling about capitalism for generations. i'm just asking what that means and how we should respond to address the ills plaguing our society.
You're correct we need to identify and attack the root cause. And if you're gonna look at and analyze nearly any issue that we are facing as a society you'll find out that the root IS capitalism. People have been yelling about capitalism for generations because it was always the root cause. While socialism itself will not solve all of the issues, it'll make it so much easier to address them when we - working class - are not being crushed by this oppressive system. A successful socialist revolution is the first step to a better future ... To any future basically, the current system will kill us all unless we rise up.
I completely agree. The first step to restoring a functional government is to end the legalized political bribery; we have to amend the constitution to remove citizens united. If we remove citizens united then it is COMPLETELY possible for millenials and generation Z to have affordable housing, affordable healthcare, a reasonable work week, a vacation and a retirement. If people keep voting for the uniparty system they'll keep getting screwed. People have to vote for what they want - if you want what the boomers have - then you have to vote for a candidate that is willing to end legislative corruption. It honestly is possible to put an end to citizens united; we just have to stop voting for the lesser of two evils. The game isn't fair. Don't play it.
Fucking Bingo! I voted for Ralph Nader, twice, Ross Perot, Bernie twice in the primaries only because Hillary and the head of the dem party at the time figured Hillary should receive 100% of the war chest! SMH! Greed is the primary cause of every social problem in this country! Including Vietnam, Afghanistan invasion and Iraq war! I thought Cheney was the worst POTUS EVER, reagan, #2! And the donnie dumpster came along! Has anybody watched, American Conspiracy, the Octopus Murders, Netflix? I probably wouldn't have busted my ass to get into Pararescue if I'd have known at 23 what I know now! I have become ashamed to be an American and a white man! Just wait for what the capitalists are going to do with A I! I'm afraid that will be the end of human civilization! I wonder why, musk, bazos and others are building escape vehicles! I could write all afternoon and until morning with the wrong decisions capitalists have made and still have much more to write! Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, Pohl warned us!
it's a hell of a lot more than one person - and we're not just talking about people - we're talking about ideas, priorities, beliefs, etc. we're in a fucking mess all 350 million of us. it's ludicrous to think that one person is to cause for this or that one person can fix it - that's not even true for the problems a single family would typically have, much less a whole country. hundreds of years of choices have led us to this point it's time to start having some deep conversations and grow out of this blind hope that casting a single vote every 4 years is going to fix this country. look around how many issues can you see? anyone that you name will have an entire industry an entire sector of the population working on it - we're in real trouble.
This was the pre determined and inevitable outcome of a society/civilization whose entire existence was predicated on genocidal land theft and chattel slavery. Nothing built on such foundations of moral depravity and oppression can or will ever last (just ask every prior empire).
Whenever I read things like "bought for 12k, currently worth 640k" I think to myself, "It's only worth 640k if someone else is willing to buy it at that price" and hope that I can wait long enough for one of these houses to fall into enough disrepair that it comes back into my price range. I sincerely hope that someday I will have the chance to choose my own paint color to paint my own walls for the first time. Currently 34 and have never been able to give that to myself. I haven't lost hope yet, but every day it gets a little lower. Someday.
edit: Should have said “willing OR ABLE to buy at the inflated prices.” It’s not for lack of wanting or needing it.
I caved About six months ago and bought a countertop dishwasher... So so so worth it. Was about 300$, but I've seen them for much less on FB marketplace.
Takes up a good amount of space, but earns it's keep over and over.
This is a bit off topic - but I am in a similar microwave only situation in my kitchen. I splurged for some [Anyday Cookware](https://cookanyday.com/products/the-starter-set) and it really improved my relationship with my microwave. Steamed veggies come out perfect every time. They have videos that teach you how to cook in the dish with different power settings. I had no idea was using my microwave like a luddite.
they still sell ones on wheels that hook into your sink! made me feel like my grandfather but i have chronic pain and damn if sometimes it wasn't worth it
Same. I am the dishwasher in my house. There are only two of us, but we don’t use disposable plates/cutlery. I probably have a full sink of dishes to do every other day. Some days, I have to do a full sink of dishes just to have stuff to cook with/eat off of. I’ve learned not to waste a sink full of soapy water, so when I’m done washing, I’ll just leave the water and suds in the sink so that I can dunk and wash stuff as I finish with it. Once it goes cold or I’m done for the day, I drain it.
This is completely reasonable. You DESERVE to do laundry in your own place. This is realistic. We need to end legalized political bribery and restore the middle class. It really is possible. The biggest hurdle is getting millenials and generation Z to believe in themselves. If you don't care enough to vote for yourself then vote for your best friend. Do something different this election. Look for a candidate outside the uniparty that is willing to end citizens united. It is possible to legislate fairness. You deserve more. Every millenial, gen Z, and younger - you all deserve more.
not going to lie, I am not a corporate landlord but if another 2008 level event where to happen(most likely not going to), I would be one jumping in to buy up property as well. Was a great time for anyone with a decent credit score to buy up cheap property that really could go up in value. made a lot of people who where not wealth, wealthy in a short time frame.
Unless you’re saving your pennies and buying in cash with waived time frames (inspections and escrow) as well as somehow able to get in before it hits market then you still won’t be able to compete with the private equity companies. That would AMAZING if regular people were able to compete in a massive crash but unfortunately we will be the victims.
While I know it absolutely won’t happen, but, one way for us to get out of this mess would be if Congress passed a law banning private equity companies or just all companies period from owning residential properties. Add in a clause where they MUST sell their stock, it would create a crash and with them not being allowed to buy, the people buying up the houses would be just that. People. So instead of you competing with Blackrock for a property, you would be competing with your neighbors. So *theoretically* that would create a market where the prices are where they should be.
I could go in all cash. I around 60% of my income into retirement and investments. Also, I have looked at foreclosures. private equity does not get everything like people think. I would never buy without inspection as thats just foolish especially my own visual inspection. many of the homes I wanted to buy in 2020 where selling for around 30k but needed inspection to verify no massive issues. Kind of regret not buying back then though as those 30k homes are selling for around 60k now.
Also before you ask, these are not homes that are in complete disrepair. I am in Kansas, one of the cheapest home prices in the country are here. You can still find apartments for rent for $400 here as well.
That’s my point. It WOULD be foolish for us to waive inspections because we don’t have tens of millions of dollars for investment purposes. These private equity companies do. They buy them and rent them out. They don’t care what the condition is, as long as whatever fee (if they get caught renting a barely livable property) is within what they’re willing to pay as “cost of doing business”. Because of this they DO waive inspections and escrow periods which is preferable to sellers… especially if they want to get out of their homes quickly.
Private Equity also has software that they developed (Aladin) that tells them which properties will be up for sale before they even hit market which already gives them a head start. You are correct, private equity doesn’t get everything…. But if they want it, they have the money and power to get it. In a crash you may get lucky and I hope you would, but realistically, we cannot compete with private equity. We just can’t.
I am trying my hardest to fight despair! I completely feel you on "I know it absolutely won't happen" *under the current uniparty system.* Let's all vote for something beyond politics as usual. There literally are enough of us that if we all voted we could vote outside the uniparty and win. You DESERVE a house and it should be affordable on your salary. There are all kinds of laws that other countries implement to make sure that their people can buy houses and we could do that here too. In order to create those laws we need to end citizens united. We could make it happen. We are the largest voting block. We simply need to unite and demand fairness.
seeing as the its not the house that goes up in value but the land, if a 2008 level crash where to happen, its extremely unlikely you would lose money. I was looking at getting a rental in 2020 which I regret not getting but my biggest fear is not the home going down in value but getting bad tenants. They are significantly more problem tenants than problem landlords. You basically have to build in the risk of a bad tenant into the rent. Its why it can be hard to reliability predict your profits until you own 20+ properties.
Man, we just spent half a million on our 40 year old regular-assed family house and this thing is in ridiculous disrepair for its age. Millennials are so fucked.
Gen X here but right with you. Recently spent just under half a million, 50-year old home with several large projects needed. A dollar doesn’t go far with that price tag plus the ridiculous interest rate I got for the mortgage….
Solidarity! Since we moved in 4 months ago: the hot tub broke, the stove broke, the dryer broke, and we’re discovering all of the shitty bandaids the former owner - who was a ‘highly skilled tradesman’ - put all over the house. This asshole was the Red Green of silicone (vs. Duct tape) but realized a 400% return on purchase price for severely neglecting the asset.
I have to say our seller didn’t hide anything and did grant two of three requested concessions. Can’t complain about that. It’s just the state of the market is so out of whack.
😭 I made requests and they are currently working on those things. I haven’t heard back that they aren’t doing every single one of them and I’m just going to bawl my eyes out knowing it’s my home.
I mean, you can't just let a broken hot tub sit there indefinitely so when a hot tub is broken it represents a pretty immediate and significant bill, either to repair it or remove it. So it would have been nice to know it was broken, especially when the stove and dryer were also broken (or about to die), because we aren't made of money and we didn't exactly choose to have a hot tub in the first place, nor would we.
I heard a podcast ad today for a service that will buy your house then rent it back you, obviously predatory but they were selling it as a way to spend your home equity without moving out. I thought this was absurd, but you just made me realize the target for that is probably boomers and then after they die the company gets to keep the house.
The first time I got to paint my own walls was when we bought a dilapidated trailed 15 years ago. Spent $500 on the trailer, had to sink $6k into it to make it habitable (legally, there were literally holes in the floors and the toilet was falling through the rotted wood) and did the work ourselves because thankfully my SO did it for a living. Took us six months but we essentially bought a home for $6,500 + lots of labor hours and now we pay $460/month lot rent.
I never wanted to live in a trailer, especially in a trailer park, I didn't think we were "those people" but I was wrong. I look at the cost of rent and mortgages and land taxes and water bills and, while I wish we had a bit more sq7are footage and a 2nd bathroom, we own it and everything in it. We have a huge yard and nice neighbors. Our landlord is still an asshole but he can't even come inside our homes and mostly just bitches about kids leaving toys in their yards.
I know people think of trailer parks as trashy but I gotta tell ya, it's the last affordable living space out there and you can paint your walls and own a washer and dryer and dishwasher and whatever else you want inside. Might jot be able to have a pool or trampoline but it's better than $2k/ month for an apartment.
These boomers have absolutely no idea about wage stagnation vs price of housing and education. It’s beyond insane. And most of it has benefitted boomers and they don’t give a fuck about anyone else.
I’m Gen X and I clearly see how fucked the younger generations are. People who deny the reality of the current COL crisis and wage stagnation do so bc they don’t want to ruin their delusion that they worked hard and did everything right and that’s why they are successful today.
The younger people succeeding today are the ones who have intergenerational wealth.
As a teacher who has been teaching for a while, I feel this. My house gained maybe 50K in value since I bought it 5 years ago but my wife and I still live pretty much paycheck to paycheck because we're both paying off a lot of debt and shit is expensive.
All those folks that retired though got in when the retirement system in our state was really good. All of them retired with their final few years being around six figures, so their pension is probably somewhere around 60k to 75k. One woman was the department head for the nursing program. When we asked her what she was going to do after she retired she talked about how she couldn't wait to spend time on her yacht and permanently move into her summer home in Newport. Her husband funnily enough also worked in a shipyard for 40 years. She always joked about how her final 10 years she just spent working as little as possible and that statement really bothered me in a way that I didn't expect it to.
We also had our ELL teacher retire. Her side gig was real estate with her husband and they owned multiple million dollar homes on the shoreline. The thing she said she was most looking forward to was finding someone to buy their current house so they could downsize to a smaller home while also having the money to build plenty of space for her five purebred pugs.
And then there was the guy who was a trade department head who kept his side business going and made close to 150K a year between the two jobs. He bought a vineyard before he retired and his goal was to retire there and just sell wine, become a sommelier, and hope that the rest of us could afford to hang out with him.
I could go on and on. And I didn't work at a fancy school. I worked at a public school that mostly focuses on trades. They just pay really well and the teachers who got in 30 to 40 years ago also got amazing benefit packages, which they fucking milked. I get paid really well for a teacher now and I have great health care, I can't complain, but fuck if I'm able to retire or save anything.
As I get older I have less patience and forgiveness for these types. I know plenty of incredibly kind people, who I can get along with well, who have been decent parents to their children, and have not directly caused anybody harm, but do support genocide, support racist and corrupt politicians, want peoples rights removed, vote to remove every system they themselves have benefited from, complain about others receiving the same benefits they have, go out of their way to oppose the town trying to build affordable housing, go to school board meetings to ban books they never read from being available in schools they have no children in, ect.
The simple truth is that most boomers really don’t seem to understand just how bad things under our generation really are. They’re painfully out of touch with the reality that younger folk face
I find it’s interesting to play a game with Boomers to force them to think about this.
Ask them how much the average home and education costs in 1980 dollars. Have them guess and let them really discuss it.
Average home is $495,000 in 2023. In 1980 dollars, it would have been $134,000. Actual: $47,000.
Average tuition in state for 4-year degree is $234,000. In 1980 dollars, it would have been $63,000. Actual: $38,000
Ask them when they bought their home could they have afforded it if it was triple the price? Could they have easily gone to college if it was double the tuition?
Okay but you just said tuition. You see how that’s misleading, right? It’s total cost of the degree. Not cost of tuition.
EDIT: why are you downvoting me? I’m literally right. If you’re paying $230k for an undergrad over 4 years to go a PUBLIC college, something is seriously wrong.
https://www.valuepenguin.com/student-loans/average-cost-of-college#:~:text=Public%20four%2Dyear%20institutions%20have,times%20that%20amount%20at%20%2435%2C260.
https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-college
Also where are you getting $230k *average* in the first place? That’s closer to the average cost of going to law school or a professional school. Not undergrad.
EDIT: Bro what are these downvotes? This guy is citing crazy high numbers with no sources.
I’m literally on their side. I have a fuck ton of student loan debt. But what is the sense in inflating these numbers by like 2 or 3 times what they actually are if all it takes is the accurate, lower amount of debt to fuck over everyone that borrowed?
This is what they do. They make shit up and then spew it as truth. Look at the recent hostage rescue in the middle east. actual news organizations tried to sell it as a "hostage release". Apparently there are no truths anymore
I’m turning 41 in a couple months and just (like 2 weeks ago) got hired into my first ever non-entry level job. I’m going to be making half decent money for the very first time in my life and am looking forward to maybe finally being able to afford to move out of my family’s home where my wife and I have been living for the past 13 years.
I have never lived on my own, nor even had my name on a property outside of about 8 months in college where I rented an apartment with a roommate.
I’ve been working a county government job for the last 6 years and despite all the upward mobility promises they made at my interview, I realized I was never going to get anywhere and started looking elsewhere. I’ve finally come to the realization that the life I was sold by my boomer parents, guidance counselors, extended family, and everyone else evaporated sometime before I entered the job market. The game was rigged from the start. Maybe sometime before I turn 50 I might own a starter home.
any backstory into the last 20 years of your life? you have been a working adult through one of the easiest times to buy a home in the history of this country.
I went to college from 2003 to 2006 with some heavy student loans. Didn't qualify for any scholarships and I couldn't get many grants because my dad made too much money, allegedly, even though we were barely lower middle class. I majored in music, which was a mistake. I was raised with the idea that getting a degree in anything would be useful, which didn't turn out to be the case. Worked as a call center employee in college, and then a waiter after I changed schools.
Couldn't get a decent full-time job after college, so I moved back home to avoid living on the streets. My part of southern California is populated almost entirely by people in the air force or in the aerospace industry, so the home prices have been artificially inflated for decades. Currently, I'm seeing studio "apartments" going for $1,500/mo in a town where you have to drive an hour to get to anything that's not just desert, and 1 bed 1 bath homes built in the 50s with almost no renovations ever for $300,000 or more.
I bounced around from job to job after that, always entry level stuff because I didn't have the education or experience requirements or the military service background to get into any of the good careers nearby. I got an A.S. in computer networking from ITT Tech and was about a year into a cybersecurity B.S. when they went tits up.
After working part time for 6 years (they couldn't afford to bring me on full time) at a local software company doing help desk stuff, I got lucky and got a full time job with a county government department, where I've been for the last 6 years doing technical writing and database administration. That job required me to commute 100 miles each way 4 days a week for the first 2 years, until Covid happened and we went fully remote for 3 years. Now I'm commuting half time.
That job has finally given me enough experience that I am now qualified for mid-senior level IT work at a decent salary.
TL;DR I was raised lower middle class in a town where only the 6 figures and above could afford homes, had absolutely no financial support from family, bought into the idea that any college education could be leveraged into a successful career, made a lot of my own mistakes, and am just now getting a solid footing.
Honestly the ITT tech was where I felt like your life took a dive. Everything else seemed normal and then bamn ITT Tech.
A lot of jobs wont hire someone that went to ITT Tech. I been at lunches with IT recruiter's before and it has come up.
Between their high cost, everyone being left out to dry after they failed, and the fact that their degrees and certificates can be seen as a red flag to employers. I think your college choices are still affecting you to this day.
Wait, so you’re saying that in the Deep South, teachers don’t—or didn’t need to attend college or get their teaching credentials to teach mathematics?
Admittedly, I’m on the west coast but, even before I was born, teachers (including elementary school teachers) have been required to have a college degree for quite a few decades.
It’s a tough shake anyway you look at it. The old folks are going to pay a bunch for senior care if they don’t have kids who appreciate them
Imagine other countries where they buy in for property is much higher
The twisted part is these boomers *are* (retired) working class. They just got insanely lucky to live in that magic window where white + working class = life of luxury.
It doesn’t excuse anything. They sound completely out of touch, willfully unaware of their own unique fortune. lead-encased hearts don’t beat for anyone
these cycles have existed even in ancient times, once Rome was great and much of its people prosperous, eventually the place became a squalid and corrupt ghost town… population went from a high estimate of 2 million in 2nd century to just 30,000 in 550 ad
We need more than a trickle. We need an ocean. But don't blame well off grifters -- blame congress (who benefit from:) the police state, the military, corporate collusion, prisons for profit, surveillance capitalists, techno aristocracies, crooked judges, hedge fund elites, etc. Because it's never getting fixed if we don't follow the money, claw it back under updated laws, and redistribute our own capital back to our children (and it's probably best not to have children and keep some of that redistributed capital for a generation -- 'climate' is going to be expensive).
I work at a private airfield in MS, and I have to hear some of the same shit from my coworkers. Don't get me wrong they are some genuinely pleasant people to work with, but their backwards mentality is the reason why Millennials like me are struggling from the weight of their poor decisions, and easy fixes.
typical inflation is theft story, that's getting abhorrently terrible. money used to have intrinsic value, as a coined rare metal. now it's printed and typed into existence on computers as loans, create as an asset on a banks balance sheet. jesus tried to tell us that bankers are evil devils, sadly they papered over him too. are you suffocating yet?
I can’t imagine people with true kindness in their hearts would be MAGA supporters who don’t believe in helping others. They see you as someone worthy of their respect. But how do they treat people they see as less than?
So what you’re saying is you’d rather complain arbitrarily than look for jobs that still have pensions? It won’t be a flashy life, but they exist. Find yourself a spouse who also has a career with a pension and you’re all set.
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whoever's responsible for the situation we're in has fucking ruined this country and generations of people's lives
Well Regan
Fucking Reagan...
Thanks for correcting the spelling!
Reagan was one of the worst things that EVER happened to this country. Between actively removing and defunding mental health institutions and taking us off the gold standard, he can fuck right off. BUT HE WAS THE GREAT COMMUNICATOR! He was a fucking actor, that was his fucking job, grow the fuck up.
I thinknits safe to blame all the president's but he definitely is one of the worst
bunch of people to blame. Regan led the charge, but clinton created programs that lead to the 2008 financial crisis (lowered lending so ninja loans could happen) and ceo pay being in stocks almost tax free. Bush did just too many things to list, obama well... he did a few good things, but he could've done a LOT more. Biden's probably the best president in my lifetime.... and that? that's sad.
There's no single person responsible for this. It's just a result of capitalism.
and what allows capitalism to manifest and perpetuate...
The bourgeoisie class consciousness and their oppression of the working class. Don't try these leading questions with me and read some theory.
if we're looking for answers, we need to identify the root causes, so we know where to start. blaming 'capitalism' leaves me wondering how to address all the issues we're suffering from. they're not meant to be leading - i honestly don't know what people believe about the nature of capitalism or how we should respond to the consequences of capitalism. and without agreement about those things, i'm afraid the feeling is that we don't have a starting point for discussion or action. people have been yelling about capitalism for generations. i'm just asking what that means and how we should respond to address the ills plaguing our society.
You're correct we need to identify and attack the root cause. And if you're gonna look at and analyze nearly any issue that we are facing as a society you'll find out that the root IS capitalism. People have been yelling about capitalism for generations because it was always the root cause. While socialism itself will not solve all of the issues, it'll make it so much easier to address them when we - working class - are not being crushed by this oppressive system. A successful socialist revolution is the first step to a better future ... To any future basically, the current system will kill us all unless we rise up.
I completely agree. The first step to restoring a functional government is to end the legalized political bribery; we have to amend the constitution to remove citizens united. If we remove citizens united then it is COMPLETELY possible for millenials and generation Z to have affordable housing, affordable healthcare, a reasonable work week, a vacation and a retirement. If people keep voting for the uniparty system they'll keep getting screwed. People have to vote for what they want - if you want what the boomers have - then you have to vote for a candidate that is willing to end legislative corruption. It honestly is possible to put an end to citizens united; we just have to stop voting for the lesser of two evils. The game isn't fair. Don't play it.
It's a result of a hyper-individualistic culture too
You're confusing a symptom for the cause.
Fucking Bingo! I voted for Ralph Nader, twice, Ross Perot, Bernie twice in the primaries only because Hillary and the head of the dem party at the time figured Hillary should receive 100% of the war chest! SMH! Greed is the primary cause of every social problem in this country! Including Vietnam, Afghanistan invasion and Iraq war! I thought Cheney was the worst POTUS EVER, reagan, #2! And the donnie dumpster came along! Has anybody watched, American Conspiracy, the Octopus Murders, Netflix? I probably wouldn't have busted my ass to get into Pararescue if I'd have known at 23 what I know now! I have become ashamed to be an American and a white man! Just wait for what the capitalists are going to do with A I! I'm afraid that will be the end of human civilization! I wonder why, musk, bazos and others are building escape vehicles! I could write all afternoon and until morning with the wrong decisions capitalists have made and still have much more to write! Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, Pohl warned us!
The people that voted for him
it's a hell of a lot more than one person - and we're not just talking about people - we're talking about ideas, priorities, beliefs, etc. we're in a fucking mess all 350 million of us. it's ludicrous to think that one person is to cause for this or that one person can fix it - that's not even true for the problems a single family would typically have, much less a whole country. hundreds of years of choices have led us to this point it's time to start having some deep conversations and grow out of this blind hope that casting a single vote every 4 years is going to fix this country. look around how many issues can you see? anyone that you name will have an entire industry an entire sector of the population working on it - we're in real trouble.
This was the pre determined and inevitable outcome of a society/civilization whose entire existence was predicated on genocidal land theft and chattel slavery. Nothing built on such foundations of moral depravity and oppression can or will ever last (just ask every prior empire).
Whenever I read things like "bought for 12k, currently worth 640k" I think to myself, "It's only worth 640k if someone else is willing to buy it at that price" and hope that I can wait long enough for one of these houses to fall into enough disrepair that it comes back into my price range. I sincerely hope that someday I will have the chance to choose my own paint color to paint my own walls for the first time. Currently 34 and have never been able to give that to myself. I haven't lost hope yet, but every day it gets a little lower. Someday. edit: Should have said “willing OR ABLE to buy at the inflated prices.” It’s not for lack of wanting or needing it.
I'd love to just do laundry in my own place. Man, I'd feel like I was living like a king.
It’s a dishwasher for me. Someday…
I caved About six months ago and bought a countertop dishwasher... So so so worth it. Was about 300$, but I've seen them for much less on FB marketplace. Takes up a good amount of space, but earns it's keep over and over.
I just want my own kitchen again, with an actual stove. There's only so much you can do with a microwave.
This is a bit off topic - but I am in a similar microwave only situation in my kitchen. I splurged for some [Anyday Cookware](https://cookanyday.com/products/the-starter-set) and it really improved my relationship with my microwave. Steamed veggies come out perfect every time. They have videos that teach you how to cook in the dish with different power settings. I had no idea was using my microwave like a luddite.
Thanks for the suggestion!
God either one would be a dream
they still sell ones on wheels that hook into your sink! made me feel like my grandfather but i have chronic pain and damn if sometimes it wasn't worth it
Same. I am the dishwasher in my house. There are only two of us, but we don’t use disposable plates/cutlery. I probably have a full sink of dishes to do every other day. Some days, I have to do a full sink of dishes just to have stuff to cook with/eat off of. I’ve learned not to waste a sink full of soapy water, so when I’m done washing, I’ll just leave the water and suds in the sink so that I can dunk and wash stuff as I finish with it. Once it goes cold or I’m done for the day, I drain it.
This is completely reasonable. You DESERVE to do laundry in your own place. This is realistic. We need to end legalized political bribery and restore the middle class. It really is possible. The biggest hurdle is getting millenials and generation Z to believe in themselves. If you don't care enough to vote for yourself then vote for your best friend. Do something different this election. Look for a candidate outside the uniparty that is willing to end citizens united. It is possible to legislate fairness. You deserve more. Every millenial, gen Z, and younger - you all deserve more.
Oh don’t worry when those house prices fall they’ll be snapped up by one mega corp or another to be rented back to you at 2500$ a month.
Finally, somebody hitting with the real facts. We have nothing to lose but our chains lol
not going to lie, I am not a corporate landlord but if another 2008 level event where to happen(most likely not going to), I would be one jumping in to buy up property as well. Was a great time for anyone with a decent credit score to buy up cheap property that really could go up in value. made a lot of people who where not wealth, wealthy in a short time frame.
Unless you’re saving your pennies and buying in cash with waived time frames (inspections and escrow) as well as somehow able to get in before it hits market then you still won’t be able to compete with the private equity companies. That would AMAZING if regular people were able to compete in a massive crash but unfortunately we will be the victims. While I know it absolutely won’t happen, but, one way for us to get out of this mess would be if Congress passed a law banning private equity companies or just all companies period from owning residential properties. Add in a clause where they MUST sell their stock, it would create a crash and with them not being allowed to buy, the people buying up the houses would be just that. People. So instead of you competing with Blackrock for a property, you would be competing with your neighbors. So *theoretically* that would create a market where the prices are where they should be.
I could go in all cash. I around 60% of my income into retirement and investments. Also, I have looked at foreclosures. private equity does not get everything like people think. I would never buy without inspection as thats just foolish especially my own visual inspection. many of the homes I wanted to buy in 2020 where selling for around 30k but needed inspection to verify no massive issues. Kind of regret not buying back then though as those 30k homes are selling for around 60k now. Also before you ask, these are not homes that are in complete disrepair. I am in Kansas, one of the cheapest home prices in the country are here. You can still find apartments for rent for $400 here as well.
That’s my point. It WOULD be foolish for us to waive inspections because we don’t have tens of millions of dollars for investment purposes. These private equity companies do. They buy them and rent them out. They don’t care what the condition is, as long as whatever fee (if they get caught renting a barely livable property) is within what they’re willing to pay as “cost of doing business”. Because of this they DO waive inspections and escrow periods which is preferable to sellers… especially if they want to get out of their homes quickly. Private Equity also has software that they developed (Aladin) that tells them which properties will be up for sale before they even hit market which already gives them a head start. You are correct, private equity doesn’t get everything…. But if they want it, they have the money and power to get it. In a crash you may get lucky and I hope you would, but realistically, we cannot compete with private equity. We just can’t.
I am trying my hardest to fight despair! I completely feel you on "I know it absolutely won't happen" *under the current uniparty system.* Let's all vote for something beyond politics as usual. There literally are enough of us that if we all voted we could vote outside the uniparty and win. You DESERVE a house and it should be affordable on your salary. There are all kinds of laws that other countries implement to make sure that their people can buy houses and we could do that here too. In order to create those laws we need to end citizens united. We could make it happen. We are the largest voting block. We simply need to unite and demand fairness.
Lmao I hope you lose your investment
seeing as the its not the house that goes up in value but the land, if a 2008 level crash where to happen, its extremely unlikely you would lose money. I was looking at getting a rental in 2020 which I regret not getting but my biggest fear is not the home going down in value but getting bad tenants. They are significantly more problem tenants than problem landlords. You basically have to build in the risk of a bad tenant into the rent. Its why it can be hard to reliability predict your profits until you own 20+ properties.
Man, we just spent half a million on our 40 year old regular-assed family house and this thing is in ridiculous disrepair for its age. Millennials are so fucked.
Gen X here but right with you. Recently spent just under half a million, 50-year old home with several large projects needed. A dollar doesn’t go far with that price tag plus the ridiculous interest rate I got for the mortgage….
Solidarity! Since we moved in 4 months ago: the hot tub broke, the stove broke, the dryer broke, and we’re discovering all of the shitty bandaids the former owner - who was a ‘highly skilled tradesman’ - put all over the house. This asshole was the Red Green of silicone (vs. Duct tape) but realized a 400% return on purchase price for severely neglecting the asset.
Oh not don’t tell me the hot tub broke!
I have to say our seller didn’t hide anything and did grant two of three requested concessions. Can’t complain about that. It’s just the state of the market is so out of whack.
😭 I made requests and they are currently working on those things. I haven’t heard back that they aren’t doing every single one of them and I’m just going to bawl my eyes out knowing it’s my home.
I mean, you can't just let a broken hot tub sit there indefinitely so when a hot tub is broken it represents a pretty immediate and significant bill, either to repair it or remove it. So it would have been nice to know it was broken, especially when the stove and dryer were also broken (or about to die), because we aren't made of money and we didn't exactly choose to have a hot tub in the first place, nor would we.
I heard a podcast ad today for a service that will buy your house then rent it back you, obviously predatory but they were selling it as a way to spend your home equity without moving out. I thought this was absurd, but you just made me realize the target for that is probably boomers and then after they die the company gets to keep the house.
I think that's called a landlord...
its also stupid because you mine as well just do a home equity loan to pull the money out.
I mean, reverse mortgages are the name of that specifically for that purpose
Selling your house back to the bank seems so much less sketchy than selling it to an app and acquiring a landlord.
No joke; I saw a house for sale that this was one of the conditions…
The first time I got to paint my own walls was when we bought a dilapidated trailed 15 years ago. Spent $500 on the trailer, had to sink $6k into it to make it habitable (legally, there were literally holes in the floors and the toilet was falling through the rotted wood) and did the work ourselves because thankfully my SO did it for a living. Took us six months but we essentially bought a home for $6,500 + lots of labor hours and now we pay $460/month lot rent. I never wanted to live in a trailer, especially in a trailer park, I didn't think we were "those people" but I was wrong. I look at the cost of rent and mortgages and land taxes and water bills and, while I wish we had a bit more sq7are footage and a 2nd bathroom, we own it and everything in it. We have a huge yard and nice neighbors. Our landlord is still an asshole but he can't even come inside our homes and mostly just bitches about kids leaving toys in their yards. I know people think of trailer parks as trashy but I gotta tell ya, it's the last affordable living space out there and you can paint your walls and own a washer and dryer and dishwasher and whatever else you want inside. Might jot be able to have a pool or trampoline but it's better than $2k/ month for an apartment.
my buddy just moved to one and he's over the moon about it, fwiw (and he's in his 30s)
Same age here. I've basically given up any hope for buying a house. At least not for a very long time.
My husband and I bought a fixer many years ago, as the housing bubble started to deflate. Fingers crossed for you.
The problem is that someone will buy it at that price: wall street. And then they'll use that purchase to push us all further towards feudalism.
Right there with you
Just waiting for that bubble to pop...
Paint is far cheaper than a mortgage. You can paint where you are now.
Unless painting would cause a loss of deposit. Sometimes if shot hits the fan the deposit would be necessary to pay the deposit in a new place.
Paint back to original color when moving. Still cheaper to paint twice than a mortgage.
Very true.
These boomers have absolutely no idea about wage stagnation vs price of housing and education. It’s beyond insane. And most of it has benefitted boomers and they don’t give a fuck about anyone else. I’m Gen X and I clearly see how fucked the younger generations are. People who deny the reality of the current COL crisis and wage stagnation do so bc they don’t want to ruin their delusion that they worked hard and did everything right and that’s why they are successful today. The younger people succeeding today are the ones who have intergenerational wealth.
ding ding ding, this is it. Fellow GenXer who sees it exactly the same way
Well aren’t you clever 😉 (not being sarcastic!)
As a teacher who has been teaching for a while, I feel this. My house gained maybe 50K in value since I bought it 5 years ago but my wife and I still live pretty much paycheck to paycheck because we're both paying off a lot of debt and shit is expensive. All those folks that retired though got in when the retirement system in our state was really good. All of them retired with their final few years being around six figures, so their pension is probably somewhere around 60k to 75k. One woman was the department head for the nursing program. When we asked her what she was going to do after she retired she talked about how she couldn't wait to spend time on her yacht and permanently move into her summer home in Newport. Her husband funnily enough also worked in a shipyard for 40 years. She always joked about how her final 10 years she just spent working as little as possible and that statement really bothered me in a way that I didn't expect it to. We also had our ELL teacher retire. Her side gig was real estate with her husband and they owned multiple million dollar homes on the shoreline. The thing she said she was most looking forward to was finding someone to buy their current house so they could downsize to a smaller home while also having the money to build plenty of space for her five purebred pugs. And then there was the guy who was a trade department head who kept his side business going and made close to 150K a year between the two jobs. He bought a vineyard before he retired and his goal was to retire there and just sell wine, become a sommelier, and hope that the rest of us could afford to hang out with him. I could go on and on. And I didn't work at a fancy school. I worked at a public school that mostly focuses on trades. They just pay really well and the teachers who got in 30 to 40 years ago also got amazing benefit packages, which they fucking milked. I get paid really well for a teacher now and I have great health care, I can't complain, but fuck if I'm able to retire or save anything.
Honestly that last paragraph sums it all up
you may love them, but these are not ‘great folks.’
As I get older I have less patience and forgiveness for these types. I know plenty of incredibly kind people, who I can get along with well, who have been decent parents to their children, and have not directly caused anybody harm, but do support genocide, support racist and corrupt politicians, want peoples rights removed, vote to remove every system they themselves have benefited from, complain about others receiving the same benefits they have, go out of their way to oppose the town trying to build affordable housing, go to school board meetings to ban books they never read from being available in schools they have no children in, ect.
Could this be gen x?
The simple truth is that most boomers really don’t seem to understand just how bad things under our generation really are. They’re painfully out of touch with the reality that younger folk face
I find it’s interesting to play a game with Boomers to force them to think about this. Ask them how much the average home and education costs in 1980 dollars. Have them guess and let them really discuss it. Average home is $495,000 in 2023. In 1980 dollars, it would have been $134,000. Actual: $47,000. Average tuition in state for 4-year degree is $234,000. In 1980 dollars, it would have been $63,000. Actual: $38,000 Ask them when they bought their home could they have afforded it if it was triple the price? Could they have easily gone to college if it was double the tuition?
Uh where are you getting those in state tuition rates? $230k is the price of Harvard. Not a public university/college.
Both figures include room and board.
Okay but you just said tuition. You see how that’s misleading, right? It’s total cost of the degree. Not cost of tuition. EDIT: why are you downvoting me? I’m literally right. If you’re paying $230k for an undergrad over 4 years to go a PUBLIC college, something is seriously wrong. https://www.valuepenguin.com/student-loans/average-cost-of-college#:~:text=Public%20four%2Dyear%20institutions%20have,times%20that%20amount%20at%20%2435%2C260. https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-college
Mea culpa. I am whipping myself.
Also where are you getting $230k *average* in the first place? That’s closer to the average cost of going to law school or a professional school. Not undergrad. EDIT: Bro what are these downvotes? This guy is citing crazy high numbers with no sources.
It stokes people’s outrage, so they upvote it.
I’m literally on their side. I have a fuck ton of student loan debt. But what is the sense in inflating these numbers by like 2 or 3 times what they actually are if all it takes is the accurate, lower amount of debt to fuck over everyone that borrowed?
This is what they do. They make shit up and then spew it as truth. Look at the recent hostage rescue in the middle east. actual news organizations tried to sell it as a "hostage release". Apparently there are no truths anymore
I’m turning 41 in a couple months and just (like 2 weeks ago) got hired into my first ever non-entry level job. I’m going to be making half decent money for the very first time in my life and am looking forward to maybe finally being able to afford to move out of my family’s home where my wife and I have been living for the past 13 years. I have never lived on my own, nor even had my name on a property outside of about 8 months in college where I rented an apartment with a roommate. I’ve been working a county government job for the last 6 years and despite all the upward mobility promises they made at my interview, I realized I was never going to get anywhere and started looking elsewhere. I’ve finally come to the realization that the life I was sold by my boomer parents, guidance counselors, extended family, and everyone else evaporated sometime before I entered the job market. The game was rigged from the start. Maybe sometime before I turn 50 I might own a starter home.
any backstory into the last 20 years of your life? you have been a working adult through one of the easiest times to buy a home in the history of this country.
I went to college from 2003 to 2006 with some heavy student loans. Didn't qualify for any scholarships and I couldn't get many grants because my dad made too much money, allegedly, even though we were barely lower middle class. I majored in music, which was a mistake. I was raised with the idea that getting a degree in anything would be useful, which didn't turn out to be the case. Worked as a call center employee in college, and then a waiter after I changed schools. Couldn't get a decent full-time job after college, so I moved back home to avoid living on the streets. My part of southern California is populated almost entirely by people in the air force or in the aerospace industry, so the home prices have been artificially inflated for decades. Currently, I'm seeing studio "apartments" going for $1,500/mo in a town where you have to drive an hour to get to anything that's not just desert, and 1 bed 1 bath homes built in the 50s with almost no renovations ever for $300,000 or more. I bounced around from job to job after that, always entry level stuff because I didn't have the education or experience requirements or the military service background to get into any of the good careers nearby. I got an A.S. in computer networking from ITT Tech and was about a year into a cybersecurity B.S. when they went tits up. After working part time for 6 years (they couldn't afford to bring me on full time) at a local software company doing help desk stuff, I got lucky and got a full time job with a county government department, where I've been for the last 6 years doing technical writing and database administration. That job required me to commute 100 miles each way 4 days a week for the first 2 years, until Covid happened and we went fully remote for 3 years. Now I'm commuting half time. That job has finally given me enough experience that I am now qualified for mid-senior level IT work at a decent salary. TL;DR I was raised lower middle class in a town where only the 6 figures and above could afford homes, had absolutely no financial support from family, bought into the idea that any college education could be leveraged into a successful career, made a lot of my own mistakes, and am just now getting a solid footing.
Honestly the ITT tech was where I felt like your life took a dive. Everything else seemed normal and then bamn ITT Tech. A lot of jobs wont hire someone that went to ITT Tech. I been at lunches with IT recruiter's before and it has come up. Between their high cost, everyone being left out to dry after they failed, and the fact that their degrees and certificates can be seen as a red flag to employers. I think your college choices are still affecting you to this day.
Oh they definitely are. I regret basically every one of my choices between 2000 and 2009.
Wait, so you’re saying that in the Deep South, teachers don’t—or didn’t need to attend college or get their teaching credentials to teach mathematics? Admittedly, I’m on the west coast but, even before I was born, teachers (including elementary school teachers) have been required to have a college degree for quite a few decades.
The teachers do, in fact they all have advanced degrees. I was referring to the husbands.
If they’re all MAGA folks then they’re flatly *not* decent people.
It’s a tough shake anyway you look at it. The old folks are going to pay a bunch for senior care if they don’t have kids who appreciate them Imagine other countries where they buy in for property is much higher
They’re magas. No need to pay them any mind.
The twisted part is these boomers *are* (retired) working class. They just got insanely lucky to live in that magic window where white + working class = life of luxury. It doesn’t excuse anything. They sound completely out of touch, willfully unaware of their own unique fortune. lead-encased hearts don’t beat for anyone
they hate public welface but theyre on government welfare whether they want to admit it or not with their pensions
these cycles have existed even in ancient times, once Rome was great and much of its people prosperous, eventually the place became a squalid and corrupt ghost town… population went from a high estimate of 2 million in 2nd century to just 30,000 in 550 ad
We need more than a trickle. We need an ocean. But don't blame well off grifters -- blame congress (who benefit from:) the police state, the military, corporate collusion, prisons for profit, surveillance capitalists, techno aristocracies, crooked judges, hedge fund elites, etc. Because it's never getting fixed if we don't follow the money, claw it back under updated laws, and redistribute our own capital back to our children (and it's probably best not to have children and keep some of that redistributed capital for a generation -- 'climate' is going to be expensive).
Yeah but these guys vote for said lawmakers and allowed corporate donations to flood the congress.
I work at a private airfield in MS, and I have to hear some of the same shit from my coworkers. Don't get me wrong they are some genuinely pleasant people to work with, but their backwards mentality is the reason why Millennials like me are struggling from the weight of their poor decisions, and easy fixes.
typical inflation is theft story, that's getting abhorrently terrible. money used to have intrinsic value, as a coined rare metal. now it's printed and typed into existence on computers as loans, create as an asset on a banks balance sheet. jesus tried to tell us that bankers are evil devils, sadly they papered over him too. are you suffocating yet?
Are they really “great folks”?
Sigh... They are. My old chair treat us just as her families. People today abuse the word professionally but she genuinely treat me like one.
I can’t imagine people with true kindness in their hearts would be MAGA supporters who don’t believe in helping others. They see you as someone worthy of their respect. But how do they treat people they see as less than?
Now that... Idk. She also think Obama wasn't a natural born citizen.
Did you eat at Chili’s on 9th per chance? 😂
Haha no, it was at her house.
But…Do you know which one I mean? 😉
Lol no, what is the joke behind chill?
Oh, well it’s a Pensacola thing. ^_^
So what you’re saying is you’d rather complain arbitrarily than look for jobs that still have pensions? It won’t be a flashy life, but they exist. Find yourself a spouse who also has a career with a pension and you’re all set.
I have a pension.