11 ms·

On the contrary, real wages in the USA are the highest they've ever been. Social media and fentanyl are making people unhappy but for most people it's not an ec

by roca 2y ago

On the contrary, real wages in the USA are the highest they've ever been. Social media and fentanyl are making people unhappy but for most people it's not an economic problem.

bugglebeetle 2y ago
Sure thing, Dr. Pangloss. > Average age of first-time homebuyers is 38, an all-time high. https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/11/05/the-average-age-of-first-time-us-homebuyers-is-38-an-all-time-high.html https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/11/05/the-average-age-of-first... > U.S. homelessness rose 18 percent in 2024, continuing multi-year upward trend > https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/u-s-homelessness-rose-18-percent-in-2024-continuing-multi-year-upward-trend https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/u-s-homelessness-rose-18... > analysis of government data estimates that people in the United States owe at least $220 billion in medical debt. https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/the-burden-of-medical-debt-in-the-united-states/ https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/the-burden-of-m...
- cheinic830405 2y ago
  > Average age of first-time homebuyers is 38, an all-time high. And why is this a problem? What is wrong with renting for life, exactly? I’m seeing more and more people own rental properties, but do not own their primary residence by choice.
  - FpUser 2y ago
    >"And why is this a problem?" As a free person I want to own my place. I have better ways to spend my money rather than feeding some asshole
    - bdangubic 2y ago
      if you want to be a free person and own your place you may have to move out of the USA as in the USA you are not allowed to own your place. each year you have to pay (via “property tax”) for the right to occupy the property which you are not legally allowed to own. 23 states even prohibit people from owning cars… so not really all that free :)
      - FpUser 2y ago
        I live in Canada, own house and pay property taxes. Cut the BS. You know what I mean under own. Yes ownership is limited but even limited it is much better than throwing away extra dosh to some middleman I do not give a flying fuck about.
        bdangubic 2y ago
        this is “common wisdom” that owning is better, the “math” on that seldom checks out https://www.kiplinger.com/real-estate/buying-a-home/renting-is-cheaper-than-buying https://www.kiplinger.com/real-estate/buying-a-home/renting-...
        FpUser 2y ago
        It checks out big time for me. >"In 21 U.S. metros, the monthly cost of owning is at least 50% more expensive" I am not in the US. 21 metros do not constitute country. When I bought house in major metro (Toronto) it was $200,000. So please do not feed me this pathetic propaganda.
  - econ 2y ago
    Here in NL we first went from non profits owned by the members to gov housing. They just took everything without payment. Then they privatized everything and the corporation got the houses for free. All was fine for a few years then profit became the only agenda point while they were already swimming in free money and didn't want to build. Building was not attractive compared to getting houses for free. All rents are now maximized to the legal limit of course. They also run various inspection teams to force people to make their neighborhood look more expensive so the value goes up so that the rent can be increased further. For maintenance one can call 1 hour per week. They pretty much have lavish offices full of overpaid paperclip maximizers who don't do anything anyone needs, on the contrary, things would be better if they did nothing. To add to the irony there are also self-made landlords who do similar work on similar scale on their own! They are usually available for defects and damages day and night. Back when the people owned the non profits they build and fixed everything asap on the cheap. It might even be better than owning the home directly.
    - caycep 2y ago
      There's maybe an analogous situation in New York's Chinatown in Manhattan but it is running into problems - a lot of buildings owned by community "neighborhood organizations" but my understanding is they are somehow running out of funds and might need to sell
  - antifa 2y ago
    > What is wrong with renting for life, exactly? Nobody wants to be your serf until they're 38, bozo.
    - jonfromsf 2y ago
      I rent in the SF Bay and love it. My money does a lot better in the stock market than it does invested in dirt and bricks.
  - specialist 2y ago
    For better or worse, home ownership in the USA has been incentivized. Younger generations are now frozen out of the primary means to accumulate wealth. Ways forward are a) continued denial (status quo), b) YIMBYs defeat NIMBYs, c) change policy (incentivize renting) or d) <insert radical policy proposal here>.
Dalewyn 2y ago
The bad economy is the biggest (arguably only) reason Trump won against Harris, and by a landslide at that. You may think that expensive gasoline and cartons of eggs are a meme, but the reality is that the economy has become pretty damn Shite(tm) for the commons. Costs of living are objectively higher than they were just a couple years ago and incomes haven't kept pace either. The stock market is having the time of its life (and as a small time investor I find that nice) but it's completely detached from the economy.
- selimthegrim 2y ago
  Landslide? Electorally?
  - Dalewyn 2y ago
    Trump won both the electoral and popular votes and won all the swing states. The Republicans took both Houses of Congress and held all governorships up for election. Yes, he won by a landslide and the biggest factor was the bad economy.
    - seanmcdirmid 2y ago
      The factor was calling the economy a bad economy, they are already backtracking on promises since the economy is doing pretty well already and they won’t be able to juice it much more. Anyone who thinks 49.9% of the vote (vs 48.4%) is a landslide will quickly find them in negative approval ratings if they think that gives them much political capital (if trump focuses and spending rather than earning capital, that is, which he definitely will).
      - janalsncm 2y ago
        I think the problems with the economy (consolidation, corporate/private equity power, general inequality) are too big for any administration to fix even assuming they would want to. But yeah GDP and unemployment rate are fairly misleading metrics.

by roca 2y ago

On the contrary, real wages in the USA are the highest they've ever been. Social media and fentanyl are making people unhappy but for most people it's not an economic problem.

bugglebeetle 2y ago

Sure thing, Dr. Pangloss. > Average age of first-time homebuyers is 38, an all-time high. https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/11/05/the-average-age-of-first-time-us-homebuyers-is-38-an-all-time-high.html https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/11/05/the-average-age-of-first... > U.S. homelessness rose 18 percent in 2024, continuing multi-year upward trend > https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/u-s-homelessness-rose-18-percent-in-2024-continuing-multi-year-upward-trend https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/u-s-homelessness-rose-18... > analysis of government data estimates that people in the United States owe at least $220 billion in medical debt. https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/the-burden-of-medical-debt-in-the-united-states/ https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/the-burden-of-m...

cheinic830405 2y ago
> Average age of first-time homebuyers is 38, an all-time high. And why is this a problem? What is wrong with renting for life, exactly? I’m seeing more and more people own rental properties, but do not own their primary residence by choice.
- FpUser 2y ago
  >"And why is this a problem?" As a free person I want to own my place. I have better ways to spend my money rather than feeding some asshole
  - bdangubic 2y ago
    if you want to be a free person and own your place you may have to move out of the USA as in the USA you are not allowed to own your place. each year you have to pay (via “property tax”) for the right to occupy the property which you are not legally allowed to own. 23 states even prohibit people from owning cars… so not really all that free :)
    - FpUser 2y ago
      I live in Canada, own house and pay property taxes. Cut the BS. You know what I mean under own. Yes ownership is limited but even limited it is much better than throwing away extra dosh to some middleman I do not give a flying fuck about.
      - bdangubic 2y ago
        this is “common wisdom” that owning is better, the “math” on that seldom checks out https://www.kiplinger.com/real-estate/buying-a-home/renting-is-cheaper-than-buying https://www.kiplinger.com/real-estate/buying-a-home/renting-...
        FpUser 2y ago
        It checks out big time for me. >"In 21 U.S. metros, the monthly cost of owning is at least 50% more expensive" I am not in the US. 21 metros do not constitute country. When I bought house in major metro (Toronto) it was $200,000. So please do not feed me this pathetic propaganda.
- econ 2y ago
  Here in NL we first went from non profits owned by the members to gov housing. They just took everything without payment. Then they privatized everything and the corporation got the houses for free. All was fine for a few years then profit became the only agenda point while they were already swimming in free money and didn't want to build. Building was not attractive compared to getting houses for free. All rents are now maximized to the legal limit of course. They also run various inspection teams to force people to make their neighborhood look more expensive so the value goes up so that the rent can be increased further. For maintenance one can call 1 hour per week. They pretty much have lavish offices full of overpaid paperclip maximizers who don't do anything anyone needs, on the contrary, things would be better if they did nothing. To add to the irony there are also self-made landlords who do similar work on similar scale on their own! They are usually available for defects and damages day and night. Back when the people owned the non profits they build and fixed everything asap on the cheap. It might even be better than owning the home directly.
  - caycep 2y ago
    There's maybe an analogous situation in New York's Chinatown in Manhattan but it is running into problems - a lot of buildings owned by community "neighborhood organizations" but my understanding is they are somehow running out of funds and might need to sell
- antifa 2y ago
  > What is wrong with renting for life, exactly? Nobody wants to be your serf until they're 38, bozo.
  - jonfromsf 2y ago
    I rent in the SF Bay and love it. My money does a lot better in the stock market than it does invested in dirt and bricks.
- specialist 2y ago
  For better or worse, home ownership in the USA has been incentivized. Younger generations are now frozen out of the primary means to accumulate wealth. Ways forward are a) continued denial (status quo), b) YIMBYs defeat NIMBYs, c) change policy (incentivize renting) or d) <insert radical policy proposal here>.

Dalewyn 2y ago

The bad economy is the biggest (arguably only) reason Trump won against Harris, and by a landslide at that. You may think that expensive gasoline and cartons of eggs are a meme, but the reality is that the economy has become pretty damn Shite(tm) for the commons. Costs of living are objectively higher than they were just a couple years ago and incomes haven't kept pace either. The stock market is having the time of its life (and as a small time investor I find that nice) but it's completely detached from the economy.

selimthegrim 2y ago
Landslide? Electorally?
- Dalewyn 2y ago
  Trump won both the electoral and popular votes and won all the swing states. The Republicans took both Houses of Congress and held all governorships up for election. Yes, he won by a landslide and the biggest factor was the bad economy.
  - seanmcdirmid 2y ago
    The factor was calling the economy a bad economy, they are already backtracking on promises since the economy is doing pretty well already and they won’t be able to juice it much more. Anyone who thinks 49.9% of the vote (vs 48.4%) is a landslide will quickly find them in negative approval ratings if they think that gives them much political capital (if trump focuses and spending rather than earning capital, that is, which he definitely will).
    - janalsncm 2y ago
      I think the problems with the economy (consolidation, corporate/private equity power, general inequality) are too big for any administration to fix even assuming they would want to. But yeah GDP and unemployment rate are fairly misleading metrics.