[x(why)z]

Westopher, Cabin Pics, et al. are speaking my language. But this thread...

 

[ghost03]

Back then there was no internet so you were less likely to buy random stuff.

That's a pretty good point. It used to be the role of magazines to sell stuff to people, but now we get it on TV, web, e-mail, apps, etc. I don't even want to know how much extra I've spent because of all that stuff.

 

[unhappymeal]

One I’m not a boomer, just someone able to have enough perspective not to simply blame one generation as I understand we’re all in it together.

Second let’s be real young people don’t vote so they can fvck off complaining about policies, candidates, or legislation they don’t agree with.

Young people have through America’s history never voted but made up for it with a disproportionate amount of whining and complaining. That continues today.

Third if you really want to be pedantic you could blame the greatest generation as they were overwhelmingly the ones voting for candidates and serving as politicians that advocated these positions you’re decrying.

Fourth no one “pulled up the ladder” for success. That’s loser talk. There were factories closing 40 years ago as we were being supposedly overwhelmed by Japanese manufacturing. That would have been happening to boomers in their late 20’s to early 30’s. Don’t remember them whining about how the greatest generation “screwed them”.

Yet in our country innovation continued, job industries sprouted up while others slowly died. That has been a part of our country from its inception, and will continue to be so.

so if it’s soooo bad for the mid 20’s Twitter mafia they should actually you know participate in our democracy by voting in candidates they support. Senior citizens vote at a rate 100% higher than 18-29 do.
Is it any wonder senior citizens needs are more often met?
Is it any wonder the segment of the electorate least likely to vote doesn’t get their needs met?

Hahahaha, this guy. Faced with empirical evidence that the Boomers were the most entitled generation in history and legislated policies that made it actively harder for unborn people to get ahead, he then blames them and calls it "loser talk". Right, we're done here.

 

[Cabin Pics]

so if it’s soooo bad for the mid 20’s Twitter mafia they should actually you know participate in our democracy by voting in candidates they support.

I uh, believe that's exactly what happened a few weeks ago.

 

[ADDvanced]

Boomers def had life on easy mode. They could pay for higher education working part time.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Cabin Pics]

Boomers def had life on easy mode. They could pay for higher education working part time.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I believe, growing up with video games, it's called GOD MODE.

🤣

 

[Dave_Car_Guy]

Boomers def had life on easy mode. They could pay for higher education working part time.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

While I do not dispute the concept, the numbers in a couple of those graphics are, in some ways, misleading. As has been beaten to death here, housing prices have to be looked at along with interest rates, and Rents have gone up in the big cities, but not as much outside them. Healthcare costs are always quoted at full cost, as opposed to what the consumer pays, which is offset by subsidies. Societal costs of healthcare are that high, but it’s either partly borne by companies, counties, etc. Those who have no coverage were always the issue, because paying full-freight is impossible, and that is trying to be addressed with the ACA. The biggest issue in healthcare is how our insurance model works. And as for college costs, also been discussed and is clearly a major advantage to prior/Boomer generations. but I will point out one issue that nobody mentions much: we are making more people but we are not making more universities. That basic supply and demand imbalance should be obvious and correctable. The problem is that with double the population, everyone will wants to go to the same top 100 schools. So let’s invest in doubling the state school capacities and infrastructure. Otherwise, it’s not going to get better. And the next generation will cry “the Millenials had it so easy when college wasn’t $300,00 a year!”

Btw, I think we need a second boomer category. I guarantee that someone born in 1946-1948 had a very different experience than those of us born in 1962-1964. I most certainly was not able to pay for college working part time. About 2/3 of it, yes. I had it easy from a college standpoint, for sure.

 

[Cabin Pics]

While I do not dispute the concept, the numbers in a couple of those graphics are, in some ways, misleading. As has been beaten to death here, housing prices have to be looked at along with interest rates, and Rents have gone up in the big cities, but not as much outside them.

Btw, I think we need a second boomer category. I guarantee that someone born in 1946-1948 had a very different experience than those of us born in 1962-1964. I most certainly was not able to pay for college working part time. About 2/3 of it, yes. I had it easy from a college standpoint, for sure.

I live in a LCOL area, and here at least, homes are very affordable. Our 2,000 sq ft house one mile from the marina was $140,000. In an area like this, there is no excuse not to own, because renting is by far much more expensive.

As far as the second boomer category, I completely agree. My mother was born in 1960, my father in 1962 - Their lives were vastly different than those that were born in the late 40's early 50's. In fact, I'd say they align more with older Gen X than they do with the early boomers. Similarly, I was born in 1988, and while I know that by year, I'm 100% a millennial, I align more with the younger Gen X.

Both of my parents left college with student loan debt, and both went to in state universities and worked during summer, and had part time jobs during the school year.

 

[DrivinAW8]

As I said to Cocker earlier, then you should start a business and take advantage of all of these undiscovered reasons and put everyone else out of business with your superior business acumen, or like Cocker are you going to sideline complain?

It may come as a surprise to you that I am in fact a business owner! I'm self employed, but my real estate consulting services and 'superior acumen'/knowledge target a (much needed) niche. This provides me with a healthy income... an excess, even, depending on who you ask. I could 'flex on you', but I don't really give a ****. The point is that I make a lot of money for who I am and where I'm from (which includes a healthy dose of privilege which I readily acknowledge) and I'm still a leftist millennial who wastes money on cars and time on car forums!

Why don't you raise some money, buy some of these properties, fix them up and improve them and rent them out for below market rates if you are so enlightened and generous, or is that only with other people's money?

Another poster poked a hole in the hull of your 'rising tides lifts all boats' concept of real estate and community development. But I will point to the specific naiveté above. My consulting business is almost exclusively focused on raising capital for the rehabilitation of properties into affordable (aka, dramatically under-market-value) homeownership units. Not tax-credit multifamily rentals. With no public subsidy.

Most of the homeowners that end up purchasing these homes I help develop are first time buyers, often minority, and because they bought them with mortgages, you know they had good credit, some savings, and stable employment. Sound familiar? But here's the rub... if the houses aren't there to buy (which they aren't, not in Pittsburgh, nor in Nashville, nor any half-way decent place to live, because of greedy developers/landlords and the new money imports like you who think it'd be cute to live in a 'hip and dynamic neighborhood').. these otherwise well-qualified and hardworking people are SOL.

Counter to your insistence, most middle-class working people can't just bootstrap their way to a new job with similar pay, in a new city with a lower cost of living, uprooting their children from their schools in the process and leaving their entire social and familial support networks behind. But go ahead, bave. Please tell me more of what you know about how my industry works, and whom it works for.

That's a great segue actually! What industry did you make your fortune in again.. private equity? You do realize your role in private equity management can essentially be boiled down to grifting a percentage of profit made on... what's that... other people's money, right? Or did all that OPM go to your head, and now you can't tell up from down (or black from white)?

 

[IndyMK7GLI]

Boomers def had life on easy mode. They could pay for higher education working part time.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Show me where minimum wage decreased....

Also you already stated you live a pretty decent life...your biggest gripe is that you had to pay back borrowed money...why do you think you have it so bad?

 

[Cabin Pics]

The point is that I make a lot of money for who I am and where I'm from (which includes a healthy dose of privilege which I readily acknowledge) and I'm still a leftist millennial who wastes money on cars and time on car forums!

Growing up I was always told by all of my family and family friends that you have to vote a certain way or you'll be poor. I got older, made my own decisions, and became the person I am today. Now I have a family of my own, we do alright, and it drives them to the edge of insanity knowing how I vote and the things I believe in. Turns out that everything I was told growing up is total horsesh*t.

Feels good man, feels good.

 

[Cabin Pics]

Show me where minimum wage decreased....

If you take inflation into consideration and how little minimum wage has gone up to account for that, the value of it has certainly decreased.

Minimum wage in 1995 (we won't go back too far) was $4.25, in January of 2020 that same $4.25 would be worth $7.29, or roughly $0.04 more than the current minimum wage. So in 25 years minimum wage hasn't moved but the price of everything else has skyrocketed.

Link to inflation calculator from US Bureau of Labor and Statistics. CPI Inflation Calculator

 

[IndyMK7GLI]

If you take inflation into consideration and how little minimum wage has gone up to account for that, the value of it has certainly decreased.

Minimum wage in 1995 (we won't go back too far) was $4.25, in January of 2020 that same $4.25 would be worth $7.29, or roughly $0.04 more than the current minimum wage. So in 25 years minimum wage hasn't moved but the price of everything else has skyrocketed.

Link to inflation calculator from US Bureau of Labor and Statistics. CPI Inflation Calculator

Oh I completely understand...that meme states the pay of minimum wage workers fell...not the value of their pay fell...in today's "fact" driven world there's no room for implied....

 

[IndyMK7GLI]

Growing up I was always told by all of my family and family friends that you have to vote a certain way or you'll be poor. I got older, made my own decisions, and became the person I am today. Now I have a family of my own, we do alright, and it drives them to the edge of insanity knowing how I vote and the things I believe in. Turns out that everything I was told growing up is total horsesh*t.

Feels good man, feels good.

I have zero problems with somebody becoming a productive member of society and having their own way/thoughts on how to live their life...that's the American way....the problem today is how openly aggressive one person can be to the next if they don't think the same way...people are so bigoted nowadays...more so due to social media...I really only care if you're a dick or not...

 

[Cabin Pics]

Oh I completely understand...that meme states the pay of minimum wage workers fell...not the value of their pay fell...in today's "fact" driven world there's no room for implied....

To be honest, I'm even more confused now. It says "Minimum wage workers fell by 5.5%", doesn't say anything about pay decreasing. Are there 5.5% less minimum wage employees? That would be a positive thing, no? Confusing statement is confusing.

 

[IndyMK7GLI]

To be honest, I'm even more confused now. It says "Minimum wage workers fell by 5.5%", doesn't say anything about pay decreasing. Are there 5.5% less minimum wage employees? That would be a positive thing, no? Confusing statement is confusing.

In bold white letters....

"Meanwhile the pay of:"
Minimum wage workers fell by 5.5%

 

[Cabin Pics]

I have zero problems with somebody becoming a productive member of society and having their own way/thoughts on how to live their life...that's the American way....the problem today is how openly aggressive one person can be to the next if they don't think the same way...people are so bigoted nowadays...more so due to social media...I really only care if you're a dick or not...

Absolutely. I've had some good conversations with family and friends that never got heated or aggressive. The one thing everyone has in this country is the right to vote, and vote however they feel fit without feeling pressure from the other side to vote any different. That goes for any party, any person.

In bold white letters....

"Meanwhile the pay of:"
Minimum wage workers fell by 5.5%

Touché, in that case:

It should have said "Minimum wage workers has stayed stagnant".

 

[unhappymeal]

Otherwise, it’s not going to get better. And the next generation will cry “the Millenials had it so easy when college wasn’t $300,00 a year!”

We tried that to make things better in Ontario by instituting tuition controls. We even started giving out means tested free tuition grants. The Conservative Party came to power in the subsequent election (primarily on the backs of adults 55+) and scrapped those reforms. Oops.

 

[Dave_Car_Guy]

We tried that to make things better in Ontario by instituting tuition controls. We even started giving out means tested free tuition grants. The Conservative Party came to power in the subsequent election (primarily on the backs of adults 55+) and scrapped those reforms. Oops.

Price controls do not work in the face of limited supply. It increases demand without increasing supply. We need more schools. By doing so, the price of most can decrease, or at least slow the increase.

 

[bave]

It may come as a surprise to you that I am in fact a business owner! I'm self employed, but my real estate consulting services and 'superior acumen'/knowledge target a (much needed) niche.

Neat for you, I'm happy you are able to make living self employed, but if your services are so superior and desirable, while also being morally superior, why not expand? Why not do more good for more people and make yourself more money? Why are your miracles so sparingly spread?

Another poster poked a hole in the hull of your 'rising tides lifts all boats' concept of real estate and community development. But I will point to the specific naiveté above. My consulting business is almost exclusively focused on raising capital for the rehabilitation of properties into affordable (aka, dramatically under-market-value) homeownership units. Not tax-credit multifamily rentals. With no public subsidy.

Again, not sure what your point here is. You are working within the free market. You are finding capital that is willing to earn a lesser return for a perceived social value. That's how markets work, sometimes people are willing to value things differently, there is nothing wrong with that. You seem to believe however that gentrification is some sort of great evil that inflicts harm on neighborhoods. Is that true for these blighted communities riddled with crime? Why don't you take your exceptional abilities to crap hole communities and see how well it works? Have you been rehabbing a lot in Camden? Or gutted industrial towns? No, there isn't a value there because without the proximity of gentrification there isn't going to be any flow of capital regardless of social views.

Most of the homeowners that end up purchasing these homes I help develop are first time buyers, often minority, and because they bought them with mortgages, you know they had good credit, some savings, and stable employment. Sound familiar? But here's the rub... if the houses aren't there to buy (which they aren't, not in Pittsburgh, nor in Nashville, nor any half-way decent place to live, because of greedy developers/landlords and the new money imports like you who think it'd be cute to live in a 'hip and dynamic neighborhood').. these otherwise well-qualified and hardworking people are SOL.

You think I live in a hipster dynamic neighborhood? Now, that's cute!

So, you are helping develop housing for first time home buyers with mortgages? Well, move over Mother Theresa, I am sure a lot of developers say the same thing.

Counter to your insistence, most middle-class working people can't just bootstrap their way to a new job with similar pay, in a new city with a lower cost of living, uprooting their children from their schools in the process and leaving their entire social and familial support networks behind. But go ahead, bave. Please tell me more of what you know about how my industry works, and whom it works for.

Ah, yes, the alternative is complain about the reality in which you live. This is the classic argument that every displaced renter makes when gentrification lands on their doorstep. They can't afford to move, to the property owner should just ignore market realities and continue to let them fail to adapt and evolve? Not how the world works. You sound like the guy who wants to put in rent control, but then complains about the lack of affordable quality housing, not realizing that your own rent control and development regulations are one of the primary drivers of the same problems.

Like I said above, if your skillset is so amazing and ethically superior you should have zero problem expanding it to save the world, right? Give up that one man "business" that is your basement office and expand and rival Pulte or KB!

That's a great segue actually! What industry did you make your fortune in again.. private equity? You do realize your role in private equity management can essentially be boiled down to grifting a percentage of profit made on... what's that... other people's money, right? Or did all that OPM go to your head, and now you can't tell up from down (or black from white)?

What's amazing is that you start by saying you make a good living because of your niche business and the value in it, but then denigrate someone else who does the same thing when it just has a family of additional zeros behind it. Where do you think that money came from and what rules were attached to it? The money set the rules for me too, just like it does for the money that funds your projects, probably the same people and organizations honestly. The difference is when that money landed on you it set criteria for the deployment of that capital, which you followed, the same as I did. What do you say to a property owner who you ask to sell/rent their property below market value? Do you tell them to suck it up for the greater good? Do you tell them they are a bad person if they don't agree? Or are they just racist and classist? What if that property is 50% of their net worth? What if it is 20%? When does that person become a greedy racist capitalist and when is that person just looking after their own family's well being?