A rant about the cost of living

[g5000]

Home owning dont help much initially.
$10K property taxes on median home don't help. They would add it on payment with insurance + PMI if your down payment is low. Nearly $2K/mo additional is possible near SJ CA on a median home (Where the jobs are).

Holy cow*
A typical monthly mortgage payment in San Jose is over $7,000, with some estimates from late 2024 and mid-2025 placing it between $7,000 and $7,162. This estimate is for a median-priced home with a 20% down payment on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and includes principal, interest, taxes, and insurance (PITI).

When I saw the 2020 crash coming, I tried to tell everyone here to refinance their homes while interest rates are low. I think only one person listened.

You would not believe how low my house payment is now. And I mean that literally. If I told you, you would not believe me.

.

 

[g5000]

When I bought CA houses, the bank would not give a loan if value was not "right".

Not sure what you say blackrock is doing. A 50% increase in a short time to themselves? What about neighborhood comps?

What REIT's and others do is what makes neighborhood comps go up.

The average homeowner either refinances or moves every eight years. It does not take long for comps to go up substantially.

The houses in my neighborhood are selling right now for three times what I paid for mine at the end of 2009.

Granted, I waited until the bottom of the crash when I bought it in 2009, but still.

I bought it from a REIT for pennies on the dollar. Things were a lot different then.



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[g5000]

Yeah... no it isn't.
If anything it is LESS competitive.
Try competing for jobs in the 1980s-90s.
It has always been competitive. The problem today is kids want a job where they don't have to work very hard, are not expected to commit themselves to their job - but get paid as much as someone who does and has been there for 20 years.
Then they perceive this as a hostile environment. And whine on social media.
Meanwhile, a kid the same age out there is willing to do this, and has been committing themselves and working hard - and they are now established and making better money.

When my oldest daughter got her first paycheck and was gobsmacked at how little it was, she asked what all the money that was subtracked was for.

I explained taxes being used for roads, schools, the military, her future Social Security, and so forth.

And to help the poor.

My daughter transformed into Rush Limbaugh right before my eyes.

"**** THE POOR!!!"

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[leftwinger]

When I saw the 2020 crash coming, I tried to tell everyone here to refinance their homes while interest rates are low. I think only one person listened.

You would not believe how low my house payment is now. And I mean that literally. If I told you, you would not believe me.

.

Less than $2K?

 

[CrazyTrader55]

What REIT's and others do is what makes neighborhood comps go up.

The average homeowner either refinances or moves every eight years. It does not take long for comps to go up substantially.

The houses in my neighborhood are selling right now for three times what I paid for mine at the end of 2009.

Granted, I waited until the bottom of the crash when I bought it in 2009, but still.

I bought it from a REIT for pennies on the dollar. Things were a lot different then.



.

You almost have to do the opposite of John Q. Public to make it. I have lived in the same small house for 23 years and unless I move out of state, will never sell this place. Mortgage is long paid off, property taxes are reasonable (not great, but could be worse). What's the point of moving time and time again and giving the realtor the 6% cut and the government the 1% cut every time?

 

[leftwinger]

Flu launch - Shutdown - Stolen 2020 has consequences. Raised diesel to $6 and all prices doubled, almost overnight. Deep State owns it. But, they had to get back in to destroy the evidence.

Same in AZ and all swing states. They could not let anyone in to look at 2020. So they kept the count open on-going thru 2024.

Deep State dirty D own all of it. That includes many phony R politicians.

 

[g5000]

Biden and the democrat's high inflation is cooked into the books. Unfortunately, it can't be uncooked unless we have deflation, which is bad. The best course forward is to not have any dem policies which throw gas on the fire and let the economy slowly grow out of their disaster.

.

If Trump had not completely bungled the pandemic due to his colossal incompetence, there would have been no inflation.

Both the Trump and Biden administrations printed trillions and trillions of stimulus spending.

Inflation was caused by a sudden drop in demand due to the pandemic, followed by a tremendous surge in demand afterward. Then our supply chains froze up at the same time due to the global economy shutting down during the pandemic.

As a result in the spike of spending and consumerism, the number of shipping containers and the number of container ships at our California ports surged tremendously to record highs. This overwhelmed the system.

Here's the proof:


Consumer expenditures rose to an all time high after the pandemic. The surge is seen from the bottom of the pandemic plunge followed by a rapid rise to new highs.

As a result in the spike of spending and consumerism, the number of shipping containers and the number of container ships at our California ports surged tremendously to record highs. This overwhelmed the system.

.
So we had way too much money chasing way too few goods.

Classic inflation.

No one has ever come up with a sane explanation how Biden was able to skyrocket inflation from the moment he entered office.

It was all about the broken supply chain from the pandemic, and the Fed exaberated the problem by thinking it was a transient problem which would quickly go away.

Having said that, other than inflation and very bad dem policies during Covid which raised rents and home prices, the following are two things which can greatly help with the problem.

Always blame the Dems, right? Always. Because you've been trained like a monkey.

It's the "dem policies" which raised home prices, oh gaslighted one?

Then why did Trump take credit for it?

Trump Administration Accomplishments – The White House

trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov

• Home prices hit an all-time record high.

1. This first one is already being done and that is getting rid of all of the illegals who shouldn't be here in the first place because they take up valuable housing which raises rents and mortgages.

TA-DAAAA!

If you aren't blaming the Democrats, blame the Mexicans.

Do you ever do any original thinking?

"Independent thinker". How ironic.

.

 

[g5000]

There are not simple answers, but electing Trump was a step in the right direction.

QFP

 

[g5000]

Trump has put in policies that will lower prices if they ever do.

You really don't understand how tariffs work, do you.

.

Coming off of Covid and shifting away from our oil spigot replacing it with the green scam was not smart

Jesus! Another one! Why do you keep going back to your propagandists to be lied to again and again and again?!?

Or maybe you've been gaslighted so badly, you don't know it's a lie.


Your MAGA media show a video of Biden promising to go after oil production before he was elected, but they NEVER show you this:


United States produces more crude oil than any country, ever


Here is yet another FACT MAGAs continually and deliberately ignore:

U.S. Oil Production Hits Record High, Set to Remain Dominant​

Stop listening to your ever-lying propagandists. It is literally impossible for them to tell you the truth, because they know you will leave them and seek another propagandist who will tell you the lies you want to hear.

I mean that literally. Just read the transcripts from the Fox News defamation trial.

 

[g5000]

Don't get it. We sure do have plenty of rich Dems,
And this administration has more Billionaires.
What's Your Point?
That politicians fill their pockets first?

Our politicians are addicted to power. Making a lot of money is a bonus.

None of them know how to make an economy grow. The last of them who did were run out of town on a rail by Trump.

The only way our politicians know how to increase GDP is to increase government spending. And this is going to continue until they drive our country off a cliff and we are no longer on top.


So brace yourselves, folks. The only viable way for us to get out of debt at this point is through external devaluation, i.e. inflation.

It's all going to come out of your hide one way or another.

Tax cuts are the worst possible thing the idiots could have done. Especially for the wealthy.

.

 

[g5000]

Before anyone drags out the old canard that the wealthy pay a higher percentage of taxes, consider this.

Since 1980, the annual earnings of the top 1 percent has grown 180%.

The annual earnings of the bottom 90 percent4 has grown by 40%.

We don't have a capitalist country any more. The playing field has been legislatively tilted to concentrate wealth at the top.

Billionaires have the money to buy politicians.

You don't.

Now the bribery and flattery by the plutocrats are openly taking place in the White House.

They don't even hide it any more. There is no shame at all.

Because you can't do ****-all about it, and the media outlets they own are telling you it's all okay.

.

.

 

[g5000]

One of the ways the playing field is tilted is by repealing the law which banned corporate stock buybacks.

You may notice these days stock buybacks are as common as a new crypto issue.

The wealthy have found a way around the ordinary income tax you and I pay.

The C-Suite is paid a regular income, but they are also paid in stocks. If they time the selling of their stocks, they only pay capital gains tax, which is much lower.

The long term capital gains tax rates are 0%, 15%, and 20%.

"Long term" = one year. Or when the stocks vest.

This is what Warren Buffet meant when he said he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary.

The income from stocks is almost always higher than the C-suite's regular income.

Now here is where buybacks come in.

The amount of shares a CEO earns is determined by how well he performs. And his performance is based on how much the company's stock price went up on his watch.

The quickest way to increase the share price is to lay off workers. Usually around Christmas because that is the end of the fiscal year for most corporations. Not all, but most.

Workers are the biggest expense of a company, so when you lay some off, that tickles the hell out of shareholders.

Oh, yeah. The top ten percent own 93 percent of all stocks.

The second quickest way to increase the share price is through stock buybacks.

This is just what it sounds like. The company buys back a lot of their shares so there are less on the street, thus making them more valuable, and thereby raising the stock price.

That used to be illegal.

Not any more.

So you get paid in stocks, then you do some stock buybacks on the company's dime, and presto! You just gave yourself a huge raise of millions of dollars at a 20 percent tax rate!

180 percent vs. 40 percent, folks.

.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Very, very few people can afford $100K for college.

Very few.

Especially the way the thieving college loan servicers operate.

.

Don't worry, when the government takes over college loans, college
will be affordable and there will be no more private profit on the loans.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

One of the ways the playing field is tilted is by repealing the law which banned corporate stock buybacks.

You may notice these days stock buybacks are as common as a new crypto issue.

The wealthy have found a way around the ordinary income tax you and I pay.

The C-Suite is paid a regular income, but they are also paid in stocks. If they time the selling of their stocks, they only pay capital gains tax, which is much lower.

The long term capital gains tax rates are 0%, 15%, and 20%.

"Long term" = one year. Or when the stocks vest.

This is what Warren Buffet meant when he said he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary.

The income from stocks is almost always higher than the C-suite's regular income.

Now here is where buybacks come in.

The amount of shares a CEO earns is determined by how well he performs. And his performance is based on how much the company's stock price went up on his watch.

The quickest way to increase the share price is to lay off workers. Usually around Christmas because that is the end of the fiscal year for most corporations. Not all, but most.

Workers are the biggest expense of a company, so when you lay some off, that tickles the hell out of shareholders.

Oh, yeah. The top ten percent own 93 percent of all stocks.

The second quickest way to increase the share price is through stock buybacks.

This is just what it sounds like. The company buys back a lot of their shares so there are less on the street, thus making them more valuable, and thereby raising the stock price.

That used to be illegal.

Not any more.

So you get paid in stocks, then you do some stock buybacks on the company's dime, and presto! You just gave yourself a huge raise of millions of dollars at a 20 percent tax rate!

180 percent vs. 40 percent, folks.

.

This is what Warren Buffet meant when he said he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary.

He was lying.

 

[g5000]

Don't worry, when the government takes over college loans, college
will be affordable and there will be no more private profit on the loans.

The private college loan servicers are servicing government loans.

And they are raping the borrowers. Bigly.

Ask anyone who got a college loan. There are people well into their 30s still paying off loans from when they were 18.

So the government taking over the servicing of loans would be the result of the current servicers screwing the pooch.

But then someone like Trump would fire all the government workers and throw the kids back to the wolves.

He would do it because the plutocrats gave him a nice trophy.


.

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[Orangecat]

QFP

QFS

 

[Independent thinker]

.

If Trump had not completely bungled the pandemic due to his colossal incompetence, there would have been no inflation.

Both the Trump and Biden administrations printed trillions and trillions of stimulus spending.

Inflation was caused by a sudden drop in demand due to the pandemic, followed by a tremendous surge in demand afterward. Then our supply chains froze up at the same time due to the global economy shutting down during the pandemic.

As a result in the spike of spending and consumerism, the number of shipping containers and the number of container ships at our California ports surged tremendously to record highs. This overwhelmed the system.

Here's the proof:


Consumer expenditures rose to an all time high after the pandemic. The surge is seen from the bottom of the pandemic plunge followed by a rapid rise to new highs.

As a result in the spike of spending and consumerism, the number of shipping containers and the number of container ships at our California ports surged tremendously to record highs. This overwhelmed the system.

.
So we had way too much money chasing way too few goods.

Classic inflation.

No one has ever come up with a sane explanation how Biden was able to skyrocket inflation from the moment he entered office.

It was all about the broken supply chain from the pandemic, and the Fed exaberated the problem by thinking it was a transient problem which would quickly go away.


Always blame the Dems, right? Always. Because you've been trained like a monkey.

It's the "dem policies" which raised home prices, oh gaslighted one?

Then why did Trump take credit for it?

Trump Administration Accomplishments – The White House

trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov

• Home prices hit an all-time record high.

TA-DAAAA!

If you aren't blaming the Democrats, blame the Mexicans.

Do you ever do any original thinking?

"Independent thinker". How ironic.

.

How did Trump bungle the pandemic? What got us out of the pandemic? Wasn't it the Trump rushed vaccine?

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

The private college loan servicers are servicing government loans.

And they are raping the borrowers. Bigly.

They don't set the terms of the loans.

 

[g5000]

This is what Warren Buffet meant when he said he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary.

He was lying.

Nope.

What he said was misunderstood. He didn't say he paid less taxes than his secretary. He said he paid a LOWER RATE than his secretary, and that's true because the top corporate tax rate is 20 percent. His secretary's tax rate is either 22 percent or 24 percent, depending how fair he is.

He may even pay her enough to bump here into the 32 or 35 percent tax bracket.

.

 

[Dorian Mode]

Just out of curiosity, does anybody, left or right, actually think that the government can fix the high cost of living?