Societal Collapse, Is It Happening At Current?

[iamwhatiseem]

It's not capitalism that's the problem it's consumerism.
It's manufactured markets and fake consensuses

It's the idea being sold that a simple ordinary life is not enough even though that is all most of us will ever have.

Just buy more stuff and you'll be happy.

Which bore the "debt as income" mentality of the 1980s -(and still going)
Including individual debt as income, and of course collective debt treated as income by the federal government.
It is a castle made of sand. The only reason we haven't collapsed yet is we are so big.
Japan was not so big, and their debt as income mentality took them down quick.
Some say 2024 is the year it all comes down. But that said that about 2023.
Each time the experts underestimate the insanity of the Fed printing presses to keep pumping the bubble.

But wait!!... isn't inflation lower now then when Biden took office???
It's all goood!!!

 

[rampart]

It's not capitalism that's the problem it's consumerism.
It's manufactured markets and fake consensuses

It's the idea being sold that a simple ordinary life is not enough even though that is all most of us will ever have.

Just buy more stuff and you'll be happy.

"consumerism" might have implications of consumer protection and other "nader" issues that conservatives
(and establishment liberals) hate. the planned obsolescence and waste of our society are unconscionable.

 

[Blues Man]

"consumerism" might have implications of consumer protection and other "nader" issues that conservatives
(and establishment liberals) hate. the planned obsolescence and waste of our society are unconscionable.

Maybe but if people weren't mindlessly buying crap all the time consumer protection wouldn't be a critical need.

If people didn;t fall for the advertising then there would be no need to churn out cheap and sometime dangerous shit products

 

[rampart]

Maybe but if people weren't mindlessly buying crap all the time consumer protection wouldn't be a critical need.

If people didn;t fall for the advertising then there would be no need to churn out cheap and sometime dangerous shit products

i agree. i'm not "off the grid" but at some point the possessions own us.

 

[Blues Man]

i agree. i'm not "off the grid" but at some point the possessions own us.

Exactly.

I like my stuff as much as the next guy but the acquisition of more stuff isn't my sole focus

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Maybe but if people weren't mindlessly buying crap all the time consumer protection wouldn't be a critical need.

If people didn;t fall for the advertising then there would be no need to churn out cheap and sometime dangerous shit products

To know if you are a part of that madness... look in your closets, your basements, attics, garages etc.
There you find the 5 pieces of exercise equipment you used for a few weeks.
And 10 cool things you had to have, but forgot you have them.
And a few boxes of clothes that are in near perfect condition that are out of fashion.
And boxes of hobby items you were all into, until your weren't anymore.

And look at your bedroom set of drawers too, jewelry you wore a few times, 3 or 4 watches, rings, necklaces... and oh yeah in the closet is that box of 25 video games you paid over $1200 for.

... and so on.

 

[there4eyeM]

Tis the season to speak folly.

 

[Blues Man]

To know if you are a part of that madness... look in your closets, your basements, attics, garages etc.
There you find the 5 pieces of exercise equipment you used for a few weeks.
And 10 cool things you had to have, but forgot you have them.
And a few boxes of clothes that are in near perfect condition that are out of fashion.
And boxes of hobby items you were all into, until your weren't anymore.

And look at your bedroom set of drawers too, jewelry you wore a few times, 3 or 4 watches, rings, necklaces... and oh yeah in the closet is that box of 25 video games you paid over $1200 for.

... and so on.

spot on.

I did a purge of my stuff 5 years ago and I am not extremely selective if I buy anything and I find that most times the thing I think I want isn't worth the space it will take up in my house or the dent it will leave in my bank account.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

spot on.

I did a purge of my stuff 5 years ago and I am not extremely selective if I buy anything and I find that most times the thing I think I want isn't worth the space it will take up in my house or the dent it will leave in my bank account.

I did the same about 8 years ago.
Anytime I feel the urge, I force myself to absolutely not buy it until at least 2 weeks go by.
If I still want it... I may buy it.
But at least 80% of the time, I don't.
And I don't see any advertising on TV, because I stream. I don't see ads on the computer because I use ad blockers. But even with that - it took several years to untrain my brain from the 80s-90s shopping mall attitude. To actually think, we went shopping as a form of entertainment.
WTF??

 

[NotfooledbyW]

“You {WALL STREET} have created a situation where ordinary Americans aren’t bidding against other families, they’re bidding against the billionaires of America for these houses,” said Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who introduced the bill with Representative Adam Smith of Washington. “And it’s driving up rents and it’s driving up the home prices.”

New Legislation Proposes to Take Wall Street Out of the Housing Market

A bill introduced in the House and Senate would prevent hedge funds from owning single-family houses in the United States.

www.nytimes.com

“Wealth has become concentrated in the hands of very few people,” Mr. Smith said in a telephone interview. “This is just another way to do that — to commoditize housing so that investors get all of the money.”​

The leftists hate capitalism. Nothing wrong with making money on Wall Street.

Are you for this bill Saint Mashmont?

Dec 6, 2023 · By Ronda Kaysen. Dec. 6, 2023. Democrats in Congress have introduced a bill …

Every family in the country needs to know this:

Democrats in Congress have introduced a bill in both houses of Congress on Tuesday to ban hedge funds from buying and owning single-family homes in the United States.​

The bill would require hedge funds, defined as corporations, partnerships or real estate investment trusts that manage funds pooled from investors, to sell off all the single-family homes they own over a 10-year period, and eventually prohibit such companies from owning any single-family homes at all. During the decade-long phaseout period, the bill would impose stiff tax penalties, with the proceeds reserved for down-payment assistance for individuals looking to buy homes from corporate owners.

If signed into law, the legislation, called the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act of 2023, could upend a growing sector of the housing market, and potentially increase the supply of single-family homes available for individual buyers.

Homeownership, long a cornerstone of generational wealth in the United States, is increasingly out of reach for Americans as home prices and interest rates soar.

In separate legislation, Representatives Jeff Jackson and Alma Adams of North Carolina, both Democrats, introduced the American Neighborhoods Protection Act on Wednesday. That bill would require corporate owners of more than 75 single-family homes to pay an annual fee of $10,000 per home into a housing trust fund to be used as down payment assistance for families.

With a divided Congress, the bills are unlikely to pass into law this session. But Mr. Smith said legislators needed to start a conversation.

The bills were introduced three months after The New York Times published a story examining the impact of corporate-backed investment on Charlotte, N.C., where, in 2022, investors purchased 17 percent of the city’s homes in cash, often outcompeting first-time buyers who rely heavily on mortgages.

In a pattern repeated in cities around the country, corporations focused on modestly priced houses, frequently in neighborhoods with large Black and Latino populations, and converted the properties to rentals. In one neighborhood in east Charlotte, Wall Street-backed investors bought half of the homes that sold in 2021 and 2022. On one block, all but one home that sold during that period sold in cash to an investor who rented it out.

Wall Street entered the single-family rental market in the aftermath of the 2008 housing crisis, plucking up homes in foreclosure. Its influence has been growing ever since. By June 2022, institutional investors owned 3 percent of all single-family rentals nationwide, but in more affordable markets they owned a considerable market share; in Charlotte, they owned 20 percent, according to the Urban Institute. Even as the housing market slows, investors have remained active, buying 26 percent of the single-family homes that sold in June 2023, according to CoreLogic, a data analytics company.

“Wealth has become concentrated in the hands of very few people,” Mr. Smith said in a telephone interview. “This is just another way to do that — to commoditize housing so that investors get all of the money.”

Republican white Catholic Christian nationalists like Saint Mashmont takes the side of the few with the concentrated investor wealth who sadistically and continuously fuck American families into renting rather than buying and never accumulating wealth through home ownership on their own.

Then Saint Mashmont cones here and blames it all on liberals because they just don’t know Jesus as well as he and DJT does.

 

[rampart]

Exactly.

I like my stuff as much as the next guy but the acquisition of more stuff isn't my sole focus

just this week i thought a miter saw might be nice for the ol' lady to get me for christmas. . i looked at a few . but i have survived for decades with my dad's old back saw and home made miter box. i don't even know that i'd use a new saw that much..

 

[Blues Man]

“You {WALL STREET} have created a situation where ordinary Americans aren’t bidding against other families, they’re bidding against the billionaires of America for these houses,” said Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who introduced the bill with Representative Adam Smith of Washington. “And it’s driving up rents and it’s driving up the home prices.”




Are you for this bill Saint Mashmont?

Dec 6, 2023 · By Ronda Kaysen. Dec. 6, 2023. Democrats in Congress have introduced a bill …

Every family in the country needs to know this:

Democrats in Congress have introduced a bill in both houses of Congress on Tuesday to ban hedge funds from buying and owning single-family homes in the United States.​

Homeownership, long a cornerstone of generational wealth in the United States, is increasingly out of reach for Americans as home prices and interest rates soar.














Republican white Catholic Christian nationalists like Saint Mashmont takes the side of the few with the concentrated investor wealth who sadistically and continuously fuck American families into renting rather than buying and never accumulating wealth through home ownership on their own.

Then Saint Mashmont cones here and blames it all on liberals because they just don’t know Jesus as well as he and DJT does.

Homes are not out of reach.

The problem is no one wants a 1000 sq ft ranch anymore.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Homes are not out of reach.

The problem is no one wants a 1000 sq ft ranch anymore.

That is the size of the master bedroom suite alone they want.
Something I simply cannot figure out. I don't know why anyone wants a bathroom to be as large as most master bedroom were. And a walk in closet that you can do a waltz in. What for??
Anyone who has watched House Hunters recently sees this all time.
A home will have a master bath that is a good size, and may even have two sinks... "ooh... this is really small"
I have never practiced skateboarding in a bathroom, but apparently that is the new thing.

 

[Blaster]

The Author of this link has a pretty good grasp on former nations/Empires that have went down in total ruin. Most folks would think that invasion by foreign militaries would be the top choice for the collapsing great societies/empires of the past. If you find yourself in the before mentioned camp of thought you might just want to view the link below, shocking as it may be for many folks!

It is getting too expensive for many Americans to dine out.

 

[Blues Man]

.

That is the size of the master bedroom suite alone they want.
Something I simply cannot figure out. I don't know why anyone wants a bathroom to be as large as most master bedroom were. And a walk in closet that you can do a waltz in. What for??
Anyone who has watched House Hunters recently sees this all time.
A home will have a master bath that is a good size, and may even have two sinks... "ooh... this is really small"
I have never practiced skateboarding in a bathroom, but apparently that is the new thing.

Yup this is that same thing I mentioned earlier. No one thinks an ordinary life is good enough anymore.

A well built small home is just not desirable anymore.

 

[rampart]

.


Yup this is that same thing I mentioned earlier. No one thinks an ordinary life is good enough anymore.

A well built small home is just not desirable anymore.

i get plenty of offers for this 1000 sq ft shotgun. "location location location." i have been hearing the hints for a bigger bathroom .........

 

[NotfooledbyW]

The problem is no one wants a 1000 sq ft ranch anymore.

They don’t build them like that as much anymore in major urban areas like they did in the fifties when builders could gobble up farmland to create suburbs.

And young families had one breadwinner and one diaper changer and one car with am radio no ac with crank down windows - we used paper maps.

Buying a townhouse or condo as first time home owner is now the reality but it takes two incomes to live in a modest but decent townhome these days

I live in one and own and maintain three other townhomes under no mortgage as part of my retirement plan.

Our kids do have higher expectations but I know from my purchase of a new townhome as rental property a couple years ago the hedge funds conglomerates were buying up all the quality used townhomes and forced bidding wars in a forty mile radius around DC

We were able to buy new to rent out because the developer was restricted from selling to the investor groups because local jurisdictions do not want more than ten percent of a development to be rentals.

We got a new luxury $500k townhome in a great area for $50 grand less than 30 year old crap because we paid cash and could wait six months while we built it.

The ten to thirty year old decent townhomes were being snatched up by investors which takes them off the markets from young families buying with a mortgage fir the first time. That is a problem.

The point is the Dems are addressing this issue of concentrated wealth and it’s about time. The billionaire/white Christian Party won’t.

 

[NotfooledbyW]

That is the size of the master bedroom suite alone they want.

No young married couple with a minimum downpayment wants that.

But they have to compete with an investment group that make cash offers and then rent it to the couple which delays the start of wealth building if they ever start at all.

Blaming Democrats because young families can’t buy their own starter home is absurd.

 

[gipper]

spot on.

I did a purge of my stuff 5 years ago and I am not extremely selective if I buy anything and I find that most times the thing I think I want isn't worth the space it will take up in my house or the dent it will leave in my bank account.

Consumerism is an issue, but hardly the cusp of the problem with capitalism. While capitalism has offered great opportunities and benefits for many, it is very harmful when allowed total control.

When you allow wealthy capitalists complete control of your government, this is the apex of the problem. We see it everyday in the USA. We just saw big pharma take total control of government and society via the virus and vax. The capitalists made billions, while harming society.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Consumerism is an issue, but hardly the cusp of the problem with capitalism. While capitalism has offered great opportunities and benefits for many, it is very harmful when allowed total control.

When you allow wealthy capitalists complete control of your government, this is the apex of the problem. We see it everyday in the USA. We just saw big pharma take total control of government and society via the virus and vax. The capitalists made billions, while harming society.

They work in tandem (consumerism and modern corporatism)
They depend on each other, neither can exist without the other.
You first need consumers who only care about price, and most definitely don't care where something is made. That demand creates and rewards globalist elites to invest in, essentially, slave labor to get the prices lower and lower.
So you have:
1) Modern corporatism/globalist who are willing to use basically slave labor to make products
2) Selfish, don't give a shit about anything but themselves American consumers.

And NEITHER is worse ethically or morally than the other.
Nothing more ironic and hypocritical than cart filling consumers complaining about wealth concentration/capitalism.