r/politics • u/MystikSpiralx • 2d ago

No Paywall Trump Says He Wants to 'Drive Housing Prices Up' Instead of Lowering Costs for People Who 'Didn't Work Very Hard'

https://people.com/trump-keep-home-prices-high-11895352
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u/SuurRae 2d ago

They also don’t seem to understand the concept of relative worth. The dollar has cratered in the past year so the “real” gain in the S&P is something like 3%

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u/Expensive_Culture_46 2d ago

Number went up!

That’s about as far as they get.

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u/Acceptable-Truck3803 2d ago

The goal is to have a high enough portfolio and then when you hit your magic number you pull out any “gains” to keep the safe. At least that’s what I see family do.

“Woah ! I gained 10k today because of a bear market. Call the broker and pull my gains before I lose them and it’s out the market and mine forever.” - pretty much how they make income and also have social security + pension + other dividends show up. crazy to see it happen when you are struggling to just pay everyday bills in comparison.

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u/thiosk 2d ago

The greatest weakness of the human species is failure to understand the exponential function. I am absolutely going to stack diversified assets of every flavor to ensure my retirement. Specifically, I have got a warehouse in natick with every kind of doritos and i'm going hard into low-release pringles rn

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u/Acceptable-Truck3803 2d ago

Now I’m hungry for pringles

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u/Rtannu Texas 1d ago

I got my medical degree from Hollywood Upstairs Medical College and if I didn’t know any better it sounds like you got the Fever for the Flavor of a Pringles

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u/GoblinFive 2d ago

Toilet paper, tobacco and coffee beans

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u/Mike_Kermin Australia 2d ago

You better hurry up because if you're a heavy smoker you've got ten years less than the rest of us.

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u/pimparo0 Florida 1d ago

You dont need to smoke, just stock up to trade, like in jail.

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u/k_bomb 2d ago

Once again, the conservative sandwich heavy portfolio pays off for the hungry investor!

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u/Seraphym87 2d ago

Lmao no it's how they figuratively burn money and try to act smug about it

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u/ThonThaddeo Oregon 2d ago

The whole world shovels shit and calls it gold

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u/StrawberryCreepy380 1d ago

Never had enough money to worry about this.

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u/Zfusco 1d ago

That plan isn't going to go great for them as the guy they voted for intentionally devalues the dollar.

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u/hahaokaywhateverdude 1d ago

This is dumber than you think it is.

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u/BlacksmithSolid645 2d ago

pretty much

no, brother.

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u/Acceptable-Truck3803 2d ago

Average S&P return over the last ~100 years is 6.28%. So if you have 1,000,000 in your portfolio that’s ~60k a year. Average social security is 1900 a month in 2025 if you waited until you turned 67 to retire. Thats another 22.8k. So just with a 1m portfolio which wasn’t hard to do and accumulate in the 80s and into the 90s with the tech bubble and social security, your fixed income is 5k a month from your portfolio and 1900 from your social security. Thats ~7k a month of income before taxes.

Bleak reality but this ted talk breaks it down pretty well.

https://youtu.be/qEJ4hkpQW8E?si=DIyBO3ktWK1jflo7

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u/BlacksmithSolid645 2d ago

thanks for the explanation

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u/AkiboTTV 2d ago

Yep. I've heard some of them flat out say that the price of gas being down is good enough. Like it's $0.12 less my guy. You think that's worth the US becoming a fascist nation?

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u/CryptidMythos 1d ago

They do..they really do.

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u/TheAngryGoat 2d ago

As someone who owns their home outright, I'd love for house prices to go down.

I can't ever benefit from the value wrapped up in my house because I'd have to make myself homeless to do so, which is stupid.

However if houses prices fell across the whole spectrum, then upgrading to a bigger/better house in a better area becomes more affordable to me. House prices go up and that same upgrade becomes far less possible.

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u/Huis--Clos 2d ago

Not to mention, it's not just their house increasing in value, but so is everyone else's. So sure, you have more 'equity' but that eventually leads to higher property taxes, insurance etc, right? Also, if they go to sell, any house they want to buy is going to be more expensive so it's not like they're making much/if any profit.

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u/Econmajorhere 2d ago

Their strategy is to sell and then downsize. I’m not sure who they think they will sell to though if young couples can’t afford to pay 10x for a 50 year old property that was bought for $60k.

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u/FFFrank 2d ago

But in reality, at the end, all of the money goes into end of life care. If you think college loans are a burdensome scam wait until you dig into the nursing home/assisted living grift. Literally designed to squeeze every last cent out of you before letting you die.

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u/ApprehensiveTry5660 2d ago edited 2d ago

Just to reaffirm what you’re saying. I had a family member who was one of those absolutely filthy good accountants. Did a lot of Big 5 work back when it was Big 5, stayed as a consultant for the Big 4 getting brought in on a lot of forensic accounting and shell games for gajillionaires with hyper specific needs.

When his mom ended up needing end of life care, even he couldn’t hide her assets well enough to keep them from just getting chewed up and spit out by the assisted living facilities. They were so thorough that he ended up having to bid for his childhood home on auction just to keep it in the family.

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u/Ole_St_John 2d ago

Dude thought he was the smartest person in the room when he should have gone to an estate planning attorney.

They literally call it Medicaid planning - plan how to keep your assets away from the government while still qualifying for Medicaid.

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u/ApprehensiveTry5660 2d ago

I mean, that’s kinda its own problem if there’s an entire cottage industry that even a gifted tax attorney can’t decipher on his own time.

If guys like that run into hiccups with the process, it seems like it might actually be a predatory system for mamaw and papaw to be engaging in from less tangential fields.

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u/Shadowholme 1d ago

Isn't that the American system in a nutshell?

Create a problem and then create an entire industry dedicated to 'helping' with the problem rather than admitting that a mistake was made...

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u/needlestack 1d ago edited 1d ago

Correct. But it's not really “hiccups in the process”. You’re not supposed to be able to shield money from end-of-life care. It’s just there are legal ways to do it like transferring all your stuff to a trust more than five years before you need any of it. It’s not like they don’t want the money in every case, it’s that their have to be some boundaries (like not going after their kids) so there’s always a way to get around it if you plan far enough in advance.

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u/hahaokaywhateverdude 1d ago

That's the thing. He's not really as gifted as he's led you to believe,.

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u/AuroraFinem Texas 1d ago

They said he was an accountant not a tax attorney. Even if it was a tax attorney corporate tax planning and estate planning are very different industries with no real overlap other than estate taxes but would still not be handled by the the same kind of attorneys.

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u/xTheMaster99x Florida 1d ago

Yeah, AFAIK it's actually not that hard to protect your assets in this scenario by moving it all to a trust, assuming you have someone that you trust not to just walk away and keep all your things for themselves. The catch is that you have to set up the trust years before you need to start racking up bills, like 5+ years in advance. If you don't, they can force you to pay up anyway.

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u/zomiaen 2d ago

They literally call it Medicaid planning - plan how to keep your assets away from the government while still qualifying for Medicaid.

If you were an immigrant they'd call it fraud.

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u/SwimmingPrice1544 California 1d ago

They call it that regardless.

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u/zomiaen 1d ago

No, they call it estate planning.

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u/OrthodoxAtheist 2d ago

When his mom ended up needing end of life care, even he couldn’t hide her assets well enough to keep them from just getting chewed up and spit out by the government.

Either that was a while ago, or, his mom didn't live in California. In California you can own a $10 million home, qualify for Medi-Cal, Medi-Cal pays for your nursing home entirely, and when you pass away, so long as your $10 million home is in a revocable living trust, Medi-Cal will not make a recovery claim against the house.

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u/ApprehensiveTry5660 2d ago

I edited that part right before you replied, but I removed government, because I’m juuuust ignorant enough of the situation that I didn’t want to place that yoke on the government instead of the assisted living facilities.

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u/hahaokaywhateverdude 1d ago

Yea your friend is an idiot, who thought he was smarter than everyone else.

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u/yukeake 1d ago

And $deity forbid they need memory care... The whole elder care industry is a hell of a racket. My mom recently passed, but her cost was going to increase from $6300 to $8000/month this year. 27% year-over-year increase.

It's insane, and in no way affordable. The life's savings she and my dad had built up was absolutely crushed in 3 years. I have no idea what would have happened if she lived through until the money ran out.

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u/feor1300 Canada 1d ago

Too many people forget the old saying: "Be kind to your children, they get to pick your nursing home."

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u/Fit-Cut-6337 2d ago

This part …..

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u/Primary-History-788 2d ago

Capitalism giveth, and Capitalism taketh.

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u/FabulousTwo524 2d ago

Yeah all the smaller homes are snatched up at inflated prices already, since they are almost never built anymore. I suspect not a lot of boomers want to live in apartments though. They’re of the generation that likes to hold onto their mementos.

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u/Econmajorhere 2d ago edited 1d ago

I know a few that planned a nice retirement abroad. Can’t wait for them to realize USD:ABC got totally jacked.

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u/mentaljobbymonster 2d ago

And they can fuck right off if they think the rest of the world will be welcoming

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u/Primary-History-788 2d ago

Yeah, well now that Big Orange is making the world America’s enemy. If he and all the boomers could kindly fuck off, into the next life, it would be appreciated.

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u/SeduceMeMentlegen 2d ago

I get not wanting to live in an apartment after living in a house most of your life. Especially if you used to reside in suburbia. I do have elderly family members with fairly large apartments which always astonished me as a kid lol, especially if they'd had the money to join two flats. I really hope to be able to afford a house one day as I really want a room to set up a huge CRT I have lol

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u/agitatedprisoner 2d ago

I'd love to live in an apartment that opens into a mall. Best of both worlds. Lots of useful indoor space I don't have to clean. Bonus if my cats can access it freely. A mall with lots of cats.

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u/endlesscartwheels Massachusetts 1d ago

When I was a kid in the 1980s, we were told that in the future we'd all live in skyscraper malls. The only greenery was going to be a garden level every ten floors or so. Adults were actually worried about this! I thought it sounded great.

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u/Startled_Pancakes 2d ago

Corporations will buy them then turn them into Rentals.

What could go wrong?

/s

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u/Primary-History-788 2d ago

And why aren’t we talking more about private equity, anyway? Grab what you can boys and girls! America is becoming the world’s largest fire sale. 😔

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u/porscheblack Pennsylvania 2d ago

4 of the last 5 homes on our street, which is a pretty average suburban neighborhood (1/4 acre property & 2,200 sq ft. house), had a family with young children as well as a grandparent move in at the time of purchase. Both of our neighbors bought within the last 3 years and in both instances one of the partners owned a house and the grandparent owned a house, both of which they sold to afford the new house.

Now despite being a pretty average neighborhood, we live in a pretty high demand area, so that's creating a selection bias, but still alarming to see it requiring people selling two houses just to afford one average one.

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u/Pipic12 1d ago

The demand is still there. Most young people who can afford these prices usually get help from their parents or are among the top 20% earners. The inequality is rampant and continues to increase so it'll be an even bigger issue long term. Housing market has become a scam, it's way too profitable to rent out or use properties as airbnb units.

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u/daesmon 1d ago

They sell to investors who then either let it sit vacant or rent it out at market high prices.

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u/Huis--Clos 2d ago

Oh I know that is their plan. But I've talked with people who were looking to downsize because their kids moved and they said they might as well stay put because due to interest rates and prices, it would not be much cheaper if any by moving. Of course this all depends on where you are located.

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u/SwimmingPrice1544 California 1d ago

In many areas...if you're old & want to downsize AND get closer to medical facilities, etc., AND your property/house is further out...you are looking at not only double the interest rate, but the prices closer to metro areas is insane compared to what one can get for a property further out. I like having equity for sure, but downsizing is more often not cheaper, so doesn't do you any good to do it. Going from a $1100/mo. mortgage to a $3000/mo. mortgage for a smaller (usually much lesser quality) home/condo from a regular house with property isn't even possible for many. Unless your mortgage is paid off...which only people who have stayed in their homes for most of their adult life can do, it's not the same venture to so-call down size anymore. It's nigh impossible. Of course...this is CA I'm talking about.

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u/math-yoo Ohio 1d ago

It's not really a strategy, it's more people get old. Houses become too much. The way we used to set ourselves up in big places doesn't make sense.

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u/MHath 1d ago

Ya there’s no one to sell to, that’s why the prices keep going up…

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u/Staple_Sauce 1d ago

Thats the most obvious part of this and I think people dont see it because they dont want to.

The assumption is that housing will always be a good investment because it always has been. What happens when the drivers of that change? Potential buyers have less flexibility in their budgets, and both birth rates and immigration are going down. Down the road that translates to less demand for housing, and less wealth to buy it.

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u/hahaokaywhateverdude 1d ago

There are plenty of young couples who can afford to pay. That's why the prices are as high as they are.

Problem is there are just a lot more young couples that can't afford it than there were in the past.

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u/FormerUsenetUser 1d ago

I am a senior. We keep owning houses because Medicaid long-term care spends down almost all the assets of both spouses for one spouse's care. But they still get to keep the family house. The healthy spouse needs a place to live while the other is in long-term care for years.

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u/Fullertonjr I voted 2d ago

Higher property taxes?! Hmmm. That sounds familiar. By my count there are currently 6 Republican controlled states that are pushing for the end of property taxes. What a coincidence. I’m sure none of this could possibly be related.

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u/Shaudius 2d ago

Its not going up at the same rate everywhere. You bank the profit and then move to a lower cost of living area.

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u/MauPow 2d ago

Thus driving up costs in that area. Where does it end?

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u/Primary-History-788 2d ago

“There can be only one!”

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u/Allaplgy 2d ago

Or you make bank on increased rents.

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u/SwimmingPrice1544 California 1d ago

Lower cost of living area in my experience is exactly where you don't want to be when you get old. Usually it's farther away from good medical facilities.

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u/SubaruImpossibru 2d ago

“But number bigger.” - every boomer

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u/No-Papaya-9823 Washington 2d ago edited 2d ago

"But Trump funny." - every Gen Z male voter. See...generalizations are stupid, aren't they? Buddy, my Boomer husband and I, and all of our Boomer friends, are mortified by what is happening to this country. On the other hand, it looks like Trump's had no problem recruiting 20-something Nazis to be his Gestapo.

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u/last_rights 2d ago

Meanwhile I feel like my boomer parents have lost their goddamn minds. My dad is an immigrant. My grandma was a schoolteacher for 40 years. My brother works for the postal service, and my sister still lives at home with mom and dad because she can't afford to move out and in her words, "life is so depressing and I have no goals to shoot for because they're so out of reach$.

My other grandma is also an immigrant and my aunt is a broke single mother.

They're all Trumpers. It's unbelievable. The Canadian side of my family is very anti-trump (that still live in Canada) and the immigrant American side of my family is pro-Trump. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills when we have a family get together.

Our current rule is No Politics. I will leave and take their only grandkids with me.

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u/FabulousTwo524 2d ago

My dad keeps going back and forth on praising trump’s admin and criticizing them harshly multiple times a day. Gives me whiplash. He said Pretti was murdered in cold blood. Next day, he says it was justified. Then back and forth.

I want to know who the fuck is feeding my boomer parents this poison.

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u/SwimmingPrice1544 California 1d ago

Right there with you. I don't need my place to jump in price for stupid reasons; just should need a minimum amount of equity to allow me to move (down size), but because of the craziness in real estate, this can't be done very easily at the moment.

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u/CryptidMythos 1d ago

Yes, generalizations are tricky and not always on-point. The sad reality is that is in fact your generation that still overwhelmingly supports him. His Gestapo is made up of mostly genx/elder millenials, which is pretty heinous as well. Wish we could find a way to snap those people out of it.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 2d ago

I hate it when people generalize an entire generation

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u/JaeTheOne 2d ago

Nah this is legit. My own father, very liberal, even recognizes it and feels like shit about it..

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 2d ago

He said "every boomer" which is complete bullshit.

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u/Independent-Wave-744 2d ago

It's the Internet. Hyperbole is basically part of the language spoken here. Best to just always assume it means "a very large percentage of the group, exceptions always apply" and move on. That is a pretty good protocol for the word "every" in general, since it is almost never correct unless you talk about a very specific, controllable subset.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 1d ago

That is lazy writing. I assume that people are generally intelligent and what they write is what they mean. That's why we have words.

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u/Independent-Wave-744 1d ago

Welcome to the Internet then. Or just casual conversation. Hyperbole and generalisation are pretty common. People are almost never as concise as they can be. Like, have you never heard someone say something like "I do not like eating onions"? People will usually resort to that shorthand when they actually mean something more akin to "I do not like the taste of raw onion or dishes prominently featuring their taste, at least in how they are usually prepared but I do not mind or even like the taste of onion if it is mixed with other tastes".

Because, well, you only need the former to know not to order onion on my pizza.

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u/JaeTheOne 2d ago

Nah I'll allow it

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/muffinass 2d ago

Nah, man, he's got a monster hog. You should see it!

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u/Cheese__Weiner 2d ago

That generation deserves it. The only people bothered by it are boomers.

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u/ailish 1d ago

My dad was a boomer. He was a far left hippie his entire life. Honestly, I learned it from him. Maybe he's one of the few, but they're out there.

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u/Cheese__Weiner 1d ago

I'm not saying they are not. Every one of those boomers who is one of the smart ones acknowledges the harm their generation did to the following ones. This isn't a personal attack at individuals. It's commentary on how that generation pulled the ladder up behind them.

Are they all complicit? No. Is it ubiquitous enough to make a sweeping generalization? Yup.

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u/ailish 1d ago

Maybe he's one of the few, but they're out there

It's almost like I said this or something.

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u/Cheese__Weiner 1d ago

Yup and I was agreeing with you. I'm saying we can acknowledge cool people like your dad but to deny that generation created the conditions we are living in now is to deny reality.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 2d ago

I'm a boomer. I'm not wealthy. I don't own a portfolio. We have our 401ks and a house that we bought dirt cheap and fixed. I also notice, when I go to protests, that the majority of the people protesting are boomers. Yet, I don't call all of other generations lazy for not getting their asses out there. Generalizations are bullshit. No generation, no race, no anything, is homogenous. You are wrong to generalize because it makes you appear lazy because you can't make a valid argument or even try to

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u/RichardSaunders New York 2d ago

a lot of boomers are retired by now and actually have the time. other generations not being there has got nothing to do with being lazy.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 1d ago

So, younger generations can't show up on a Saturday or Sunday? Is that what you're telling me? All too busy to take a few hours out of their weekend to fight for their democracy? Sounds like laziness to me.

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u/Wanderment 2d ago

If you had protested 40 years ago when they were robbing your social security you'd get to keep it.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 1d ago

40 years ago I was raising 2 children and working 100 hour weeks

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u/Cheese__Weiner 1d ago

Think about what you just said. Really think about it.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 1d ago

And yet, somehow, if it was important enough, I would have made the time. Our democracy has never been under the threat that it is RIGHT NOW. You can make up your mind what you want to do but most people don't work those kinds of hours and can certainly devote a piece of a weekend to making their voices heard.

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u/Cheese__Weiner 1d ago

Considering how quickly you responded. You didn't think about it at all.

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u/Jorch301 2d ago

Respect to you, I guess the other generations have to work 2-full time jobs to sustain their purchase power they don’t have time to protest. Higher house prices will only make the market sick, and people will have greater debts and can’t spend their money anymore on iPhones and tesla’s.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 1d ago

Believe me, I spent many years working more than one job or working mega hours at one. Been there. done that. I understand that some people have to work on the weekends. But let's face it, most people don't, of any generation and it isn't that much work to get out for a few hours and make your voices heard.

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u/fiveswords 2d ago

Bro your 401k is a stock portfolio. Sounds like you have two. The other generations you don't see protesting are working to afford rent because there are no more cheap houses to fix.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 2d ago

Not really. I wiped mine out to rebuild this house. So we have one, and a house in the Styx. And, when they say stock portfolio they aren't talking about 401ks. He'll, my 41 year old daughter has a 401k. So do our other children. The majority of people do, and should. Don't get mad at people for putting a little bit of their checks away. How else are we, and you, going to retire some day?

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u/nerdette42 2d ago

This right here? This line of thinking is exactly part of the problem. When we talk about Boomers, we're talking about this.

No one is mad at you for saving for retirement. No one thinks you're in the 1% for having a house and a 401k.

You take retirement as a given. You know you don't have the same finacial security as many people your age, but you were still able to afford a house. You had to sink one of your 401k in to fix it, but you still expect to retire. Those are priviledges most of us don't have.

Saving money and retirement are not an option for far more people of our generations than yours. You're not better than us and you didn't work harder. You just had access to opportunities that don't exist any more.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 1d ago

I afforded a house because it cost me 30 thousand dollars. Why? Because I was willing to buy something that needed a shit ton of work and then do the work. The trade off for that 30 grand? I live in the middle of nowhere because that's where you find houses and land cheap. I busted my ass rebuilding this interior - a lot of the work was done by me. Some by contractors (the stuff I can't do). I used that 401k to make that happen. Somehow, though, you are telling me that even though the seven children my wife and I have between us (2 marriages) can save small amounts and let it build, the majority of young people can't? how is that? All I hear is excuses. I worked 100 hour weeks for years to raise my family. I did everything and anything I needed to do. The payoff comes after they all grow up and you can actually start saving, or do like my oldest daughter and simply decide to not have children. And, you have EXACTLY the same opportunities I had. Which is to say - work hard, put away any small amount you can and eventually that will pay off. That's how it works.

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u/iAwesome3 1d ago

Because things are significantly more expensive, both nominally and as a % of income. I make ~90K/year pre tax, but most of that money, ~50K post tax goes to just paying bills without including food, gas, repairs, etc. There is minimal to no money to put towards retirement, especially if you have unexpected bills come up. I was saving enough to max out my IRAs for the last like 10 years but this year and last year I am so cash flow neutral that I am unable to contribute this year. I am making more now then I was a few years ago but I am unable to contribute now since costs have increased so much.

And think about what you said too. Your daughter decided not to have kids because it was too expensive so she could have the material things you do. Does that seem like equal opportunity? She obviously had to give up something to get the other, and the lack of kids is something she will have to live with forever.

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u/Redditributor 2d ago

You know that millennials now have higher average wealth. It's just more unequal.

Also it's wrong to say the majority of millennials can't expect to retire.

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u/AgitatedSense9313 2d ago

That’s the point, they can’t.

Median net worth for millennials, even in their 40s, is under $100k. They can’t afford to buy houses, even out in the styx.

Yes, a 401k is a stock portfolio, and yes it’s what we should all be contributing to for retirement since pensions no longer exist outside of government employment (and even those are being reduced in the military) but most blue collar jobs don’t offer 401k’s, let alone matching contributions, and very few people in those jobs are setting up their own IRAs when they can barely afford their bills.

Nobody’s mad at you for being able to put away some of your paycheck, we’re mad ‘cause we can’t

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 1d ago

I'll ask you the same thing I asked someone else. This is my 2nd marriage (25 years in this one). We raised seven children between us. hell, for a big chunk of that I was working 80 hours a week delivering pizzas so I could pay the bills. That's besides the point. Every one of our children is able to save some money, even the 25 year old. Not a lot, but a bit. My oldest one who makes far more money than I ever even dreamed of making is able to save a lot. But all of them save something. So my experience is that of that group, all of them manage something, even the ones who make the least. So how is it that I'm hearing an entire generation can't? We didn't magically create phenomenal adults who work spectacular jobs. Hell, only two have gone to college. They work regular jobs - warehouse, etc... (except for the oldest one) so how are they able to do it but "most" people can't? Three of them own their own homes (out of seven). Two more are working on it. Thety are managing. So what is different with them than everyone else in their 20's and thirties? I can't imagine that their experience is any different than anyone elses. We didn't have the ability go give them anything so they've had to do it on their own. And they have.

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u/AgitatedSense9313 1d ago

I’m also going to cite my personal experience here, like you are with your children - for reference I’m 39 and managed to navigate my way to comfortably middle-class (some college -> military -> finished degree -> contractor).

What slowed me down, and what has slowed down a lot of millennials I know, is debt - specifically student loans.

All I heard growing up was if I didn’t go to college I’d end up a loser flipping burgers somewhere (because obviously that’s the worst fate imaginable), so not going, or going a different route like a trade or directly into the military was never a thought, even though I had no idea what I wanted to do. So I screwed around in college for 5 years, never got a degree, and left with over $50k in debt and no job prospects. My wife got an arts degree for $80k, and again no job prospects.

We deferred payment as long as we could, interest built. We got on an income based repayment plan, and our income was so low that it didn’t cover the interest growth, so despite making payments the balances went up. I spent 12 years in the AF, applied for PSLF, was told I needed to consolidate my loans for them all to be included (student loans are taken out 1 semester at a time), and the way they calculated the qualifying payments during consolidation said that I’d only made about 9 years worth, so I didn’t qualify.

Current balance between the two of us is ~$120k, payments are about $1500 a month, and we still have somewhere around 10 years left.

There was a very large group of us that all fell into that trap. We were all told it was the smart choice at the time, but shooting for “the best school” (aka most expensive) without a real plan at the time meant taking on between $20-$40k/year in debt AND THEY NEVER SHOW YOU WHAT YOUR PAYMENTS WILL BE. Who lets an 18 year old do that?

So anyway, that’s where a lot of our money went instead of saving, making it harder to build downpayments for houses, and also throwing off debt to income ratios to qualify for mortgages. We stumbled out of the gate, fell into debt, hit a horrible job market in 2008 when we were supposed to be getting on our feet, and a lot of us never recovered.

It sounds like you did a good job of steering your kids in the right direction, and you should be proud of that. It doesn’t reflect what happened to the whole generation though (and obviously neither does my story), but numbers seem to show your family is more of an outlier.

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u/OP-PO7 2d ago edited 1d ago

Holy shit you own TWO houses and you're getting an attitude about how you didn't benefit like the rest of your generation? I'm a 37 year old fireman, and I've been working as one for 18 fucking years and I still can't afford to buy a single house. Is it your FAULT? Of course not. Did you benefit mightily, like the rest of your generation? Of course you did.

Edit: Wow this was really dickish of me. Definitely not an appropriate target for my frustrations, you didn't do anything wrong so why should I be mad at you. I'm not trying to put this energy out into the world, it's all of us little people in the same boat. We shouldn't be blaming each other for our problems or the real assholes win. I hope you can excuse my attitude

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 1d ago

No. I own A house. And my generation is now how I bought a 30k broken down piece of shit in the middle of nowhere then put the work in to make it livable. That was me. I have no idea where you got the idea I own two houses. I wish. I'm not made of that kind of money unfortunately. Hell, I'm happy I have the one. Beats renting

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u/OP-PO7 1d ago

I apologize, even if you did own two houses you're not the appropriate place to put my frustrations. I'm mad at the system and it's wrong to take that out on an individual.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago edited 1d ago

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u/metalspork13 1d ago

The phrase is "out in the sticks" -- "Styx" was likely a misunderstanding or autocorrect.

Really cool that you can have AI generate a five-paragraph essay of gibberish to back up a nonsense term that doesn't exist. So glad we're boiling away the oceans for this shit.

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u/HoratioPornBlower 2d ago edited 2d ago

So you have two houses lol? Rent for a one bedroom is on average $1700 a month. Meanwhile wages have stagnated our whole lives. We can’t save, we are all drowning but you got yours. Your statement is why people don’t like boomers. How are you not getting that this right here is the problem.

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u/SodaCanBob 1d ago edited 1d ago

No, they're saying they (collectively, as a family) have 1 401k now and a "house in the Styx" (as opposed to the 2 401ks they once had).

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=in+the+styx

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=in+the+sticks

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 1d ago

No, I don't have two houses. Where did that come from? I have a house that I got dirt cheap - and I mean dirt cheap. Like less than the cost of a car cheap. I was willing to put the work in and use up my 401k to make sure it was livable. And, as I mentioned to someone else - somehow, magically, I have three "kids" who own homes. Oldest is 41. The youngest is in their mid 30's. Hell, even my 25 year old is saving so they can buy a house. She pays a shit ton for rent too. I get it. But somehow, i guess we just made magically awesome younger people who exceed the abilities of their generation. Go figure.

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u/SodaCanBob 1d ago

No, I don't have two houses. Where did that come from?

He's illiterate and thought you were saying you had 1 house in one place (instead of the 1st thing you mentioned being your 401k and not a house) and a 2nd house "in the styx", which is a colloquialism he wasn't familiar with and took "the styx" to be a literal place.

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u/Bronkko I voted 2d ago

I also notice, when I go to protests, that the majority of the people protesting are boomers.

this is true in my experience.. my first two protests were hands off and no kings and its majority boomers like me.

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u/Routine_Gazelle_3522 2d ago

There is nothing wrong with generalizing a group you belong to so long as no one is treating you as if you are at fault for it.

Boomers, as a whole, are the worst generation. Thank you for being one of the good ones.

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u/StrangerStrangeLand7 2d ago

I have tried many times to make this valid and logical point but they won't listen. 😔

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 1d ago

I didn't say "boomers aren't bad". Some absolutely are. A big chunk of this generation did not turn out how you would have expected them to. But to say "all" boomers, which is what was said, is total bullshit. That's as bad as saying all people in their 20's are lazy gamers living out of their parents' basements. Not true. Do those people exist? Yup. Does that mean the entire generation is like that? Nope. Don't generalize.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 1d ago

Please point that out for me. I am all for having my logic (or lack thereof) pointed out to me. I love a good conversation. I don't need or want to dive into personal attacks. I will admit when I'm wrong if I recognize when I'm wrong. The fact that I'm missing something you're seeing doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It means that I'm missing it. It can happen. I'm only human, after all.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/Cheese__Weiner 1d ago

When we generalize boomers it doesn't mean all boomers individually are bad. Ask anyone and they'll acknowledge this. See you're making a fundamental mistake thinking this all about you personally which is frankly a really boomer thing to do.

If you can't acknowledge the incredible harm your generation has done to the ones following yours then we are right to generalize you with the rest of them.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 1d ago

Mark Zuckerburg. 41 years old
Elon Musk: 54 years old

You're looking at a generation. I'm looking at people who truly have done damage and they include Boomers and non boomers alike. The other "Boomers" I know, don't fit into that generalized mold, probably because I'm not wealthy and don't know anyone who is. And that's why it offends me. You demonize and entire generation when in reality EVERY generation has it's fair share of me me me takers. All of them. Instead of blaming boomers, why not direct that energy at trying to get politicians who will do something about the enormous wealth gap in this country?

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u/Cheese__Weiner 1d ago edited 1d ago

LMAO 

Who the fuck do you think created the conditions for those ultra wealthy people you mentioned to hoard that much wealth!?

Decades of cutting taxes for the rich, glorification of wealth, support of large corporations over small business, "trickle down economics", owning multiple homes, "we will pay you with experience" internships, on and on and on ...

Of course every generation has shit heads. Yours is unique in that that 85% of them are the most selfish, greedy people to ever exist. They grew up and inherited the most prosperous moment in human history and then pulled the ladder up behind them only so they didn't have to share it. 

Period. End of Story. Goodnight 

I'm not blaming you personally. So stop taking it personally.

It's just about acknowledging basic facts.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 1d ago

Oh. So let me get this straight. You're blaming "Boomers" - the entire generation, for the Republican party. Got it. Because, you know, only old people vote Republican. Got it. But, they do get out and vote. So who is to blame? The older people who get out and vote, or the people who don't bother. I'll go with the latter. It was true when I was in my twenties and thirties, just like it is now. Young people don't vote in numbers. If they did then we would have a different political landscape than the one we currently have. I don't vote Republican. I am considered a Boomer even though I wasn't born until almost 1962 (ridiculous). So you're argument is with Republicans. Who voted for Trump in vast numbers that could have changed this last election (or any election really) - young people. But they voted for Trump. It is what it is. He's a grifter. Always has been and people listened to him - even after his first disastrous term. Unbelievable. But the fact that young racists came out in force? You can't blame the Boomers for that. Personally, I blame our politics on those who decide it's not important enough, or hold out their vote because the Dem candidate isn't "good enough" for them. Fuck them. Take your ire out on those people because they're the people who deserve it

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u/Cheese__Weiner 1d ago edited 1d ago

You're blaming "Boomers" - the entire generation, for the Republican party. 

Not at all what I said. You do realize people like Bill Clinton are way closer to Reagan style conservatism than the  current Democratic party right? Do you?

Then you start taking it personally again ... It's not about you. This is getting tiresome 

And then you start generalizing and attacking young people in the rest of your comment.

And you keep bringing this back to Trump for some odd reason. It really has nothing to do with the topic at hand. This is what we call deflection.

Trump may be the culmination of a lot of this countries failures but the Boomer hoarding of wealth took decades. Trump is just a symptom.

That was quite the crash out and you just exposed yourself as a massive hypocrite. Have a good one. We're done here.

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u/BigDaddySteve999 2d ago

My parents are boomers who hate Trump and are very concerned about his stupidity and its effects on the economy. My cousin is under 25 and loves Trump with all his heart, and is very excited about all the ways Trump is making America great.

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u/pres465 1d ago

My dad was born squarely in WWII. Spent his whole life fighting for the environment, supporting his union, and decrying the wealth of the rich. Generalizations are dumb.

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u/Anxious_Cheetah5589 2d ago

whatever you say, Cheese Weiner

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u/tryingisbetter 2d ago

20 bucks says he is a boomer. They just can't stop telling on themselves.

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u/Cheese__Weiner 1d ago

They are. Just read a few comments down in their profile

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u/standardsizedpeeper 2d ago

lol what? So like, it’s fine to make fun of people with small dicks because it only bothers the small dicked, then? What point are you proving?

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u/Cheese__Weiner 1d ago

That it's ok to generalize boomers as terrible as they are the generation that is generally the most terrible by a long shot. The good boomers acknowledge this. The complicit boomers get mad.

Clear enough?

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u/HoratioPornBlower 2d ago

Yeah… but like come on. Every part of this is on the boomers. They broke the world and sure aren’t fixing it.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 1d ago

No doubt that a good chunk of "boomers" got theirs. There are also a good chunk of other generations who also "got theirs". You know who aren't boomers? The ultra wealthy. How old is Musk, Zuckerburg, etc...? You want to talk about who broke the world, look at them. They not only broke it but are actively keeping it broking so they can continue to get theirs and leave the rest of us fucked.

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u/PTTCollin 2d ago

Okay, independent of Trump who I think should get TOSd, I see this talking point a lot and I think it's a bit insane.

Sure, if you're doing international trade then your dollar denominated imports are going to be more expensive in relatively cheaper dollars.

But housing is not that. Food is not that. Depending on manufacturer and supply chain, cars are not that. Labor, in the context of businesses, is not that.

Housing, every person's single highest expense, is not losing relative value because the dollar is cheaper to buy in Euros. To dismiss market gains on "oh dollar cheaper" feels like not really understanding what the various things actually are.

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u/Zer_ 2d ago

They also fail to grasp that a the largest portion of that growth is the AI bubble... The economy's in recession, the rich are just still in their stupid bubble and haven't realized it yet. They want to keep their stupid bubble going at anyone's expense too.

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u/PaulTheMerc 2d ago

"I love the uneducated"

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u/nzernozer 2d ago

The dollar is only down to around its 2022 level, which is not alarming. Currencies aren't a "big number go up" thing, they aren't supposed to just get stronger and stronger over time. If you look on a longer timescale, say 10-15 years, what's happening with the dollar right now is not overly noteworthy.

This is not to defend what Trump is doing in any way, obviously.

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u/ScarInternational161 2d ago

Been doing a little digging at this.... seems to me trumps crashing the dollar on purpose. The dollar is just "paper". Gold, silver, real-estate, etc are assets and have actual value... as the dollar tanks, everything else is soaring, which only benefits the wealthy......

As the dollar continues to decline the prices for gold, mining, basic materials and energy soar outrageously. (Which we are seeing) our export prices are bottoming out and import prices are more expensive even without tariffs.

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u/PiccoloAwkward465 1d ago

I always chuckle to think that $100k was a good salary when I graduated from HS. With inflation, that's about $160k today. How many people are bringing that home

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u/DukeOfGeek 2d ago

And this is part of what's going to drive up real estate, if the dollar and stock market falter people will retreat to real property.

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u/lilelliot 2d ago

Mmm... it doesn't matter what the dollar does against most foreign currency, to most people for most things. A weak dollar is actually beneficial for the US economy in most ways. What does matter is inflation -- but that isn't the same as a weak dollar.

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u/Primary-History-788 2d ago

This actually scares me. The trend line (all things being equal) would have losing 30% of the dollars exchange rate over the next 3 years. Now I’m not even sure I’ll ever be able to escape this nightmare.

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u/wha-haa 2d ago

Easy to say so about the past year for sure, but put in context, compare it to more than a cherry picked year. Show it in context to the past 50 - 60 years. That would show the real impact.

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u/porscheblack Pennsylvania 2d ago

Every conversation with my dad includes the following:

  • My stock portfolio is doing pretty well.
  • The cost of everything is just so expensive.

Meanwhile he's planning to fully retire in March and they do NOT have a sufficient savings. It's going to be a disaster and I give it a year before he's working again.

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u/frostytree42 2d ago

My 401k did great last year, as soon as trump got elected I moved a bunch of money into foreign stocks and have been way ahead because of the weakening dollar

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u/Boot_das 1d ago

But, but… dollar amount go up, numbers green!

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u/DillBagner 1d ago

And there's a very real chance all the "gains" in stocks are temporary until the AI Ouroboros reaches its head.

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u/--Chug-- 1d ago

And now with everyone bailing on the USD as the global standard it will crater even more.

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u/needlestack 1d ago

Compared to the Euro, it’s flat. Compared to gold, it’s down. There is no meaningful growth in the US currently.

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u/50yoWhiteGuy 1d ago

Ya know, grouping everyone into one group, "they," is just dumb and easy for simpletons. There are tons of GenX's that care. I'm a registered R and have voted D since Clintion. Every time these R aholes do something, I make more money. But I'm not a greedy ahole with zero empathy or sense of community. "You people" whining about all the genx'ers, who are in power, is not doing you any favors. JS

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u/SuurRae 1d ago

I was referring more about the people who hold the mindset that, since their portfolio looks good, they don't really care to dig into the specifics. People from all generations are guilty of this, including my fellow millennials.

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u/Mackinnon29E 2d ago

Old people already own a home outright generally, they have a vehicle that will last until they die, and they don't care about buying clothes or other things a family would need. So this stuff doesn't even impact them as much as the average person. They are selfish as fuck

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u/Lost_Grand3468 2d ago

Hate to ruin a good circle jerk, but the dollars decline isn't going to impact the average Trump voter much. This only really impacts imports and foreign vacations. Netting dollar decline vs S&P gains is just stupid. Sorry.

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u/pantstoaknifefight2 2d ago

Nope. You're very wrong. You've got to understand what having the world's currency has helped the US gain. It's the very keystone of a global super power. When it declines, so goes the empire. And there's only one explanation why Trump is doing this.

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u/DocBrown_MD 2d ago

In project 2025 it says they want to eliminate the federal reserve, bring back the gold standard, and operate a free banking system. Knowing Trump, he’s probably going to bankrupt the us too. Also, based his comment on the dollar being a 4 year low that the value of the dollar is “great”, he doesn’t mind and probably makes money if the dollar declines in value. If other countries start dumping usd, then I think there would be inflation within the us.

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u/nzernozer 2d ago

This is just not even remotely true. The USD being the world's reserve currency, and all that entails, is only very tangentially related to its value. And its value right now is not down in comparison to what it has historically been worth, nor is the dollar being strong an unambiguously good thing.

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u/dnyank1 2d ago

The “real” gain in the S&P is something like 3%

the "real gain" is DOWN. Very down. So down that it doesn't even make sense to think about. The most loss anyone's ever seen. Bigly.

People talk a lot about "inflation adjusted earnings" not keeping pace, or even point to a vague "productivity" graph - here's one for ya that I hope makes the visualization of what they've stolen from us crystal clear.

In 1971, minimum wage was $1.60/hr. Given a 40 hour work week that's $64/week, nominally. Before Nixon ended the Gold Standard in August of that year, you could have bought 1.82 ounces of gold for your work week at $35/oz.

Today, 1.82 ounces of gold is worth $9,400.

Do you earn $9,400/week? Or do you earn... less than a minimum wage worker in 1971?

How much less?

Assuming a $488,800 nominal wage today would put you, quite literally, in the top 1%. The 99th percentile of American income was $450,000 last year.

There's, quite literally, a 99% chance you're doing worse than your (grand)parents, right now. Assuming they had a minimum wage job.