I’d of course prefer boredsocial to be correct, but I share this feeling:
I don’t think this is a fuck up by the wealthy at all, and certainly not a major one.
And I’m certainly not seeing any evidence of this (at least at any level that remotely approaches “overthrown by the population”):
I don’t see how the difficulty of buying single family homes going to ever get better until droves of people start moving to rural areas that aren’t built up yet. I had thought all the work from home stuff would have accelerated this but seems like has just accelerated people moving around to other areas that were already highly desired locally.
Yup, likewise for this pro poker player with a good investing track record. They don’t even have to take that big of an L, if any, on their current wealth. They just have to be willing to distribute a bigger chunk of the new pie going forward and people will be thrilled. It’s a snap call, it’s a Moneyball hang up the phone when you get the answer you want, kind of situation.
And the wealthy are trying pretty hard IMO to lock in as many permanent renters as possible, and they might even pull it off.
YESSSSS PREACH! There is nothing as infuriating as house shopping and finding a great deal and looking at the pictures and it looks great and scrolling down to the description and seeing 55+. Like, we need fake IDs to buy houses now.
“Hi, I’m McLovin, and I’m 55.”
The idea of moving out to Pennsyltucky to live near people who believe Donald Trump is sent by Jesus to save America from the people like… me and my fiancee… is an absolute non-starter. I assume a lot of younger Americans who have spent their adult lives in cities/suburbs feel the same way.
Yeah that’s what I’m saying, so the desirable areas get more and more expensive and the deplorable areas more deplorable. At one time I would have thought home ownership itself would be enough of a motivation but now seems majority folks decided it’s better to be extremely financially stressed but live in a more desirable area. Seems like there a breaking point somewhere but I’m not sure where
I mean, I truly cannot imagine living in a Trumpy rural area. I’m peacing out to like Costa Rica or Ireland before I even consider that shit.
Obviously it wouldn’t be great to live in a Trumpy area but hard to blame the “elite” for 40% or whatever of the population sucking.
Saw one recently that was a new construction, brand new neighborhood, 2br house in a good location for like $215k. Same house not in a 55+ would be $315k+. And the boomers who bought it probably would tell me “when I was your age I already owned a home and a vacation home. You’re just lazy.”
Infuriating.
Also, imo, Trump made Trumpy areas suck. Grew up in a uber Trumpy area as a Muslim child and have fond memories. Back then most people didn’t give a shit about politics so rarely heard people’s shitty views. Now it is front and center.
They’ve basically got an unbeatable strategy: blame inadequate government, elect a bunch of absolute clowns like Matt Gaetz who make government even more dysfunctional, repeat. If SS checks get held up because of grandstanding Freedom Caucus dingdongs, red state voters will blame Biden or Soros or trans kids and they will continue to send mentally ill asshats to Congress.
Around me you can buy decent starter houses in the inner ring Minneapolis suburbs for $250-350k. Very close to the city itself, liberal area not at all maga. I’m sure there are other metro areas like that around the country but I’m only familiar with this one. People that hate renting so much but live somewhere where a box on dirt costs $800k should probably consider moving. There are non rural options.
Just about every friend or close acquaintance i have is doing ok to good here, these aren’t a bunch of rich, trust fund people either.
Hell you can buy in Minneapolis proper for similar amounts.
Winter tho
The idea that a bunch of people are going to turn into Maoists and overthrow the government is laughable. The ruling class has the population split down the middle with each side willing to hate and blame the other for any problem. There doesn’t even need to be any sense to it at this point. Like, “Grandma’s Social Security check is missing because of critical race theory” will absolutely be a winning political message at some point after Republicans block funding of SS because they want to defund public education. Their voters will eat it up and absolutely hate the left for it. At an emotional level, tribalism and blaming the others will always win out, and emotion will supersede logic. This effect is even further reinforced in modern times with the massive propaganda machines and ability to poll and tune messaging.
We’ll have a civil war before we have downtrodden liberals and conservatives joining together against the richest classes
I also think young progressive democrats continue to do this thing where we don’t respect the wishes of one of the huge bedrocks of our party, that being black people, more specifically black women, and even more specifically middle aged black women, who vote democratic in droves. If they want Barbara Lee, they should get Barbara Lee IMO, they’re the ones who keep saving us in every freaking election.
Yep I hear this shit all the time from Boomers.
So I don’t actually think there is going to be a maoist revolt, although some maoist cells starting up in some of the really really impoverished communities is not entirely impossible. I’m sure they’ll be stamped out, thank god, because Maoists are an opportunistic infection like Donald Trump and like the Donald they are very bad news.
I think the point about how prohibition ended and income taxes got passed is more relevant. Basically in the United States it really is possible to vote hard enough, and if the propaganda entirely fails and they start getting landslided in elections and the positions that win elections become actually socialist… I think what happens is the very wealthy lose a lot of power they currently have.
There is definitely a level of pain where voters just obliterate you. It’s happened to the wealthy and the GOP before at the end of the gilded age. They really could turn this into a one party country for a generation.
Exactly, there comes a point where there are going to be radical Qanon nutjobs who want to tax the wealthy and restore a safety net, and people like AOC who want to tax the wealthy and restore a safety net. And they’ll outnumber the Romneys and Pelosis and Schumers if the ruling class keeps fucking around.
We’re on a path to a family of four with both parents working full time and one with a side job can’t afford their basic needs, and when they start looking for roommates, there’s no hiding that they’re getting a raw deal. Maybe the wealthy don’t push it that far, or it goes slowly so it takes a while, and I don’t know exactly where the breaking point is, but they seem intent on locating it and going past it.
It’s kind of a theme throughout human history, and we’re not an exception to that - it’s happened here before.
I’m losing faith they have the ability to change direction, because if they did I think they’d be veering hard left right now to avoid the cliff.
A bunch of shitty Gen X heirs (see: the Murdoch failson who won real life succession) with 20 year time horizons coming online might cause them to take their foot off the gas on the income inequality… but I honestly don’t think anyone has the authorization to drop stock prices by as much as they would have to go down to account for a higher risk free return and a lower investor share of the gross take… so I think they have to keep pushing until someone stops them.
IDK it sure seems like they cave every time someone stands up to them right now. SAG and the writers won their strike, UPS caved preemptively, and I like the UAW’s odds. Hell I like the UAW’s odds of unionizing the foreign car plants in the south if the Democrats win in 2024.
Once they fuck up and trigger class solidarity (which again has happened before) it’s gg for 50-60 years and they’ll have to wait for all of us who lived through this to die, and our kids as well. Maybe if they’re lucky they can propagandize our grandkids super hard in the 2060’s… but that’s what we’re talking about if they keep going.
There’s always a cliff no matter which direction you go if you keep going. Always. Once you stop making sense it’s only a matter of time.
But know a lot of this late capitalist bullshit is less stable politically than prohibition was in 1928… and the Trump years really supercharged the speed of the breakdown.