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Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents. Only Poorer (bloomberg.com)
Millennials, long presumed to have less interest in the nonstop consumption of goods that underpins the American economy, might not be that different after all, a new study from the Federal Reserve says. From a report: Their spending habits are a lot like the generations that came before them, they just have less money at this point in their lives, the Fed study found. The group born between 1981 and 1997 has fallen behind because many of them came of age during the financial crisis. "We find little evidence that millennial households have tastes and preference for consumption that are lower than those of earlier generations, once the effects of age, income, and a wide range of demographic characteristics are taken into account," wrote authors Christopher Kurz, Geng Li and Daniel J. Vine.
Their findings [PDF] are grounded in an analysis of spending, income, debt, net worth, and demographic factors among different generations. The conclusion that millennials aren't all that different also holds for the researchers' more granular examination of expenditures on cars, food, and housing. "It primarily is the differences in average age and then differences in average income that explain a large and important portion of the consumption wedge between millennials and other cohorts," they conclude. So much for the young folks favoring "experiences" over tangible goods.
Their findings [PDF] are grounded in an analysis of spending, income, debt, net worth, and demographic factors among different generations. The conclusion that millennials aren't all that different also holds for the researchers' more granular examination of expenditures on cars, food, and housing. "It primarily is the differences in average age and then differences in average income that explain a large and important portion of the consumption wedge between millennials and other cohorts," they conclude. So much for the young folks favoring "experiences" over tangible goods.
They're the ones picking our pockets. Now they're saddened that there's less to steal.
The reason they have less is simple, we have more.
And we like it that way.
--The Top
Occasionally I watch price is right. In the final thing, even the youngun will usually pass on the first showcase if it does not include a car. And when they win a car, they seem much more excited than an experience trip. So yeah, I agree with the report.
It is not that the millennials have skipped purchasing lots of large stuff, see the advertisements, it is that they require you to talk like you don't.
From consumption, the environment or any other topic if you say you care on Twitter, instagram, or whatever that is the important thing and have a history of saying you care. Go fly on your plane, drive off in your canyonero but be sure to say and act like the environment is important and you are woke.
They have fallen behind government decided to balance the budget on their backs.
School loans have destroyed the future for a generation and everyone knows it.
5. Your mom
no u
0. Anonymous Coward's shitposting
When did being a millennial get equated to materialism per se? I thought the trope had more do with growing up as latch-key kids, and being taught hard to feel special, entitled, and enabled by over-compensating or guilt-ridden parents, teachers, and the participation trophy mindset.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
Else I'd have said something. Yes, the only reason millennials don't participate in the good ol' "shop 'til you drop" game is that they can't afford the fee. And this is the only reason they don't buy your crap and don't drive the economy. If you want people to buy your stuff, you need people who have the money to buy your stuff.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Especially when Jeff Bezos has $150,000,000,000 of worth.
http://progressquest.com/spoltog.php?name=Son+Of+Son+Of+DarkRookie
First, I think, most people have no idea what the definition of millennial even is.
and second, they think the extreme loudmouths the media likes to amuse us with constitute a representative sample.
Once you're beyond that, I think nothing about millennials remains outside tbw norm and what we've seen in everey other generation.
Never heard of him, do you mean Fred? That f*cker will say anything, don't trust him,
About 6 months ago I recall hearing about the wave of "Millenials don't buy XYZ!" stories!" The items were things like napkins and fabric softener or cars. Then went on to explain how they were this weird different generation.
What made a lot more sense was simply they had less money, and didn't buy extraneous stuff you didn't really need, like napkins, or fabric softener. I've never bought fabric softener. Maybe because I don't wear lots of clothes that require it. But it always seemed weird to me that people need fabric softener.
Napkins are similar. We actually DO my napkins now, and it's useful, but you can easily get away with paper towels.
Cars are obviously very expensive, so you don't buy a new one if you can't afford it.
Now... if it was about an item that you really HAVE to buy, and is cheap, like deodorant or toothpaste, that might be something. But the list is/was these things you didn't really need, can easily live without, but you might buy if you had a little extra money. So yeah, not too surprising here.
While this may seem like an obvious conclusion. Many studies and news articles have reached different conclusions.
Personally, I think most of the complaining about millennials to just be old people becoming out of touch, as they always do.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
badly
The group born between 1981 and 1997 has fallen behind because many of them came of age during the financial crisis.
We aren't poor. We've just seen what happens when the financial markets collapse and don't see the need to be leveraged out the ass with 2 car notes, a second mortgage (for those of us who were even lucky enough to find housing while it was still actually reasonably priced), and paying off 3 credit cards. We're spending less than we have so we aren't completely screwed come the next bust cycle. We'd love to be able to spend money, but we remember being un- or under-employed and how much that sucked while the Boomers with guaranteed pensions and social security (both being paid for by us with us likely to see no benefit or payout ourselves) trying to grab more and more.
Besides, any extra money we would have to spend on consumer goods that our parents bought with credit card debt is most likely wrapped up in another type of debt: student loans. The bonuses I've gotten from my company the last few years, instead of helping the local economy by being spent on house repairs/upgrades has gone towards paying off student loans. And this years'll be no different.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Millenials aren't actually lazy, they're getting paid stagnant rates and the money supply has increased. Inflation happens and spending power has gone down as a result. The same or greater productivity is expected and "kids these days" aren't the ones seeing the benefit of it.
This isn't even news. Gone are the days when a part time summer job is enough for that year's college tuition. A part time job might barely cover rent any more. And you can forget about having a savings account without at least one full time job and a part time job on the side.
Employers are offering fewer and fewer long term incentives, which results in lower employee loyalty in return.
It's not a mystery, it's not a secret. It's the economy, stupid.
Inheritance is the sincerest form of nepotism.
More government spending and business hostile policies = slower growth = less money in people's pockets.
A booming economy helps change that, but there remains 8 years of mismanagement to overcome...
I think you might have a point there - I'm not sure where all the disparagement towards millenials is coming from. I'm in my 50s, and I work with plenty of interns and new grads in an engineering setting. My experience has been that most of them actually make an effort and bust their ass to get the job done, and are much more aware of needing to plan for the future than my generation was. Yeah, culturally there are differences and sometimes generational gaps in experiences, but I can't see any real reason to dogpile on them just for that.
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
if we are truly just like our parents but poorer, then we can be expected to hold differing priorities and spending habits that are dictated by that poverty. The Federal Reserve is either pushing this idea to calm markets heading into a recession, or its manufacturing excuses for upcoming market instability.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Else I'd have said something. Yes, the only reason millennials don't participate in the good ol' "shop 'til you drop" game is that they can't afford the fee. And this is the only reason they don't buy your crap and don't drive the economy. If you want people to buy your stuff, you need people who have the money to buy your stuff.
I am a homeowner in what is mostly an upper middle class community... For years I have told people I don't like to spend money because I am cheap and when I do home projects they are always DIY ("because I like too do it myself")... but truth is I don't spend money because most of my paycheck goes towards mortgage, student loans (still), heating, electricity, groceries and just treading water living mostly pay check to pay check with a bit set aside for retirement which is faster and faster approaching. I am the top 20% or better of income brackets. And sometimes, occasionally every couple years, I can save up enough or feel I can afford to borrow enough to go on a vacation with my kids or hire someone for a project at my house or do something.
But telling people that you can't afford to spend money indicates weakness. It isn't a good idea to be honest about that. If people know you are financially weak then they can take advantage of you at every level. That is one reason people keep it to themselves (or should keep it to themselves) that they simply don't have enough money to do or buy whatever it is they want to do... and thus get excluded from the very social circles that would gain them opportunities for better income over the long run.
They just really enjoy having a roommate... or really enjoy living together... aren't ready for marriage, prefer to rent rather than buy, want to live a simpler life, don't need a car, just really like the same shirt they have been wearing for 3 years.
And I am in a measurable verifiable top 20% income bracket in a major metropolitan area with affordable debt and some retirement savings. I have no misconceptions about what the other 80% are doing to stay afloat. Whatever they can.
We've "taken into account" and "controlled for" these dozens of factors. After we make everything the same, lo and behold, the new generation is the same as the old.
Shock of a lifetime!
"Average age, average income, and a wide range of demographics" -- are drastically different.
So answer the question the way it's asked. If I walk up to a random twenty-year old this afternoon, will he buy things like I did when I was twenty, or not?
Of course if he's impoverished, he won't. Of course if he's dead he won't. Of course if he's chosen to live as a hermit he won't. But isn't that the point?
The question wasn't "why". The question is "whether".
OK, so what do you propose doing about it?
Well, for one thing, pretty sure that bringing in countless foreigners to compete for jobs isn't going to help, but what do I know.
It's unpopular to say that, so not enough of us do say it. But popularity doesn't seem to be taking care of the problem.
Money can only buy commodities, but it's all trash. All of it.
Our supermarkets are just as impoverished as Cuba or the soviet union, just with more brightly colored labels.
When you look, when you really take an effort to see past the ads, and the brands, and the bullshit, it's all the fucking same.
Just piles and piles of trash that you don't need.
RESIST
Buy only what you actually need to live.
Signalling to your fellow human is a waste of time anyway, as they're buried in the false world inside their phone, as reality decays around us.
I know your just derping. But how is Trump's debt different from FDR's (and every other scumbag in between)?
FDR: Debt for government spending to get us out of the Depression and then to pay for WWII.
Clinton actually balanced the budget....then...
W.Bush sstarting spending like a mad man for unecessary wars that created ISIS.
Obama, had to bail us out of a Republican causes financial mess.
Trump's debt is for the tax cuts for the Republican and his donors because that's what they paid for.
Some reasons why Trump sucks and his supporters are all morons:
1. N. Korea is back at their old shenanigans. More nukes! (So much for the "master deal maker")
2. After all that Reality TV Drama horseshit and pissing off Canada and Mexico, the new NAFTA is basically what was originally signed into law by Clinton.
3. The whole Caravan and border shit is nothing but a distraction and an overblown problem.
4. The tax cut did jack shit for me. And in the meantime, the national debt will increase another trillion or so and because of it, interests rates will rise, our standard of living will decrease, and our economy will slow - all to give his and the Republican donors their tax break at our expense
5. He undid Obama's environmental protections.
6. The wildfires in California were his fault: he didn't appoint an under secretary of Natural Resources and Environment until September of this year.
7. He hasn't been appointing people to important government positions - but playing golf
8. A useless tradewar that’s costing too much and hurting our economy.
9. Neutered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
10. We still don’t have a better healthcare system than Obamacare. He did promise one!!
11. The wall hasn’t been built. (Good thing, but still a broken promise)
12. Still no trillion dollars in infrastructure spending. (Another broken promise.)
13. Firing people who are doing their job and not doing Trump's unethical and illegal bidding.
Indeed, it's pretty simple. It's just too bad that we'll have to keep trying supply-side economics until it either shows some signs of working for the first time ever, or the economy sucks itself in like the house at the end of Poltergeist.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Better get ready to do pushups and die in global war you zoomie fucks!
If you didnt suffer from the sin of false Pride you could have open discussions with ouths and discover youre not alone in getting raped, but your silence only enboldens your banker rapists. SAD.
If you _need_ your next paycheck you are a 'wage slave'.
Is projecting financial success (e.g. buying all the house you were qualified for, new cars etc) worth making yourself a wage slave? The most important thing in financial negotiations is being able to say 'no'. If you employer/clients figure out you can't, you are really fucked, that's financially 'weak'.
I'm more or less at the same stage of life and income, but house and car(s) are paid for. No HOA, horse properties, acerage, kind of neighborhood.
There are many people who get a raise and gleefully think they can now afford a higher car payment, morons all.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
I thought I was old, being born in the mid 70's, but according to this article, I'm almost a millennial
The US is becoming more like Europe where generations tend to live together instead of each new generation setting out on their own. It's from a combination of 3 things:
1) Running out of land due to population growth. The remaining areas are either desert or mountainous. The rest competes with farming.
2) Jobs are less stable these days, making it harder to purchase a house. Lack of career stability also means you select "nimble" dwellings over big dwellings because you may have to move quickly for work change.
3) The wealth is log-jamming at the top. Most GDP growth is not trickling down to the middle class. The Great Recession merely accelerated the trend.
Table-ized A.I.
My take on millennials is that just have a realistic perspective. They already know that corporations are amoral beasts with no humanity or loyalty, so they tend to view their relationship with corporate employers in a reciprocal fashion. They just ask themselves ... "If I were a corporation, how would I behave in this situation?" It's not surprising that some people don't view this enlightened attitude favorably.
FDR's spending extended the depression, it was ended by WWII.
Clinton had one _projected_ balanced budget (if you included SS accounting tricks), but it never happened. Dotcom imploded and the Clinton recession ended the hope, no balanced actual year.
The rest of your post is just idiotic.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Government bundled student loans as part of Obamacare in order to pay for it.
Why do you hate poor people so much that you are complaining about helping them pay for insurance with deductibles so high they can't use it. Think about Obama's buddies in the insurance companies won't you.
You all are a bunch of idiots that keep voting politicians to take your money and give it to their friends, and then come and complain when they didn't win in 2016.
2008 great recession
crushing student debt
'gig' economy and decades of union busting
Future insolvency of social security
High rent and housing costs
Medical costs primary cause of bankruptcy
I wonder why millennials and gen-x have less money to spend, and those who do have some aren't spending as much.
Perhaps more are concerned about survival, than frivolously wasting money on consumer products that are engineered to be disposable and non serviceable. Perhaps seeing our parents struggle with credit card debt also had an effect.
From what I have witnessed, having been "in business" since 1981, is a LOT of the millennials, have NO work ethic. No just me, but I have talked to many people who have hired someone, that failed to show up on their start date, then when WE finally get in contact with them after they accepted a job, they say "oh, I changed my mind, or oh, I got a different job". Didn't even have the COURTESY of calling back. And, they want with NO EXPERIENCE, paid time off, sick days bla bla bla. Plus, you have to watch them or they will just sit around and do nothing. Add to that, with NO experience, they want a high salary because they have "massive debt" they are trying to pay off. NOT everyone needs to go to an expensive 4 year university. Trade schools offer a good way to make a living and are IN DEMAND, but a lot of the millennials don't want to work hard, just sit on their butts and play video games. Now, GET OFF MY LAWN!
Nobody ever said you need to own a house to get married.
Nobody ever said you need $20,000 to get married.
A basic wedding can be done for around $300. Today.
Stop believing the marketroids. Even the ring is optional. Have a park picnic wedding, it's fun!
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
For the mess with SS. THAT mess, was started by the darling of the left, "progressive" FDR. Then, both democrat & republican representatives in the house, along with their allies in the senate (all SPENDING bills have to start in the house), changed the rules about SS and started moving money around, allowing NON CITIZENS to be "entitled" to it even though they never put into it. Plus, at the time SS was "created" the average lifespan of a U.S. citizen was 65, meaning that most would never either see that money, or not live very long to take all they had contributed. Now, the average lifespan of a U.S. citizen is 79 years old, which means they draw SS for 14 years longer than originally intended. Couple that with all the "borrowing" from SS and you see why it is in the mess it is in! Not to mention it never would have worked in the first place, because you would of had a better return, investing somewhere else.
"Loyalty is a paycheck away"
Life is not for the lazy.
From what I can tell, they are more likely to want to suppress free speech of those they don't agree with, claim victim hood when their feelings get hurt, boycott any company that doesn't completely surrender to their beliefs, and are getting closer every day to wanting to put those with alternate ideologies into gulags or mass graves.
Mainly the Boomers. No matter the personal politics, it is practically an article of faith that the Boomers are the sexiest, coolest, hardest working generation America has ever had. I don't think there is any generation in American history that has, collectively, disparaged its predecessors and successors to the extent they have.
1/3 of all Boomers intend to leave no inheritance. Think about that for a min. Something is truly rotten with them as a generation**
**yes, yes individuals notwithstanding
I think it comes from the early days - when millennials started entering the workforce - you know around high school or so when their first job is a minimum wage retail job.
The reason I believe this is well, if you talk to small business owners (the kind of people who generally hire them for the first job) they still maintain they're all the same.
Sure the job sucks, and perhaps they're putting into it what they're getting out, hence the "lazy" and other terms used for it, when maybe in previous generations they basically put effort into it even though it was a minimum wage McJob.
Of course, it seems after that the Real World(tm) hits and they get some life lessons into how the world works and shake off the image, because once they get a Real Job they actually are competent and hard working.
Now, if someone will explain to me how these "Digital Natives" can require so much IT support. They're supposed to be able to run rings around us "Digital Immigrants" in online activities...
Yes, Millennials likely have the exact same materialistic cravings as the previous generations. The concept keeping up with the Jonses is so old most Millennials probably wouldn't understand what it means even if it does describe exactly what everyone is doing.
The difference with Millennials vs. previous generations is they've been groomed to expect a lot of shit in life for free. They're electing socialists to Congress based on this very premise.
20 years ago if you wanted a website, you had to buy a domain, pay someone to host it, and design and create your own content. And that was completely acceptable because people understood and accepted the basic premise of capitalism. Generations before recognized there's no such thing as a free lunch, a concept that is almost a century old now.
Today's generation would be appalled if you asked them to pay for a website. That's called "Facebook" now. Same goes for email, image hosting, and even internet access, as not offering free WiFi in your business is now considered some kind of grave attack on basic human rights.
And yes, the younger generation DOES favor "experiences". I've met more people under the age of 30 that I'm completely jealous of because somehow they've managed to travel the world and go on more vacations that I could dream of. I say "somehow", but that's rather obvious too when you look at how absolutely broke they are all the time. This is the FOMO generation that YOLOs worries away. Saving for a rainy day? Budget and spend what you can afford? Fuck that. That's not "fun", no matter how sensible it may be.
And yes, I am generalizing. The sad part is my generalizations for the majority of the demographic I'm targeting, are accurate.
You make it sound like that's something new. Loyalty to an employer is, at best, quaint. Nobody working today is unaware of that.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
You need to present value the total cost of the wedding. It's never only $300, unless you're the woman, then it's still likely a negative number.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Money does not represent wealth. Money represents how much influence you have over other people.
We can always create more consumer goods, so that is not a zero sum game. But there is a finite amount of influence over others available (the maximum amount being total control of everyone).
So, influence over others IS a zero-sum game. The more I have, the less you have, and vice versa.
The less money the lower classes have, the more influence the top has over them. It's that simple.
Clinton had one _projected_ balanced budget (if you included SS accounting tricks), but it never happened. Dotcom imploded and the Clinton recession ended the hope, no balanced actual year.
The rest of your post is just idiotic.
What's up with this this graph and this graph, both from The United States federal budget wikipedia article then? Cooked books? Accounting shenanigans? Flat out lying? They fairly clearly show surpluses.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
You can't drop truth bombs on W and Trump but give Barry a complete pass, it completely negates everything you say after.
They require a lot of support because in some organisations a lot of automation simply hardly works
It is demoralizing to see foreigners just pop up in colleges, and never leave. Illegal aliens have hurt wages in construction, landscaping, fast food, and more. YES, Americans used to do those jobs. A lot of those jobs were unionized. The physically exhausted man, coming home after physically demanding work, used to make about in the high teens of dollars per hour (2018 dollars). Black Americans did housekeeping and landscaping in the South prior to the 60s.
I'm a Republican, but I hate Bush more than Obama, with his promotion of foreign labor.
Agreed. Liberals are the absolute worst. Hopefully they'll all move to Canada like they said they would.
Only because he wouldn't commit. WWII was where he and the government were forced to commit, hence the Depression ended. Before that there was a cycle of "Spend, OK, we don't like spending so let's stop even though the problem hasn't been fixed, OH FUCK, let's try again"
(No, just because Trump and Bush are terrible doesn't mean Obama is good, he looks good compared to those two, but he's one of the most mediocre Presidents in history. There, I said it.)
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
I always thought, since I heard of the term and its derivatives, that Millenialism means increased consumption of virtual goods. So instead of buying stuff, M's prefer to buy the appearance of stuff, virtual money and jobs and yes, guns, in online games, virtual books (ebooks), and even virtual ownership of real things like cars and homes (Uber, AirBnB). And don't forget the virtual food;)
I didn't check your graphs, but I've seen similar.
The only way Clinton had a "surplus" is by putting SS surplus in the general fund and spending it that year and replacing it in the SS fund with an IOU to pay back SS later.
If you want to call that a surplus, fine. HornWumpus isn't calling that SS money a surplus (he even mentioned it). Accounting laws wouldn't allow a public company to call it a surplus either, so the only way you can is through what would be illegal accounting practices.
Just wanted to point out you two are both right depending on assumptions made.
The charts show the budget - in other words, what was planned. It does not show unplanned expenses, it doesn't include interest payments on the debt, it doesn't show intra-governmental loans...
Instead of Wikipedia, why don't you go to the Treasury's own website? Go there, and look at the outstanding debt directly from the official source. The easiest way to see that there was no surplus is to simply look at the total outstanding debt - publicly held debt + intergovernmental debt + etc. It went up every year. It almost went down in 2000 - the deficit was only $17 billion that year. But the total debt still went up $17 billion that year.
you're just temporarily inconvenienced millionaires, right?
.com and housing bubbles). They will not.
The boomers didn't have Credit Cards coming out their ears either. They didn't need them.
Next, You're probably going to trot out statistics on bigger homes. Fair enough, but we live in America. Land is cheap. Building homes is cheap. The only thing that isn't cheap is infrastructure (roads, water lines, sewer lines, electric lines, etc, etc). The boomers got that for free. GenX (my Gen) got the tail end of that. Millenials got shafted. If you can afford a home you can afford a big one because that's not where most of the cost is. Home prices are sky rocketing because without the government subsidizing building by doing the hard/expensive part that's what happens.
It's pretty well documented that Millenials make 20% less than boomers. I keep seeing again and again these articles of folks deep in debt and they can't understand why. It comes down to trying to live like their parents did even when their parents shafted them by voting for Trickle down economics just to get some short term tax cuts and maybe "stiggit" to the libs a bit. TFA is just more fuel on that fire.
For me the the question is will the Millenials stop voting for these chumps? Not sure. They tried with Trump, but, well, we can see how that worked out. They're still voting on their gut instead of on policy. Their parents and grandparents got away with that for a variety of external reasons (post WWII boom followed by
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Billionaires don't make anything. Only human labor makes anything.
Capitalists are rich because they systematically steal the labor of the working classes. They're literally vampires.
We should slaughter the rich. They won't need their wealth once they're dead.
Clinton had one _projected_ balanced budget (if you included SS accounting tricks), but it never happened.
Nope
But please, keep lying. I'm sure someone will not bother doing a simple google search and believe you.
If you want people to buy your stuff, you need people who have the money to buy your stuff.
But...but....then I couldn't buy by 8th mansion!!! You don't expect me to get by on only 7, do you? That is so selfish of you!!
I've personally manufactured over 100 unlicensed guns. When the tipping point is reached, it will swallow the world in fire.
I'm not sure where all the disparagement towards millenials is coming from.
IMO, it's a combination of older people always having "these kids today" complaints, and the Boomers losing power for the first time in their lives.
"but he's one of the most mediocre Presidents in history. There, I said it."
So edgy!
"No, just because Trump and Bush are terrible doesn't mean Obama is good, he looks good compared to those two"
How many more crappy presidential terms do we need before someone in the Obama ballpark doesn't look good in comparison, but just looks good? Three Reagan terms? One and half Nixon terms? Wait, are you saying Carter was any good?
For all their insolent talk, teenagers are just like their parents, just less experienced.
https://www.treasurydirect.gov...
Suck it loser.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Did you really think the web page to buy treasury products would somehow demonstrate the lack of a budget surplus?
Or are you under the delusion that you can't run a budget surplus if a deficit exists?
Basically, I'm trying to figure out which flavor of wrong you are.
Sorry, most people don't have the 'Scrooge McDuck" view of rich people (vault room where they swim in the money). They know that most rich folks have their money tied up in real estate and stocks/bonds, etc. What most poor people realize is that the system has been slowly rigged against them. Legal matters ... rich have lawyers, poor can't even afford to miss work for a court date, let alone afford a lawyer. Taxes... shift things off shore, tax shelters, setup 'estates'... heck they don't even have to do anything special: investment income is taxed less than income from physical work. The rich don't even have to get their hands dirty and they end up with less taxes. They know why they are poor, it's the system... not Econ 101. When you work two 40-hour jobs to have your family barely get by (basic food, rent, utilities, etc.) and the rich call you lazy and thinks you are asking for handouts... that's some messed up shit.
...please do it in an orderly fashion.
So instead of simply handing out blame how about we all agree to demand lower taxes and a balanced budget? That way we can all have nice things, right?
who are trying to keep the working class divided per instructions by their owners; aka the 1%; aka the ruling class.
A ruling class always needs to keep the working class fighting among themselves because if they stop they'll notice the ruling class laughing all the way to the bank. This is also why we have racism.
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at least you get an interview. Nowadays thanks to H1-Bs you won't even get the time of day w/o a degree of some sort. Not everybody's got the chops for a STEM degree. You make due with what you've got when it comes to brains.
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a lot of the Trump faithful decreased withholding following the tax cut. But they don't earn enough for the tax cut to matter. They're in for a rude awakening in April....
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I too blame Trump for passing legislation in 1992 that requires HUD to give out 30% of its loan to the poor. This was such a great program that the percentage was increased to 56%. In order to achieve this Freddy and Fannie had to issue sub-prime mortgages. As a result of these sub-prime mortgages, many people were able to get mortgages they were unable to afford. This caused a bubble which lead to the financial crises of 2008.
Oh wait, Trump wasn't President in 1992 nor was W Bush, and the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 passed with bipartisan support.
Maybe, just maybe, our financial problems were caused decades ago and not one party is responsible.
The problem with this conclusion is that it requires nuance and understanding, it is too smart for current days 24/7 hysteria based news cycle.
I wonder if the fact that our parents didn't have the internet, cell phones, Netflix has anything to do with this? Who would have thought that increasing the number of bills, services, and luxuries would be hard on our wallets?
The nation that believes that you're what you buy.
One born every minute.
their money tied up in real estate
That's the whole point. The money isn't "tied up" at all. If I buy real estate someone else gets the money and does things with it.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
...part where you represent everyone in Central America.
...too heavily defeats some of the purpose of seeking asylum. Example: should someone defecting from North Korea wait for the proper time and location to seek asylum... in doing so that he or she would probably never get out of the country successfully without being recaptured or killed. Let alone that this person probably wouldn't know where and when to go etc. etc. I'm saying take them in wherever they come in and process them. If we accept their asylum request... great, if not, deport them. But this... must be the 3rd Tuesday of the month between 12-2:30p at the border building 15b... oops, sorry you came in at 2:31p or didn't apply at building 15b... back to North Korea for you... I think is bullshit.
I did not vote for Trump. When I am headed to the bathroom, I tell all my co-workers i'm going to go take a Trump. So ... not a fan.
But there's some important things to consider in what you just said.
1. If I, as a stranger, call you a moron, do you have any interest in seriously considering what I have to say?
2. He was voted in by about half the country. Either half of the voting population is morons or they have interests that literally trump the issues you listed above.
What are they?
a. They completely mistrust "insiders" because all of the insiders that came before "got us into this mess". They may not know which news is the actual fake news, but they know that most of the bullshit they've been fed is fake.
b. They live in (economically) shitty places, work shitty jobs, have shitty prospects for any of that getting better. Rural = red = left behind by the "new" economy.
c. I'm tired of making this list. Just try to understand the other side a bit so maybe we can work together to get rid of that giant orange-faced cunt.
But that 'someone else' is also very likely not poor, or else they wouldn't qualify for that kind of loan. The poor get their (smaller and worse-rate) loans from money exchanges and credit cards and under-the-table dealings, not banks per se. There are both good and bad reasons for that, but that's how it is.
If you at least bought that 8th mansion. But instead you're bunkering that money in some bank, hoping that finally you find something worthwhile to "invest" in. Not realizing that a worthwhile investment requires that that investment finds someone to sell to, which requires that this someone not only wants/needs what is offered but also can afford it.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Yeah, reality hurts your precious little feelings, doesn't it? When literally every fact is against your narrative, all you can do is whine and cry and rail against reality with all your impunity. Luckily your kind are dying out, as there isn't much productive use for someone that believes math, logic, and science are all liberal conspiracies.
The dogpiling is to shift attention and blame. The USA is being hollowed out from the inside. There is still a crunchy outer shell, but all of the tasty stuff on the inside is gone. Someone is Bain'ing the United States as a whole. :(
"Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen