On an unrelated note, suddenly, boomers care about affordable housing for no apparent reason.
Suddenly boomers believe in a massive increase to social security taxes to pay for them.
I look forward to watching them die off.
I’m not saying dude’s right (not saying he’s wrong, either, mind), but Boomers have been trying to choke out everyone outside of their cohort (and a significant chunk of those in their cohort, for that matter) for decades. The sooner they’re out of the way, the sooner the rest of us can start picking up the pieces they’ve left us.
Ageist comments are weirdly popular on lemmy. Why is ageism encouraged when sexism and racism are not?
Disclaimer: These are obviously over generalizations and don’t match all individuals.
Because it’s not the age people are against, it’s the generation. The boomer generation had some of the most prosperous years in American history and wasted them. The general idea is you’re supposed to make the world a better place for the people that come next, and they did the opposite. They cut social systems, defunded education, let public transportation die, outsourced everything, and lined their pockets with investments in oil that are killing the planet.
I won’t blame someone for being old, but I will judge them by what they did and supported during their life. And as a whole, the boomers have a lot to answer for.
There is a huge subset of boomers that fought and voted for the betterment of society that were completely fucked by the system. Maybe a LITTLE bit of consolation and empathy for them?
I still everyone thinks that boomer`s houses magically built themself and cost nothing. No interest was payed for the loan and the time there where built money rained from the sky.
If you think that, I know you’re unfamiliar with the economy and real estate.
They bought them, yes. In fact, they had higher interest rates! My dad’s first mortgage in the 80s was at 17%…but the loan was less than 2 years of his salary which made his payments pretty easy. Now I’m expecting to have to pay 5-6x my salary for a similar home.
And to get ahead of some rebuttals: adjusted for inflation, I am making more than he did at the time so it’s not that. And the homes I’m looking at are in less desirable neighborhoods than I grew up in so it’s not that either.
Furthermore, his parents’ generation wasn’t hoarding real estate for Airbnb rentals.
Also, there has been a drop in new housing construction since 2008.
There was a massive multigenerational push to build new housing, with government agencies either facilitating new construction with infrastructure or helping to fund its construction.
if he bought his first home in the 80’s then your dad is a really young boomer to. or waited awhile for some reason. anyway there is a different with each generation over the 20 year span. not that it makes much of a difference when things are great. just older boomers had it a bit better even. The basic pattern is the younger the worse you have it if you where born in the 70’s or later. I really can’t fanthom why people are still having kids.
Nobody with a brain believes that straw man.
The topic is complex and nuanced but it isn’t hard to see that, say, single family homes are harder to afford now versus in the past by several measures.
Here are some examples articles…
https://anytimeestimate.com/research/housing-prices-vs-inflation/
Though the title of the following sounds like it disproves me until you get to the part about wages not keeping up.
https://www.supermoney.com/inflation-adjusted-home-prices/
Now compare the rise in the median price of a home to the median income of Americans.
if you adjust for inflation, the median income of Americans has only increased by 33%. The median housing prices, however, have increased by 60%. It’s even worse when you look at the income of younger adults. For instance, the median income of people between 25 and 34 only increased by $30 in 44 years (1974 to 2017). It’s no wonder homeownership rates among Millennials are lower than for previous generations.
Particularly in the last few years things have gotten worse.
https://cnn.com/cnn/2023/08/24/homes/home-affordability-worst-since-1984/index.html
People also fail to factor in the difference in ameneties between boomers’ 2 bedroom, single floor, no-garage house vs what people demand today
I’m actively searching for a house to buy - smaller than the one that what I grew up in - and while you’re right about people wanting more space, it does not matter. Homes are disproportionally more expensive than they were in the 80s
Is it demand or is it a question of builders wanting to maximize profits by building larger homes vs small starter homes?
https://realestate.usnews.com/real-estate/articles/what-is-a-starter-home
Data from the Census Bureau shows that 40% of homes constructed in 1980 were considered entry-level homes. In 2019, only 7% of homes were entry-level, according to a 2021 report from Freddie Mac, and almost every state is building fewer starter homes.
“Because of the cost of labor and supplies, builders are mainly focused on building more expensive homes, since it no longer makes sense for them to build more affordable homes,” Carlton says.
I blame the removal of pensions and replacement with inadequate 401k plans.
Social security was never meant to be a retirement plan.
Maybe it should be. Decoupling retirement and Wall Street would probably let us take a more honest look at the costs and benefits of for profit corporations in our society.
We need regulations (laws) to make them viable for retirement.
A forced match plus a 10% pay paid for by the employer.
Most people just can’t save enough in a 401k to make it solid retirement program. You’re capped at little under 20k a year. I may mine every year.
I wouldn’t even mind a national pension plan or something similar.
The current system isn’t viable for many reasons.
My mom is retired but she has two pensions and social equity plus some other income. She’s in a rare spot that she’s very comfortable in retirement.
The amounts have changed. For 2023, the current 401K maximum is $22,500, and if you are 50 or older, $30,000.
For 2023, the total contributions you make each year to all of your traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs can’t be more than: $6,500 ($7,500 if you’re age 50 or older), or. If less, your taxable compensation for the year.
Cutting the budget to come up with an extra $28,000 is the hard part.
agreed. retirement and healthcare should not be tied to employment. Want a snazzier retirement. Fine that is 401k/ira material. Retirement plus health insurance should be enough to pay for a retirment home private room where you won’t be molested (i.e. - pays enough that folks don’t want to lose their job)
Actually, it kind of literally was. Though it’s frustrating how common it is for people to share that misconception.
AFAIK it literally wasn’t. It was meant to be “one leg” of a “three-legged stool”. One leg was Social Securty, one leg was company pensions, and the third leg was personal retirement savings.
The thing is. Not every company had pensions. And almost none do today. The concept of personal retirement savings is not something that has ever been reliable adequate or common throughout most of human history. Both are literally the reason Social Security was enacted. It is literally a retirement syatem/social safety net. To make sure that the elderly do not starve die or fall to homelessness in their old age.
Check out question 4 on this page on the actual Social Security Administration website.
Q4: Is it true that Social Security was originally just a retirement program?
A: Yes. Under the 1935 law, what we now think of as Social Security only paid retirement benefits to the primary worker.
I don’t blame anyone for thinking that it isn’t though. Fascists/capitalists in the United States have spent decades upon decades. Honestly nearly the last 100 years trying to destroy/raid the fund for their own benefit. And gaslighting everyone else.
Or more accurately, social security should be a proper national pension plan. Fund it by increasing contribution rates and uncapping contributions.
I stick with my underpaid government job solely for my state pension. At 55, I can start to get 70% of my final salary guaranteed, with annual COLA adjustments. I may not be rich in retirement, but I can get by.
401k works fine if you actually use it. A big problem is people didn’t contribute, where pensions generally had mandatory contributions. Also letting people borrow on them was a bad idea.
And borrowing on them is just a bad idea. At least in the case of my 401k, there’s no early payoff, you don’t make interest off it while it’s borrowed, it really can hurt in the long term unless the loan amount is very small.
I looked out of curiosity because I want to buy a house somewhere in the next 5 years, and immediately ruled out any consideration of borrowing off 401k.
They should cut back on avocado toast and get rid of cable.
Have they tried trickle down economics or maybe pulling themselves up by their bootstraps??
“Fuck you, I got mine” turns into “Fuck, they got mine”.
Maybe voting just for soi and against vous wasn’t that clever after all? Will they stop voting Republican?
Dear Boomers,
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. [YOU ARE HERE]
Yeah it’s like Republicans are not going to help you, other than enflaming culture wars and talking about woke. When they funnel all taxes and assets to the wealthy, and deregulate all industries, and make vaccines illegal, etc, all you’ll have left is a tattered red hat and a shopping cart full of your belongings.
