One guys rant

SAJ-99 said:
I never said it was complete. There are a lot of things at play, but I have numbers. Average size of a home = 1970 1600sq ft, 2015 2500sq ft
Average family size decreased from about 3.6 to 3.15 over same period. Bigger homes and smaller families. That shows Americans changing their expectations of what they consider normal. Did it drive the need for a second income or did the second income drive the expectations higher? I can't answer that.

Wages not growing fast enough is certainly a problem, but more for tax revenue. There is other data showing we spend less of our income on fuel and groceries than we did 40 years ago. Most everyone is walking around with a smart phone or watching a big screen TV. Makes me wonder what exactly people spend their money on and if they are willing to "sacrifice" it to become a one-income family, and is there something special about that?

Any comparison to your Ivy league Dad might be tough because it is anecdotal. If your point is a college education is too expensive, I would agree. We have elected to reduce federal funding to colleges for the last 40 yrs. Again, most of the items in the rant need to start with us looking in the mirror.
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No argument that these are factors!
 
I’ve been on this rant for a few years. I tell everyone that I think 95% is fake or a scam. From news to crap you buy. Everything is junk, if it isn’t junk then you are generally just buying a brand which is a scam. Everything is built to break so you throw it away or pay the company that designed it to break to fix it. Our tax dollars are grifted by politicians or scammed in every way possible. Everytime they come up with a cure it causes 10 problems. People post crap on facefook and think people actually give a damn about it. The only thing people give a damn about is scantily clad IG models and most of them are AI now.

I knew I’d get to be an old curmudgeon someday but at 37 really? I’m gonna be a real SOB if I live to 50. giphy-downsized.gif
 
Stocker said:
I’ve been on this rant for a few years. I tell everyone that I think 95% is fake or a scam. From news to crap you buy. Everything is junk, if it isn’t junk then you are generally just buying a brand which is a scam. Everything is built to break so you throw it away or pay the company that designed it to break to fix it. Our tax dollars are grifted by politicians or scammed in every way possible. Everytime they come up with a cure it causes 10 problems. People post crap on facefook and think people actually give a damn about it. The only thing people give a damn about is scantily clad IG models and most of them are AI now.

I knew I’d get to be an old curmudgeon someday but at 37 really? I’m gonna be a real SOB if I live to 50. View attachment 405102
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GtNYjETWkAAOeUL.jpeg
 
Laszlo Cravensworth said:
www.apolloacademy.com

Median Age of All US Homebuyers: 59 Years - Apollo Academy

In 2010, the median age of all US homebuyers was 39 years old. Today, it is 59, see chart below....
www.apolloacademy.com www.apolloacademy.com

Younger generations don't drive the home building market either. I know a lot of millenials and gen z that would love to see more 1000-1200 sq ft houses, but we don't build nearly as many of them. Starter homes in were replaced by 4/3s for developer profit in many areas.
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I don’t know for sure, but that 59 numbers seems wrong. It’s from the NAR so that kind of backs me up. But the direction is definitely correct. Even if it is 49, that is a bad trend.

To your point on starter homes, I heard this on the RH call as I trying to find info on tariffs. I can’t confirm accuracy on it either but it tracks. Hard to feel sorry for them when they complain about paying taxes. 😢

“Ultra-high net worth consumers with a net worth above $20 million own on average 3.7 homes. Billionaires own 10. Ultra-high net worth consumers spend 6.4 times more on home furnishings than a consumer with a single primary residence.”
 
RealMuddyboots said:
Perspectives always change by generation which are never understood by previous generations.

GET OFF MY LAWN!
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Sure, but social media is often people telling their perspective from a time they didn't even live in. And what often gets me most worked up, being forwarded from people that DID live in it but seem to think it was something it wasn't. The 70's sucked. The 80's sucked. Saw a stat that a car made in in the 21st century (post 2000) an be expected to drive twice the life miles as a car made in the 70's. I assume that even includes the cars in the midwest rusting out around an engine that just keeps going. TVs, seriously? If you didn't own a 200lb cathode ray TV with "ghost" sections on the screen where YOU were the family "remote control" then I'm not interested in any quality comparison to today's TVs.

I am not saying there are not good points being made. Stuff breaks and I try to fix it for cheap, but if it takes me 4 hours to "fix" it and I could have bought a new one for $75 I have to wonder about the trade off. Debating a couple of these "fixes" now that will probably just end up with an Amazon purchase and I will feel guilty for doing it.

For the vast majority of things, this is a wonderful time to be alive. I wish that would be the perspective being shared more.
 
SAJ-99 said:
For the vast majority of things, this is a wonderful time to be alive. I wish that would be the perspective being shared more.
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I can’t disagree with this more. I can’t think of anytime I’d not rather live in than now. Sure, you could die of disease, or be killed by the elements. But now you can be turned into a commodity, make just enough money to buy a bunch of crap nobody needs, what money you don’t spend on mindless garbage is used to pay the health care system to give you just enough care to keep you alive to suck the last few dollars you saved out of you, but you also get surveilled 24/7 and get to carry around a personal data collection device in your pocket so everyone can figure out how to suck more money out of you. We’re fed propaganda 24/7, the natural environment is FUBAR compared to what it was, humans don’t even know what gender they are. We are so soft as a people that we award participation and wag the finger at excellence and achievement.


Give me dying in a Roman Colosseum fighting a lion with a sword for $500 Alex.
 
Stocker said:
I can’t disagree with this more. I can’t think of anytime I’d not rather live in than now. Sure, you could die of disease, or be killed by the elements. But now you can be turned into a commodity, make just enough money to buy a bunch of crap nobody needs, what money you don’t spend on mindless garbage is used to pay the health care system to give you just enough care to keep you alive to suck the last few dollars you saved out of you, but you also get surveilled 24/7 and get to carry around a personal data collection device in your pocket so everyone can figure out how to suck more money out of you. We’re fed propaganda 24/7, the natural environment is FUBAR compared to what it was, humans don’t even know what gender they are. We are so soft as a people that we award participation and wag the finger at excellence and achievement.


Give me dying in a Roman Colosseum fighting a lion with a sword for $500 Alex.
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A lot of that is choice. We choose to spend money on mindless garbage. We choose to read and believe the propaganda. I know what gender I am, as does everyone I know, and I don't worry about the confusion anyone else has. Not my problem. Life is great if you look around. Sure, there are still problems. At 37, I am 100% sure your view will change over time if you let it. Life happens and as others have hinted, the stressful stuff that helps us be grateful in reflection isn't always positive.

The estimated life expectancy in Roman times was 20-30yrs. Odds are you would't have had the chance to get killed by the lion. More recent, no one would choose to have cancer in the 70's over today, side effects of medicine or not.
 
SAJ-99 said:
Sure, but social media is often people telling their perspective from a time they didn't even live in. And what often gets me most worked up, being forwarded from people that DID live in it but seem to think it was something it wasn't. The 70's sucked. The 80's sucked. Saw a stat that a car made in in the 21st century (post 2000) an be expected to drive twice the life miles as a car made in the 70's. I assume that even includes the cars in the midwest rusting out around an engine that just keeps going. TVs, seriously? If you didn't own a 200lb cathode ray TV with "ghost" sections on the screen where YOU were the family "remote control" then I'm not interested in any quality comparison to today's TVs.

I am not saying there are not good points being made. Stuff breaks and I try to fix it for cheap, but if it takes me 4 hours to "fix" it and I could have bought a new one for $75 I have to wonder about the trade off. Debating a couple of these "fixes" now that will probably just end up with an Amazon purchase and I will feel guilty for doing it.

For the vast majority of things, this is a wonderful time to be alive. I wish that would be the perspective being shared more.
Click to expand...
The worst part of a thirty minute job is the first four hours ....
 
You can put me in the “these are the good old days” camp. Read your history; most of human existence has been marked by tragedy, war, disease, oppression, (pick your shit situation), etc.

I don’t think life has ever been easy, except perhaps in hindsight. Lying, cheating, stealing, murder, war, war profiteering, political corruption have been and will continue to be, a part of the human condition. Oh yes, people love to be outraged on both sides of the isle.

But calling everything “fake” while we as a society enjoy a standard of living that’s beyond the comprehension of our grandparents is laughable.
 
D_Walt said:
You can put me in the “these are the good old days” camp. Read your history; most of human existence has been marked by tragedy, war, disease, oppression, (pick your shit situation), etc.

I don’t think life has ever been easy, except perhaps in hindsight. Lying, cheating, stealing, murder, war, war profiteering, political corruption have been and will continue to be, a part of the human condition. Oh yes, people love to be outraged on both sides of the isle.

But calling everything “fake” while we as a society enjoy a standard of living that’s beyond the comprehension of our grandparents is laughable.
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I don’t disagree with your thought process, I completely understand that logic. I never said everything is fake. Just 95% of everything. I don’t mean fake as in make believe, just not what it seems. Now pondering this I think I may be low on my number.
 
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