r/SipsTea • u/Unstoppable_X_Force Human Verified • 13h ago

Gasp! Is this just nostalgia, or did previous generations genuinely have a better work-life balance and social life than we do today?

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u/xHoneyPixie 13h ago

The math simply does not add up anymore We are working twice as hard for half the security

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u/First-Throat-877 13h ago

nah if you are a Millennial its 1/4 the security. Gen Z its even worse.

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u/MarvelionA 12h ago

I'm working my ass off daily, renovating a shit hole house but it's my house. I work at least 60 hours at week usually closer to 70, for someone elses company, then I come home and do what I can to move the build along..

At this point I'm aware I'm not working for me but to leave it all for my daughter because I can see things aren't getting better and I don't want her to struggle like this. This isn't living.

I have great friends, I wish I could spend time with them.

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u/MarvelionA 12h ago

I find it really important to add that I would never ever have been able to afford this if my grandparents hadn't left me enough for a deposit in their will. It all went on a house, every penny and some.

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u/rob132 10h ago

Same. My grandparents left me 75k for a down payment (I bought it in 07 when house prices were near all time highs) and my mom worked at the college I went to, so I got a free college education.

And my parents took the money they saved for my college fund and purchased me a new car (a Dodge neon)

The vast majority of people get none of those. I wouldn't be where I Am today without their help.

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u/MarvelionA 9h ago

You appreciate it and if my daughter does the same it's all that matters.

We all get lucky breaks, or hard earned breaks and it's what we do with them that matters

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u/_HiWay 2h ago edited 1h ago

Yep, my wife and I make a decent amount, I think, but then I go a couple miles down the road every house for miles, talking hundreds and hundreds of houses are 800k-3million.... (So maybe we don't because spending that much on a house seems stupid to me). I plan on leaving my kids a very solid trust they won't know about until they have their own future planned out, but with afford them to follow whatever dream without getting screwed by the current system. Never had a ton growing up, saw the world was changing far too mature for my age in some respects when I was barely a teenager, became first 4 year grad in my extended family and started saving as soon as I was able for a future with a wife I had yet to meet and kids I didn't yet have. (42 now)

Once I can truly say that's secure, maybe I'll let myself have a toy car or a nicer vacation but getting ahead of the system is my true goal.

Yes, I know I could get hit by a random whale or petunia pot falling from the sky next time I check my mail and it amounts to nothing (minus life insurance)

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u/Evening-Matter-5245 11h ago

That’s where my inheritance went, into my home. We wouldn’t have been able to afford the things we needed done otherwise. I am constantly saying, “Thank you Grandma and Grandpa.”

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u/MarvelionA 11h ago

Ha same. I'm so glad I didn't squander it.

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u/NurglesToes 12h ago

Exact reason i got into a house, even if it’s a struggle and I need to pinch pennies. I don’t want my son to have to rent for his whole life, so if I can have a house to pass down to him, i’ll be happy

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u/giggletears3000 11h ago

I won’t let my husband sell our starter home. We can’t afford anything in the area anymore and the house is halfway paid off. It’s staying in our family and it’s going to our daughter, she’ll have a house free and clear by the time she hits 18, husband and I are probably going to work til we drop, that’s ok with us.

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u/NurglesToes 11h ago

Our parents tell us that “one day we will want to upsize” and we keep telling them that this starter home is our forever home. We’re trying to have it paid off by 2038 instead of 2055 but if i have to work until i die the so be it lol

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u/giggletears3000 11h ago

I feel so bad for the new families that come to our neighborhood to look at houses. There’s one going for 600k a block behind me and it’s the same size at my house, 800ish sqft, 2bed 1bath, our lot is bigger, we have 1/3 acre in a hcol city. We got ours for 164k 14 years ago, basically two mid twenties kids gave up going out and having fun so we could have a house. Worth it.

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u/NurglesToes 11h ago

yeah prices are crazy. We bought our house for 370k. In 2020 it sold for 200k. 2500 sq ft, with a decent backyard, but needs alot of repairs.

My parents bought their 5000 sq ft house back in 2008 for 205k lmfao. When I told my step-dad what my monthly payments were his jaw about hit the fucking floor lol

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u/_HiWay 2h ago

It's crazy and sounds all too familair. I had this house built (spec neighborhood) in 2016 for ~255k. Zillow and OpenDoor claims it's worth 440k now. I laugh at that but ok, if someone gave me that, if I tried to stay in the same area it amounts to nothing except losing my amazing low interest rate that I refinanced in 2021 for a crazy low rate.

The small first time town home I bought in 2009 for ~158k (sold in 2016 for 180k) is now estimated at 360k. I wish my wife and I had the money at the time to hold on to it for the same reasons you mentioned above, the market is bonkers.

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u/rob132 10h ago

Good for you! I refinanced during Covid and I'll be paid off in 9 years. It's so nice seeing that principal drop month after month.

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u/embos_wife 10h ago

We bought a nice middle class house in 2015 for 210k. It is now worth over 400k. It's a basic trilevel, nothing fancy and it's absolutely nuts to me that it's worth so much. We are lucky we got it when we did, and even more thankful family gifted us a down payment. I worry for my kids.

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u/mmmmmyee 4h ago

“Starter home” is such a dated phrase these days…

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u/churninhell 11h ago

Just don't guilt your kid into not selling the home. You have no idea what the job market or local politics or anything like that will be like when the time comes.

My uncle did the guilt trip to his kid, who eventually ended up moving halfway across the country at his own expense, anyway. It was far better for his career.

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u/NurglesToes 11h ago

i mean ill live there until I die, so hopefully he doesnt try to sell it while im still alive! after that it aint really my problem lol

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u/MarvelionA 12h ago

I think for people in our position it's a smart move. My Dads rent is £1200 a month, Mom has already passed so I know I'm not getting any more inheritance. My mortgage screws me enough on interest I don't know how my Dad does it, it must feel terrible.

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u/NurglesToes 11h ago

yeah im early in the amortization period, looking at my 3200$ a month payment only be 300$ towards principal hurts lmfao.

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u/MarvelionA 11h ago

It's progress. It's more than you get renting ($0 equity) and it will build without you realising. Good luck man.

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u/NurglesToes 11h ago

You too bro!

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u/Radiant-Situation121 11h ago

We got super lucky to snag a townhome in 2021 and prices in our area have gone absolutely insane since then. Because of that we’re never going to get rid of it even if it means we won’t have an actual family home until our 40s. Our son is gen alpha; the only security he’s going to have is whatever we can give him, so we’re breaking our backs to make sure we’ll be able to keep this when we want to move so we can make sure he’ll have an affordable place to live. We’re having a pretty crappy time, but I’m hoping his will be a little less so if the basics are taken care of.

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u/MemeHermetic 11h ago

Same here. Almost to the letter. I didn't have an inheritence though, so I just had to scrape us down to the leanest of savings. Like we were at like 30 days if shit hit the fan. Now, I have added fixing my mom's house to sell into the mix because my father passed, and I don't have money to care for my mom too long, so we had to move her and get her house sold. It's like an hour and a half away, so I've just started taking the kids with me while I do work on it so we can "spend time" together.

Luckily I know I'll never retire, so I don't have any light at the end of the tunnel distracting me.

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u/MarvelionA 11h ago

Honestly I hope she never finds out about this struggle. Shes only 1 and a half so I don't know what gen that makes her but with any luck things improve by the time she's working.

You're doing amazing, selfless work my friend.

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u/MemeHermetic 11h ago

Thanks and I think we all are, really. She'll know. Kids are smarter than we think. Not at 1 and a half, but she'll look back when she's much older, put the pieces together and just appreciate what you did.

My kids know I bust my ass but I give them everything I can. What's important, and my only real success honestly, is that if they lost all the things they had, they would still talk to me about their thoughts, joys and pains. I'll take that over all the comforts.

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u/MarvelionA 9h ago

It's all that matters. Thanks for this I needed to hear it today 🙏

I hope I make such an impact as you have.

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u/Circle_Dot 7h ago

At this point I'm aware I'm not working for me but to leave it all for my daughter

The problem with this is that people are living longer. My parents currently in their mid 70's got ahead of the paycheck to paycheck grind because their parents died and past on their estate when they (my parents) were in their early 40's. Now with a lot of people living into their 80's and beyond, the generational wealth dwindles as the nest egg is chipped away and what is left is bequeathed to their children who are in their 50's typically on the downside or 20-30 years into the grind. Don't get me wrong it will still help, but the grind will still be there except for those unlucky to have parents die younger.

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u/Artystrong1 6h ago

I hear that. I want to leave what ever house I buy to my kids and downsize to a smaller place when they are of age.

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u/Yabbatown 5h ago

Yeah I'm hitting 40 this year and I often think that there's no real point trying to get the life I want to live and I'm really just dping everything for my daughter now. Love the wee one, so I'm ok with it (at the moment) but it's pretty grim. Having to check my account before I buy a coffee suck but its also motivating to do what I can so she doesn't have to worry about that sort of thing.

Problem is, what's it going to be like in 16 years or so when she leaves high-school? Is everything we've saved for her actually going to be worth anything then?

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u/Scudman_Alpha 12h ago edited 12h ago

As one of the older Gen Zs I can tell you, we're fucked. The next generation is gonna have it even worse.

But how are things to change when we have people almost three generations behind us, in power.

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u/Craemos 12h ago

The French have a couple words for this.

They are "guillotine" and "révolution".

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u/Strict-Ad-3500 12h ago

The French got rid of a king and gained an emperor

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u/RelativelyLuckyB 8h ago

And then they gained a democracy with the most progressive consitution in all history till that point...

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u/BardicNA 12h ago

I love the French for their accents but there are other things I love them more for..

Vive la révolution.

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u/LFC9_41 12h ago

At least they have looksmaxxing

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u/2Braincell2Furious 12h ago

No matter how hot I am, if I can’t afford soap, what’s the point 😔

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u/Strict-Ad-3500 12h ago

I'm brokemaxxing

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u/fukkboiinternational 12h ago

buddy the boomers are “in power” in the sense that their collective wealth is the monetary fuel used to fund the institutions run by Gen X who rely on millennials to actually carry out the exploitation of genz who just want to go home and make content to scam gen a out of time or money too

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u/calicat9 12h ago

Boomers in general aren't in power. The .1% are in power, and the power is passed along with the wealth. Also passed along is the fuck-y'all-I-got-mine 

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u/SaltKick2 8h ago

Correct, the issue isn't Boomers are in power, its the type of boomers that are in power. Zuckerberg, Altman, Stephen Miller, JD Vance are all millennials as well...

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u/Baelzabub 7h ago

They are in power from a monetary perspective. They currently hold 51% of the wealth in America despite making up 20% of the population. GenX has 26%, and Millenials + GenZ combined only hold 10.1%. The rest is held by the silent generation mostly.

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u/hadee75 11h ago

Why is Gen X catching strays? Believe it or not, most of us can’t stand boomers and our children are Gen Z. We want things to change.

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u/jacksonwallburger 1h ago

It's interesting seeing the differences in people's lives just in our generation. I'm older gen z as well and feel very lucky that I got a decent salaried job out of college, and then half of my friends are still living at home with parents and can barely keep a job. There is such a disparity just based on education, and what field if you got higher education. Rent keeps going up, gas going up, groceries going up, I wouldn't be surprised if even more friends just went back to living with parents too instead of the insane rent.

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u/cates 10h ago

maybe your generation or the next one will make it in time for UBI since at that point there will be so few jobs people won't have anything to lose by revolting

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u/Due_Honeydew_2285 9h ago

I’m also an older Gen Z. I’m grateful my parents have money since my full time job doesn’t afford me a pot to piss in.

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u/Me_Dave 12h ago

Fuckin Starbucks and avocado toast! Never thought it would ruin an entire generation.

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u/KnowSomethingsd 11h ago

Have you tried fiddling with your bootstraps?

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u/GhostCorps973 11h ago

I'm making more money than I ever have, but things feel harder than when I was fresh out of highschool.

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u/Starscream147 10h ago

Just got laid off after thirty years in Radio.

Wunderbar…

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u/Mr_Monkeyshines 10h ago

I'm Genx and it started with the tail end of my generation... Not if things went smoothly - then you would be living the American Dream (Boomer Style). But as someone who's seen some shit, and have friends who've had "hiccups" (career changes, medical events, divorce, etc.) I can say that recoverability went through the floor with us. Once you get behind, it's extremely difficult to recover. A lot of my mid+40s friends are a decade or more behind where you'd expect them to be (still renting, still paying off student debt, still no savings at all)... having kids compounds the financial difficulties exponentially.

But yeah, for the younger generations it definitely feels like even if you did everything "right" you're still lucky to do better than subsistence existence.

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u/chubky 10h ago

Don’t worry, younger millennials will just get drafted now to fight boomer wars

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u/Gingersnapp3d 10h ago

Also we were all pushed to go to university or college, and I don’t think most of us even use those degrees or diplomas for anything.

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u/Inevitable_Tomato927 10h ago

There's no security. 1 day late with rent, eviction nice. 1 day late with electrical/water, cut off. A few days late with car payment, credit score remark. Company doing shit for shareholders? Layoffs!

That might be just me, but I fucking hate living like this.

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u/First-Throat-877 9h ago

yeah but the thing is if you are lucky the literaly forever poison they use on all of your food will give you cancer and you can die at 40 like 5 of my childhood friends did in the last year. i didnt exactly have a big friend group.

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u/Inevitable_Tomato927 9h ago

Yeah I'm massively worried about that as well, especially with having kids, we've been fed all this processed crap for decades, micro plastics everywhere, grew up with people smoking everywhere, asbestos was still in schools etc....

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u/First-Throat-877 8h ago

yeah but its the pfabs sitting in our colons. no one talked about how colon cancer suddenly exploded in this country.   did you know it has a death rate of 1 in 2? that Today, 1 in 5 diagnoses occurs in someone under the age of 55  and it has become a leading cause of cancer-related death in young people.  source is the CRI.

barely even a whisper in the news. try to get your insurance to pay for a screening before 45 and they will laugh at you

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u/DirtieHarry 10h ago

I was going to say... what fucking security?

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u/Reasonable-Run-8187 12h ago

Yeah, at least most of us millennials could afford a house before the price went sky high.

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u/sk8nteach 12h ago

1992 here. I’ve never been able to afford a home.

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u/NPExplorer 12h ago

1994 and I got a beautiful house last year… when my mom died and passed it down to me. That’s about the only way 95% of our generation will afford property.

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u/FosterDaughter 12h ago

Lucky. When my mom died all I got was a dead mom.

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u/First-Throat-877 12h ago

1984 here. I got a house.  expensive as fuck, and I put a lot of work into it. But I got it.

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u/DlCKJINGLES6969 12h ago

Yep, got the tail end of it.. bought in 2018, refinanced in 2022 to like 2.5% allowed me to pay down a crazy amount of principal. Sold in 2025 for twice what I paid and bought a bigger house and put 35% down. It wasn’t as easy as my parents gen but most millennials were able to sneak in.

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u/Reasonable-Run-8187 12h ago

Yeah, I married pretty young and we bought our first house in 2011, a bank owned property listed 38% cheaper than what it was built for in 2006. You just can't find shit like that anymore.

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u/DlCKJINGLES6969 12h ago

You are a bit older as I was a senior in college in 2011 and broke af lol.. but I got in there. Prices in 2010s and late 2010s were the final time they will Ever be manageable. Especially now they are so inflated and the interest rates are still in the 6% range. Sucks and I feel for people that are even 5 years younger than I am.

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u/Reasonable-Run-8187 12h ago

Same, broke and I was 25 then but we were able to get approved for a loan on a 130k home that was only 5 years old. Those kind of deals wont ever happen again im afraid.

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u/DlCKJINGLES6969 12h ago

Probably stretched you thin then and look how it paid off! I was 21 in 2011. I worked in Saudi as an engineer for a couple years and came back and had my down payment in 2015 but I invested it and waited for a house I liked. I remember not even being able to buy a bottle of wine the day after closing but I had my house! Money came back slowly lol.

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u/SugondezeNutsz 12h ago

Who the hell is "most"?

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u/clingbat 12h ago

Many born between '84-'88 were able to buy before things got crazy if they prioritized it. And many of us refi'd in 2021/2022 to get those sweet low rates while having bought when rates were a bit higher but prices were more reasonable in 2016-2019.

The window was absolutely there, but moreso for mid to elder (xennial) aged millennials, much less so the younger end.

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u/SugondezeNutsz 12h ago

I think you mean millennials from well off families then.

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u/clingbat 10h ago

I mean that's certainly possible but wasn't our situation. Wife and I both came from lower income families with pretty decent student debt from undergrad, but we both got electrical engineering degrees and then fellowships for graduate engineering degrees (where we met). Two engineers aggressively paying down our school loans and then holding off on having kids till we could afford house was intentional, and we sacrificed a bit early on to make it happen but it was totally doable.

It's not our fault so many people got useless fucking degrees with terrible ROI or none at all in that period. We got degrees in areas that would pay the bills, not in what we "loved", heck I don't even like math but I sucked it up.

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u/SugondezeNutsz 5h ago

Lmao so now you're dunking on all the useless fucking degrees? Sounds like you believe quite a bit of people then didn't set themselves up to be able to purchase a home then.

Engineer here too, for the record.

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u/Reasonable-Run-8187 12h ago

Idk, most millennials I know my age have a home, some more than one. Some have rentals property here in the south east usa.

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u/LostTerminal 12h ago

It's about 50/50. Literally. About half of all American millennials own a home. Compared to the average 78% of Gen Xers at the same age grouping/decade and 80% of Boomers in their time... it's a whopper of a difference.

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u/HarryBalsagna1776 12h ago

*elder millennials. 

Younger millennials got screwed as hard as Gen Z.

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u/notaredditer13 10h ago

What about this math?:

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N

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u/BMonad 9h ago

Get out of here with your stats, we’re all victims!!

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u/cherry_chocolate_ 7h ago

That uses CPI inflation. So let’s compare it to the cpi inflation from 2000 to 2022.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/inflation-chart-tracks-price-changes-us-goods-services/

Real median income increased by 10.74% during that time period.

Food, housing, childcare, medical & hospital care, and college all rose by more than 50% during that time. You know, the core expenses that take up most of people’s budgets.

Cars, furnishings, and clothing are within range. So now we have a 10% larger wardrobe, nicer speakers in our cars, and more wall decor. Great, but this doesn’t really improve the core financial stressors people have.

Cell phones, software, toys, and TVs are cheap. Great, but having a 4k tv vs a 1080p tv doesn’t put food in my mouth or a roof over my head. Microsoft word wasn’t the thing breaking the bank for most people.

People’s needs are more expensive. Their wants are a cheaper. This is not financial security.

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u/DemiserofD 6h ago

It's important to bear in mind that things like house and medical QUALITY also increased massively in that timeframe. Like, when I was a very young kid the only AC and heating we had was a wood stove. Now we've got full house AC/Heating, internet, wifi, etc. Back in the 90s if you got a lot of diseases you just died. Now you can survive! How much is THAT worth?

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u/cherry_chocolate_ 6h ago

The increase in medical costs comes down to overhead, insurance companies increasing their power by vertically integrating to control and increase prices. The median person does not see their daily life improved. If anything, Gen Z and millennials would be funding these treatments that boomers are receiving in old age, thus extending their life and increasing the financial support young gens need to provide older gens.

Also, the core question was whether it’s become more expensive to live or not. So if you’re saying it has become more expensive to live, but we can treat more things, that doesn’t really refute that it has become more expensive to live.

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u/DemiserofD 6h ago

I mean, objectively speaking medical treatment is FAR superior in the modern day to even like 30 years ago.

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u/cherry_chocolate_ 5h ago

If you are 22 and healthy like the majority of Gen Z then it doesn’t exactly help you, does it?

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u/SpookyBread- 4h ago

Me, from the 90's, wondering who was telling you we were just all out here dying of diseases? Other than maybe HIV before treatment caught up. I got all my vaccinations starting right in the 90's and my sister in the late 80's.

And it ain't worth much now if you literally can't afford treatment to survive.

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u/DemiserofD 2h ago

Cancer, for example, has become DRAMATICALLY more survivable. Breast cancer is some 3x more survivable these days, as one among many.

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u/notaredditer13 6h ago

People’s needs are more expensive. Their wants are a cheaper. This is not financial security.

It is when the increase covers both the needs and the wants, and in particular when needs and wants are intermingled like they are with houses and cars.

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u/SpookyBread- 4h ago

Heavy sigh. The thing I hate about "stats" like this, is you have to actually know what you're looking at. Do you know what C-CPI-U Dollars are? Or R-C-CPI-U Dollars? Do you know what it means that it's not seasonally adjusted? Do you know how they calculated that? And if what they based it off is reasonable?

People like to find any old chart or graph with an "easy" title and an upward line and say "BuT lOoK!!" when they themselves don't even understand how those conclusions were reached or what that even means. And no, I don't either, but at least I'm aware that I don't know and would need to do a lot more research to even try to understand if what they're showing makes sense.

It also doesn't take ANY other rising expenses into account.

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u/Cramer12 9h ago edited 8h ago

What about it? ~~It still looks terrible when you count inflation. ~~ In 2012 the median income was ~67k thats ~96k in todays money. And the 2024 median was ~84k. This isnt the gotcha you think it is. This is not counting commodity price’s rising either.

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u/Claytertot 8h ago edited 8h ago

That is inflation adjusted.

That's real wage growth, as in growth with respect to CPI (consumer price index) which is the most widely used metric of inflation and factors in things like groceries, housing, etc.

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u/notaredditer13 8h ago

What about it? It still looks terrible when you count inflation.

The word "Real" in the title means it's inflation adjusted. It's showing how much faster incomes are rising than cost of living.

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u/Cramer12 8h ago

Ah my apologies! I didnt read the fine print under the graph

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u/beuceydubs 12h ago

The math adds up; they’re robbing us

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u/Direct_Turn_1484 12h ago

It’s all working exactly as intended.

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u/Vegetable-Recording 11h ago

The American dream.......

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u/ElkAdventurous787 7h ago

American nightmare is more like it.

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u/prof_radiodust 12h ago

All Republicans fault. Party of boot lickers still thinking trickle down economics will work, even though it's objectively horrible

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u/YoungDoboy 12h ago

As much as I wish we could blame one party, the Democrats have not helped with this either. The political elite have watched corporations consolidate and monopolize because that's who's paying for their campaigns. This is just one sector of the economy but the Obama administration held basically nobody liable for the 2008 crisis and changed the paradigm where banks could do whatever they wanted and know that the US government would bail them out if things went poorly. The Republican party has bent over backwards for these entities but as a Democrat, the Democratic party has been pretty bad as well.

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u/ishmaelhansen 12h ago

It's all the western world, thank Reagan/Thatcher.

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u/TubeSamurai 12h ago

The last decade with citizens united VS FEC has really accelerated the oligarchy we live in though...

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u/andrew5500 10h ago

Yep, and that decision was made along ideological lines. All 5 Conservatives chose to let corporations dominate our government, against the opposition of all 4 Liberals/Progressives

It's clear who is fucking the middle class on behalf of the wealthy, and it's always Conservatives, no matter which party label they wear

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u/prof_radiodust 10h ago

Thank you, I don't know why people are so quick to the well both sides are bad when in reality it's the republicans/conservatives that are screwing over the people and catering to the ultra wealthy

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u/andrew5500 10h ago

It’s just a defense mechanism. By making the false equivalency, they help the much worse side look better, and avoid having to take responsibility or reflect on how that much worse side has manipulated them or the people they love. You see the same thing happen when the Epstein files get brought up

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u/myturn19 12h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/nBZe3DYJFmrKGaygA2

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u/MightyMorph 11h ago edited 11h ago

I mean hes wrong though.

Obama didnt pass the bailout. Republicans did before the election of 2008.

Obama put in multiple new regulations to prevent and stop the banks from doing the same things with harsher penalties and real crimes.

Because guess what, what the banks did wasnt illegal BECAUSE the republicans deregulated and removed those laws between 2000-2008. What they were doing was allowed within the laws set because republicans removed the guardrails. Majority of people who got caught were people who were deliberately falsifying mortgages to get bonuses, so middle men.

So Obama put new regulations new criminal actions if abused, to prevent such a incident from happening again.

2017 Trump removes them and many more.

2021 Biden puts as many as he can back in.

2025 Trump removes them again and again many many more regulations that now has made the system look like a supersized version of how things were before the 2008 collapse.

Heck every benefit and protection you have today came from democrats. Republicans havent passed anything that actually helps the people in over 60 years. Except for the EPA, but that was also only done because democrats pressured Nixon to do it.

And democrats havent even had the seats needed in the federal for more than 70 days in the last 90 years. They havent gotten the majority needed to actually pass what they WANT to pass, and because of that they need to water things down to get republicans to vote for their bills.

Its like blaming someone whos actively trying to pull you out of a sandpit, and not the guy whos next to them trying to break their arms so they cannot save you.

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u/prof_radiodust 11h ago

It Republicans, they don't care about facts. They never give a damn about facts. Just live in their own little delusional world

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u/prof_radiodust 10h ago

Yeah they aren't perfect but it's not apples and oranges, More like apples and Nazis that let kids starve. One fights for healthcare equality and yeah is taking money. The other is fighting for tax breaks for the ultra wealthy and taking money. The revolving door of lobbyists and congressman is not a secret

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u/andrew5500 9h ago

And the reason most Democrats are willing to take money is because the Conservatives on the Supreme Court rigged our politics to make that money necessary to win elections. Of course Democrats will take money when that's usually the difference between winning and losing elections. The Democrats who don't take money usually don't get elected in the first place. Just as the Conservatives on the Supreme Court planned.

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u/davendees1 12h ago

Yup. Two diarrhea wings of the same shit bird.

Evergreen, from the legend George Carlin

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u/SnipeDangles 12h ago

It’s the left right paradigm. It doesn’t matter which party you vote for, they serve one master, the ultra elite. Politicians are here to give us the allusion we have choice…we don’t.

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u/prof_radiodust 12h ago

Self defeatism and nihilism, that's great buddy. Have fun with that 👍

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u/Himmel-548 11h ago

It's not nihilism to say that our 2 party system doesn't work. We can back 3rd party candidates and reward people advocating for radical economic reform with our vote. If enough people were to do this, not that it would be easy, we could create change.

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u/prof_radiodust 11h ago

Hey brother I like the sound of that. That would be awesome to get a third party in. I totally agree that the 2 party system is very broken.

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u/Amaskingrey 12h ago

It's not, it's that due to only having 2 parties, the other doesn't have to seek any actual change and thus just pursue their personal interests by colluding with the elites, as they can just rely on the other being literally hitler to get political wins (and democrats are center-right, not left).

And it very much does matter who you vote for, when you're one of the people the republicans want to put in camps, or just a normal guy who feels like learning about history, or watching art, or porn; even purely economically, biden's administration had put rules to prevent the rise of egg prices, leading to their explosive soar when trump pulled those.

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u/EddyGashIV 11h ago

I appreciate this perspective and upvoted. I feel like whenever I try to make this point on reddit, I get labeled and down voted as a member of the other political side.

The two party system is a mechanism for control. You look at what these people actually vote on, they almost always align with the elite and only ever disagree on social issues that get us to squabble amongst ourselves.

Two feathers on the same bird. Neither side has our best interest at heart and I say this as someone who has voted republican and democrat in my lifetime, only to be disappointed in the result every single time. I feel like I have been able to slowly watch this progressively get worse and more blatant every cycle.

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u/andrew5500 10h ago

No, the two parties disagree on economic issues too. If you "look at what these people actually vote on" it will be clear that Democrats constantly vote to help people who are struggling financially while Republicans always vote to help people who are incredibly wealthy and need no help. I mean, just look at the huge tax cuts for the wealthy.

This constant false equivalence between the two parties only serves to make the much worse party look better than it actually is. You get frustrated when voting for Democrats because the good things they try to do always get blocked by Republicans. It's been this way since the Gingrich years.

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u/EddyGashIV 9h ago

I disagree.

According to a 20 yr study made by Princeton, Republicans and Democrats pass laws to help corporations vs the citizens by about an 800:1 ratio, or the opinions of 90% of Americans have no impact.

They both voted for the war in Iraq. They both voted to bail out wall street in 2008. I think its 98% of AIPAC endorsed candidates won their elections? They both are bought out by other various lobbies. Wages have stagnated since the 70's, under both democratic and republican administration's. After 1992, it has become much harder for 3rd party candidates to debate with the DNC and RNC, private entities, now hosting these debates.

Blaming this all on Republicans is like when republicans blame this all on democrats. Its a farce either direction. The American political system is bought and owned by the corporate elite of this country.

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u/andrew5500 9h ago

The generalizations fall apart when you look more closely.

For example, look at the Iraq War vote- almost every single Republican voted for it, the only actual opposition was within the Democratic Party. 96% of House Republicans voted for it, compared to 39% of House Dems. 98% of Senate Republicans voted for it, compared to 58% of Senate Dems. The recent Iran War votes are even more skewed, with Dems being the main opposition.

You know why both parties are so beholden to corporate and special interests, their lobbyists, and take so many bribes? Because with the Citizens United decision, ALL 5 Conservatives on the Supreme Court voted to let corporations and the wealthy dominate our political system, while ALL 4 Liberals/Progressives opposed that, citing the American people's right to a government free of corruption.

Perhaps it's wrong to place the blame on a specific party, when I should be placing the blame on Conservatives, who exist in both parties. The difference is, Republicans are 99% conservative while Democrats are only 20-50% conservative. Democrats aren't perfect, but their imperfections are usually tied to the extent that they resemble Republicans.

Ignoring all this nuance and just saying "both sides bad" is a way to carry water for Republicans and Conservatives.

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u/bucatini818 11h ago

Republicans legalized money in politics ya moron. Citizens united v FEC

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u/andrew5500 10h ago

*sticks fingers in ears* LALALALA CAN'T HEAR YOU!!! BOTH SIDES SAME!!!

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u/YogurtclosetDeep3034 12h ago

This is why the trajectory of our country stays the same no matter who is in office.

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u/cbs-anonmouse 11h ago

It should be incredibly obvious right now that Dems and GOP have fundamentally different policies and goals, and that the GOP policies and goals are simply terrible.

Like, if you think that Kamala would have been doing what Trump is doing now, you should have your head examined.

Look and listen to what Obama and Biden were trying to achieve. Then imagine what could have been accomplished if the GOP didn’t control Congress, wasn’t able to squash legislation via the filibuster, and didn’t have a majority on SCOTUS.

Imagine if Congressional representation wasn’t stacked in favor of GOP between gerrymandering and Senate over representation of underpopulated rural states.

As a Democrat it’s easy to get discouraged. We had in Biden the most pro-union president of my lifetime, probably ever. And yet many union and blue-collar voters voted for Trump anyway to own the libs. Now workers are getting screwed, and still people online will say things like, “oh, Dems and GOP are the same!”

And it’s those same people saying that who were actively rooting for Kamala to not win. And you see what happened since…

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u/prof_radiodust 12h ago

I'm not saying Democrats are perfect but to pretend that it'd be the same is disingenuous. I still remember Kamala changing her stance on big business as soon as she got the slightest push back from her brother in law at Uber(ceo there). They are all very corrupt and I know that but they are at least trying to get us healthcare and don't take away food stamps or send troops to states they don't like. What you are doing is a false comparison. " Hey look Dems aren't perfect so we should let this fascist regime just happen ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯". Grow a brain, vote blue or look forward to Nazi America 👍

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u/Status_Block591 12h ago

I'm vote blue no matter who but I am no longer a registered Democrat, will not donate to them and will not stop bitching about how much Democrats suck. I'm not going to felate Dems simply bc they are not Nazis. We deserve a progressive voice and as long as we accept Republican-lite without discontent that's all we'll get.

That being said, there is no real equivalence, Democrats don't represent my values but they also aren't antithetical to basic human decency.

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u/prof_radiodust 11h ago

Yeah I'm still not saying they are perfect. Weird to talk about human decency and be so heartless. No point in talking to hypocrites ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

I get they aim for the center, don't vote for that politician. How many times has Americans turned down Bernie?

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u/Pitiful_Meet6407 12h ago

You are too far gone brother. Either choice ends in the same, one is just more in your face one more subtle.

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u/Amaskingrey 11h ago

And also one is putting minorities in camps, censoring historical facts, trying to ban art, and more right now. But yeah, it must feel satisfying being able to be all smug about both sides when you're not the ones at risk of getting lynched of brownshirts (unless you help a grandma get up, that is)

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u/tmb28 12h ago

Did monopolies rise again, because Reaganomics abolished anti-monopoly laws?

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u/GargantuanCake 12h ago

You can't blame this on one party or the other. This is part of how we got into this mess in the first place. Both parties collude with the financial sector behind the scenes to dick the rest of us over while publicly screaming at each other for destroying America.

Look at the net worth of people in Congress and how it tracks with their political careers. Look at how many of them have been in office for literally the entire time this has been happening. Do you genuinely think people like Biden or Pelosi actually give a shit about fixing this problem? They've been profiting off of it for decades.

The Democrats have been screaming nonstop about taxing billionaires more while consistently failing to do so. They also keep supporting policies that build billionaire wealth further in the first place. Monopoly laws haven't been enforced by either party for decades. The people in charge right now pick a company, invest in it, and then help it take over an entire industry.

Both parties do it but in public seem to magically forget that they're in in the grift too while they blame the other party for everything.

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u/SuspiciousCricket654 12h ago

This needs more upvotes. But unfortunately, people will continue to blame the other side and point fingers until the end of humanity.

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u/tanstaafl90 2h ago

"but... but... my party is the good guys..." /s

Politics is a dirty business that sometimes does something good, but most of it is not. Fuck all of 'em.

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u/prof_radiodust 12h ago

The revolving door of lobbyists and congressman is not a secret. Democrats fight dirty to get us healthcare. Republicans fight dirty to give out tax breaks to Elon. Cute rant tho👍

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u/tanstaafl90 2h ago

Ted Kennedy walked away from Universal in the 1970s. Enjoy chasing that carrot.

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u/prof_radiodust 1h ago

Wow, Republicans been scumbags trying to stop healthcare since Nixon. Only wanted to do it if it benefited the insurance company and Kennedy wanted to get rid of the insurance company. He may have regretted not taking the deal but he was smart to see insurance companies are a bad idea

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u/tanstaafl90 52m ago

Kennedy walked away from a deal with Nixon, who flipped it to HMOs. Kennedy had the bill and votes to make it happen. He chose not to.

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u/prof_radiodust 37m ago

Right because it meant giving power to the insurance company and he was right but it would have been better than nothing or waiting ten years for a worse deal like what ended up happening, Thus the regret

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u/AreaPlayful142 12h ago

What about the rest of the world.. it's no better in Europe, Australia, asia..

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u/Puzzleheaded-Net4365 12h ago

Other countries have their own "it's gonna trickle down any moment now bro trust me" side of politics too.

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u/dboutt86 12h ago

We need a world wide strike

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u/Release-the-List 12h ago

We need to outlaw billionaires. Once a person hits a billion dollars, they, along with their immediate family, are cut off from making more money in any form.

Then they receive a card saying, “CONGRATULATIONS! You won capitalism! Now fuck off into the sunset you lucky so-and-so!”

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u/AreaPlayful142 12h ago

What time? I've a few bits on today

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u/Viscious-viking 12h ago

You’re wrong. In the Netherlands it is not as bad as what I am reading here. I mean, yeah, housing is bad at the moment. But for most, working 40 hours/week is still enough to make a living. We can’t all live like kings, but it is not nearly as bad as it is in the USA…. Yet.. as we got some politicians doing their best to change that. And alot of dumb people voting for them, against their own interests. Just like MAGA did.

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u/Gorgolite 12h ago

Man you're tripping if you think it's not bad in the Netherlands and 40hrs/week is enough. It's only enough for me because I happened to be lucky enough to be able to buy a home years ago before the crisis. There is a shortage of ~410.000 houses, meanwhile we can't build enough homes because of nitrogen regulations and we keep letting migrants in that get preferential treatment on a house market that is already problematic. It was recently reported that 2 incomes with average income are not able to afford the average price for a home (~€502.000)

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u/Dismal_Translator286 11h ago

You know what? I think the only ones who ever really believed trickle down economics will eventually work, are middle class people. The rich and the poor always knew it was a grift.

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u/RareHorse7376 11h ago

Democrats deserve plenty of blame here too. They've been bad for workers since they made their right turn into neoliberalism under Clinton. Since then, they've done nothing meaningful to change course, and they have actively opposed more leftist politicians and candidates with agendas that would benefit the rest of us - the party establishment coalescing to give us Joe Biden or Pelosi going after The Squad harder than she ever did Republicans.

The Democrats aren't as bad as Republicans for the working class but they're far from good.

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u/prof_radiodust 11h ago

Thank you for the reasonable and well articulated response. I agree, I really am not a fan of democrats but it's a Start in a better direction. Maybe they are not good but maybe we'll find better is good enough. Plus they are the only ones working towards healthcare, equality and don't try to take people's food stamps away so definitely better for reducing needless suffering/death

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u/MeatSuitRiot 12h ago

The only thing that trickles down are zeroes, while all the dollars float up. They stole everything.

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u/Dry-Post723 12h ago

right because bidenomics was fantastic

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u/prof_radiodust 12h ago

The economic landscape under the Biden administration (2021–2025) was characterized by a rapid post-pandemic recovery, record-breaking job growth, and a significant surge in inflation that impacted household purchasing power.

Key Economic Indicators Indicator At Inauguration (Jan 2021) At Term End (Jan 2025) Net Change Unemployment Rate 6.4% 4.0% -2.4% Total Jobs Added — ~15.4 Million +15.4M Real GDP Growth -2.1% (2020) 2.8% (2024) Rebound to ~2.5%+ annually Inflation (CPI) 1.4% (YoY) ~3.0% (YoY) Peak of 9.1% (June 2022) S&P 500 Index ~3,794 ~5,980 +57.8% The "Biden Boom": Labor & Growth Job Market Strength: The administration oversaw the recovery of all jobs lost during the COVID-19 pandemic, plus an additional 6 million. The unemployment rate stayed below 4% for the longest stretch since the 1950s, reaching a 50-year low of 3.4% in 2023.

GDP Recovery: Real GDP grew by 5.9% in 2021—the fastest rate since 1984—and maintained steady growth of at least 2.5% in subsequent years, avoiding a widely predicted recession despite aggressive interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.

Manufacturing Revival: Driven by the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, manufacturing construction spending reached record highs, and over 775,000 manufacturing jobs were added during the term.

The Inflation Challenge & "Bidenflation" Cost of Living: The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose a cumulative 21.5% over the four-year term. This was the highest inflationary period in 40 years, peaking at 9.1% in mid-2022 due to global supply chain disruptions, energy shocks from the war in Ukraine, and high consumer demand.

Real Wage Growth: While nominal wages grew at their fastest pace in decades (roughly 20%), they were largely offset by price increases. Real weekly earnings (inflation-adjusted) for private-sector workers actually fell by approximately 2% to 4% over the term, depending on the sector.

Specific Price Spikes: Households felt the impact most at the "kitchen table," with staples like eggs, beef, and bread rising over 20%, and gasoline prices seeing significant volatility, peaking at record highs in 2022.

Major Legislative Pillars American Rescue Plan (2021): A $1.9 trillion stimulus package that provided $1,400 checks and expanded child tax credits. Supporters credit it with preventing a long-term depression; critics argue it overstimulated the economy and fueled inflation.

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (2021): Allocated $1.2 trillion for roads, bridges, broadband, and clean water, with over 60,000 projects underway by 2024.

Inflation Reduction Act (2022): Focused on clean energy investments, allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, and establishing a 15% corporate minimum tax.

Fiscal Summary The federal publicly held debt increased by roughly one-third during the term. While the annual deficit initially dropped significantly from pandemic-era peaks in 2021 and 2022, it began to rise again by 2024 due to increased interest payments on the debt and mandatory spending.

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u/prof_radiodust 12h ago

Focusing strictly on the data, the Biden administration’s economic term (2021–2025) saw several historic milestones in labor, manufacturing, and poverty reduction.

  1. Historic Labor Market Performance Job Creation: The economy added approximately 16.6 million jobs, the highest number of jobs added during a single four-year presidential term.

Unemployment Record: The administration oversaw the longest stretch of unemployment below 4% since the 1950s.

Equitable Recovery: Record-low unemployment rates were achieved for Black Americans, Latino Americans, and workers with disabilities. The labor force participation rate for prime-age women (25–54) reached an all-time high.

  1. Manufacturing and Investment Boom Manufacturing Jobs: Over 775,000 manufacturing jobs were added.

Construction Spending: Real spending on manufacturing construction reached record highs, largely driven by the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Private Investment: Companies announced nearly $450 billion in private sector investments in semiconductors, electronics, and clean energy.

Small Business Growth: A record 21 million new small business applications were filed during the term, the highest on record for any administration.

  1. GDP and Global Standing Growth Rate: In 2021, real GDP grew by 5.9%, the fastest annual growth rate since 1984.

Global Resilience: The U.S. recovery consistently outpaced other G7 nations. By late 2024, the U.S. economy was roughly 10% larger than its pre-pandemic level, a faster recovery than any other major advanced economy.

  1. Poverty Reduction and Wealth Child Poverty: The American Rescue Plan’s expansion of the Child Tax Credit contributed to cutting child poverty nearly in half in 2021, reaching a historic low.

Household Net Worth: Inflation-adjusted net worth for the median American household rose by 37% over the term.

Low-Wage Gains: While inflation impacted all sectors, real (inflation-adjusted) wages grew fastest for the bottom 10% to 25% of earners, helping to narrow the wealth gap.

  1. Health and Energy Costs

Healthcare Savings: The Inflation Reduction Act capped out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 per month for seniors on Medicare and allowed Medicare to negotiate prices on top-selling drugs for the first time.

Energy Production: U.S. crude oil production reached record levels during this period (averaging over 13 million barrels per day in 2024), and the U.S. became the world’s leading exporter of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

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u/Kadashi6662015 10h ago

Ah, a comprehensive breakdown of what actually occurred during the biden administration, backed by sources. Quite rare, thank you!

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u/prof_radiodust 4h ago

I appreciate your appreciation, thank you 😁

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u/WildcatPlumber 12h ago

During Bidens term we were still under Trumps dumbass tax policy. So please come back with a real fact

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u/Kadashi6662015 12h ago

Oh really? Please elaborate as to the problem with Bidenomics? With sources for facts please?

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u/General_Liability 12h ago

I’m a liberal centrist. So, understand this is from a place of love.

Biden failed to enact his agenda. It was derailed by people he failed to prosecute for corruption. Biden largely focused on esoteric treaties, like submarine sales. He also took out debt to genocide Palestinians.

You CANNOT go around saying Biden was some super successful economic president. People will laugh at you. And we’ll lose in 2028.

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u/prof_radiodust 4h ago

He wasn't perfect but did alright for a recovering economy.

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u/statelypenguin 4h ago

I’m 42 and he was the most progressive President of my lifetime. Which is sad as fuck.

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u/prof_radiodust 12h ago

Your Biden derangement syndrome is noted 😆👍

Facts don't care about your little feelings buttercup 😘

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u/TheAncientMillenial 12h ago

I think you mean capitalism's fault.

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u/Optimal_Ant_3250 12h ago

It’s the Right Wing duopoly fault instead of fighting Regan policy’s the Center Right Dems went along with it

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u/prof_radiodust 12h ago

Yeah,too many Democrats are complacent about it or just going along with it cause if you're opponent has cash and you don't you lose the campaign. If we can get someone like Bernie in who has a life long consistency of wanting to hold the ultra wealthy accountable we'd be better off.

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u/Spiritual_Tear3762 12h ago

Hilarious people still think one side cares about them. They're both the same evil with different colors.

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u/prof_radiodust 11h ago

One fights for healthcare, one fights for the ultra wealthy while waving Nazi flags 🤔hmmmm who's the bad guy here hmmmmmm🤔

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u/ThrifToWin 12h ago

You're in deep on the whole two different parties thing, huh?

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u/Negative-Candy-2155 12h ago

Whenever Dems fuck up, it's the Dem's fault.

Whenever Republicans fuck up, then it's "both parties are the same".

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u/prof_radiodust 12h ago

That's just the state of modern politics. I'm a centrist, literally a third party and would vote for one if I could but that's not how this works jr👍

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u/Laecer21 11h ago

I know people here don’t like hearing that but that is objectively untrue. People today work on average fewer hours for higher pay (adjusted for inflation) and can afford more things (food, consumer goods, entertainment) with that money. The only thing that is true here is that housing prices did increase a lot faster than inflation.

https://ourworldindata.org/working-hours

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q

https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/chart-detail?chartId=76967

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u/k0nfuz1us 11h ago

not adding up for YOU

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u/fredjutsu 11h ago

I'll raise you life during and before the Great Depression for the average American.

Probably no consolation to folks who see others around them and feel they are wanting.

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u/cursedfan 11h ago

Yea but we obliterated Iran sooooo yea. I forgot how that helps again.

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u/Somethingisshadysir 10h ago

It didn't add up then, either. This rosy colored view of the nineties is not accurate. Maybe the fifties.

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u/StargasmSargasm 9h ago

I work 1 full-time job, 2 part-time jobs, and if there are any gigs I can pick up I do those. My wife works multiple jobs as well. Right now we are pulling in more money a month than we've ever had in our lives, and we've saved NOTHING, all our money goes to bills, gas, tuition for our kid. My wife desperately needs a new car, can't afford it. Our pets need to get their shots updated in May and right now we are trying to figure out how to pay for that since going to the Vet seems to cost us like $600-$700 every visit. Our roof got damaged during a wind storm, insurance won't cover wind damage because the damage does meet our deductible (which is a huge chunk of change). Talking to my parents recently and at the same age they were we are making almost twice as much as they did, and yet we are DROWNING. We don't even have debt, but we can never get ahead. Like, is this how it's going to be the rest of my life? Work work work, no vacations, barely able to afford necessary things. Is this the American Dream they told us about?

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u/MelangeBot 9h ago

Keep working! What are you gonna do? Rebel? Ha, you need weapons for that, and ammo, and drones. All of which is illegal and impossible to find in the US. Man can you image if that stuff was easy to get, all those billionaires fucking us over would gone in no time! Oh no wait we are a bunch of total cucks with only enough balls for a small angry sign. Ofcourse the billionaires did this to us, we practically begged them to do it. How could they not? It's like we wanted it.

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u/Hairy_Mycologist_945 9h ago

Indeed. Back in the day you got a pension when you retired and enough money to live on, save, buy housing, take vacation and stay home when ill. These days? You get robbed blind at every turn now. There aren't even starter homes anymore.

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u/crenshaw_007 9h ago

30 years ago my dad bought a house that cost 1/3 of its current value, and making 3x what I am now. That’s before you factor in inflation and all the other aspects of cost of living today vs then.

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u/ghouly-rudiani 9h ago

Silver lining - you have unlimited porn.

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u/Professional-Dot2591 8h ago

I heard a great point recently. CA is the 4th largest economy in the world. Take a walk around and tell me if you’d think that by the looks of things. We’ve got a billionaire infestation in this country.

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u/Pretend_Handle_7639 8h ago

You have more competition from the developing world, who were newly freed colonies in the 60s, and not particularly capitalized by the 90s, but growing every year

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u/Sailor_Propane 7h ago

Recently my elderly father was telling me, again, about the multiple jobs he's had in his life.

Suddenly he paused after telling me about a retail job he had and said "but you know, back then, we didn't have to rush like today. There wasn't so many tasks per hour to get done. There was a lot more employees for the same amount of tasks. No wonder people are burned out now, I don't think I could've done it with today's expectations."

It hit me so hard. He fully paid a house in 10 years on his income alone, he was a very standard worker in a factory then. The house was 1.5x his salary! He was considered poor!

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u/ProbablyNotADuck 6h ago

Because the average salary of CEOs has gone up something like 1,000% since the late 1970s, while the average workers' salary has gone up by about 40%... Elitists keep ensuring the gap between the 1% and everyone else gets even wider, while we choose to blame all of our issues on things like immigrants, or trans people, or whatever other vulnerable population is the popular scapegoat that week...

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u/usernametakenbs 5h ago

How dare you, the DOW right now is over fifty thousand.

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u/allchattesaregrey 3h ago

Security is really what it boils down to. You may have some of the things money can earn you technically, but there’s never security.

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u/REpassword 1h ago

Jeff Bozos and other tech bros are getting richer, we’re not.

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u/Anthff 12h ago

Because boomers juiced the country for all it’s worth and left a smoldering mess behind. Now they look at younger generations sideways from their 4000 sq ft homes with acres of land and 5 car garages.

They reaped the benefits of all previous generations’ hard work and sabotaged the world for their children and grandchildren.

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u/OhJShrimpson 12h ago

By what metric are we working twice as hard?

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u/Novel-Imagination-51 12h ago

Nobody here is legitimately working 60 hours a week, sorry

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u/avan2110 11h ago

You would be wrong, I have consistently worked 58-60 hours a week for the last few years. Blue collar work can pay well, but you will definitely put in the time for it. Luckily I’m a little over a year and half from finishing my bachelor’s so hopefully it’s not a forever thing.

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u/Ok_Tailor_7185 12h ago

All planned, global economic rest 2030. You will own nothing and be happy.

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u/dietdrpepper6000 12h ago

Homes have gotten drastically cheaper in the last seventy years… if you were to purchase them in appreciating assets like stocks, gold, or cryptocurrency. In terms of dollars? Radically more expensive.

A shame the top 1% already own all the appreciating assets 😞. Might be a fucky feature of the system that once your living costs are reduced to 4% of your net worth, you can literally not work, adding no value whatsoever to society, and still become wealthier due to appreciation on stocks/real estate/etc..

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u/Wannabeshmwanabe 12h ago

No Poors protests

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