New Billionaires since the Pandemic

[C0|dB|00ded]

I'm not completely sure you understand why people are laughing at you.

Many of your proposals are sound in theory. However, balancing the budget, given where we are spending money now, just isn't going to happen without painful changes to entitlement programs. It's not coming from raising your taxes and mine a "few thousand" a year, it's not coming from the Kennedy Center and it's NOT coming from Democratic leadership.

But almost no one wants to address the real problems, and that's mostly because they fear for their (government) jobs.

I'm telling you, right now, the ONLY hope we ever have of fixing our financial problems...the ONLY hope..the ONLY possible cure is simple.



Term limits. I promise you, get everyone out of Congress in 1 term, and we're fixing the problems within one generation. Done.



There are really only 2 groups of people that have thrived during these troubling pandemic times. The ultra wealthy (and they are likely thriving though every scenario anyway) and government employees. And not just Congress. Government employees at all levels all across the country have it so much better than everyone else it's not even funny. Why more people don't see the flaw behind this is unfathomable to me.

Term limits would do wonders to fix cronyism, but I don't see how it would fix the wealth-gap unless you're thinking about it being solved via government intervention and Socialism (the people rising up and becoming elected - see: AOC).

I 100% agree that government jobs are out of whack with respect to a free market. The BEST jobs should be in the private sector, but that is becoming less and less true every day. :(

[wufan]

Is that what actually happens though or is that what companies say they'll do as a bluff to keep it from happening? I ask because I've heard companies say that in response to politicians and then the politicians back down, so I'd be interested to read about some actual examples of that happening.

As noted in your response, we don’t actually do anything, so I have no opportunity to site examples, however when they lowered the taxes under Trump, over 1 trillion dollars were poured back into the US the coming taxed at a lower rate.

[Aargh]

Recessionary periods always redistribute wealth in upward directions. Those with wealth buy the assets of those with less wealth for a fraction of the value of those assets. Those with less wealth need cash and have little choice but to accept a price that may not reflect the value of their asset.

I installed gas and oil software during one of the bust periods when oil was selling for $18 a barrel. One installation I did in Austin was for a business owned by a husband and wife. She drove her Jag to work every day. He alternated between his Lamborghini and his Bentley. He mentioned that he had bought the business for about 10 cents on a dollar of value because the owner had no choice but to sell.

It is true that the wealthy pay a majority of taxes, but that's because they get a majority of the income. People working in fast food or retail aren't going to be paying much in taxes because they can barely afford to pay for food and rent.

The danger of too big a wealth gap in a democracy is that there are more poor people than wealthy people. If the poor people ever vote their pocketbook, there's a real problem for wealthy people.

Right now there is something like 12 million people behind on their rent. The amount they're behind is in the range of $1,500. If they get evicted, they're not going to find another landlord that wants them. If they get evicted, it's doubtful the landlord can find someone else who can pay the rent. The practical solution is to put more families living together in what would normally be considered a single-family dwelling. That's going to leave empty rental units, foreclosures, and bargain basement purchases of property by those with more wealth, who will reap the benefits once the economy recovers.

This pattern is not sustainable, although it may be sustainable in our lifetimes.

[Shockm]

Recessionary periods always redistribute wealth in upward directions. Those with wealth buy the assets of those with less wealth for a fraction of the value of those assets. Those with less wealth need cash and have little choice but to accept a price that may not reflect the value of their asset.

I installed gas and oil software during one of the bust periods when oil was selling for $18 a barrel. One installation I did in Austin was for a business owned by a husband and wife. She drove her Jag to work every day. He alternated between his Lamborghini and his Bentley. He mentioned that he had bought the business for about 10 cents on a dollar of value because the owner had no choice but to sell.

It is true that the wealthy pay a majority of taxes, but that's because they get a majority of the income. People working in fast food or retail aren't going to be paying much in taxes because they can barely afford to pay for food and rent.

The danger of too big a wealth gap in a democracy is that there are more poor people than wealthy people. If the poor people ever vote their pocketbook, there's a real problem for wealthy people.

Right now there is something like 12 million people behind on their rent. The amount they're behind is in the range of $1,500. If they get evicted, they're not going to find another landlord that wants them. If they get evicted, it's doubtful the landlord can find someone else who can pay the rent. The practical solution is to put more families living together in what would normally be considered a single-family dwelling. That's going to leave empty rental units, foreclosures, and bargain basement purchases of property by those with more wealth, who will reap the benefits once the economy recovers.

This pattern is not sustainable, although it may be sustainable in our lifetimes.

You state this like Real Estate is always a profitable venture. Is Real Estate always a profitable?

[wufan]

It is true that the wealthy pay a majority of taxes, but that's because they get a majority of the income. People working in fast food or retail aren't going to be paying much in taxes because they can barely afford to pay for food and rent.

The top 1% earn 20% of the nations income, but pay 40% of the nations income tax. The bottom 50%, which make 13% of the nations income pay less than 3% in taxes.

The danger of too big a wealth gap in a democracy is that there are more poor people than wealthy people. If the poor people ever vote their pocketbook, there's a real problem for wealthy people.

Thats a problem for a nation, not just the wealthy. Any group of citizens voting to take from other citizens is an oppressive authoritarian state, and is the reason we have a republic and not a democracy.

The role of government is not to make sure everything is equal, it is to make sure everything is fair.

[C0|dB|00ded]

You state this like Real Estate is always a profitable venture. Is Real Estate always a profitable?

Well the easy answer is no, but the thoughtful answer is, it depends. Time is the greatest commodity we have and one of the most important factors in realizing an investment profit. A foundational strategy of the "smart money" is to wait for the "dumb money" to simply fold. Money buys time.

An extreme example would be Tesla. They were founded in 2003 and have never had a profitable year. That's 17 years... They have money, it bought them time. And it seems they are close to becoming consistently profitable now having just strung together 4 profitable quarters last summer.

The average American needs to be able to secure a tiny piece of the investment pie or they are going to fall further and further behind.

We also need to find ways for more people to own homes. Home ownership (if anybody watched the video I posted), and value appreciation has been the only thing keeping the middle-class from really suffering as their wages have stagnated for decades. But as the video explains, most of the salvation of their standard of living has come by way of increased debt. It's a ticking class time bomb.

We've got to deal the middle-class back into the American Dream or this country will crumble from the inside. Some would say it's already happened. Not everybody is wired for entrepreneurship and high-risk taking. In fact, very few are equipped. Most just want (need) a good job that will allow them to raise a family without both parents having to work 40+. How on earth do you raise healthy children when nobody is ever home? It can be done, but it's not ideal. Finances are also the #1 reason for divorce. Money isn't the solution for everything, but without enough, things can seem hopeless pretty fast.

Here's the movie again. Don't need to watch it all, just the part about income inequality trends.

[SB Shock]

Meh, People make choices with their lives. Then they have to live by the consequences of their choices.

They can choose to take their education seriously, whether it is trade school or college and they develop markable skills. People choose to work hard, or some decide they want to live the care free life and do drugs.

There are plenty of programs to assist people in getting an education. Federal student aid that if you are truly a family that is need - there are grants. There are programs for first time home buyers.

Then there is a thing called the GI bill. Go serve your country for 4 years - and then there is host of opportunities for education and housing loans as well as a marketable skill.

This country is built for people who want to apply themselves and to put in the work. There are no free rides.

[Ted Lasso's Neighbor]

I think educating high school students about personal finance is a big key to to the solution. I think some schools in Kansas have added it as 1/2 credit for graduation, but I don't think Kansas requires it. If the students can get some idea of how debt will affect their lives, how to set realistic financial goals, or learn about investing, then maybe things will turn around. It seems like a lot of issues are because of ignorance - people spending outside their means (cars, houses, etc.), charging a lot of unnecessary stuff to credit cards, not setting money aside for retirement because they don't know how to save or invest, etc. Most of what young people learn from finance comes from their parents, who were never educated about it themselves and have bad financial habits. Need to find a way to educate the parents somehow to help them with their situation, and let the schools educate the high school aged kids so they don't fall into the same bad habits.

Here's an interesting article I ran across while googling to see if Kansas required personal finance. It's from 2018 but I doubt things have changed much - https://www.lendingpoint.com/blog/ka...cial-literacy/

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

Recessionary periods always redistribute wealth in upward directions. Those with wealth buy the assets of those with less wealth for a fraction of the value of those assets. Those with less wealth need cash and have little choice but to accept a price that may not reflect the value of their asset.

I installed gas and oil software during one of the bust periods when oil was selling for $18 a barrel. One installation I did in Austin was for a business owned by a husband and wife. She drove her Jag to work every day. He alternated between his Lamborghini and his Bentley. He mentioned that he had bought the business for about 10 cents on a dollar of value because the owner had no choice but to sell.

It is true that the wealthy pay a majority of taxes, but that's because they get a majority of the income. People working in fast food or retail aren't going to be paying much in taxes because they can barely afford to pay for food and rent.

The danger of too big a wealth gap in a democracy is that there are more poor people than wealthy people. If the poor people ever vote their pocketbook, there's a real problem for wealthy people.

Right now there is something like 12 million people behind on their rent. The amount they're behind is in the range of $1,500. If they get evicted, they're not going to find another landlord that wants them. If they get evicted, it's doubtful the landlord can find someone else who can pay the rent. The practical solution is to put more families living together in what would normally be considered a single-family dwelling. That's going to leave empty rental units, foreclosures, and bargain basement purchases of property by those with more wealth, who will reap the benefits once the economy recovers.

This pattern is not sustainable, although it may be sustainable in our lifetimes.

One issue with this is that these people cannot be evicted currently. They can squat in a property even after being given proper notice and cure / waiting periods and there isn't a damn thing the landlord can do about it. Unfortunately, I know this first hand. Thankfully for me my tenant, while refusing to move out because they can't find a "suitable" place to move to, is still paying rent. They don't even have to do that technically and you can't do anything about it.

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

The bottom line is capitalism as originally intended works great and is the bedrock of the American economy. Unfortunately, it has been so skewed and twisted by governmental bureaucrats that it no longer resembles what it was originally meant to be. I think Wu Doc is on to something with term limits. I think that would cure the ills really quickly. The politicians and governmental hanger onners are the ones consistently sucking from the teat and getting rich with no effort whatsoever. Why should someone be punished for working hard, creating something, having a successful idea, and becoming rich? It is asinine to me to say that just because someone makes more money they should pay a higher percentage of taxes. That is such a backwards and counterproductive thought pattern. Get rid of all of the unnecessary entitlements and make people go out and work for their living. Foster creativity and educational opportunities amongst the underprivileged and underserved in communities and inspire them to think differently than they are being taught to think now (like that they are victims and deserve free sh!t).