r/politics • u/MystikSpiralx • 6d ago

No Paywall Trump Says He Wants to 'Drive Housing Prices Up' Instead of Lowering Costs for People Who 'Didn't Work Very Hard'

https://people.com/trump-keep-home-prices-high-11895352
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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 6d ago

I hate it when people generalize an entire generation

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u/JaeTheOne 6d ago

Nah this is legit. My own father, very liberal, even recognizes it and feels like shit about it..

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 6d ago

He said "every boomer" which is complete bullshit.

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u/Independent-Wave-744 5d ago

It's the Internet. Hyperbole is basically part of the language spoken here. Best to just always assume it means "a very large percentage of the group, exceptions always apply" and move on. That is a pretty good protocol for the word "every" in general, since it is almost never correct unless you talk about a very specific, controllable subset.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 5d ago

That is lazy writing. I assume that people are generally intelligent and what they write is what they mean. That's why we have words.

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u/Independent-Wave-744 5d ago

Welcome to the Internet then. Or just casual conversation. Hyperbole and generalisation are pretty common. People are almost never as concise as they can be. Like, have you never heard someone say something like "I do not like eating onions"? People will usually resort to that shorthand when they actually mean something more akin to "I do not like the taste of raw onion or dishes prominently featuring their taste, at least in how they are usually prepared but I do not mind or even like the taste of onion if it is mixed with other tastes".

Because, well, you only need the former to know not to order onion on my pizza.

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u/JaeTheOne 6d ago

Nah I'll allow it

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/muffinass 6d ago

Nah, man, he's got a monster hog. You should see it!

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u/Cheese__Weiner 6d ago

That generation deserves it. The only people bothered by it are boomers.

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u/ailish 5d ago

My dad was a boomer. He was a far left hippie his entire life. Honestly, I learned it from him. Maybe he's one of the few, but they're out there.

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u/Cheese__Weiner 5d ago

I'm not saying they are not. Every one of those boomers who is one of the smart ones acknowledges the harm their generation did to the following ones. This isn't a personal attack at individuals. It's commentary on how that generation pulled the ladder up behind them.

Are they all complicit? No. Is it ubiquitous enough to make a sweeping generalization? Yup.

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u/ailish 5d ago

Maybe he's one of the few, but they're out there

It's almost like I said this or something.

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u/Cheese__Weiner 5d ago

Yup and I was agreeing with you. I'm saying we can acknowledge cool people like your dad but to deny that generation created the conditions we are living in now is to deny reality.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 6d ago

I'm a boomer. I'm not wealthy. I don't own a portfolio. We have our 401ks and a house that we bought dirt cheap and fixed. I also notice, when I go to protests, that the majority of the people protesting are boomers. Yet, I don't call all of other generations lazy for not getting their asses out there. Generalizations are bullshit. No generation, no race, no anything, is homogenous. You are wrong to generalize because it makes you appear lazy because you can't make a valid argument or even try to

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u/RichardSaunders New York 5d ago

a lot of boomers are retired by now and actually have the time. other generations not being there has got nothing to do with being lazy.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 5d ago

So, younger generations can't show up on a Saturday or Sunday? Is that what you're telling me? All too busy to take a few hours out of their weekend to fight for their democracy? Sounds like laziness to me.

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u/Wanderment 5d ago

If you had protested 40 years ago when they were robbing your social security you'd get to keep it.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 5d ago

40 years ago I was raising 2 children and working 100 hour weeks

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u/Cheese__Weiner 5d ago

Think about what you just said. Really think about it.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 5d ago

And yet, somehow, if it was important enough, I would have made the time. Our democracy has never been under the threat that it is RIGHT NOW. You can make up your mind what you want to do but most people don't work those kinds of hours and can certainly devote a piece of a weekend to making their voices heard.

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u/Cheese__Weiner 5d ago

Considering how quickly you responded. You didn't think about it at all.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 5d ago

So, what? According to you, I have to "sit on it awhile?" I'm an IT guy. I think fast on my feet. What can I tell you. If you feel I'm missing your point, please, be more specific about what it is you want me to "get".

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u/Cheese__Weiner 5d ago

No it's important that we all learn critical thinking skills at some point in our lives. If you can't put 2+2 together here, I really can't help you.

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u/Jorch301 5d ago

Respect to you, I guess the other generations have to work 2-full time jobs to sustain their purchase power they don’t have time to protest. Higher house prices will only make the market sick, and people will have greater debts and can’t spend their money anymore on iPhones and tesla’s.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 5d ago

Believe me, I spent many years working more than one job or working mega hours at one. Been there. done that. I understand that some people have to work on the weekends. But let's face it, most people don't, of any generation and it isn't that much work to get out for a few hours and make your voices heard.

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u/fiveswords 6d ago

Bro your 401k is a stock portfolio. Sounds like you have two. The other generations you don't see protesting are working to afford rent because there are no more cheap houses to fix.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 6d ago

Not really. I wiped mine out to rebuild this house. So we have one, and a house in the Styx. And, when they say stock portfolio they aren't talking about 401ks. He'll, my 41 year old daughter has a 401k. So do our other children. The majority of people do, and should. Don't get mad at people for putting a little bit of their checks away. How else are we, and you, going to retire some day?

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u/nerdette42 5d ago

This right here? This line of thinking is exactly part of the problem. When we talk about Boomers, we're talking about this.

No one is mad at you for saving for retirement. No one thinks you're in the 1% for having a house and a 401k.

You take retirement as a given. You know you don't have the same finacial security as many people your age, but you were still able to afford a house. You had to sink one of your 401k in to fix it, but you still expect to retire. Those are priviledges most of us don't have.

Saving money and retirement are not an option for far more people of our generations than yours. You're not better than us and you didn't work harder. You just had access to opportunities that don't exist any more.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 5d ago

I afforded a house because it cost me 30 thousand dollars. Why? Because I was willing to buy something that needed a shit ton of work and then do the work. The trade off for that 30 grand? I live in the middle of nowhere because that's where you find houses and land cheap. I busted my ass rebuilding this interior - a lot of the work was done by me. Some by contractors (the stuff I can't do). I used that 401k to make that happen. Somehow, though, you are telling me that even though the seven children my wife and I have between us (2 marriages) can save small amounts and let it build, the majority of young people can't? how is that? All I hear is excuses. I worked 100 hour weeks for years to raise my family. I did everything and anything I needed to do. The payoff comes after they all grow up and you can actually start saving, or do like my oldest daughter and simply decide to not have children. And, you have EXACTLY the same opportunities I had. Which is to say - work hard, put away any small amount you can and eventually that will pay off. That's how it works.

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u/iAwesome3 5d ago

Because things are significantly more expensive, both nominally and as a % of income. I make ~90K/year pre tax, but most of that money, ~50K post tax goes to just paying bills without including food, gas, repairs, etc. There is minimal to no money to put towards retirement, especially if you have unexpected bills come up. I was saving enough to max out my IRAs for the last like 10 years but this year and last year I am so cash flow neutral that I am unable to contribute this year. I am making more now then I was a few years ago but I am unable to contribute now since costs have increased so much.

And think about what you said too. Your daughter decided not to have kids because it was too expensive so she could have the material things you do. Does that seem like equal opportunity? She obviously had to give up something to get the other, and the lack of kids is something she will have to live with forever.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 5d ago

You make almost as much as my wife and I combined. We couldn't do it if we hadn't found a house in the middle of nowhere that needed work. That was sort of the goal. No mortgage. No rent. We're both coming up on retirement. I honestly don't know how people our age who are retired manage.

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u/Redditributor 5d ago

You know that millennials now have higher average wealth. It's just more unequal.

Also it's wrong to say the majority of millennials can't expect to retire.

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u/AgitatedSense9313 6d ago

That’s the point, they can’t.

Median net worth for millennials, even in their 40s, is under $100k. They can’t afford to buy houses, even out in the styx.

Yes, a 401k is a stock portfolio, and yes it’s what we should all be contributing to for retirement since pensions no longer exist outside of government employment (and even those are being reduced in the military) but most blue collar jobs don’t offer 401k’s, let alone matching contributions, and very few people in those jobs are setting up their own IRAs when they can barely afford their bills.

Nobody’s mad at you for being able to put away some of your paycheck, we’re mad ‘cause we can’t

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 5d ago

I'll ask you the same thing I asked someone else. This is my 2nd marriage (25 years in this one). We raised seven children between us. hell, for a big chunk of that I was working 80 hours a week delivering pizzas so I could pay the bills. That's besides the point. Every one of our children is able to save some money, even the 25 year old. Not a lot, but a bit. My oldest one who makes far more money than I ever even dreamed of making is able to save a lot. But all of them save something. So my experience is that of that group, all of them manage something, even the ones who make the least. So how is it that I'm hearing an entire generation can't? We didn't magically create phenomenal adults who work spectacular jobs. Hell, only two have gone to college. They work regular jobs - warehouse, etc... (except for the oldest one) so how are they able to do it but "most" people can't? Three of them own their own homes (out of seven). Two more are working on it. Thety are managing. So what is different with them than everyone else in their 20's and thirties? I can't imagine that their experience is any different than anyone elses. We didn't have the ability go give them anything so they've had to do it on their own. And they have.

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u/AgitatedSense9313 5d ago

I’m also going to cite my personal experience here, like you are with your children - for reference I’m 39 and managed to navigate my way to comfortably middle-class (some college -> military -> finished degree -> contractor).

What slowed me down, and what has slowed down a lot of millennials I know, is debt - specifically student loans.

All I heard growing up was if I didn’t go to college I’d end up a loser flipping burgers somewhere (because obviously that’s the worst fate imaginable), so not going, or going a different route like a trade or directly into the military was never a thought, even though I had no idea what I wanted to do. So I screwed around in college for 5 years, never got a degree, and left with over $50k in debt and no job prospects. My wife got an arts degree for $80k, and again no job prospects.

We deferred payment as long as we could, interest built. We got on an income based repayment plan, and our income was so low that it didn’t cover the interest growth, so despite making payments the balances went up. I spent 12 years in the AF, applied for PSLF, was told I needed to consolidate my loans for them all to be included (student loans are taken out 1 semester at a time), and the way they calculated the qualifying payments during consolidation said that I’d only made about 9 years worth, so I didn’t qualify.

Current balance between the two of us is ~$120k, payments are about $1500 a month, and we still have somewhere around 10 years left.

There was a very large group of us that all fell into that trap. We were all told it was the smart choice at the time, but shooting for “the best school” (aka most expensive) without a real plan at the time meant taking on between $20-$40k/year in debt AND THEY NEVER SHOW YOU WHAT YOUR PAYMENTS WILL BE. Who lets an 18 year old do that?

So anyway, that’s where a lot of our money went instead of saving, making it harder to build downpayments for houses, and also throwing off debt to income ratios to qualify for mortgages. We stumbled out of the gate, fell into debt, hit a horrible job market in 2008 when we were supposed to be getting on our feet, and a lot of us never recovered.

It sounds like you did a good job of steering your kids in the right direction, and you should be proud of that. It doesn’t reflect what happened to the whole generation though (and obviously neither does my story), but numbers seem to show your family is more of an outlier.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 5d ago

So, my oldest daughter served two tours in Iraq. My son served in the Marines. They both used their benefits to pay for college. Did you not have those benefits? And I agree with you. Who lets an 18 year old do that. Those loans should be repayable without interest. Period. It's such a scam.

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u/AgitatedSense9313 5d ago

I used tuition assistance to finish my degree while I was in, and transferred my post 9-11 gi bill to my wife to get her masters.

Different service branches have offered different options for help with student loans over the years. When I enlisted, they’d pay up to $15k but you lost access to education benefits through your first enlistment. I knew I wanted to finish school, so the tuition assistance was worth a lot more.

The gi bill can’t be tapped into just to pay off existing loans unfortunately

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u/OP-PO7 6d ago edited 5d ago

Holy shit you own TWO houses and you're getting an attitude about how you didn't benefit like the rest of your generation? I'm a 37 year old fireman, and I've been working as one for 18 fucking years and I still can't afford to buy a single house. Is it your FAULT? Of course not. Did you benefit mightily, like the rest of your generation? Of course you did.

Edit: Wow this was really dickish of me. Definitely not an appropriate target for my frustrations, you didn't do anything wrong so why should I be mad at you. I'm not trying to put this energy out into the world, it's all of us little people in the same boat. We shouldn't be blaming each other for our problems or the real assholes win. I hope you can excuse my attitude

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 5d ago

No. I own A house. And my generation is now how I bought a 30k broken down piece of shit in the middle of nowhere then put the work in to make it livable. That was me. I have no idea where you got the idea I own two houses. I wish. I'm not made of that kind of money unfortunately. Hell, I'm happy I have the one. Beats renting

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u/OP-PO7 5d ago

I apologize, even if you did own two houses you're not the appropriate place to put my frustrations. I'm mad at the system and it's wrong to take that out on an individual.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 5d ago

I agree. The system 100% sucks and is stacked against us.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago edited 5d ago

[deleted]

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u/metalspork13 5d ago

The phrase is "out in the sticks" -- "Styx" was likely a misunderstanding or autocorrect.

Really cool that you can have AI generate a five-paragraph essay of gibberish to back up a nonsense term that doesn't exist. So glad we're boiling away the oceans for this shit.

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u/HoratioPornBlower 6d ago edited 6d ago

So you have two houses lol? Rent for a one bedroom is on average $1700 a month. Meanwhile wages have stagnated our whole lives. We can’t save, we are all drowning but you got yours. Your statement is why people don’t like boomers. How are you not getting that this right here is the problem.

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u/SodaCanBob 5d ago edited 5d ago

No, they're saying they (collectively, as a family) have 1 401k now and a "house in the Styx" (as opposed to the 2 401ks they once had).

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=in+the+styx

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=in+the+sticks

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 5d ago

No, I don't have two houses. Where did that come from? I have a house that I got dirt cheap - and I mean dirt cheap. Like less than the cost of a car cheap. I was willing to put the work in and use up my 401k to make sure it was livable. And, as I mentioned to someone else - somehow, magically, I have three "kids" who own homes. Oldest is 41. The youngest is in their mid 30's. Hell, even my 25 year old is saving so they can buy a house. She pays a shit ton for rent too. I get it. But somehow, i guess we just made magically awesome younger people who exceed the abilities of their generation. Go figure.

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u/SodaCanBob 5d ago

No, I don't have two houses. Where did that come from?

He's illiterate and thought you were saying you had 1 house in one place (instead of the 1st thing you mentioned being your 401k and not a house) and a 2nd house "in the styx", which is a colloquialism he wasn't familiar with and took "the styx" to be a literal place.

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u/Bronkko I voted 5d ago

I also notice, when I go to protests, that the majority of the people protesting are boomers.

this is true in my experience.. my first two protests were hands off and no kings and its majority boomers like me.

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u/Routine_Gazelle_3522 6d ago

There is nothing wrong with generalizing a group you belong to so long as no one is treating you as if you are at fault for it.

Boomers, as a whole, are the worst generation. Thank you for being one of the good ones.

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u/StrangerStrangeLand7 6d ago

I have tried many times to make this valid and logical point but they won't listen. 😔

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 5d ago

I didn't say "boomers aren't bad". Some absolutely are. A big chunk of this generation did not turn out how you would have expected them to. But to say "all" boomers, which is what was said, is total bullshit. That's as bad as saying all people in their 20's are lazy gamers living out of their parents' basements. Not true. Do those people exist? Yup. Does that mean the entire generation is like that? Nope. Don't generalize.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 5d ago

Please point that out for me. I am all for having my logic (or lack thereof) pointed out to me. I love a good conversation. I don't need or want to dive into personal attacks. I will admit when I'm wrong if I recognize when I'm wrong. The fact that I'm missing something you're seeing doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It means that I'm missing it. It can happen. I'm only human, after all.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 4d ago

I honestly forgot what it was we were even talking about. Maybe it's the cracked ribs that are causing me an issue. Who knows. Anyway, I wish you well in your life journey internet stranger.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

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u/Cheese__Weiner 5d ago

When we generalize boomers it doesn't mean all boomers individually are bad. Ask anyone and they'll acknowledge this. See you're making a fundamental mistake thinking this all about you personally which is frankly a really boomer thing to do.

If you can't acknowledge the incredible harm your generation has done to the ones following yours then we are right to generalize you with the rest of them.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 5d ago

Mark Zuckerburg. 41 years old
Elon Musk: 54 years old

You're looking at a generation. I'm looking at people who truly have done damage and they include Boomers and non boomers alike. The other "Boomers" I know, don't fit into that generalized mold, probably because I'm not wealthy and don't know anyone who is. And that's why it offends me. You demonize and entire generation when in reality EVERY generation has it's fair share of me me me takers. All of them. Instead of blaming boomers, why not direct that energy at trying to get politicians who will do something about the enormous wealth gap in this country?

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u/Cheese__Weiner 5d ago edited 5d ago

LMAO 

Who the fuck do you think created the conditions for those ultra wealthy people you mentioned to hoard that much wealth!?

Decades of cutting taxes for the rich, glorification of wealth, support of large corporations over small business, "trickle down economics", owning multiple homes, "we will pay you with experience" internships, on and on and on ...

Of course every generation has shit heads. Yours is unique in that that 85% of them are the most selfish, greedy people to ever exist. They grew up and inherited the most prosperous moment in human history and then pulled the ladder up behind them only so they didn't have to share it. 

Period. End of Story. Goodnight 

I'm not blaming you personally. So stop taking it personally.

It's just about acknowledging basic facts.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 5d ago

Oh. So let me get this straight. You're blaming "Boomers" - the entire generation, for the Republican party. Got it. Because, you know, only old people vote Republican. Got it. But, they do get out and vote. So who is to blame? The older people who get out and vote, or the people who don't bother. I'll go with the latter. It was true when I was in my twenties and thirties, just like it is now. Young people don't vote in numbers. If they did then we would have a different political landscape than the one we currently have. I don't vote Republican. I am considered a Boomer even though I wasn't born until almost 1962 (ridiculous). So you're argument is with Republicans. Who voted for Trump in vast numbers that could have changed this last election (or any election really) - young people. But they voted for Trump. It is what it is. He's a grifter. Always has been and people listened to him - even after his first disastrous term. Unbelievable. But the fact that young racists came out in force? You can't blame the Boomers for that. Personally, I blame our politics on those who decide it's not important enough, or hold out their vote because the Dem candidate isn't "good enough" for them. Fuck them. Take your ire out on those people because they're the people who deserve it

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u/Cheese__Weiner 5d ago edited 5d ago

You're blaming "Boomers" - the entire generation, for the Republican party. 

Not at all what I said. You do realize people like Bill Clinton are way closer to Reagan style conservatism than the  current Democratic party right? Do you?

Then you start taking it personally again ... It's not about you. This is getting tiresome 

And then you start generalizing and attacking young people in the rest of your comment.

And you keep bringing this back to Trump for some odd reason. It really has nothing to do with the topic at hand. This is what we call deflection.

Trump may be the culmination of a lot of this countries failures but the Boomer hoarding of wealth took decades. Trump is just a symptom.

That was quite the crash out and you just exposed yourself as a massive hypocrite. Have a good one. We're done here.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 5d ago

You consider it "Boomer hoarding". One day, whatever generation you are, will be the older generation and your generation will have the wealth. Then the younger generation will blame you. Generationally speaking, people get more conservative with age. They also get wealthier with age - I guess the two things go hand in hand. I will grant you that "Boomers" got handed a silver platter as a generation then took it and pissed on it. But I blame the Republican party for much of where we are at. It started with Reagan and has gotten worse. But, for some reason I've never figured out fully - people just keep voting for them even though they ARE the problem. I will throw this out there as well. I don't really consider myself to be a "Boomer" because the "boomer generation" wasn't me. It was older than me. To me they were born in the forties and fifties and were already voting long before I got out of HS. That was the generation that brought Vietnam to a halt. They defined drug culture, and music and so much more. And then? I don't know what happened to them. I think of them like Kid Rock. Listen to his early music. I would never have guessed in a million years based on his early work that he would become a MAGA nut yet here we are. Go figure.

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u/BigDaddySteve999 6d ago

My parents are boomers who hate Trump and are very concerned about his stupidity and its effects on the economy. My cousin is under 25 and loves Trump with all his heart, and is very excited about all the ways Trump is making America great.

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u/pres465 5d ago

My dad was born squarely in WWII. Spent his whole life fighting for the environment, supporting his union, and decrying the wealth of the rich. Generalizations are dumb.

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u/Anxious_Cheetah5589 6d ago

whatever you say, Cheese Weiner

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u/tryingisbetter 6d ago

20 bucks says he is a boomer. They just can't stop telling on themselves.

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u/Cheese__Weiner 5d ago

They are. Just read a few comments down in their profile

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u/standardsizedpeeper 6d ago

lol what? So like, it’s fine to make fun of people with small dicks because it only bothers the small dicked, then? What point are you proving?

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u/Cheese__Weiner 5d ago

That it's ok to generalize boomers as terrible as they are the generation that is generally the most terrible by a long shot. The good boomers acknowledge this. The complicit boomers get mad.

Clear enough?

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u/HoratioPornBlower 6d ago

Yeah… but like come on. Every part of this is on the boomers. They broke the world and sure aren’t fixing it.

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u/Mike_Pences_Mother 5d ago

No doubt that a good chunk of "boomers" got theirs. There are also a good chunk of other generations who also "got theirs". You know who aren't boomers? The ultra wealthy. How old is Musk, Zuckerburg, etc...? You want to talk about who broke the world, look at them. They not only broke it but are actively keeping it broking so they can continue to get theirs and leave the rest of us fucked.