[OFFICIAL] Elizabeth Warren for President thread

I suppose that fits the description ….

Interestingly , Yesterday I was watching something on CSPAN on housing …. apparently there is a shortage of ~7million units nation wide and that its not an issue of supply and demand but solely a lack of supply because of political issues that suppress new construction (I thought that was odd because we have built homes on top of homes here in the Houston area expanding from ~1.5 in population in 1980 to over 7m since today).
I remember driving between Houston and Conroe …. there was nothing but trees between Greenspoint and the Woodlands , today its developed beyond Conroe.

They were also discussing appreciation and homes as part of our retirement - that this was a negative. That homes cant continue to increase in value.

I recall my parents buying their first home - they paid $26,500 for it in roughly 1970. It was sold in 2000 for $110k.

The house I live in now , I bought New in 2004 for $105k …. two houses on my street have sold in the past year or so at 190k and 205k.

That's some serious inflation ....

I do have rental properties as well …. I bought them mainly for the equity you are able to build - with no effort aside from your down payment. One of those was purchased for $125k in 2015 and is appraised at $170k ish now.


I get the idea that millennials find home ownership tough today - It is. Especially when real wages haven't changed much since the 90's and home prices have soared ….

I had an old friend who I worked for many decades ago used to tell me "there's only two things we cant make more of - Time and Land" - how prophetic he was.

I don't think the problems here in Houston are the same as those in other places , with laws suppressing new construction , we just have too many people and more keep coming …. we've run out of room for expansion.

 

None of the things you posted should have a millennial engineer living paycheck to paycheck there has to be a lot more going on.

I don't know what healthcare premiums you are paying but on a good job as a engineer they should not be that high and as a millenial you should not be paying high deductibles, I don't and I am not an engineer.

unless you have serious health issues.

Your issue seems to be with the pay of a particular job than a structural issue.

I am all for fighting income inequality of lowering prices for health insurance but You act like these issues are commonplace which they are not, I have had to pay a deductible once in 4 years and it was under 500 dollars.

Its hard to have a meaningful conversation when everything is a worse case scenario.

 

You've convinced me.

Sky high deductibles have been a growing concern even for subsidized healthcare from employers.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/feat...ctibles-broke-the-u-s-health-insurance-system

Trying living in Boston suburbs with a entry level engineering salary of 70k. You're more than likely going to need a significant other working full time or a roommate to not live pay check to pay check.

 

Dude if you are single and cant live "Well" on $70k …. You are doing it all wrong.



I have a 21 year old son …. who works full time and goes to college full time , he makes roughly $75k per , lives on his own in an upscale appartment , tho he has no debt as his mother and I paid for his college - but he lives damn well on that and is able to put away a considerable amount of savings in the process.

Now I do tend to agree that its difficult to reach home ownership in todays world …. but you are nuts if you think living on 70k isn't doable. Hell , I know families with multiple children who get by on much less.

 

You need to provide more context such as where he lives.

Also, sucks for the kids who don't have parents who can afford what you can do hence why when you say "life is not fair" and I reply "I know, but we can try to make it more fair".

I think one of the purposes of government is to attempt to make sure that children regardless of the status and wealth of their parents have opportunities to not go in debilitating debt just so they can recurve a an education that teaches a employable skill.

 

He lives here in Houston in the Memorial area , high rent district. Drives 2020 370Z Nizmo hefty car note and insurance on top of the rent and other necessities.

If you cant live well on $70k per being single - You are doing it all wrong. $5800 a month goes a long way for one person.

Governments job is to regulate and enforce law - Nothing more. Redistribution of wealth is not in the constitution.

College is not a prerequisite for an employable skill either - That's a choice and often a poor one.

Neither do you have to fork over tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for college , there are cheaper alternatives such as community colleges that offer a quality education at a fraction of the cost.

Then there are options like scholarships , grants and sponsorships - My neighbors daughter has a sponsor paying for her full ride to UH - its nothing more than a tax write off to him.


I'm in no way saying lifes easy or fair .... but your definition of fair is outlandish / unrealistic. 70k per is more than double the average individual income of 31,099 and 10% higher than the median household income of $63,179.

Seems to me you think that college education should guarantee you some station / income level …. and that's simply not true.

 

Really.

You are against public school, public parks, fire fighters, public roads, food stamps; medicare, medicaid and social security and a thousand other things correct?

All of these things are unconstitutional and forms of redistribution of wealth.

If ALL gov is for is regulating and enforcing laws. Milton Friedman and Ron Paul probably make you hard as a rock.

 

In Two Corinthians Jesus states, 'Buy land they're not making it anymore' -- this is of course before the science of plate techtonics was known, but also subtly indicates that there is more than one god. Regardless the creation of new land is quite slow making Jesus' advice as timely today as it was 2000 years ago. The same can be said of his words of warning regarding cryptos being the work of the devil first noted in the Dead Sea Scrolls volume 34.

 

A 2020 370Z? Ouch. That's an old ass platform. Bad financial decision there.

Also 75k in the Houston area for a entry level job out of college is well above the median income for that context. So be proud of your son for doing really well. 70k travels a lot farther in Houston than it does in the Boston area. It's just not housing. Gas, groceries and restaurants are significantly more expensive in the Boston area than Houston.

60k is the national average for entry level engineering positions out of college. Since salaries are adjusted for cost of living depending on region, 70k would be the average salary of an entry level engineering position up here.

 

These are all good points. I would add that in parts of the country the property taxes are excessive and really change the equation of what owning a home really means. I recently moved to Naperville outside of Chicago. It is a very nice area, but the property taxes are over $1,000 a month. So even after a home is paid off, the costs are prohibitive for a lot of people as they age.

 

I don't expect a good faith argument from you but against my better judgement I'll engage.

I never said I had it "rough". I specifically said that I can live comfortably enough to have the basic necessities, save into my 401k, have healthcare, drive a bit broken down shitbox etc. But I'm still not saving enough money where I can see myself having upward mobility through investments. If a severe enough emergency hits, I might have to sacrifice a bill or two. And that is in my situation where I don't have any student loans due to the GI Bill and being raised in a upper middle class family where my parents had the resources to chose the quality of the public k-12 district to live in along with being able to afford things like an expensive early childhood Pre-K education center where studies show that kids who attend them have a jump start in brain development.

I'm the fortune one.

People completely ignore the privilege of their upbringing and how it gives them a jumpstart in life when in a ideal "most wealthy country on the planet" our k-12 public education quality wouldn't be so dependent on the wealth of the community. It defeats the purpose of public k-12 education.

 

She's not whining about it on Clutchfans, but I guarantee she's complaining to someone about living on 44k in Oakland with student loan debt. Right after that she's b****ing about her alt right blog posting boomer dad not paying for her tuition while he sits on all that old world Ithaca money.

 

I hope he is putting money away in his 401K.

In general terms and in most of the country I agree with this. There are places like San Francisco, LA, NYC and Chicago where it would not necessarily be the case.

This platitude means nothing. If the legislature passes legislation to redistribute wealth, then it is highly likely that it is constitutional. It has been litigated before. Further, the government has redistributed wealth in a variety of ways for over 100 years with overall success. I am not someone that believes greatly taxing the wealthy will solve all our problems....... but the idea that it isn't in the Constitution means very little nearly 250 years after it was written.

It certainly helps a great deal. Someone can join a labor union and be a pipe fitter or any number of other professions and likely live a medium middle class life at this point. What will the future hold? No one knows.

It is foolish for incoming college kids to pay $50,000 a year to go to a college that isn't well thought of, but the idea of JUCO or other educational opportunities is foolish.

Yes...... I am sure most college students can get sponsors.... that isn't realistic. Grants are usually reserved for those that are very poor.

Well that is part of the problem. An individual income of $31,000 is woefully low. We have already transitioned from a society a generation ago where one partner could work and support a family. We now have BOTH parents typically work long hours. That is a massive change, and one that is not discussed enough.

It did 30 years ago. Having a degree from a good school, and especially a graduate degree went a long way to a guaranteed comfortable job. As the amount of degrees have increased, the value has decreased. Further, Millenials were told education is the key to financial success by the Boomer Generation.... so they rightfully feel they were sold a bill of goods.

I do not agree with everything Millenials believe in, but they have found themselves in a far harder situation financially than any generation in nearly 100 years and there is no clear right path to take.

 

How much is her student loan debt?

Does she live with someone?

Did someone subsidize her moving costs, etc?

At 22 I am assuming that she has not been teaching long, her perspective will likely change in the coming years (although I do not doubt she has a positive attitude).

Does she intend to have children someday? How will she afford them? Will she need to move to a nicer area with better schools?

I agree with you that the endless complaining and whining gets old...... but I also believe that we do need to recognize that Millenials have it a lot harder than really any living generation.

Also, the Millenials are aging, they are going to start voting in larger numbers and so far there hasn't been a change in their politics....... they are going to be a group to be strongly considered by both parties. At least some of the changes they are advocating will happen.... Perhaps not in a year or even 4 years, but it will happen and likely quickly.

 

Progressives are really glossing over the bolded... Getting folks to believe the government adequately and sufficiently take over and manage this scale is a hard sell.

I think this issue polls better than its actual implementation.

 

I didn’t get the feeling that Corrosion was against those things...

 

There is no question about it. It would be a massive change, and no one really knows if it would be for the better or worse. There is a clear problem and it is a major problem. However the government would greatly be increased in size and power which is a mixed bag. I can completely understand how a lot of people, especially those that are doing okay now would not support the idea.

Having said that, this issue has survived for nearly two decades and is becoming a bigger and bigger topic. The demographics of the voting pool are changing, and will reach a tipping point where there is a really good chance that some version of what Sanders/Warren are advocating become the law. We saw it will mar1juana reform, prison reform and gay rights. Things change when demographics change.