“But why is it that some will say they are sympathetic of me and my family but not the millions of other American families with different stories?”
@3puppies, I just don’t understand. Maybe I’m a little slow here. I think people on this thread for the most part are specifically unsympathetic to this one person. His story is far different than the millions of middle class Americans who are struggling, and swimming against the tide. I don’t see lack of sympathy for those people, just him.
I don’t know that he is being knocked so much for his poor financial choices, but for his continuing to not deal with the problem. God, if we were to start listing the bad financial decisions we’ve all made over our lifetime…it would be a really, really long thread!
^^ When there are multiple tenants on the lease, one moves out and another moves in and is added onto the lease, this can go on forever (said a friend in this situation in SF).
@busdriver11, you have good taste. I am glad you are turning into a liberal too. There is hope for you.
@texaspg, SF is a renters city. I think the majority of people living in the city are renters. So…if we have a democracy, and we leave it up to a vote, it makes sense that these tenants will vote for rent control.
And SF has rent control. I think it is the strictest in the country for cities.
I am not as liberal as some people think.
I don’t like SF’s rent control policies for example. A landlord can only raise the rent 60 percent of the inflation rate. And then there are a few other increases that are possible if you want to go plead your case in front of the rent control board. The net effect is you are going to raise rents at a rate 60 percent rate of inflation.
This is a transfer of wealth from the landlord to the tenant. I don’t mind this so much in principle if the rent control isn’t so onerous,
And…the big problem…rent control destroys the value of buildings. Tenant pays rent that is $10,000 below market. Tenant saves $10,000…landlord loses $10,000 plus…
The plus is …$250,000 in the value of the building if the building sells for 25 times yearly rent. (It is a little less than a $250,000 loss but I don’t want to get into that).
That’s crazy.
This is a tough issue and whoever solves this is going to win the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Speaking for @3puppies or people in similar or worse situations…
What happens is you have some people struggling through no fault of their own, and others that have made some bad decisions. They get lumped together.
For example, some people are on food stamps through no fault of their own. Others made bad choices.
Now there is a proposal to cut the food stamp program 15 percent. The cut doesn’t differentiate between those at fault and those that aren’t. This happens all the time.
Poor people get lumped together and they are attacked as a group. If you are poor, its your fault.
Well I’m not attacking anybody. I don’t think anyone on this thread is attacking any group at all, just the one writer.
We’ve all made bad choices in our life, and we’ve all had bad things happen to us through no fault of our own. Whether someone is in a difficult situation because of choices or misfortune, I certainly don’t think anyone ought to go hungry in this country. And I don’t appreciate anyone getting attacked because they are poor. I don’t know that I’ve seen that here. We’ve all seen (or experienced) poverty, quite often not because of that person’s own fault.
@vonlost@dstark - the interesting part is this kid is well off due to making good money off an IPO and probably makes as much in regular income as those google kids in the stories.
I might be one of the rare birds who thought the article was very good. But, this is why. Not because of the author’s personal story, but rather because of the many right-on stats he included. In fact, I ignored his personal narrative. To improve that, if I had been his editor, I would have asked him to dig deep into the “why” behind his financial decisions, which I suspect would reveal some structural issues such as racism and classism (say, in his family’s decisions on the children’s education - pre-college). Two cents.
@ busdriver11, people used to attack the poor all the time on CC. I don’t see this as much lately. Some of the worst offenders don’t seem to be around much anymore. That or I am successfully missing certain threads.
I thought the article was good. I think all the attacking of NG is ridiculous. “NG hurt others”.
I think if you google “middle class squeezed”, quite a few links will pop up. These issues have been discussed for a long time.
Don’t recall people attacking the poor on cc either. But there were many who blew the BS whistle at posters who claimed to be “dirt poor” but then bragged about having a lot of disposable income, buying lots of luxuries, all inclusive vacations, etc, while then seemingly manipulating things to then qualify for need based aid at top private schools. Those posters got challenged (IMO with good reason) as it was insulting to those who truly were poor.
@notveryzen Boeing’s pension fund is Most Definitely NOT administered by the USG. It is in great shape, thankyouverymuch. For every b’ and moan about company pensions for the worker bees, there are literal millions paid out to despicable retired CEOs (yes, McNerney, I’m talking about you)
In the case of Boeing, many people went to work with an implied contract of lower pay and good benefits. We now have stagnant pay and middle of the road benefits. When you take into account the out of pocket costs, wages are lower.
A person who retired 20 years ago made relatively little, but they deferred wages into pensions. with wages low, there is little opportunity for true middle class workers to have a real retirement.
Does this mean that we have to rethink retirement? Probably. But it’s the fault of the corporation for selling the pension in lieu of pay and then renenging on that agreement.
Yes, of course there are fire code regs and I doubt the owners knew how many people were in the tiny home. It is a huge issue for many – finding and keeping affordable housing within a reasonable commuting distance of work. Unless someone reports on the fire code reg violation, not sure how the regulators will learn or do anything. There are about 1.4 million people in our state, mostly living on Oahu.
Oh yeah, Bunsen! That’s what you or I might say (and might I add, this Columbia Valley red blend is excellent).
But dstark doesn’t drink. And you know what they say about non-drinkers. The same things they say about people with small hands. You can’t trust em!
It’s too bad we don’t have the old forum anymore. I almost got in a yelling match in the cockpit today. People are crazy, I tell you. That’s why I have the Columbia Valley red blend.
