There have been multiple accounts created with the sole purpose of posting advertisement posts or replies containing unsolicited advertising.

Accounts which solely post advertisements, or persistently post them may be terminated.

half_built_pyramids ,

This is literally a tool tip in the fascist parody helldivers 2.

just_another_person ,

Bootstraps are too expensive to buy because your daddy thinks his broken ass house should be worth a cool mil.

blusterydayve26 ,

Economists: “WONTFIX: Working as designed.”

fukurthumz420 ,

it actually kinda pisses me off. we have been dropping the ball as consumers for a long time. if people would just stop buying all this bullshit, the market might reconsider.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Every time I read the phrase ‘the American Dream’ I think of the part of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas when, after spending the whole novel trying to find the American Dream, they’re given directions, only to find the remains of a burnt-down nightclub, “a huge slab of cracked, scorched concrete in a vacant lot full of tall weeds.”

Anise ,

Fear and Loathing should be required reading in schools. A lot of the meaning gets lost in all of the drugs, but in the midst of that haze one can find a lot true things about America.

WanderingVentra ,

Never read it because I assumed it was just a funny story about guys on drugs with his characteristic cool writing style, but if it had actual things to say about America, maybe I’ll read it sometime. Or watch the movie lol.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

The movie actually takes all of that out unfortunately and makes it much more of a funny story about guys on drugs. I still like the movie, but the book is so much deeper and more meaningful.

toofpic ,

I liked the book and I was surprised how close to it was the movie, the part tgat got there. And yes, they left out many things, but it’s understandable, because the movie was planned as a “funny movie”, not a “socio-economical movie”. So the book was like “drugs-capitalism-drugs-Vietnam-drugs”, tgey cut out all the “boring” parts, leaving only drugs.
The movie is cool though, but It’s just me always trying to appreciate what is shown to me, and not trying to compare with another media.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

It’s definitely not a bad movie or even a terrible adaptation of a book. Like you said, it just had a different goal with the same story. That’s fine.

Dkarma ,

Thompson rightly concludes that the American dream is already dead by the 70s.

If you look west you can almost see the place where the wave broke and rolled back…

rwhitisissle , (edited )

Thompson rightly concludes that the American dream is already dead by the 70s.

Important context for that is that the novel is a famous, and relatively early, meditation on the failures of the 1960s counterculture movement and the intense, if ultimately unfocused vision for a better future for the nation that was central to it.

bss03 ,

I think of the Carlin bit… It’s the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe in it.

unreasonabro ,

douchebags gonna douche

Nobody ,

Organize a mass, simultaneous bankruptcy filing nationwide. Overwhelm the system with claims, and all debt collection ceases the moment you file for bankruptcy while the claims are being processed.

AlecSadler ,

I was thinking similar. Would be interesting to see what happens. I just wonder if it’d be possible to do on a mass scale before they catch on and start disallowing bankruptcy filings.

Might devolve into everyone just ceasing payments on CCs, loans, mortgages period.

abigscaryhobo ,

Problem is things will have to get worse for a lot more people for that to really happen en masse, I support the idea but I wouldn’t probably stop because none of my debts are debilitating. I have a good savings and my only payment is my mortgage and whatever I put on my credit card that month. I’m not going to just stop paying my mortgage for a political movement, and a lot of other people won’t either, supporting or not, people don’t like risking their homes when they don’t technically have to.

All the banks have to do is make examples of a few good people and all the others will likely fall back in line. Finances and debt is something that is very personal to a lot of peopl so people are hesitant to let that flag fly and unite publicly as well.

Ragnarok314159 ,

Yeah, mass bankruptcy would be a dream for the finance industry. They will immediately own all our homes and rent them back and ridiculous rates, as well as absorbing cars. We would have to buy our cars back at higher interest rates.

There are a lot of effective ways to protest, but everyone surrendering all their assets via bankruptcy isn’t going to be effective.

some_guy ,

Yes, that’s me.

BigTrout75 ,

This is true, I asked a new-ish employee about getting/saving for a house and she was like, “why bother? They cost to much.”

TubularTittyFrog ,

the price of homes goes up faster than anyone can save. that’s the problem.

housing prices used to rise at or below inflation. now they rise at like 3x inflation.

Empricorn , (edited )

Even you are thinking too far ahead. I’m spending rent money every month that obviously could be saved to someday buy a house… But on top of that my rent has increased faster than my income. Every place I’ve lived. By renting, you’re guaranteeing you’re going to be priced out of affording your shelter. And most young people have to rent, to start out. The rich have us fucked at every turn…

Smoogs ,

“Consumers demoralized by capitalism…” …paywall…

Gradually_Adjusting ,
@Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world avatar

Let’s go a little hollow, as a treat 💀

Raiderkev ,

🙋‍♂️ That’d be me. Keep moving the goalposts society. I’m over it. I’ll wait for my mom to die to get her house. Idgaf anymore. Don’t need a house.

fishpen0 ,

Better hope you live in a state that doesn’t let Medicaid take the house or that you adequately used foresight to move the house into a trust 5-10 years before she enters assisted living, disability, or dies. Or that she didn’t take out a second mortgage at any time without telling you.

Otherwise I have bad news for you

ChonkyOwlbear ,

Same. My dad dying and leaving me his house is the only way I was able to afford to stop renting and stop living paycheck to paycheck. A perk of being an only child I suppose.

ArmoredThirteen ,

I’m saving up for the American Dream 2.0™️: Moving to another country

astreus , (edited )

It’s not just America though.

Where I’m from:

UK average income before tax) £34,963 - £27,911 after tax (assuming NO student loan and NO pension) (for context: a band 3 nurse with 3 years experience makes £24,336 before tax or £20,631.51 after with no pension)

England average house price: £375,131

Approx ratio after tax: 13:1

Minimum deposit: 5% - £18,756.55

Tax: 0% on first time buyers

Fees: about £1,000 - £5,000

Total cost to get going: Approx £21,750 - nearly a years wage.

Now let’s look where I live: Spain!

Turns out Spain really is a load of countries wearing a hat so getting unified stats is not easy. Let’s try Barcelona:

Average income before tax: €33,837 - €25,470 after tax

Average house price: €376,399

Approx ratio after tax: 15:1

Minimum deposit: 10% - €37,639.90

Purchase tax: 10% - €37,639.90 (plus 1.5% for new builds)

Fees: 2 - 5% - 7,527.98 - 18,819.95

Total cost to get going: €82,807.78 - €94,099.75

Turns out treating housing as a market to speculate on might just be the problem all along.

BeardedGingerWonder ,

Just to add to this, there’s zero chance you’re getting a 13x mortgage. For a 375k house on a 25k salary you’re going to need something more like 250k to start.

astreus ,

To add to this, the rule of thumb in the UK is your maximum loan is 4.5x your salary.

The average worker could borrow about £157,000.

JustEnoughDucks ,
@JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl avatar

To be fair, the UK is essentially aiming to be America 2.0

Many countries are trending more expensive (Belgium went up 30% house price in 4 years) but the UK is on another level of the wealthy literally owning all property and purposely leaving tens of thousands of houses empty just to spite the working class.

astreus ,

I knew someone would say this, which is why I also used Spain where the houses are as expensive, the pay is worse, and the tax is higher!

It doesn’t matter where you go in the West, the dream of liberalism is dead

djsoren19 ,

Yeah, I hate this American-centric idea of “Oh, only my country is experiencing this totally unique problem, I’ll just go somewhere else.”

As if late-stage global capitalism would somehow be a problem that is unique to a single country.

Semi_Hemi_Demigod ,
@Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world avatar

The fediverse is a lot more multinational than That Other Site, and I’m seeing the same sort of articles from all over the place.

pantyhosewimp ,

Yep.

The theatre is closed. There is no place else to go.

And by “theatre” we mean the theatre of conflict not the cinema.

It is time to stand and fight.

GiddyGap ,

Unfortunately not much better elsewhere, if at all. What would make me move is the idiotic healthcare system.

Zedstrian ,

If the American Dream were realistic, we wouldn’t be calling it a dream…

lemmus ,
@lemmus@lemmy.world avatar

A fantasy?

Evil_Shrubbery ,

An ad.

9488fcea02a9 ,

You have to be asleep to believe it --George carlin… I probably dodnt get it right

Viking_Hippie ,

Nah, that was pretty much word for word what he said 🙂

SuperCub ,

Exactly, it would just be the “American Way”.

Psychodelic ,

I mean, it was real for white people. It makes sense why they’re the most pissed and confused lately

Evil_Shrubbery ,

By brother in Satan, high inflation makes you spend money now. It’s either that or going to hell.

Im saying that this bs is out of some relative comparison of how much generations are saving/investing. Everyone tried saving. But with low relative wages ofc ppl wont save as much as eg boomers - they didn’t give up vacations or buying whatevers, but still saved money. Younger gens are just left with no money after that.

And also falling relative wages (inflation) makes you buy things asap to actually save money.

freebee ,

If you would have bought a basement full of canned food somewhere shortly before corona or shortly before the russians went full loco in ukraine, it would have been a top tier investment. And if it wouldn’t have been, they don’t go bad fast and you can still eat them :') In high inflation environment, buying stuff instead of stacking money can make sense indeed.

Evil_Shrubbery ,

Why grind when production is way higher than needed.

Just eat the rich.

Historically it always led to an era of prosperity.

Monument ,

It’s literally cheaper to buy things I know we’ll need at some point (assuming we have the space to store the thing) using a rewards credit card that’ll give us 1-3% back than it is to save and buy those things later when they’re even more expensive. (Paying off the CC before it accrues interest, of course.)

The only move that is ‘smarter’ is to be risky with our money and invest in some way. Which then either makes me a part of the corporate enrichment cycle or a member of the rentier class.

Evil_Shrubbery ,

Investing isn’t that cheap, especially if you want to be moral about it (no shadow pools, company screening, etc). Coz you know, you are just fueling the same problem you are solving.

aesthelete ,

The only move that is ‘smarter’ is to be risky with our money and invest in some way. Which then either makes me a part of the corporate enrichment cycle or a member of the rentier class.

Online savings accounts also exist.

Monument ,

A solid suggestion.
I often discount those because I think of them in terms of cable TV pricing, that you have to hop around on to get the maximum benefit. It seems that there’s no trustworthy info to find online these days, so I don’t really know how they stack up, or even if my assumption about them is correct.

Something to add to the vast hopper in my brain labeled “things to research if I ever find enough time.”

aesthelete ,

Ymmv but I’ve found Ally Bank to be good and the rates fluctuate with the baseline rates. I think you get over 4% interest right now. I’ve seen them go up and down just as the fed makes movements, unlike my ing direct account (which became capital one or something) where the rates only ever went down.

Zerlyna ,
@Zerlyna@lemmy.world avatar

Yup.

cantw8togo ,

This is what happens when history is forgotten. Obviously we’ve had inflation B4. Don’t read all the negative sh*t out there. And don’t let other people with their agenda run your life.

BigPotato ,

We’ve had inflation before and, on a historic timescale, we’ve had revolutions to correct that inflation. France existed for almost a thousand years before they had the big one.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • [email protected]
  • random
  • lifeLocal
  • goranko
  • All magazines
    •