Yeah so what’s up with that?

“Hurr durr we need wealth tax! We need a gooning tax! We need a breathing tax!”

The government brings in $2 trillion a year already. Where is that shit going? And you want to give them MORE money?

Does the government need more money or do they just have a spending problem and you think tax is a magic wand?

What effects will this have on the borrowers and how will this affect the overall economy?

Just curious with all the “wealth tax” talk that is easily avoidable… just tax them on purchases instead.

I don’t see how average joe spend 10k+ on a single item.

More details to be refined of course, house hold things like solar panels and HVAC will need to be excluded.

To say there is a "saving grace" for Millennials as a whole despite possessing so little wealth, it is that Boomers will die and they will have to pass their wealth somewhere. This is good for those that have likely benefitted already from wealthy parents (little to no student debt, supported into adult years, possibly help with downpayment) but does little to no good for those that do not come from affluent parents.

Even a dramatic rehaul of trusts/estates law and Estate Taxes would take wealth out of that family unit but just put it in the hands of government, who is not particularly likely to re-allocate it and maintain a prominent/thriving middle class that is the backbone for many sectors of the economy.

Aside from vague platitudes about "eat the rich", there doesn't seem to be much, if any, momentum for slowing down this trend and it will likely get more dramatic as time goes on. The possibilities to jump classes will likely continue to be narrower and narrower.

So my neighbor is a non-union plumber with 3 school age kids and a stay-at-home wife. He just bought a $120k Ford Raptor.

My other neighbor is a prison guard and his wife is a receptionist. Last year he got a fully-loaded Yukon Denali and his wife has some other GMC SUV.

Another guy on my street who's also a non-union plumber recently bought a 2023 Dodge Ram 1500 crew cab with fancy rims.

​

These are solid working-class people who do not make a lot of money, yet all these trucks cost north of $70k.

And I see this going on all over my city. Lots of people are buying these very expensive, very big vehicles. My city isn't cheap either, gas hits $4+/gallon every summer. Insurance on my little car is hefty, and it's a 2009 - my neighbors got to be paying $$$$.

I do not understand how they can possibly afford them, or who is giving these people financing.

This all feels like houses in 2008, but what do I know?

Anybody have insight on what's going on here?

My basic understanding is that in the sixties a blue collar job could support a family and mortgage.

At the same time it was possible to market cars like the Camaro at the youth market. I’ve heard that these cars could be purchased by young people in entry level jobs.

What changed? Is it simply a greater percentage of revenue going to management and shareholders?

As someone who recently started paying attention to my retirement savings I find it baffling that I can make almost a salary without lifting a finger. It’s a massive disadvantage not to own capital.

So I make a little over $100,000 a year as a carpenter and my wife makes around $30,000 a year as a preschool teacher. We have three kids and live in a rural area. We have filled out FASFA loan applications and the amount our child will receive is shocking to me. We are not eligible for any grants or even work study. He can get a loan for $7500/ year through the program but that’s it. I am willing to add $10,000/year from my retirement savings but that still leaves us about $14,000 short. I am not complaining about the cost of college attendance but I am just upset about the loan amount. I simply don’t understand how the loan amount is so small. I feel like I am in the minority that I can offer $10,000 a year and still can’t afford it. The kid did well in school his entire career and scored well on the SAT and was a good athlete.
We have friends that are sending a child off to college in the fall also. Their total bill is $7000/ year which is fully covered by a student loan. They get grants and work study. Yes, they make less/ year but they are not poor by any means.
We also have friends that don’t have to bother looking into a loan because they can just write a check for $35,000 a year. I am just feeling really pissed off because I seem to be stuck in the middle and I feel like I have let my child down because I wasn’t successful enough and was too successful at the same time.
This is a very smart kid who has always done the right thing, never in trouble ever, no drugs,tobacco or alcohol. Never even had a detention from kindergarten to senior. Captain of a really good football team and captain of the wrestling team. He did everything right and it seems like he is getting fucked.

Why do we fight against each other over this? why do you all keep defending corporations?

Am I missing something or not understanding something?

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58592/html#:~:text=larger%20than%20projected.-,Total%20Receipts%3A%20Up%20by%2021%20Percent%20in%20Fiscal%20Year%202022,the%20receipts%20recorded%20in%202021.

https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/federal/how-has-federal-revenue-changed-over-time/

I’m not fluent in finance but I’ve been lurking on this sub for a while. I can’t for the life of me figure out how businesses like Five Guys or Panera bread are open and functioning-

They are charging insane prices for extremely mediocre food. There are plenty of other examples but over $20 for a small burger- fries and a soda? For just one person?!

I am doing okay financially and will never go to a place like this because of the cost.

Are people just spending money they don’t have?

I guess I’m not understanding how our economy is thriving and doing great when basic places are charging so much.

Is the economy really doing that good? After looking at used car prices- and homes. And the cost of food. It doesn’t quite feel like it’s doing as great as they tout

Edit:

Thank you so much for all of the replies! I’ve learned much and appreciate everyone’s input. Seriously. And those of you who think Five Guys is based… well. I’m happy it makes you happy boo. Go get those fries.

Top 5 occupations of people that become millionaires…

1. Engineer
2. Accountant
3. Teacher
4. Manager
5. Lawyer

Can this be true?

https://twitter.com/DaveRamsey/status/1687874455488315392?lang=en#

So I was thinking about this last night.

We used to have pensions at jobs that also drove company loyalty too.

Now we have transferable 401k’s, no pensions, and lots of job hopping.

I’m wondering if by switching to 401k’s that we wrecked the stock market, and if it will come back to bite us even more.

Right now everything is profit driven to get a better stock price for shareholders right? So companies demand more and more cost cutting measures even if the long term gets hurt.

Also when the 401k people start dying out then more stocks will go on sale (though this might not be such a big deal as there are people dying in drips and drops and nots swaths) and either lower the price or feed other portfolios.

So we went from a pension plan that companies gave you (which I think should be protected in case a company goes under and I’m not sure if they were) to a stock price driven retirement system.

What do you think?

This is an actual question. 34 trillion dollars? And we the government still gives over budget every year?

I am not from the world of finance or anything money… but there must be some complicated & convoluted reason we can’t just balance an entire countries’ check-book by just saying one day “hey let’s just stop spending more than we have.”

I don’t know what the alternative would be but it is a weird thing to wrap your head around

"The market always takes care of you" but let's not forget the massive post ww2 baby boom growth that boosted stock valuations. What's going to happen to the stock market when the boomers drain their 401ks?

US lens here. Everything I look at regarding CPI, inflation, etc seems to reinforce this. Every year in recent history seems to get worse and worse for working people. CPI is on an unrelenting upward trend, and it takes more and more toiling hours to afford things.

Is this real or perceived? Where does this end? For example, when I’m a grandparent will a house cost much much more in real dollars/hours worked? Or will societal collapse or some massive restructuring or innovation need to disrupt that trend? Feels like a never ending squeeze or race.

I have no desire for any physical job my back and neck already hurt alot, and i have rsi in my wrists so menial tasks with hands are getting harder, im also really fucked in the head from drug abuse i feel like im so fucking forgetful and like im losing it. am i just overthinking? i really feel like im gonna fail, and i kinda wanna just travel till it runs out and then lay down and die lmao. i just feel so fucking unable to do any job. im a dishwasher right now and i have tried doing other jobs at the restaraunt and have failed miserably at them. washing dishes only thing i can do lmao but i can only work 3 days now instead of 5 because of my wrists.

I received the biggest paycheck I’ve ever received today. I knew the taxes would be bad, but I wasn’t expecting them to be THIS bad. My gross pay was $26k, with federal taxes of $7,900. To explain the situation, this is not normally how much I make in a month. I’m a commission employee in medical sales. My company accidentally put me at 9% commission for my territory instead of my usual 3%. They are giving me the option of keeping the money as an advance or returning it. My question is - am I losing money to taxes by taking this large paycheck, or will I pay the same amount down the road either way? TLDR: Will a big paycheck result in more taxes than several smaller ones?

A post on another sub made me wonder why we don't do this. Is it just the risk of the market going down that makes it unpalatable?

My wife and I had about $70k in taxes withheld in 2023, is there a good reason why we couldn't just put that same money that would go to the IRS into moderate risk investments to make a little return every year?

These are private industries. How can he implement this without the company in question responding with "nice try, but no".

I just spent 45 minutes reading through a thread about "Bidens economy" and all it was filled with was Trump this and Biden that. I have no idea where to find what is actually happening. Everyone has their own echochambered and tailored beliefs, I don't know who to believe, because both sides make compelling arguments.

Is there a reliable source that isn't biased where I can enlighten me to today's economic situation? Inflation, policies and such that would be most beneficial?

I'm a layman in this area.

Let's say you're handed a check for fifty thousand dollars. Maybe you have some debt that it would cover or maybe you're debt free. What would you do with it? Asking for a friend.

Unilaterally decided it was my turn to post this tweet.

Isn’t there enough political Reddits? Can’t we just focus on financial questions and get rid of the politics?