Has wealth ever been more stratified? Like really objectively? Because I don’t think it has. I think right now the level of opulence enjoyed by the bourgeoisie would beggar all the Caesars and ancient emperors of China. Meanwhile the poverty of the poorest living human is probably nigh identical to the poorest in antiquity. They have taken an incomprehensible amount. They’re taking more than they have ever taken before.

Because this shit is happening and we’re all paying for it. The environment is paying for it. The biosphere is paying for it. If we seek to change this arrangement? They say…. WhO iS gOnNa PaY fOr it?

Edit: making the late capitalist bourgeoisie is the most expensive fucking thing we have ever done as a species and that sucks. Fuck that sucks so much, dawg.

That means Ford and GM are actually making 15 year cars, right?

Protip: Get a van with room for an air mattress doubles as a home and only a 15 year loan rather than a 50

The rent to own economy is here folks

we fixed the affordability crises by increasing the total cost of ownership

What’s got me fucked up lately is this whole “everything needs to be a subscription” model would be so perfect for trains. The streetcar/light rail lines in most cities used to be mostly privatized but automakers were too concerned with dismantling that shit.

average younger GOP voter is probably like “wow thats way better than the 300 years at 95% APR i signed for my dodge challenger immediately after i enlisted!!”

I did some jank estimates and I think the 50 year mortgage thing would stave off the affordability crisis for about 10 years before we're back to where we are now. Then back to the normal increasingly unaffordable housing. Then a total meltdown of material conditions when those loans start getting past 30 years and people become too old/sick to finish paying off their mortgages.

Brb starting a secular, modern, free-market loan service called "Serf."

If you're in the mood to read a crazy comment.

Horseshoe theory. Here’s where this logically leads: payment in kind (PIK) mortgages and car loans that are securitized and then sold to a government sponsored entity (GSE) that then sells the low risk liquid securities to institutional investors who are required to hold low risk but long duration securities and they are the ultimate bag holders as long duration fixed income is toxic as the Federal Reserve inevitably monetizes the Federal debts that would otherwise be unpayable.

This is, of course, equivalent to the government providing free autos and housing.

Now will people start paying attention to how everything is made to break down faster and not be repairable more and more every year? My last pair of headphones started breaking apart seriously the day I got them and ended up not lasting a year covered in a pound of duct tape. My last pair lasted eleven years and never broke at all. That was the lower end shit too.

Soon - legally mandated predatory mortgages for anyone slightly above the poverty line!

/s

Healthy economy. Totally not a recession being managed by extending people larger and larger amounts of debt.

the cool thing about really long terms on cars is that, so long as you don't own the car outright, you are likely required to maintain comprehensive insurance on the asset based on however much you still owe at the very minimum, rather than the actual exchange-value of the vehicle itself (which is certain to be less).

a nice little piece of business i'm sure the insurance formations are very eager to be a part of.

...

there's a little cynical game i play lately, based on the late stage capitalist reality that the only sectors of the US "economy" currently "growing" (aka elegantly extracting, if you're a worker) are part of the F.I.R.E. economy (Finance, Insurance, Real Estate). these are the dominant capital formations in the US. their power in US political economy has left the stratosphere due to their massive holdings. anytime there is a significant change reported, i make note of which formations benefit. and anytime some minor humanitarian reform is foreclosed upon as "unrealistic" (universal healthcare, public housing, etc), i make note of which formations would be negatively impacted.

Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate interests are the invisible voices of our god.