By asking for lower interest rates Trump told us that economy is not doing good – Politics and Other Controversies -Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Conservatives, Liberals, Third Parties, Left-Wing, Right-Wing, Congress, President

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Fat Donnie knows nothing about the economy.
He only knows leveraged real estate development.
That means he wants lower borrowing costs.

If you need me to explain the benefits to consumers of 3% mortgages vs 7% mortgages, well, then you haven't been paying attention.

I'm 38, legally single, and have no debt other than my mortgage. I make about $85k/year in a remote local government IT position.

The Biden years have been very kind to me. I bought my house in late 2019. I sold that house in November for nearly twice what I paid for it without a realtor. Word of mouth got around in town that I was looking to sell, and a local investor bought the place from me in cash.

When Trump lost the election, I was making about $68k. Today, I'm making about $17k more. I might have lost ground, but it really doesn't feel like it.

Prior to today, my 403b/401k holdings have never been higher.

I don't really worry about what I'm spending on day-to-day items. I try to be reasonably cost-conscious - I do most of my food staple shopping at Aldi, Sam's, or Walmart. Basic chicken breast or ground beef is the same everywhere. I buy higher quality meat to smoke/grill at better stores. Most of my produce comes from the western NC farmer's market, or other local sources when in season. Otherwise, I try to stick to frozen bagged/healthier/organic veggie/fruit options where I reasonably can. I can usually find some sort of BOGO sale on berries at Publix or Ingles.

My mortgage payment is high, but I moved from a 22 year old place that was going to need a lot of work to brand new construction. My mortgage/HOA/taxes went up around $1k/month, but I can afford it.

Here's my chief complaint.

We're hearing the "economy is bad" mostly from Trumpers not reliably engaged in the economy.

My girlfriend's son is 24, a lineman, making $52/hr., getting about ten hours a week in overtime at $78/hr. He's paying $50/week, all-in, to stay with her.

He's making far more than we are. His truck is a $1k/month payment. He has a trailer financed at about $200/month for the next two years. Side-by-side financed at $300/month for the next three years. $1,500/month in vehicle payments for vehicles that mostly sit in the driveway while his dad (who is his boss) takes him to and from work every day. Otherwise, he drives a paid off 2010 Mustang.

Her daughter is 20, and her 21 year old boyfriend lives there as well. He has an even bigger truck. Spent $3k on wheels this past month. Bought a motorcycle last week and is now storing it in girlfriend's basement. Another $1k-$1.5k+ months in vehicle payments.

These screw-ups think they are "successful," but they couldn't tell you anything about the price of eggs, groceries, housing, etc., because they have never had to deal with housing or food costs in any meaningful way. She shelters them from it all.

They'll tell you the economy is "all to hell," while living large on someone else's dime.

They're prospering in ways I couldn't have dreamt of in 2010 when graduating coming out of the Great Recession.

They clearly have no understanding of economics. That's the typical Trumper in this day and age - deluded, living on someone else's dime, thinking they are successful, when they are clueless about the "real world."

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Originally Posted by ntwrkguy1 If you need me to explain the benefits to consumers of 3% mortgages vs 7% mortgages, well, then you haven't been paying attention.

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Originally Posted by Arktikos And those chemicals were responsible for a great deal of pollution. Several superfund sites are a result of the early chip manufacturing process. NOW they have figured out how to clean up their effluent. Actually the companies need super pure water for the manufacturing process so I believe it's treated both coming in and going out.

Look, no one wants a massively polluted environment. But fast forward to 2025: who knows more about how to manufacture semiconductors without destroying the environment: the USA, Taiwan, China, Ireland, Germany or Israel? Here's a hint: it is the countries that actually manufacture semiconductors.

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Originally Posted by mshultz My 15 year mortgage rate in 1988 was 9.5%, and that was nowhere near the earlier peak. With a rate of 7%, let alone 3%, I could have built a nicer house. Rather than refinancing as the rates dropped, I just kept increasing my payments until it was paid off at the end of 1995.

A 9.5% rate with a house that is twice your income is totally different math than a house at 7% that is six times your income.

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Originally Posted by Serious Conversation I don't get the "economy is bad" BS. I'm 38, legally single, and have no debt other than my mortgage. I make about $85k/year in a remote local government IT position. The Biden years have been very kind to me. I bought my house in late 2019. I sold that house in November for nearly twice what I paid for it without a realtor. Word of mouth got around in town that I was looking to sell, and a local investor bought the place from me in cash. When Trump lost the election, I was making about $68k. Today, I'm making about $17k more. I might have lost ground, but it really doesn't feel like it. Prior to today, my 403b/401k holdings have never been higher. I don't really worry about what I'm spending on day-to-day items. I try to be reasonably cost-conscious - I do most of my food staple shopping at Aldi, Sam's, or Walmart. Basic chicken breast or ground beef is the same everywhere. I buy higher quality meat to smoke/grill at better stores. Most of my produce comes from the western NC farmer's market, or other local sources when in season. Otherwise, I try to stick to frozen bagged/healthier/organic veggie/fruit options where I reasonably can. I can usually find some sort of BOGO sale on berries at Publix or Ingles. My mortgage payment is high, but I moved from a 22 year old place that was going to need a lot of work to brand new construction. My mortgage/HOA/taxes went up around $1k/month, but I can afford it. Here's my chief complaint. We're hearing the "economy is bad" mostly from Trumpers not reliably engaged in the economy. My girlfriend's son is 24, a lineman, making $52/hr., getting about ten hours a week in overtime at $78/hr. He's paying $50/week, all-in, to stay with her. He's making far more than we are. His truck is a $1k/month payment. He has a trailer financed at about $200/month for the next two years. Side-by-side financed at $300/month for the next three years. $1,500/month in vehicle payments for vehicles that mostly sit in the driveway while his dad (who is his boss) takes him to and from work every day. Otherwise, he drives a paid off 2010 Mustang. Her daughter is 20, and her 21 year old boyfriend lives there as well. He has an even bigger truck. Spent $3k on wheels this past month. Bought a motorcycle last week and is now storing it in girlfriend's basement. Another $1k-$1.5k+ months in vehicle payments. These screw-ups think they are "successful," but they couldn't tell you anything about the price of eggs, groceries, housing, etc., because they have never had to deal with housing or food costs in any meaningful way. She shelters them from it all. They'll tell you the economy is "all to hell," while living large on someone else's dime. They're prospering in ways I couldn't have dreamt of in 2010 when graduating coming out of the Great Recession. They clearly have no understanding of economics. That's the typical Trumper in this day and age - deluded, living on someone else's dime, thinking they are successful, when they are clueless about the "real world."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation I don't get the "economy is bad" BS. I'm 38, legally single, and have no debt other than my mortgage. I make about $85k/year in a remote local government IT position. The Biden years have been very kind to me. I bought my house in late 2019. I sold that house in November for nearly twice what I paid for it without a realtor. Word of mouth got around in town that I was looking to sell, and a local investor bought the place from me in cash. When Trump lost the election, I was making about $68k. Today, I'm making about $17k more. I might have lost ground, but it really doesn't feel like it. Prior to today, my 403b/401k holdings have never been higher. I don't really worry about what I'm spending on day-to-day items. I try to be reasonably cost-conscious - I do most of my food staple shopping at Aldi, Sam's, or Walmart. Basic chicken breast or ground beef is the same everywhere. I buy higher quality meat to smoke/grill at better stores. Most of my produce comes from the western NC farmer's market, or other local sources when in season. Otherwise, I try to stick to frozen bagged/healthier/organic veggie/fruit options where I reasonably can. I can usually find some sort of BOGO sale on berries at Publix or Ingles. My mortgage payment is high, but I moved from a 22 year old place that was going to need a lot of work to brand new construction. My mortgage/HOA/taxes went up around $1k/month, but I can afford it. Here's my chief complaint. We're hearing the "economy is bad" mostly from Trumpers not reliably engaged in the economy. My girlfriend's son is 24, a lineman, making $52/hr., getting about ten hours a week in overtime at $78/hr. He's paying $50/week, all-in, to stay with her. He's making far more than we are. His truck is a $1k/month payment. He has a trailer financed at about $200/month for the next two years. Side-by-side financed at $300/month for the next three years. $1,500/month in vehicle payments for vehicles that mostly sit in the driveway while his dad (who is his boss) takes him to and from work every day. Otherwise, he drives a paid off 2010 Mustang. Her daughter is 20, and her 21 year old boyfriend lives there as well. He has an even bigger truck. Spent $3k on wheels this past month. Bought a motorcycle last week and is now storing it in girlfriend's basement. Another $1k-$1.5k+ months in vehicle payments. These screw-ups think they are "successful," but they couldn't tell you anything about the price of eggs, groceries, housing, etc., because they have never had to deal with housing or food costs in any meaningful way. She shelters them from it all. They'll tell you the economy is "all to hell," while living large on someone else's dime. They're prospering in ways I couldn't have dreamt of in 2010 when graduating coming out of the Great Recession. They clearly have no understanding of economics. That's the typical Trumper in this day and age - deluded, living on someone else's dime, thinking they are successful, when they are clueless about the "real world."

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Originally Posted by Bobcat55 Everything that you listed above has nothing to do with normal and healthy economy and has to do with irresponsible monetary policy, interest rate suppression and nothing else but speculation. I guess most of you today don’t even know what normal monetary policy and economy looks like. Somehow selling a house for 100% gains in just few years is positive and a sign of good economy. No wonder we are where we are today as a nation and as a society. Do you really think that real estate price increase during Covid years was because of booming economy? Do you understand that most businesses were closed during that time. It can be for all other reasons except healthy and normal economic growth. Wealth effect policy has created biggest inequality in our society. It was all done by design and has nothing to do with normal economy.

You'll hear all these complaints about the price of groceries or whatever, but consumer spending always seem to be at or near record highs. No one seems to be cutting back.

It seems like restaurants are jam-packed most places when I go out to eat. People who are dead broke aren't going out to eat.

I just bought new construction. The people in this townhome complex aren't driving twenty or thirty year old cars. Anything under $250k or so seems to fly off the market within days.

Is the economy great here? I really don't think so. I ran financial software for six years for the largest employer in our region (a hospital system). I was over the software that stored W-2s and had access to pay bands for all jobs throughout the organization.

Other than direct patient care roles, pay bands hadn't changed from when I hired in back in 2016 to when I left at the first of 2023. Entry level IT analysts engineers started between $45k-$52k in 2023. Keep in mind these are salaried exempt roles with on-call responsibility (some are 24x7x365) that are usually over forty hours a week. Anyone that was any good and not near retirement basically left since COVID. They're basically running on the rejects, older people coasting to retirement, and some fresh graduates looking to get experience.

What seems to be driving the economy are out-of-area remote workers and retirees who have a lot of disposable income. I work remotely for an out-of-state county government, though it's only a little over an hour away. I probably wouldn't make 60% of what I do with a government in the immediate local area.

One of the infrastructure engineers I worked closely with went from $65k with the hospital system to $160k remotely with Microsoft. These kinds of pay raises weren't uncommon for skilled people. This doesn't happen in a bad economy.

While real estate prices here have shot up dramatically in recent years, it wasn't always like this. I have an uncle who was trying to sell a house back in 2018/2019 for around $600k. It took about nine months to find a buyer for that house. It would likely sell in a month or two today.

I looked up my parents' house a few weeks ago. They bought it in 1998, and it didn't appreciate at the rate of inflation until about 2018. It's more than doubled since then. You used to have issues here where you could buy a house and may not even get what you paid for it five or ten years ago. That's not the case now.

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Originally Posted by Bobcat55 Nothing is great that is just your imagination. “Higher-income American consumers are showing signs of stress“ -High earners ‘intent to spend’ decreased in January, which could be a warning sign for the economy— https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/27/high...f-stress-.html What you don’t understand is that you are actually a Poster Boy for everything what is wrong in America today. You mentioned that you bought a house back in 2019 just before Covid Pandemic. In reality you should be bankrupt today because of your actions, but thanks to all government bailouts and manipulation, interest rate suppression and Fed intervention that created this huge inflation you were not only punished for your irresponsible financial decision but ended up rewarded. And no wonder that you are going to defend all those crazy policies and praise Biden. Everything today is upside down. Someone else who was actually financially responsible ended up being punished by unprecedented inflation. Mostly fixed income earners and savers while the ones who deserved to be destroyed for their speculative actions got rewarded. This is what you and others don’t want to understand. Low interest rates rewarded really bad people, mostly speculators while destroying working class Americans and retirees who depend on fixed incomes.

Part of the reason I hung onto the house for so long was that I couldn't live anywhere else any cheaper. I didn't want to give up the low mortgage payment. If I lost my job, I could work basically anywhere and never really be at risk of losing my house.

Where's the irresponsibility there? By the time I sold the place, my mortgage was only 1/6 of my net pay.

I sold the place for $176.5k without a realtor to a private, local investor. I had $88k left on the mortgage when I sold the place. I took $50k of those proceeds to roll into the next house. Even with the 20% down payment, my new mortgage and HOA fees are about $1,600/month.

Is it more of a stretch? Sure, but I wasn't going to remain tethered to the house indefinitely because of a low mortgage payment.

Life has changed dramatically for me since I bought that house. When I bought that house, I had a typical, five day a week, butt-in-seat office job. We went remote for COVID. I haven't "gone to work" with any regularity in five years. I was dating someone at the time. Her family lost their jobs during COVID, and they all went back to FL together. She died a year and a half later. I found someone else. I changed jobs. None of the reasons that I bought the house for in 2019 were valid by 1/2023.

The previous house was a four-level townhome. There weren't any bathrooms on the main level. The laundry was in the drive-under garage. Two flights of stairs from the bedroom to the garage and two flights back up for each load of laundry. I tore my calf severely Christmas Eve 2023. I couldn't get up the stairs for a few weeks. If I had a worse leg injury, I couldn't live in that house. That was a big push in getting me out of there.

This house has bathrooms on each level with the laundry upstairs. There's a garage, but no stairs to get in the house from the garage. It's a townhome, but I have a "back yard" that overlooks a neighbor's farm, space for my Traeger and a Blackstone, a real place to sit instead of a tiny deck, etc. The layout is just much more functional.

If I had known back in 2019 that I'd be working from home for the next five years, sure, I'd have never bought the first house, and bought in a different location. I had no way to know that back then. My current girlfriend lives about 1h40m from the previous house. I never thought I'd be in a relationship with someone "out of town." The amenities here in my immediate local area are better than where I was before. I'm just about an hour to where my girlfriend and current job are in western NC. The move made a lot of sense if you threw the financial side of things out. The thing is I make enough to afford it - a lot of people aren't that fortunate.

My parents have been in the same house since 1997. A house that was reasonable for them to keep up at 40 is not reasonable for them to keep at almost 70 with my mom having very limited mobility. They won't move, always citing interest rates and prices. Yes, the current situation with prices/rates isn't the best, but life changes and people have to change with it.

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