Thank you for this well-researched, well-reasoned article. While perhaps the trend of disappointment is more pronounced this election cycle, I have to say, I think this is something that always happens. I particularly remember how a lot of young people became disenchanted with Barack Obama after he failed to come through on certain promises, like ending the war in Iraq, as well as implementing a corporate-friendly healthcare bill and abandoning the public option.
The reality is, no one man is going to swoop in and fix all our problems and this is a realization that comes with age and wisdom. The best thing you can do is vote pragmatically for the best option at a given time.
This should be a wake up call for Dems. Affordability is the number one issue voters care about. Especially Gen Z and millennials. Family formation is a stabilizing force in society and right now young people see the costs of having a family as prohibitive. Big memetic ideas are required. Here's one:
When a good percentage of young voters either don’t know what the 3 branches of government are or think they are federal, State and Local (not to even get into what the branches do) - this is what can happen. I feel for them, this wasn’t their fault. They were let down when we made screen time their babysitter.
Right so they made an impulsive decision that he was going to be their magic savior, based on no evidence, looking past all the evidence, including his own words, that he was going to mess up, on purpose and through incompetence, and now they are upset that things are turning out exactly as critics predicted.
Well they are this way because we are their parents snd their teachers so I guess we can’t blame them for bad judgment.
It might have been an impulsive decision for some voters but for most I assume it was fairly well measured. Let's not forget that Kamala Harris was a terrible candidate and there was a huge amount of unwanted baggage from the Biden years, including the border crisis, inflation, and foreign policy debacles.
Harris also represented the so-called woke agenda, burdened by increasingly unpopular policy positions on the transgender agenda for example, including men in women's sports. These culture war issues played a huge role.
Also, Trump brought a significant number of independents into his camp when he very wisely recruited Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr. Another factor hurting the Dems was their terrible decision not to hold an open primary, which is why they got stuck with Kamala Harris in the first place.
All of Trump’s “ideas” on affordability are unworkable, counter productive or silly, which is consistent with his other ideas. Here’s a better idea which would massively increase the supply and thus reduce the price of existing houses. A one time substantial (say 20%) tax on the value (based on property tax assessments) on any existing home which is owner occupied by someone over 60. The tax could be avoided by selling the home to a new owner occupant under that age. Since no one will want to pay the tax, the houses would be put up for sale and create a buyers market. The elders selling the houses would find new smaller houses, but given the windfall (even after a price drop) from selling their mostly paid for and usually very large homes they will spur construction and sales of new smaller homes that they will be able to afford. Maybe the tax could be exempted for smaller homes.
This wouldn’t pass congress, but neither will Trumps plans. A big problem of the housing market is old people, who get the majority of social welfare payments, staying in the houses they bought 30 years ago and younger workers paying taxes both to support the old people and causing a lack of available houses to buy.
I don’t actually like this plan, given I would be subject to it, but it might increase the supply of housing, especially for young families and other first time buyers. It would be better to have better zoning, a standard simple national building code, fewer parking minimums and other regulations, or at least get states to get rid of the property tax discounts for seniors. Any of these things would do more than 50 year mortgages, preventing corporations from buying houses or doing nothing.
Thank you for this well-researched, well-reasoned article. While perhaps the trend of disappointment is more pronounced this election cycle, I have to say, I think this is something that always happens. I particularly remember how a lot of young people became disenchanted with Barack Obama after he failed to come through on certain promises, like ending the war in Iraq, as well as implementing a corporate-friendly healthcare bill and abandoning the public option.
The reality is, no one man is going to swoop in and fix all our problems and this is a realization that comes with age and wisdom. The best thing you can do is vote pragmatically for the best option at a given time.
This should be a wake up call for Dems. Affordability is the number one issue voters care about. Especially Gen Z and millennials. Family formation is a stabilizing force in society and right now young people see the costs of having a family as prohibitive. Big memetic ideas are required. Here's one:
https://open.substack.com/pub/priceofbeans/p/redistributing-opportunity-why-democrats?r=9x3dh&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
When a good percentage of young voters either don’t know what the 3 branches of government are or think they are federal, State and Local (not to even get into what the branches do) - this is what can happen. I feel for them, this wasn’t their fault. They were let down when we made screen time their babysitter.
Right so they made an impulsive decision that he was going to be their magic savior, based on no evidence, looking past all the evidence, including his own words, that he was going to mess up, on purpose and through incompetence, and now they are upset that things are turning out exactly as critics predicted.
Well they are this way because we are their parents snd their teachers so I guess we can’t blame them for bad judgment.
It might have been an impulsive decision for some voters but for most I assume it was fairly well measured. Let's not forget that Kamala Harris was a terrible candidate and there was a huge amount of unwanted baggage from the Biden years, including the border crisis, inflation, and foreign policy debacles.
Harris also represented the so-called woke agenda, burdened by increasingly unpopular policy positions on the transgender agenda for example, including men in women's sports. These culture war issues played a huge role.
Also, Trump brought a significant number of independents into his camp when he very wisely recruited Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr. Another factor hurting the Dems was their terrible decision not to hold an open primary, which is why they got stuck with Kamala Harris in the first place.
I cover a lot of these issues in an article I published just after the election in case you're interested: https://natparry.substack.com/p/the-democrats-abandonment-issues
All of Trump’s “ideas” on affordability are unworkable, counter productive or silly, which is consistent with his other ideas. Here’s a better idea which would massively increase the supply and thus reduce the price of existing houses. A one time substantial (say 20%) tax on the value (based on property tax assessments) on any existing home which is owner occupied by someone over 60. The tax could be avoided by selling the home to a new owner occupant under that age. Since no one will want to pay the tax, the houses would be put up for sale and create a buyers market. The elders selling the houses would find new smaller houses, but given the windfall (even after a price drop) from selling their mostly paid for and usually very large homes they will spur construction and sales of new smaller homes that they will be able to afford. Maybe the tax could be exempted for smaller homes.
This wouldn’t pass congress, but neither will Trumps plans. A big problem of the housing market is old people, who get the majority of social welfare payments, staying in the houses they bought 30 years ago and younger workers paying taxes both to support the old people and causing a lack of available houses to buy.
I don’t actually like this plan, given I would be subject to it, but it might increase the supply of housing, especially for young families and other first time buyers. It would be better to have better zoning, a standard simple national building code, fewer parking minimums and other regulations, or at least get states to get rid of the property tax discounts for seniors. Any of these things would do more than 50 year mortgages, preventing corporations from buying houses or doing nothing.