Context:
- I just found out that the student loans I’ve been saddled with for the past 19 years were completely avoidable because my parents are wealthier than they ever let on
- Something is wrong with my boomer parents—I don’t understand their relationship with money (or life in general). I think they may be seriously mentally ill
What happened
In 2014, my girlfriend and I moved into a rental home in a big city for about $1,500/month.
She later lost her job and it became unaffordable. The stress ended our relationship.
I struggled to stay in my home for the next seven years, until I finally declared bankruptcy and moved out in 2020.
I spent at least $120,000 on my rental home through those years. All down the drain. I liquidated all $30,000 of my retirement savings to try and stay afloat.
What could have been
2014 was a low point in the housing market. There were HUNDREDS of houses available in the ~$150k range, many of them nicer than the one I rented. All I needed was ~$10k for a down payment, and I could have been paying $800 for a mortgage instead of $1,500 on rent, and all of that money spent would be retained in the form of equity even if I still had to move out. It probably would have saved my relationship too (my parents complain about not having any grandkids, BTW).
What my parents say
When I mentioned this to my parents recently, they just said “we had no idea you wanted to buy a house”. NO, I JUST LOVED PAYING MONEY TO A LAND LEECH! I never even thought to ask for help with a down payment, because we were “broke”. My dad gave us grief over every dollar we spent. We never ONCE took a family vacation.
The truth
Today, my parents have $2 million in retirement savings, and no mortgage or car payments. They live in a rural area with a rock bottom cost-of-living. In 2003, they had HALF A MILLION dollars in cash, entirely separate from their retirement plans.
The people in this story are not bourgeoisie. At best they are petit bourgeois but I haven’t seen any evidence of it. They are labor aristocracy, first-world white working class. And they came of age during the height of global wealth extraction by the US.
It sounds like you’re angry with this group of people, but the thing you should be angry about is that they lack class consciousness, not that they didn’t give their kid a down payment on a house. Whether or not they gave their kid a leg up has no bearing on the development of a socialist society. Whether or not they scrimped and saved so that they could live in some comfort has no bearing on the development of a socialist society.
I hear what you’re saying. I’m not ignoring it. I am saying it is the incorrect position for a revolutionary consciousness. Anger at the parents that made it to retirement with sufficient savings to leave their kids with maybe a house but probably less than that is misplaced anger. The anger should be with the bourgeoisie.
These people are not bourgeoisie. The anger your describing is far more about intraclass resentment than it is revolutionary fervor. The members of the working class, regardless of savings, are not our enemy. They are capitalist subjects just like you and me. Resentment between members of the working class is destructive.