• ConcreteHalloween [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    15 days ago

    No, our parents are quite literally stealing our cookies.

    This main villain in the housing shortage isn’t Black Stone or whoever, when you look at the stats the amount of residential housing those big corpos own is a drop in the bucket. It’s mostly being driven by Boomers who want their properties to endlessly appreciate in value so they can cash out when the retire. Trump basically said the quiet part out loud when he admitted that building more affordable housing would cause home values to drop for his home-owning Boomer constituents. McMansion Kulak are far more to blame for the current crisis that the Haunt Bourgoies real estate companies.

      • ConcreteHalloween [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        15 days ago

        If we’re talking specifically global north, white, middle class Boomers, many of our parents were still successful enough that they gained access to the speculative economy via things like real estate and stock investment. For some these investments were big enough that’d I’d argue it blurs the line between proletariat and petite bourgeois. Yes your labor for a capitalist, but you are so well compensated for your labor it allows you to basically engage in micro-capitalism on the side and improve your economic station.

        They are, essentially, the modern equivalent of Kulaks. Not 1% but still economically privileged enough that they have an interest in defending the status quo because they believe (correctly or not) that socialism would be a material downgrade for them.

              • ConcreteHalloween [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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                15 days ago

                Their class is entwined with the unique economic position they were born into.

                There is a reason for people general disdain for white boomers. Being born into the post-war economic boom did put them at and advantage to everyone else, and they did use that newfound wealth in ways that disadvantaged their own progeny. A lot of them know it too, but don’t care, they’ve built an entire culture based around resentment of their own children. They voted for Trump largely as a “fuck you” to the next generation.

                  • ConcreteHalloween [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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                    15 days ago

                    You’re missing the point here. They’re largely rich because of their access to real estate speculation. The housing crisis happened because of real estate speculation. They built their wealth via the very means that disadvantaged their children. They probably didn’t realize it at the time, but it’s become glaring obvious now and they can’t really deny it, so they cope culturally by demonizing their children. Again, Trump pretty much said it out loud. His base is mostly white boomers who mainline Fox News. If you build more housing, housing prices will drop, that’s bad for white boomers, but it would be good for broke ass millennials and Gen Zers. But boomers fight tooth and nail to prevent new housing to protect their property values. A lot of them aren’t even subtle about it.