• @Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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    34 months ago

    Bernie Sanders is out there talking about eating the rich…he always convienently leaves out that HE HIMSELF is rich.

    I’m never sure if that’s meant to say like “Yeah, I’LL pay my fair share if we get all the other rich people to do it too”.

    Or if it’s meant to be something that sounds good on a soundbyte that makes you angry at the rich…while you’re not supposed to know HE’S rich.

    I never know what to take that context as.

      • @Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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        34 months ago

        If someone has even 1 million dollars they’re rich. That’s the thing about numbers. They’re infinate.

        You say you couldn’t even buy a house with a few million dollars? I could buy a house for $70,000.

        For another $10,000 I could fit the house with solar, and use the other 900,000 to live off interest.

        How is that not rich?

        • Mister_Feeny
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          244 months ago

          The difference between 1 billion and 1 million dollars is just about 1 billion dollars.

          And maybe you could find a house for 70k in your area, but that is not common at all. The AVERAGE home price in my area is 525-550,000.

          Having a single million dollars just does not mean you’re rich these days.

        • @Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          4 months ago

          A million isn’t even enough to retire on anymore. That shit’ll be gone in a couple years in a nursing home. A few million might let you leave a house to your family.

          The cheap houses in my part of Ohio (a fairly cheap state to buy a house in) start at about 200K

          • @Anarch157a@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            44 months ago

            Here in Brazil you can, but we have ways to curb real estate speculation, the government can force owners to rent or sell properties that are idle, this helps keep the prices under control. On top of that, mortgages for ones first home is strictly regulated, especially in terms of how much interest can be charged.

            • @dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net
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              34 months ago

              Brazil in general seems like it really wants a middle class, y’all’s consumer protection laws are seriously good for the consumers too.

              • @MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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                34 months ago

                And they were so close to tipping into fascism under Bolsonaro. The opposition ran a leftist candidate and it worked! Imagine that.

                Brazil is not the USA obviously but there might still be lessons to learn.

            • Cruxifux
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              34 months ago

              Oh crazy. That’s a good idea. Do you find it works well for your country?

              • @Anarch157a@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                44 months ago

                Yup. Thanks to those controls and a federal program called “My home, My life” that I managed to buy a condo on a nice neighborhood for around $50k. By coincidence, it’s across the street from the labour union founded by our current president, Lula. Sometimes he visits the place to make speeches, so I get to see him :-)

                • Cruxifux
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                  24 months ago

                  Oh that’s dope. What are wages like in Brazil? Like is it easy to find a job making around 60k a year?

                  • @Anarch157a@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                    14 months ago

                    Depends of which currency you’re talking about. Brazilian Reais ? Sure. Minimum wage here is R$ 18k/yr, so that would be about 4x that. US Dollars ? Pretty hard, unless you’re on executive levels.

                    But… Cost of living here is much lower than in US. Take food for example. A Discord friend from Colorado showed me a picture of a carton of eggs… US$ 7.50 for a dozen. Here in Brazil for that price you could buy around 50 or 60 eggs. Buying or renting a home is way cheaper too, fuel costs are lower, because our cars can run on Ethanol, which is 40% cheaper that Gasoline, we don’t have to spend money on heating or heavy winter clothes (except for the 3 southern states, but it still cheaper than northern US. The coldest those states get around 25F).

                    Sure, electronics and cars are a bit more expensive, same for some luxury goods. But even with those things costing more, with wages close to the equivalent of US$ 30k, you can have a standard of living that in the US would require closer to US$ 100k.

          • @CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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            34 months ago

            I was wondering the same thing, as well as living off of the interest of 900K? Assuming an interest rate of about 4% (and that’s if the Fed doesn’t start cutting rates again), that’d be 36K a year? I mean, I guess it could be done, but I’m not sure it’d be what someone might call rich…of course, there is the cushion if you don’t cut into it…

          • @RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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            24 months ago

            Down in Mexico you can buy a nice 3-bedroom villa for $20k to $30k. I’ve been wondering if I have enough savings to retire in Mexico already

          • @ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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            24 months ago

            I recently looked at a 2BR house where I live (Philly suburb with an excellent school system) that was listed for $69K. It was in great shape except for the very minor problem of termites having eaten through literally all of the floor joists. Walking in the house was like walking on a trampoline, very weird experience. It had been occupied up until a week prior, somehow.

            • Cruxifux
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              34 months ago

              So I’m a carpenter and own my own contracting business. Having to replace every floor joist in your house is INCREDIBLY expensive. Like depending on the size of your house you’re looking at anywhere from 20 grand to 100 grand, just to make your house legal to live in.

              • @ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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                24 months ago

                Well yeah, that was the point of my comment. You can find houses for $70K but they’re going to need a shitload of expensive work. For this particular house, it would have been on the $20K end, though. It was a very small house (2BR on one floor, about 650 sq. ft.) and I had priced the lumber for the joists and new decking at around $6K or $7K. The labor costs with a proper crew would have taken it well north of $10K for sure; I could have done all the work myself but probably not without permanently damaging my body. Fortunately it sold almost immediately - for $90K.

                • Cruxifux
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                  14 months ago

                  Ah I see. Yeah 70 grand for a house and living off the rest is not feasible.

          • @MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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            14 months ago

            My landlord offered to sell me the house I rent for $67k. It extremely small and needs probably 40k in repairs to even make it safe to live in. This is in one of the lowest cost of living areas of the country. You can’t make good money here unless you travel for work or have advanced degrees or certifications AND/OR know the right people

            • @TheCelticPirate@lemmy.world
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              144 months ago

              Did you really use a $50k house that needs at least $100k in repairs in a terrible neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio as an example? Are you trolling? This might be the worst house for sale in America.

              • @Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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                14 months ago

                Seriously? You think that’s the worst house in America? There’s not even pictures of the inside because long term tenants live there.

                Thats not a bad area. Thats W.46 between Storer and Clark. I could open zillow again, and try to find some of those $2,000 dollar houses if you want to see some houses that need repairs. And they’d be in the actual ghetto.

                • Flying Squid
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                  54 months ago

                  This is what you said before:

                  You say you couldn’t even buy a house with a few million dollars? I could buy a house for $70,000.

                  For another $10,000 I could fit the house with solar, and use the other 900,000 to live off interest.

                  Where are you planning to live on that interest? Because it won’t be in that house.

                • @ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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                  44 months ago

                  There’s not even pictures of the inside because long term tenants live there.

                  Lol there aren’t pictures of the inside because the tenants have destroyed the place and are refusing to pay rent, and the landlord - having learned that investing in rental properties is not always the money-printing panacea it’s cracked up to be - is desperate to escape from the situation.

                  • @Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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                    14 months ago

                    Thats the whole point of the original comment. I can’t figure out WHAT his motivation is, when his entire career is him basically saying “DESTROY ME! I SHOULDN’T HAVE THIS MUCH MONEY! NOBODY SHOULD!”

                    …but whys HE saying that. Like I could understand if he made like 30k a year, and had a few thousand in savings. But he’s the image of who’s he’s trying to turn the torches on. Is it intentional? Does he not realize?

                    Meanwhile, people read the innitial comment I made, and are defending him by saying he’s not the problem.

                    Which completely misses the point.

        • @SupraMario@lemmy.world
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          124 months ago

          You do know what net worth is right? It’s combined wealth. A lot of people are worth 1mil or more… especially since the housing boom. This is some of the dumbest logic to bitch about someone who is worth a few million. Get your head out of your ass, bitching about millionaires is hilarious, while the billionaires are running the country.

          • @Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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            14 months ago

            I never bitched about him. I’ve said the same thing over and over and over. The comment was about context of why he’s saying to eat the rich, when that’s him.

        • @adarza@lemmy.ca
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          74 months ago

          if you want $900k to provide a steady return every year indefinitely, and while accounting for inflation, taxes on proceeds, fluctuations in the market, etc. you won’t be taking out nearly as much as you think each year.

          • @Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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            14 months ago

            $900,000 x .02 = $18,000 ÷ 12 = 1,500.

            $1,500 every month, no rent, no mortgage, no electric bill. Basically means you’re paying taxes, insurance, water, gas, phone/internet. I’ll just round that off at $600. Means $900 a month after bills. All without working.

            You telling me that ain’t rich?

            • @stickly@lemmy.world
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              144 months ago

              $18,000 is only $3k above the federal poverty level, and well below for a family of 2. This sounds like one of those out of touch McDonald’s PR budgets.

              Better hope your home never needs a new roof, that’ll be at LEAST 6 months of your passive income gone. Car breaks down? Well you need to fix that because you live in BFE, that’s another month gone.

              Not to mention I don’t know what scooter you’re parking in your one room shack to keep taxes and insurance and utilities under $600. Are you fitting health insurance in that too or just offing yourself when you get medical debt? Hope you never have any dependants either, that’s when things get really pricey.

              • @Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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                14 months ago

                I wouldn’t call 44th and Clark BFE.

                If anything, I’d have to check the map, and make sure Daves is as close as I think, but you could just walk everywhere. Although at his age, maybe he’d need a car. But the neighborhood is very drivable. It’s not like you’re out in the sticks.

    • @crapwittyname@lemm.ee
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      94 months ago

      Bernie doesn’t say “eat the rich”, you’re saying that. Bernie makes specific statements about who to tax, and when and how.
      He does pay his fair share. If the richest in the US paid tax like he does, there wouldn’t be a problem.

      • @Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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        14 months ago

        Oh I never said he wasn’t humble. I’m just confused by his motivations behind saying to eat the rich…ya know…because that’s him.

    • @TheFonz@lemmy.world
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      74 months ago

      What a brain dead thing to say. Is your whole argument that only the non rich are allowed to mention that the system is broken? Does he have to divest of all his assets before making any observations about our economic system? What a weird thing to get hung up on. This cant be real.

    • @melisdrawing@lemmy.world
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      54 months ago

      You needn’t be broke to want to end billionaires. Plenty of people clinging to their status as ‘middle-class’ want to end billionaires. They can be insulated AND correct.