The Dems proposals are crumbs on what we should have. Universal health and education for example, never make it out of the primaries. Very few Democrats, really the ones that are Democrats so they don’t have to start a Social Democrat party, espouse that stuff. The rest of the party thinks a minimum wage increase will be enough and they can’t even get that done.
In reality we need real cost of living counterweights. Government run grocery stores and basic retail. Private businesses literally told everyone that abnormal inflation after the pandemic was just them price gouging. And we’re supposed to take a single policy that would have been good in 2005 as proof Democrats “get it”?
Well said. I think they get that things have gone too far, but just don’t care / don’t know how to make it better at this point. And Dems definitely aren’t interested in listening to good ideas from the left, so…here we are.
Here’s what happens. Dems make a law proposal, but know that in order to get bipartisan support from the Rs, they’ll need to make some concessions, so they already soften the language from the start.
Rs still find flaws in it, so the Dems add more and more water to the wine.
But then when it comes to voting the Rs will still vote “No”, because their whole platform is based on no progress for regular people. They also need people to think that democrats are useless for them. So they flood the airwaves right after their no-vote shouting “why has nothing been done yet?”
Dems can then say: “but you just voted no”, and the Rs will just say “because the proposal was bad” knowing that their base will not do any more investigation, nor will most of the media. The Rs have mastered the “never play defense” strategy.
Doesn’t it make you think though? How is it that internet comments can directly and easily point out the situation, politicians spend millions-billions and they have no clue? The only conclusions I can come to is the system is currently working as the political class wants it to.
That’s true but Democrats also haven’t put their entire party weight behind anything that would meaningfully change the situation for Americans below the median income
Free public housing. Rent is crushing us. The for profit home/apartment building corporations have failed at their job. Even if you are most gracious and say they are held back by red tape, guess who can cut through it?
This is a housing crisis. At least in the judge dredd universe they had the mega cities…
Free isn’t really realistic at the scale we need it. We can make it free for people who are that destitute, but most of us just need housing at a reasonable rate.
Luckily, if I spend 30 million dollars to build 60 bachelor or couples units I can easily reserve a few for that. And the other 50 units will easily cover the cost of the building, maintenance, and remodels, over the next 50 years. Just charging them purely “at cost” would amount to about 1,500 dollars a month. And that’s in the places where it’s expensive to build. So other rentals are going for 3,000 for bachelor’s and couples in that area and the net effect is to drop an anchor in the housing market there.
When you centrally plan what resources will be needed at what price and what the completed apartments will sell for, you get much cheaper and higher quality apartments than the paper thin walled engineered lumber 5-over-1s we pay half a million for.
I’m quoting from some of the most expensive real estate in the US. While we might get some savings from economies of scale, it’s important realize that doing this purely on the market could save Americans 50 percent on their rent.
The Dems proposals are crumbs on what we should have. Universal health and education for example, never make it out of the primaries. Very few Democrats, really the ones that are Democrats so they don’t have to start a Social Democrat party, espouse that stuff. The rest of the party thinks a minimum wage increase will be enough and they can’t even get that done.
In reality we need real cost of living counterweights. Government run grocery stores and basic retail. Private businesses literally told everyone that abnormal inflation after the pandemic was just them price gouging. And we’re supposed to take a single policy that would have been good in 2005 as proof Democrats “get it”?
Fuck no.
Well fucking said. The Democrats need to BE fucking Democrats.
Well said. I think they get that things have gone too far, but just don’t care / don’t know how to make it better at this point. And Dems definitely aren’t interested in listening to good ideas from the left, so…here we are.
Here’s what happens. Dems make a law proposal, but know that in order to get bipartisan support from the Rs, they’ll need to make some concessions, so they already soften the language from the start. Rs still find flaws in it, so the Dems add more and more water to the wine. But then when it comes to voting the Rs will still vote “No”, because their whole platform is based on no progress for regular people. They also need people to think that democrats are useless for them. So they flood the airwaves right after their no-vote shouting “why has nothing been done yet?” Dems can then say: “but you just voted no”, and the Rs will just say “because the proposal was bad” knowing that their base will not do any more investigation, nor will most of the media. The Rs have mastered the “never play defense” strategy.
I hate this defeatist shit. They aren’t that tough. We need to play politics like LBJ did.
I agree with you. But for that we need less spineless politicians on the left. We need people who stand for something.
Doesn’t it make you think though? How is it that internet comments can directly and easily point out the situation, politicians spend millions-billions and they have no clue? The only conclusions I can come to is the system is currently working as the political class wants it to.
The Democratic Party is about getting donations, not winning elections. 2024 was the Dems’ most successful Presidential campaign in history.
That’s true but Democrats also haven’t put their entire party weight behind anything that would meaningfully change the situation for Americans below the median income
Free public housing. Rent is crushing us. The for profit home/apartment building corporations have failed at their job. Even if you are most gracious and say they are held back by red tape, guess who can cut through it?
This is a housing crisis. At least in the judge dredd universe they had the mega cities…
Free isn’t really realistic at the scale we need it. We can make it free for people who are that destitute, but most of us just need housing at a reasonable rate.
Luckily, if I spend 30 million dollars to build 60 bachelor or couples units I can easily reserve a few for that. And the other 50 units will easily cover the cost of the building, maintenance, and remodels, over the next 50 years. Just charging them purely “at cost” would amount to about 1,500 dollars a month. And that’s in the places where it’s expensive to build. So other rentals are going for 3,000 for bachelor’s and couples in that area and the net effect is to drop an anchor in the housing market there.
Half a million per unit? Average apartment construction cost in Shanghai is ~$52.3/sqft, that’s a bit under $50K/900sqft 2bd apartment. Elsewhere in China is cheaper.
When you centrally plan what resources will be needed at what price and what the completed apartments will sell for, you get much cheaper and higher quality apartments than the paper thin walled engineered lumber 5-over-1s we pay half a million for.
US cities have literally paid organizations more than that per year per person for tent camps.
I’m quoting from some of the most expensive real estate in the US. While we might get some savings from economies of scale, it’s important realize that doing this purely on the market could save Americans 50 percent on their rent.
It’s low hanging fruit at this point.