Politics And Current Events

[Gaucho]

Welcome to neoliberal hell.

[Troy Loney]

Here's where we can help alleviate inflation. Don't book the vacation, don't renew the lease. If consumers accept the higher prices, that signals to the vultures that they have identified the correct supply/demand price point.

That's one of the intersting things about the consumer. So far, the consumer has just shrugged and said oh well when it comes to inflation. The pandemic did pad a lot of people's savings accounts (due to biden\trump bux and by saving because no one could do anything), but at some point spending any extra 100 on a flight, 80 a night on a hotel, and an extra 25 on food per day becomes too much for most people

Yeah, for things like gas and food, we don't really have a choice right. But things like beach vacations, that's very elastic demand. consumer's impact those price points

[willeyeam]

As a real estate industry professional now, I'm curious why real estate companies shouldn't be allowed to pass their cost increases onto consumers like other industries

Do you think it's 24K more per year for Mikey's apt?

Probably not, but that's a different argument than having a cap on rent increases. Mikey's apt seems like a bad situation with a bad landlord that he should leave. My guess is they want to do some renovations and need to get people out of the apartments to do the work

[Troy Loney]

As far as the airbnb/hotel thing, I don't know. That's an easy solution, tell them to kick rocks.

As far as apartments, utilities are up, maintenance costs are up, improvements cost more now, insurance is up, etc etc

Do you think that 2000/month increase is based on increased costs or what they believe they can get on the open market?

I mean, it's obviously the latter. The controls would be to prevent a rent shock that's basically forcing the tenant to leave. The increase should not exceed 20% per year.

[shafnutz05]

I know it's not the same as your apartment rent, but we were looking to rebook our house we usually rent in the OuterBanks, and the weekly charge went from $9K to $15K. Similar hikes are consistent down there as well.

Yikes.

Yep, that's one of the primary reasons we are not going to OBX for the first time in over a decade next year. Instead of spending almost ten grand on a house for a week, we will drive four hours to NW PA and get a beautiful lodge in the woods for a week for like $1300. Thankfully, once you get remote enough, demand can only get so high.

[Troy Loney]

Good work Shad, doing your duty to combat inflation

[robbiestoupe]

I felt bad for my son yesterday as he took his $15 (a $5 increase from me) to Walmart to buy a small LEGO set. Typically they're somewhere around $10-13. Now they're $20. And the high end LEGOs seemed artificially impacted. Typically, a Walmart price is something like $44.97. No, these are $170, $120, $190 rounded to the nearest 10 dollars. Like they just made up some stupid number and figured people would just buy it.

[DigitalGypsy66]

Lego pricing is absurd. I've been buying them for close to 40 years, and it's something else. Even before COVID, the licensed sets (Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc.) charge a premium price per piece. Now, it's even worse.

They have the nuts to release a tribute the original OG Lego Space sets. Basically, a remake of the classic space ship...but instead of $50, it's $100+ (too lazy to check, but it's something like that.)

If I had the storage space, I would start buying a couple of each licensed sets and sit on them for a few years. New in box, they are worth a ton of money down the road. I bought a Lego Ideas Back to the Future Delorean for $35 and sold one late last year for $150+. I still have one waiting for an opportune moment to sell on eBay.

[skullman80]

Lego prices are insane. It's why we dialed back a bit recently. Any of the nice sets we want to buy are like $150 or above, some $300 or above.

[robbiestoupe]

Lego pricing is absurd. I've been buying them for close to 40 years, and it's something else. Even before COVID, the licensed sets (Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc.) charge a premium price per piece. Now, it's even worse.

They have the nuts to release a tribute the original OG Lego Space sets. Basically, a remake of the classic space ship...but instead of $50, it's $100+ (too lazy to check, but it's something like that.)

If I had the storage space, I would start buying a couple of each licensed sets and sit on them for a few years. New in box, they are worth a ton of money down the road. I bought a Lego Ideas Back to the Future Delorean for $35 and sold one late last year for $150+. I still have one waiting for an opportune moment to sell on eBay.

My son got a lesson in economics yesterday, and I did show him how the HP and SW sets were so much more than a typical set. Showed him how the number of pieces were the same, but the price was $30 more.

He's funny, he enjoys the LEGO sets, but he'll literally get home after buying one and spend however much time to build the entire thing. Like, he'd wear a diaper if you gave him one and just crap his pants before finishing it. Same with Harry Potter books. I haven't seen him in about a month. This is his second time through the book series, but he just immerses himself in this stuff.

[NAN]

As a real estate industry professional now, I'm curious why real estate companies shouldn't be allowed to pass their cost increases onto consumers like other industries

If people are willing to pay it, then by all means do it. I'll admit, we paid it. It's our annual family vacation and is split between myself and 3 other families within my family. Parents are getting older, so we don't know how many more of these we got left. So I guess I'm part of the problem with the price hikes. We are fortunate we can do it. There are definitely other things out there that arent' as important that we've dropped due to price though.

[NAN]

My son got a lesson in economics yesterday, and I did show him how the HP and SW sets were so much more than a typical set. Showed him how the number of pieces were the same, but the price was $30 more.

He's funny, he enjoys the LEGO sets, but he'll literally get home after buying one and spend however much time to build the entire thing. Like, he'd wear a diaper if you gave him one and just crap his pants before finishing it. Same with Harry Potter books. I haven't seen him in about a month. This is his second time through the book series, but he just immerses himself in this stuff.

Fortunately he's doing that instead of strippers and coke at meows beach.

[count2infinity]

Pete seems like a good egg.

[NTP66]

He's an intelligent guy.

[count2infinity]

He's an intelligent guy.

It’s strange that that is enough for me to respect you as a politician. Don’t be a psycho and have some intellect.

[Tomas]

Ed Snowden just got Russian citizenship. In time to be drafted...

(I actually feel bad for him... And no, he will not get drafted - as he hasn't served in their army. Yet.)

[Troy Loney]

They do have solutions, refuse asylum and kick out all the illegals

[NTP66]

He's an intelligent guy.

It’s strange that that is enough for me to respect you as a politician. Don’t be a psycho and have some intellect.

It is, but with him, he also seems very reasonable. He doesn't talk down to people, and always has a levelheaded conversation. He's the complete opposite of the dinguses on the right.

[willeyeam]

He's an intelligent guy.

It’s strange that that is enough for me to respect you as a politician. Don’t be a psycho and have some intellect.

I'd rather vote for someone I disagree with but has a brain than a looney that's theoretically on my side, these days

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Here's where we can help alleviate inflation. Don't book the vacation, don't renew the lease. If consumers accept the higher prices, that signals to the vultures that they have identified the correct supply/demand price point.

That's one of the intersting things about the consumer. So far, the consumer has just shrugged and said oh well when it comes to inflation. The pandemic did pad a lot of people's savings accounts (due to biden\trump bux and by saving because no one could do anything), but at some point spending any extra 100 on a flight, 80 a night on a hotel, and an extra 25 on food per day becomes too much for most people

Yeah, for things like gas and food, we don't really have a choice right. But things like beach vacations, that's very elastic demand. consumer's impact those price points

The demand part is going to get really tricky here soon. Obviously 2022 was an outlier year for demand…i think everyone’s pent up demand for travel is tapped out. Anecdotally, i went on two trips this year (cape cod and vegas) and spent more than i normally would like, like, way more than I’d like. The more recent, smaller trips, i was a lot more cautious about costs.

When you layer in the fact that interest rates are increasing, the stock market has been ass, hiring at a lot of places is slowing (or, in some cases, people are getting laid off), investors are actually expecting startups and tech companies to produce actual profits, IPOs have vanished like a fart in the wind….people are starting to feel a bit more poor than before.

[MR25]

He's an intelligent guy.

It’s strange that that is enough for me to respect you as a politician. Don’t be a psycho and have some intellect.

It is, but with him, he also seems very reasonable. He doesn't talk down to people, and always has a levelheaded conversation. He's the complete opposite of the dinguses on the right.

Yeah but he's gay and young so he'll never go anywhere in primary season/the general, unfortunately

[Shyster]

What a dumbass statement. Ron DeSantis was in Congress from 2012 to 2016. None of his border proposals would have withstood an Obama veto. That's like asking why a certain Democrat who served in the Senate didn't get much done in 2016. Because the Rs had a majority at the time.

[dodint]

About as dumb as saying Senator Fetterman will be able to release all criminals?

[NAN]

About as dumb as saying Senator Fetterman will be able to release all criminals?

I thought he was only releasing murderers and drug dealers?

[Shyster]

About as dumb as saying Senator Fetterman will be able to release all criminals?

Yes, about that dumb.