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this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2023
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politics
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Not a bad idea, and pushing "Bidenomics" isn't resonating with people.
When there are articles about "The economy is good! Why don't people care??!??" I think about my own story.
My wife totalled my car last week. She's fine. We pulled the dashcam footage, insurance determined the other driver was 100% at fault (speeding, crossed a double yellow line, no license, no insurance, baby in the front seat with no car seat).
So they just cut me a check. I have $12K in the bank and another $2K coming when they get the title.
Went shopping for a new car. Not bragging, but I have a REALLY good credit score, and even my credit union can't get me an interest rate lower than 8.3%.
I saw one quote as high as 12.25%... on a CAR LOAN.
Thank god I work from home and we don't technically NEED two cars. But now, I feel kind of trapped in my own home. I'd like the freedom a car offers, but I just can't justify 8.3% on a car loan.
These are the sorts of pocketbook issues people are talking about when they say they aren't happy with what Biden has been doing.
I'm working three part time jobs and still don't have health insurance. This country fucking blows.
Because part-timers don't qualify for benefits. :( That needs to change.
Health care should be a right of all, and not tied to work.
Biden doesn't set the interest rate. That's the Fed. The Fed Chair was appointed by Trump. He printed a shitload of money during Covid (which imo should have never happened) and now the chickens have come home to roost. The interest rate hikes are to combat inflation. They are trying to decrease the money supply to unfuck everything and get us back to normal. They are there to make you, in your situation say, this is a bad financial decision paying the same price as 2 years ago with a substantially higher rate maybe I don't need this, or I'll wait for prices to come down since the payment is not affordable. People then consume less and it decreases demand for goods and services, and prices should in theory stop going up or even go down a bit. Your example is proof that what they want to happen is happening. I was trying to buy a house, and gave up after being outbid numerous times during the pandemic. At these rates, I've pretty much decided to shelve the idea of homeownership at least for now.
It absolutely sucks ass, but if we'd let the low rates continue, inflation would have spiralled out of control by now. And while we are certainly in a short term period of pain, I have to hope that it will work out in the end and we can get back some semblance of affordability and pop the everything bubble we created. The low rates were as bad if not worse for the economy. Every home in my area was going $300k over asking with multiple offers sight unseen, and asking price would be 20% higher yoy . New and used cars went crazy in price, groceries practically doubled and everything was getting really bad. This shit sucks, but it's because of our fiscal policies of covid under Trump. Yes, you can say that helicopter money didn't help with inflation, but it was kinda a drop in the bucket compared to what Powell did.
I personally don't think the Fed has done enough, and needs to go full Volcker on us and jack the rates even more. The Fed aims for getting inflation back to 2%, but imo we need to aim for a brief period of deflation to make up for the inflation we've suffered the last 3 years. It sucks to say, but we need a full blown recession to get us back to normal, otherwise it will stay shitty and the rich will get richer while the poor get poorer. We need to force investors out of the housing market and bring them pain. Unfortunately, that only happens when people lose jobs and don't pay rent. Then owning property to rent is less desirable, and property owners sell and put their profits into HYSA's and other safe investments. More inventory gets put on the market, supply goes up, demand goes down, price goes down and we can celebrate actually being able to afford stuff again. If we don't go full recession, you will own nothing and be happy and corporate landlords will continue to jack rent and sit on property for an eternity. Enjoy serf life. There's no way to fix this without pain unfortunately. It's a shitty situation all around.
I don't think low rates caused inflation, and I don't think high rates were to lower inflation.
Inflation resulted from supply chain issues and businesses believing (correctly) that they could raise prices beyond their increased costs and rake in additional profit, all while blaming inflation.
High interest rates were to punish labor - to raise unemployment in order to prevent labor from obtaining enough power to demand better pay and better conditions.
Biden had the opportunity to replace the Fed chair and failed to do so:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/11/22/president-biden-nominates-jerome-powell-to-serve-as-chair-of-the-federal-reserve-dr-lael-brainard-to-serve-as-vice-chair
Yeah, but at that point, the Fed had already begun tackling inflation which I believe Biden was on board with, and didn't want to change horses in the middle of the race. Brainard who was the frontrunner at the time was more dovish, and likely would have made inflation worse. I do think it's no coincidence that the Fed took no action on inflation until Biden was in office. Likely hoping get people pissed off by the next election cycle to get the orange guy back. It's a god damn mess.
Even with 12k down? That's crazy, I just got 4% in the same situation about a year ago. My credit is decent, but I'm not financially savvy in the slightest, so idk.
My biggest problem with the whole situation was the state I'm in requires you to pay registration and taxes in full when you buy a car. So through no fault of my own, I lost $5k. I also was one day late getting my insurance swapped over, so my insurance went from $100 to $450 monthly. Never been at fault for an accident and my only ticket was like 7 years ago. Yet now I spend more on insurance than some people I know dealing with DUI charges on a SR71.
Also had no choices at the time because used car market was in shambles at the time, so I settled on a car I don't love. The car I did love, I made my final payment on the week before I got hit.
Yeah, I was looking at $42K for the car, $12K down, finance $30K... 8.3%... it's nuts right now.
That is total ass man, sorry to hear it. Hope you're able to figure something out or you enjoy your payout to the fullest atleast.
Well, money isn't going anywhere. Banking the cash, saving money, if interest rates go down, great. If they don't? Pay cash in '25.
where i live you could get a used toyota for 2K
I probably could too... with 250,000 miles on it. :) Or a 1983 truck.
oh... my yaris had 100k on it and was 1400€. i guess cars are more valuable where you live.
Get an ebike, a decent one is 2k.
I have issues in my legs and feet, so a bike isn't in the cards, but I am thinking about this: :)
https://a.co/d/2JiUWlH
That could do the trick.