I know this anecdotal:

Looking around cities like B/CS and Conroe/Woodlands it seems like lots of folks are doing well. New houses/neighborhoods popping up everywhere. Lots of people out shopping in their new vehicles.

Maybe Texas is just immune to the dumbassery coming out of DC? I'm not well traveled I admit.

Andrew Dufresne said:

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I know this anecdotal:

Looking around cities like B/CS and Conroe/Woodlands it seems like lots of folks are doing well. New houses/neighborhoods popping up everywhere. Lots of people out shopping in their new vehicles.

Maybe Texas is just immune to the dumbassery coming out of DC? I'm not well traveled I admit.

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Things costing more doesn't mean people aren't spending their money, it just means it costs more when they do.

Covid reminded people that tomorrow isn't guaranteed, so to see people still spending as much, if not more than before, shouldn't be too surprising.

Andrew Dufresne said:

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I know this anecdotal:

Looking around cities like B/CS and Conroe/Woodlands it seems like lots of folks are doing well. New houses/neighborhoods popping up everywhere. Lots of people out shopping in their new vehicles.

Maybe Texas is just immune to the dumbassery coming out of DC? I'm not well traveled I admit.

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A lot of it is debt fueled although the stock market increase is helping some given record stock ownership in this country. The rest is left over handouts from Covid IMO.

New record levels of credit card debt in the US.

It's harder on middle income and poor people when they go to the grocery store and gas station. A large portion of their income goes to that and they are being greatly affected. Bidenomics is hurting them dearly.

Probably a few major contributing factors off the top of my head in no particular order:
1. More old people are dying with fewer heirs to distribute the money between
2. People who actually are earning more are locating in the areas you mentioned.
3. People are living beyond their means.
4. More DINKs running around than ever before.

The inflation hasn't hurt the upper middle investor class and you can argue it can even help the wealthy but it pummels the lower classes without assets and investments that inflate with the currency.

All those renters, lessees, living paycheck to paycheck are getting beaten down but the big less granular numbers and the personal experiences of the wealthy political class hides this from those who should know better or do but lie about it for gain.

Andrew Dufresne said:

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I know this anecdotal:

Looking around cities like B/CS and Conroe/Woodlands it seems like lots of folks are doing well. New houses/neighborhoods popping up everywhere. Lots of people out shopping in their new vehicles.

Maybe Texas is just immune to the dumbassery coming out of DC? I'm not well traveled I admit.

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Many articles out there about doom spending, personal debt and other crazy metrics of our general spending habits right now

Andrew Dufresne said:

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I know this anecdotal:

Looking around cities like B/CS and Conroe/Woodlands it seems like lots of folks are doing well. New houses/neighborhoods popping up everywhere. Lots of people out shopping in their new vehicles.

Maybe Texas is just immune to the dumbassery coming out of DC? I'm not well traveled I admit.

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I believe you may have been misled
The reason for the trend is not hard to pin down. "A staggering 70 percent of Americans between the ages of 23 and 40 who want to buy a home say they can't afford to," writes Peter Rex in a recent Newsweek column, "and those who can are doing so at a later age than their parents." In all, only 43 percent of millennials are currently home-owners. And with house prices up nearly 120 percent since 1965 (adjusting for inflation), that number will likely remain low for quite some time.

Bad economy is fake news. But the crashes will get worse and faster each time and at some point the current paradigm of MMT will fail but who knows when and whatever you've saved to that point will be worthless anyways. Zero point in storing fiat beyond emergency needs.

Had a multi family gathering at sky zone two days ago. $30 per kid to freaking jump. Place was packed. I don't get it.

Drive around different neighborhoods.

BudFox7 said:

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Bad economy is fake news. But the crashes will get worse and faster each time and at some point the current paradigm of MMT will fail but who knows when and whatever you've saved to that point will be worthless anyways. Zero point in storing fiat beyond emergency needs.

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Bad economy is NOT fake news to low or fixed income folks. Sorry.

BudFox7 said:

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Bad economy is fake news. But the crashes will get worse and faster each time and at some point the current paradigm of MMT will fail but who knows when and whatever you've saved to that point will be worthless anyways. Zero point in storing fiat beyond emergency needs.

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The bad economy is definitely not fake news

GE said:

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Probably a few major contributing factors off the top of my head in no particular order:
1. More old people are dying with fewer heirs to distribute the money between
2. People who actually are earning more are locating in the areas you mentioned.
3. People are living beyond their means.
4. More DINKs running around than ever before.

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5. Side hustles and other means of supplemental income are more socially acceptable and/or tolerated by primary employers.

Nm

Fewer people having kids, more dual income households, higher salaries for white collar jobs, more investors with markets near all-time highs, people able to dip into appreciated home equity, near peak employment for the 25-54 age demo.

The upper middle class has a lot of available money due to the above. Everyone is also deep in debt.

GE has a great list.

I'd also add the last few years of ultra-low mortgage rates allowed a lot of folks to draw out equity and have much lower monthly payments relatively speaking. Thats a subsidy that is very real for boosting free cash flow each month.

Andrew Dufresne said:

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I know this anecdotal:

Looking around cities like B/CS and Conroe/Woodlands it seems like lots of folks are doing well. New houses/neighborhoods popping up everywhere. Lots of people out shopping in their new vehicles.

Maybe Texas is just immune to the dumbassery coming out of DC? I'm not well traveled I admit.

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It is All that Bitcoin baby! making everybody $$$ doing absolutely nothing.

Quote:

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4. More DINKs running around than ever before.

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This is a big reason. DINKS I know are living large; nice house, vacations, nice cars, boat, lots of toys…

Americans have a very hard time keeping money in their pocket & their hands off credit cards. A lot of what peoples buying is "crap" of some sort. Whatever bounces their checks is fine by me!

There are only two places people of means are going right now: Texas and Florida. If every major home builder used all their assets and personnel to build single family homes in DFW around the clock, it would take 7 years to meet the demand.

I think a lot of people are also seeing their parents die and after saving all their lives and never enjoy their hard work. I'm one of these people. I decided what I needed to retire on after pension offsets. Once I secured that number I then decided to spend like a drunken sailor and deny myself nothing.

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Seems like everyone has money these days. Are we really on hard times?

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The Govt has dumped Trillions into the economy over the last few years. A lot of it is still in peoples and businesses bank accounts.

Also, despite all the money the economy is slowly winding down because of terrible policies the Govt is forcing down our throats. Eventually the economy will nose dive and the stored up money will quickly run out.

Then the real pain will begin.

The Dems/Libs are trying their hardest to make the date that the economy tanks and the money runs out be after the election.

Then they will have 4 full years to completely break the middle class and make them all poor.

Everyone is making millions playing plinko bro, do you even plinko bro?

I've seen several articles recently detailing how consumers are just about to run through the excess savings/cash they accumulated during the pandemic.

Covid reminded people our government is absolutely corrupt and will lie, steal and stop at nothing to eliminate freedom.

PCC_80 said:

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Quote:

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Seems like everyone has money these days. Are we really on hard times?

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The Govt has dumped Trillions into the economy over the last few years. A lot of it is still in peoples and businesses bank accounts.

Also, despite all the money the economy is slowly winding down because of terrible policies the Govt is forcing down our throats. Eventually the economy will nose dive and the stored up money will quickly run out.

Then the real pain will begin.

The Dems/Libs are trying their hardest to make the date that the economy tanks and the money runs out be after the election.

Then they will have 4 full years to completely break the middle class and make them all poor.

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Idk man. I'm not really buying into the fear porn anymore.

I think I just need to outwork the competition and be smart about my wealth and I'll do just fine.

Agthatbuilds said:

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Andrew Dufresne said:

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I know this anecdotal:

Looking around cities like B/CS and Conroe/Woodlands it seems like lots of folks are doing well. New houses/neighborhoods popping up everywhere. Lots of people out shopping in their new vehicles.

Maybe Texas is just immune to the dumbassery coming out of DC? I'm not well traveled I admit.

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Many articles out there about doom spending, personal debt and other crazy metrics of our general spending habits right now

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Doom and Gloom articles get the clicks!

Everybody that bought a house prior to 2021 has super low monthly payment. Their home value have gone up. Their 401Ks should be at all time highs. Their salaries should also have increased.

Basically if you were doing fine prior to COVID, you should be way better off now financially. If you were struggling prior to COVID, you are likely still struggling.

Very few people actually save any money including the people with large incomes. As people's income goes up for the upper middle class, they just spend it.

There seems to be an abundance of potential black swans flying about. If one lands, it will cause many to land. 2024 could be very interesting.

I have had 14k in catering alone this month.
Some people come in 3-4 times a week for lunch.
All the hs and college kids working for me come in with 8 dollar coffee drinks or 2-3 monsters and almost all of them have vapes.

Also, I have been volunteering more at the local homeless shelters.
These people all wait for the disability check to hit.
Then they rent a hotel room for a few days, get nails done or a tattoo, stock up on weed, go out to eat, and pay their streaming services.

I don't know when the crash is coming, but it is gonna crash so hard it looks like the meteor Crater in Arizona

YouBet said:

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Very few people actually save any money including the people with large incomes. As people's income goes up for the upper middle class, they just spend it.

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What if people have saved enough?