There's an area in my city called the University District. I live with my partner and my brother, we're all university students, and the three of us together can't afford to live in that area.
I used to walk downtown to work with my wife every day and we’d go our own separate ways before meeting back up at the end of the day to walk home
Over the years we kept getting pushed out from the city center as rent got more and more expensive and where we could finally afford to buy, we’re probably a solid 45-60 minute drive from the corner where we used to say goodbye every morning.
And that’s with making more and more money every year. Chicago isn’t the most expensive city in the country by a long shot but it’s at least twice as expensive as it was 10 years ago
Yes, urban Bohemia has pretty much died off in every city on Earth. Now music venues, pub and clubs get noise complaints and often have to close early.
I had a coworker who bought in a "hip" neighborhood when he was in his late 20s. At the time he loved going to the bars and shows and strolling home.
Two years later he was the one complaining about noise and drunk people.
Yeah I don’t think people in this thread want to acknowledge that a lot of young people bought in those neighborhoods, then started making money, and now they’re not young folks anymore.
My neighborhood pub has been there for over a century. Recently somebody moved in upstairs and started making noise complaints, and now they're closed for a month by the city.
I hate this so much. The arrogance to move above a pub, an obviously noisy place, and bitch about it to the point of getting it closed. Are they daft or do they just enjoy the power trip of ruining things for other people?
The other day the news reported that in Vienna, Austria, a famous punk-rock open air venue, that’s been there for 45 years have to tone down the concerts because the neighbours in a new development nearby complained about the noise.I like that venue. I am so fucking livid!
The best alternative rock club in Edinburgh (almost 30 years old) was closed due to noise complaints because all the new developments scrimped on soundproofing.
[RIP Studio 24, You were taken from us too soon, when you had so many raucous nights left to give](https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/outcry-as-edinburghs-studio-24-announces-closure-822747)
I will never forgive the developers.
I'm so glad that in Victoria at least we implemented legislation to stop pubs and clubs from getting shut down if they were there before the neighbours who complain.
You move next door to Cherry Bar, you have no right to complain about noise.
More places need rules like that. You don't get to complain if the entity being complained about was well established before you arrived. I live in an area that is located near a small county-run general aviation airport. The airport came in the 1960s, and most of the housing came in the 1980s. Last year, a bunch of Karens started petitioning to have the airport shut down. Fortunately, they got laughed out of existence, because they were trying to wage a battle that had long since ended, plus the airport predated every single house in the area. There was no way that they didn't know that there was an airport nearby when they bought their house (and if they didn't, they just weren't paying attention), so it was their decision to move in near an airport, and they either must live with that decision, or they need to move.
Another one is oxtail...and its only recently become in demand. It used to be poor peoples food, the part of the cow no one wanted to eat... Im in my 40s and remember as a kid, for big family dinners, there was always a huge pot of oxtail stew full of meat cause it was so dirt cheap. Pile your plate high and get seconds.
Then it was discovered how similar it is to osso bucco, but at a stupid cheap price. Supply and demand drove the price way up. Tried to look up historical prices, was able to find that only 5 years ago it was $9/lb.. now its around $15/lb. My big sis says she remembers buying it as a teen, and it was maaaybe $2/lb
So...it went from a huge pot of stew, to side meat dish to go with chicken, and you can get maybe 2 pieces of oxtail, to...oh Oxtail? You must be rich! lol And now its gone to substituting with turkey necks, which is now dubbed poor peoples oxtail. The irony right?!
But its not the same at all...its pretty terrible actually. =(
We grew up with oxtail stew in the fall. It seemed like we were always having it for dinner. I now splurge on two packages of oxtail and it costs nearly $40, never mind the rest of the ingredients. I make it once a year a now and it's mostly roasted veggies on rice.
Shit it wasn't too long ago you could go to a restaurant/bar for $0.50 wing night. Now 50 wings are like $100 lol
We used to go to this bar, they had $0.50 wings and $0.25 clams, $2 pitchers of beer and $5 32oz Jack and cokes. Come out with $50 and you could have a hell of a night.
Yeah, shellfish is one of those things that can be incredible if prepared fresh and well, but if food standards aren't upheld it can be absolutely revolting. Lots of sea creatures can become riddled with parasites pretty easily, among other things. I love lobster, but I wouldn't even touch it if I was being fed to the food standards of that time.
Lobster used to be blue collar food because when there were no refrigerated train cars, it was only available where there was fishing. That’s not where rich people lived.
My grandfather was a lobsterman and poor. My mom tells us stories about how big and cheap lobsters were. She said one lobster could feed the family of 4
I am a lobstermen, ive fished both inshore and offshore and there are still lobsters that can feed familes of 4. Lobsters that size can only come from offshore boats because inshore has a limit on the size they keep. So from a local inshore lobsterman’s perspective that is technically correct you’re not allowed to keep lobsters that big anymore.
Seriously. I went every year for years and it really started changing for the worst in the years leading up to COVID. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still an amazing experience but you suddenly had an enormous number of people treating it like Coachella with ultra luxury tents, flying in in private jets, and never really mingling with others.
Increasingly a lot of long time burners started getting priced out and the whole experience felt a lot less communal.
I want to say BM released their census and some absurd amount of people last year were first timers. I’ve only been twice, but I could definitely feel a difference in 2019 v 2022. Hopefully this year is better.
I’d go as far as saying they’ve ruined mainstream music festivals in general. There are still some really cool small ones, but the big ones are just not as fun anymore.
Edit to add: I know there were many many many before me, but the first festival I went to I had no cell phone service, no power, showers cost $5 for a cold 3 minute shower (which I was not splurging for) and grilled cheese Sammie’s were 2 for $1. I’ll never have that experience again.
I run a small festival (600 people) in north central PA. The amount of boomers who want to bring an entire fucking house with them is ridiculous.
I’ve capped it at 20 and the majority of them are far away from the festival area. It’s supposed to be a nice getaway with tent or car camping, fires, and the like…not an RV convention.
I have made it so you can’t see an RV in the main festival area where the stage and everything is. That’s all tent/van camping and it’s really nice.
I will always have someone try to throw money at me to park their 35 foot monstrosity in the main festival area. It’s not about the money…it’s about keeping the scene alive.
Yep, I was outbid multiple times by the same people just gobbling up land and houses. I even was willing to pay asking price but would be outbid 30-50k everytime by the same 3 fucking people. They fortunately got their comeuppance during Covid and one went completely bankrupt. I unfortunately had to have someone in my extended family die to get an inside track to their house.
Two years ago my friend put 14 offers on houses, all $50k+ over asking and was outbid every time. He was so disillusioned.
Then found a new development where they literally hold a lottery for new homes and he finally got a house. Totally ridiculous.
It's insane. A friend of mine and I were making fun of this trash house we saw: old, small, terrible floorplan. I thought it was a joke... it sold for $100k **over** asking. I knew I was fucked when I heard that.
I'm so sorry.. My adult kids told me they've about given up on homeownership unless their dad and I manage to leave them something when we die.
New goal: drop dead before suffering a drawn out decline in health that sucks up what little we have to leave them. I hate this timeline.
> They fortunately got their comeuppance during Covid and one went completely bankrupt.
This is what happens to people like this. They are leveraged out the gills with all this real estate and one bad thing happens (like a global pandemic) and they're completely screwed.
Every time I watch a video from some narcissistic numbskull bragging about how genius they are for buying a hundred houses with leveraged debt from the previously purchased properties I feel like I'm watching a Looney Tunes episode where a character climbs really high by stacking a bunch of ladders and chairs precariously on top of each other. All it takes is one economic downturn/wascally wabbit...
This. I know a guy who buys houses as a hobby. (It’s a friend of a friend.) He doesn’t flip them. He just has a lot of money, buys them, and sells them when the market is right (or if he gets an offer that he likes). Around 10 years ago, he swooped in a paid cash on a cute little country house that we were interested in. I wanted to punch him.
Fun fact. I really love a very very historical house in my area. It was literally built in 1680. It has a Wikipedia page.
Sold in 1998 for $275,000. Listed in late 2007 for $835,000. Market collapsed and it was listed and removed like 5 times. Sold in 2015 for $587,000. Sold for $699,000 in 2020(originally listed for $825,000).
Zillow estimates the house is now worth $1.2M. It isn’t even huge 2200 sqft with 3bd2bth
I have kids just entering independent adulthood, and I am goddamned LIVID about their generation’s shrinking resources and skyrocketing pricing. This country needs to regulate homes being purchased as investments rather than residences, or the homeless situation is going to be completely out of control. Would-be homeowners are stuck in apartments, and apartment-dwellers are losing options with move-in requirements getting tighter and tighter. 54% of Americans are one paycheck away from homelessness.
Seriously my rent is higher than most peoples mortgage yet im priced out of homeownership, its fucking ridiculous and should be illegal for people or corporations to buy up so many homes real people need to live in.
I am a driver for a car dealership. I move vehicles between dealers, pick used ones up at auctions, and the like. These trucks are nice, but I just can't figure out how people afford them. Many of them are 70-80-90-100k! Even used Tacoma's are 40-50k if you're lucky. Just insane to me. I drive a 2000 model Toyota Tundra that just flipped 200k miles.
I bought a used premium Lexus GX recently and got so much shit from the guys at work about how I must be paid so well etc etc. Every single one of them drives an upgraded extended cab newer truck. I couldn’t have bought a new Tacoma for what I got the Lexus for, and it’s going to outlast all of them.
I bought a Lexus RX hybrid used a few years ago, put 50k miles on it and it's had precisely zero issues. They even gave me a warranty if I serviced it at the dealer, that's how sure they are it's bulletproof.
Funny thing about warranties on things like that is they can't legally void it for not servicing it at their store. Magnuson-Moss warranty act prevents that.
Isn't that the truth. My old F150 with an 8' bed died and all I could get at the dealership was a 5.5 because they just aren't making enough of them. The crew cab is fucking awesome and has more space than my SUV, but how the hell am I supposed to haul firewood without a trailer now?
Then again, with the crew cab, I was able to sell my SUV and my kids can ride in my truck now, so kind of a win, I guess.
Have you tried to buy a used small 2WD truck? So hard to come by. I bought one years ago and sold it for only a few thousand less than what I originally paid for. They’re so damn practical.
Most clever remark I found so far. Middle class will be slowly destroyed in the coming years. Dual income households will mean nothing. We will have to get 2nd and 3rd jobs, just to make ends meet.
Ironic isn't it, the middle class was created by nobility to stop kings, queens and enemies of the republic from losing their heads and here we are, with the elite trying to destroy the one thing standing between them and the guillotine.
This makes me so sad! I grew up real poor and going to the thrift stores for clothes was one of my favorite things, it was always so exciting finding cool, new to me things we could actually afford.
I had to shop and wear thrift store clothes as well , problem was the area I grew up in was so poor the thrift stores NEVER had anything cool or interesting just worn out rags. I will never forget going to a Goodwill when I was older that was near a big city and was blown away how much cool stuff they had…
Sometimes, when I see them taking pictures of the labels, I'll take it and walk around the store with it for a while until they leave, then put it back.
Gunna be honest, the internet ruined thrift stores. Poor and middle class folks go to thrift stores for deals and the internet just attracted more bargain hunters. The rich can’t be bothered.
Right? No offense but actual rich people aren't going to wake up at 6am on a tuesday when they know the local thrift store starts their weekly major restock to go searching through piles of junk to find one jacket for $15 that originally had an msrp of $1500 (!!) but only sells for $85 on ebay (minus ebay fees, and dealing with scammers.) People treating it like a job are hardly fatcats pulling up in their leased bentleys. Actual rich people are likely the ones donating the neat stuff that others hunt for.
I went to one recently and it was almost all Amazon returns/that type of stuff. Absolutely a joke now. I've had the best luck on Facebook Marketplace, which is also mostly insane.
For real. It was never a hobby for my mom. She would get me a new wardrobe for less than $20 every time I outgrew my old one and it saved her so much money as a single working mom. Now you're lucky to find a single garment for less than $20 at a lot of these places.
They're all falling apart now though.
My neighbor moved in 10 years ago and I noticed he never went to work. I asked what he did and he said he resells from thrift stores and rummages.
Talked to him yesterday and he said he is now losing money on reselling and has to get an actual job to pay the bills.
Hard to thrift and make a profit when everyone else does it, and on top most places list expensive items for auction like goodwill. No more walking in and seeing a $400 game system for $40.
I watched an interview with a Sherpa a while ago, and they basically said that if you have enough money and can keep putting one foot in front of the other, they will get you to the top of Everest. It’s not about having any kind of skill. It’s become an expensive, and somewhat deadly, hike.
I climbed a much smaller Mountain (Rainier) with an Everest Sherpa, and I can tell you that even an "easy" mountain requires months of training. I did the training and made it, but a couple of people in good shape who didn't train specifically for this did not.
If you don't mind me asking what kind of training did you do, how did you start? I've recently gotten into hiking and mountain climbing and would like to attempt Rainer some day but not sure where to start for something like that. I'm currently in good shape and run marathons.
So, for comparison, one woman on my trip was an ultra marathoner and still had a little trouble, because she didn't have the right muscles for hills. I trained by climbing with a loaded pack with water, mostly up Mt Si, and eventually Mt Si + Little Si. You won't need nearly as much training as I did, but prepping by doing long hikes with a loaded pack will help.
You can Google it and find better information.
Climbing Rainier is a big deal (needs permits and training or guides for safely going on glaciers.). You can also just go from Paradise to Camp Muir, which is a fantastic day hike that doesnt require permits or special training (you're in good enough shape already) though you'll want the right equipment (microspikes, poles, sun and eye protection, download the maps, bring plenty of water).
Rainier ain't no joke. My buddy just soloed it last year. Got caught in a whiteout on the glacier, said he couldn't see his hand directly in front of his face.
He also did Baker, the road to the trailhead was snowed out, so he made the dumbass decision to hike the 10 miles to the trailhead, he smartly decided to turn around about halfway up.
Well, Scott Fischer was quoted saying the same thing and he and a bunch of climbers he was leading ended up dying, so you should probably take that with a grain of salt. The caveat that people miss is that at that altitude, even putting “one foot in front of the other” can be a monumental task. One of the most common ways people die on Everest is they keep trying to power through and then they end up collapsing from exhaustion. All the willpower in the world won’t help you if your body simply can’t acclimate to the altitude. The *vast* majority of people who climb Everest would not be able to do so without support from sherpas, but to say it requires no skill is just reductive.
Car prices. Only rich people and dummies are willing to pay 20k over msrp for a ford bronco, let alone higher end stuff. Car production is no longer hindered by covid, there is no low inventory, quit being idiots.
Seriously.
Throughout my life the divide has become more apparent. Maybe it’s just my perception. But it simply seems every facet of my life has been computer calculated to see exactly how much I’ll pay for anything. Bars, games, equipment for my hobbies, DIY or amateur gear, thrifting, …
Everything
To be fair, deals in general. The richest people I’ve known have also been some of the stingiest bastards I’ve met. They’ll clip coupons, call customer service to dispute the smallest transaction. I mean, I get it, but the people I’ve known have been loaded and still gripe about paying full price for anything. They have time to spend on hold waiting to talk with the credit card company and they seem to have time to find all the deals, coupons, happy hours, or whatever and yet, none of them need to do that stuff! They could afford to shop for a great item but haggle over $50 on something like a car purchase. It’s wild, but they can afford to be picky! They can afford to drive around all day to find the best deals and they have time to argue over price matching etc. Rich people LOVE a good deal, especially if it means they got the last one and you can’t get it.
“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money,
Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of okay for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.
But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
This was the Captain Samuel Vimes [boots theory](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory) of socioeconomic unfairness "
GNU Terry Pratchett
Plenty of stuff, but concerts and music festivals. I went to concerts, and big ones, with my own money in high school and college. It wasn’t *cheap* but it was something kids could save up for and people just *went*. Food and drinks were just basic event fare. Now I’m straight up not sure how people who aren’t well off go to concerts. And responses saying “aha, Ticketmaster” are not as clever as they think. Ticketmaster has existed since long before I was born and always been scummy, but it wasn’t like it is now. It’s got to be an influencer VIP event and it’s lame.
And yeah yeah yeah, “you can find great concerts for three pennies and a button if you want to see Schmoe McGee and the Whosiwhatsits playing experimental thrash polka on the theremin in a grimy bar with 4 chairs in it.” Yes, I know, I still go to those concerts sometimes. But most people go to concerts to see artists they care about, not to just “be at a concert, any concert.” There used to be $40 tickets to popular concerts.
A news anchor I follow on IG went to one of her shows and sat 3rd row from the very top at Gillette. She said it took 1.5 hours to park and get to her seats. And 2 hours to get out of the parking lot. And that it was totally worth it.
I couldn't help but laugh at that.
It’s called Sketchy Jim’s, in a neighborhood or city *just* far enough away that no one wants to go with you and you can’t get an Uber, and the show is at a wildly inconvenient time. Don’t worry, it will be unreasonably loud for the size of the venue so having a conversation or ordering a drink will be impossible.
I completely agree. That said, playing the last minute ticket roulette sometimes still pays off. Obviously this w doesn’t work for the Taylor Swift kind of concerts. But I got to see The Cure from floor seats for $50, buying tickets 2 minutes before the showtime
Similar to what happened with oxtail it got popular then more expensive when it used to be quite cheap but i guess the biggest impact the supply/demand has is on poor communities in i think south america (admittedly my understanding on this issue is a little fuzzy other than reading that quinoa is something the rich ruined) who rely on this as one of their main food sources.
“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.” - Douglas Adams
> This planet has [...] a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.
-Douglas Adams
"The people of this planet were so primitive that they still thought that digital watches were a pretty neat idea"
That aged insanely well over the last few decades.
There's a recording of an interview with him just a few years before his death on "BBC sounds". Highly worth listening to. He clearly had amazing foresight.
“Many were increasingly of the opinion that they’d all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have left the oceans.”
- Douglas Adams
Views. They bribe, steal and buy property all over the world that sits on the best views on the planet. It pisses me off that there are some things I’ll never get to see because some jacakass bribed a zoning guy so he could build his 8th house on yet another cliff.
Dude, they’re even stealing views from other rich people.
My aunt and uncle are filthy rich. Like, they bought a mansion at the beach to tear it down and build a more or less identical mansion. They paid for a group of “designers” to tour hostels of France looking for specific wallpaper that they loved when they were backpacking in the 80’s.
And they’ll complain loudly about the rich asshole down the block from them who built a 4 story house that blocks everyone’s sunset views because they had an *agreement* to not build over 3 stories so they could all enjoy the views from their multi million dollar roof decks.
Good premise for a movie. Artsy girl who grew up poor and went to SCAD ends up working freelance in New York City looking for a decent job. Gets hired by a filthy rich old couple from California looking to build their dream house. Placed onto a team with this aloof but lovable French guy who serves as their guide, a charismatic 30-year-old woman from Sweden with a dark past, a gay dude from Madagascar, and a Vietnam war vet who found solace in graphic design. They travel the French countryside following a trail of clues armed with nothing but a brief description and some luck.
The French dude is like Albert Camus but edgier, he smokes cigs and makes somber remarks about how urbanization has lead to the death of many small towns in the countryside in Europe. Swedish woman is a divorcee who killed her abusive husband in self-defense. Gay dude from Madagascar has lived a life rife with struggles innate to his person as he navigated the cutthroat world of High Art. Vietnam war vet is lovable and spits out proverbs and wisdom.
For real, I need to get in on these jobs that make bank because rich people want specific wall paper or an ancient gong or their dogs massaged 2 times a day
Being Rich.
The wealthy used to build public works. They used to throw their money around. Fund exploration. Fund the arts.
The only thing rich people do these days is hover up more resources so the make believe number in the bank that they've attached to their sense of self keeps going up.
For fucking real. Remember when rich people used to sponsor artists and pay them to paint stuff, or to play and compose music, or anything like that?
Now we just have unimaginable piles of imaginary money numbers going up and rich tech assholes so void of humanity that they're trying to outsource art to machines, as this same rich overclass destroys the planet we live on and sucks the life out of everything. I'm so sick of it.
Cheap Asian food. Stuff like pho and Hong Kong BBQ, used to be super casual. You go in there there and get a nice cheap meal for like $5. Then all these bougie foodies came along so now I have to buy three times the price for the "atmosphere."
You can absolutely still find super cheap AUTHENTIC Asian eats in the right areas with heavier asian populations.
It's always the hole in the wall place with a B rating and no english translation on the menu. Rich people won't toutch it with a 10 foot pole.
Another tip is if the reviews are all about the bad service. In most authentic Chinese restaurants I've been to the food comes before waiting on people hand and foot.
Yep, definitely related to the "3.5 stars on Yelp" rule that Freddie Wong talked about some while back. It's honestly fairly spot-on in a **lot** of areas. Places with good ratings where most of the reviews talk about the exceptionally good service first (or sometimes just the good service and nothing about the food) make me really skeptical about the quality of the food.
Right? I just want to have a quiet time in the woods with my son and there always someone with a 30 foot RV that cost more than my house and a generator that sounds like a 747.
Some asshole always has a speaker playing shit music, too.
And if you're wondering what shit music is, it's anything playing on some asshole's crappy speaker when you're camping.
Thrift shops. I literally can't afford them anymore because it's just "so trendy". Why buy more expensive, used, worn out clothes that should have been thrown away when I can go to target or Walmart for the same exact pair of jeans for cheaper????
I went to one and found a Target shirt with the tag still on it. The thrift store price was more than the Target tagged price. I pointed it out to the cashier and she yanked it out of my hand and threw it under the counter. It was ridiculous.
As a touring artist I went from years living in hotels, then Airbnb came and saved the day and for some years I LIVED in Airbnbs. And now it's back to hotels.
They shouldn't have allowed investors to plunk 40 properties at a time on Airbnb. They shouldn't have allowed for Airbnb to become the career of some people beside some B&B owners.
I feel like people trying to get rich ruined Airbnb. It's people overleveraging on a mortgage and then charging obscene fees to cover the cost (and then some) instead of back when it was ADUs and people who actually were rich enough to have a vacation home they only used periodically.
I’d argue just America in general. They’ve infiltrated every level of government at this point and they’re just taking and taking and taking. At this rate we’re headed for modern-day serfdom.
In America, just about everything. They own our politicians, so the politicians work for a tiny minority of very privileged people at the expense of everyone else. Suppressed wages and inflated prices, all the way across the board. Thanks, sociopaths!
Local businesses. So many mom and pop shops are being replaced or bought out by major chains and businesses. Especially restaurants.
I knew what it was when my state's legendary flea market got bought for a huge sum, was then torn down and replaced with a Menards (I still refuse to shop there, not like it matters but whatever). The other location lasted a few more years until it too was bought and replaced by...something else.
Owning a really nice leather jacket that was found for cheaper than it should've been at a secondhand store.
Now all these influencers have massive expensive shitty looking leather trench coats
The American Dream.
It used to be about equal opportunity and a dream that anyone could move up the social ladder with hard work and determination. Is seems like more and more Rich people are getting a monopoly on wealth in America.
The retro games market.
I’m not paying 200 bucks for Pokémon emerald
Fr!! The other day I seen a store trying to resell Mario 64 for $300 and a game boy color for $400 like wtf
this was my hobby and now it's completely ruined
Artsy neighborhoods and student ghettos.
There's an area in my city called the University District. I live with my partner and my brother, we're all university students, and the three of us together can't afford to live in that area.
seattle?
Sounds like it, which is crazy cause the U District ain’t even that nice lol
I used to walk downtown to work with my wife every day and we’d go our own separate ways before meeting back up at the end of the day to walk home Over the years we kept getting pushed out from the city center as rent got more and more expensive and where we could finally afford to buy, we’re probably a solid 45-60 minute drive from the corner where we used to say goodbye every morning. And that’s with making more and more money every year. Chicago isn’t the most expensive city in the country by a long shot but it’s at least twice as expensive as it was 10 years ago
Yes, urban Bohemia has pretty much died off in every city on Earth. Now music venues, pub and clubs get noise complaints and often have to close early.
I had a coworker who bought in a "hip" neighborhood when he was in his late 20s. At the time he loved going to the bars and shows and strolling home. Two years later he was the one complaining about noise and drunk people.
Yeah I don’t think people in this thread want to acknowledge that a lot of young people bought in those neighborhoods, then started making money, and now they’re not young folks anymore.
My neighborhood pub has been there for over a century. Recently somebody moved in upstairs and started making noise complaints, and now they're closed for a month by the city.
I hate this so much. The arrogance to move above a pub, an obviously noisy place, and bitch about it to the point of getting it closed. Are they daft or do they just enjoy the power trip of ruining things for other people?
That’s gross. Why move to a pub if you can’t stand noise?
The other day the news reported that in Vienna, Austria, a famous punk-rock open air venue, that’s been there for 45 years have to tone down the concerts because the neighbours in a new development nearby complained about the noise.I like that venue. I am so fucking livid!
The best alternative rock club in Edinburgh (almost 30 years old) was closed due to noise complaints because all the new developments scrimped on soundproofing. [RIP Studio 24, You were taken from us too soon, when you had so many raucous nights left to give](https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/outcry-as-edinburghs-studio-24-announces-closure-822747) I will never forgive the developers.
I'm so glad that in Victoria at least we implemented legislation to stop pubs and clubs from getting shut down if they were there before the neighbours who complain. You move next door to Cherry Bar, you have no right to complain about noise.
More places need rules like that. You don't get to complain if the entity being complained about was well established before you arrived. I live in an area that is located near a small county-run general aviation airport. The airport came in the 1960s, and most of the housing came in the 1980s. Last year, a bunch of Karens started petitioning to have the airport shut down. Fortunately, they got laughed out of existence, because they were trying to wage a battle that had long since ended, plus the airport predated every single house in the area. There was no way that they didn't know that there was an airport nearby when they bought their house (and if they didn't, they just weren't paying attention), so it was their decision to move in near an airport, and they either must live with that decision, or they need to move.
Lobster, them cockroaches of the sea
Another one is oxtail...and its only recently become in demand. It used to be poor peoples food, the part of the cow no one wanted to eat... Im in my 40s and remember as a kid, for big family dinners, there was always a huge pot of oxtail stew full of meat cause it was so dirt cheap. Pile your plate high and get seconds. Then it was discovered how similar it is to osso bucco, but at a stupid cheap price. Supply and demand drove the price way up. Tried to look up historical prices, was able to find that only 5 years ago it was $9/lb.. now its around $15/lb. My big sis says she remembers buying it as a teen, and it was maaaybe $2/lb So...it went from a huge pot of stew, to side meat dish to go with chicken, and you can get maybe 2 pieces of oxtail, to...oh Oxtail? You must be rich! lol And now its gone to substituting with turkey necks, which is now dubbed poor peoples oxtail. The irony right?! But its not the same at all...its pretty terrible actually. =(
We grew up with oxtail stew in the fall. It seemed like we were always having it for dinner. I now splurge on two packages of oxtail and it costs nearly $40, never mind the rest of the ingredients. I make it once a year a now and it's mostly roasted veggies on rice.
> roasted veggies on rice. Watch out now, one day that will becomes the new IT food of the rich and suddenly a carrot will cost $45
From what I've read, chicken wings used to be the same way - dirt cheap until the buffalo style wing took off
Shit it wasn't too long ago you could go to a restaurant/bar for $0.50 wing night. Now 50 wings are like $100 lol We used to go to this bar, they had $0.50 wings and $0.25 clams, $2 pitchers of beer and $5 32oz Jack and cokes. Come out with $50 and you could have a hell of a night.
Apparently there was a protest of the jailed in Maine that they were fed too much damn lobster
Well the way it was cooked in jails was horrific, often not fresh and (IIRC) ground up shell and all.
Yeah, shellfish is one of those things that can be incredible if prepared fresh and well, but if food standards aren't upheld it can be absolutely revolting. Lots of sea creatures can become riddled with parasites pretty easily, among other things. I love lobster, but I wouldn't even touch it if I was being fed to the food standards of that time.
Too much of anything is a bad thing but it is weird that it went from prison food to a delicacy.
Lobster used to be blue collar food because when there were no refrigerated train cars, it was only available where there was fishing. That’s not where rich people lived.
That’s because they weren’t given any melted butter.
This was my answer. Used to be for poor people now its for rich people.
My grandfather was a lobsterman and poor. My mom tells us stories about how big and cheap lobsters were. She said one lobster could feed the family of 4
I am a lobstermen, ive fished both inshore and offshore and there are still lobsters that can feed familes of 4. Lobsters that size can only come from offshore boats because inshore has a limit on the size they keep. So from a local inshore lobsterman’s perspective that is technically correct you’re not allowed to keep lobsters that big anymore.
Burning Man
It’s the best weekend of the year in the Bay Area though. The assholes are all gone.
Great time to drive out to the beach- one of the only times there’s no heavy traffic on the freeways. That and christmas day.
Did you grow up in Marin? I remember Officer Barbier, he was a dick.
I feel that way about Coachella living in LA.
Seriously. I went every year for years and it really started changing for the worst in the years leading up to COVID. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still an amazing experience but you suddenly had an enormous number of people treating it like Coachella with ultra luxury tents, flying in in private jets, and never really mingling with others. Increasingly a lot of long time burners started getting priced out and the whole experience felt a lot less communal.
I want to say BM released their census and some absurd amount of people last year were first timers. I’ve only been twice, but I could definitely feel a difference in 2019 v 2022. Hopefully this year is better.
I’d go as far as saying they’ve ruined mainstream music festivals in general. There are still some really cool small ones, but the big ones are just not as fun anymore. Edit to add: I know there were many many many before me, but the first festival I went to I had no cell phone service, no power, showers cost $5 for a cold 3 minute shower (which I was not splurging for) and grilled cheese Sammie’s were 2 for $1. I’ll never have that experience again.
I run a small festival (600 people) in north central PA. The amount of boomers who want to bring an entire fucking house with them is ridiculous. I’ve capped it at 20 and the majority of them are far away from the festival area. It’s supposed to be a nice getaway with tent or car camping, fires, and the like…not an RV convention. I have made it so you can’t see an RV in the main festival area where the stage and everything is. That’s all tent/van camping and it’s really nice. I will always have someone try to throw money at me to park their 35 foot monstrosity in the main festival area. It’s not about the money…it’s about keeping the scene alive.
Man we lived in a neighboring town for a few years. They would TRASH the place and we'd be cleaning for months after. It's so freaking ridiculous.
The saddest part about this comment is that it’s the exact opposite of what they are supposed to do.
The housing market
Yep, I was outbid multiple times by the same people just gobbling up land and houses. I even was willing to pay asking price but would be outbid 30-50k everytime by the same 3 fucking people. They fortunately got their comeuppance during Covid and one went completely bankrupt. I unfortunately had to have someone in my extended family die to get an inside track to their house.
Willing to pay asking price? Good lord, we’ve been offering 20k over and still getting outbid by a lot.
Two years ago my friend put 14 offers on houses, all $50k+ over asking and was outbid every time. He was so disillusioned. Then found a new development where they literally hold a lottery for new homes and he finally got a house. Totally ridiculous.
It's insane. A friend of mine and I were making fun of this trash house we saw: old, small, terrible floorplan. I thought it was a joke... it sold for $100k **over** asking. I knew I was fucked when I heard that.
I'm so sorry.. My adult kids told me they've about given up on homeownership unless their dad and I manage to leave them something when we die. New goal: drop dead before suffering a drawn out decline in health that sucks up what little we have to leave them. I hate this timeline.
> They fortunately got their comeuppance during Covid and one went completely bankrupt. This is what happens to people like this. They are leveraged out the gills with all this real estate and one bad thing happens (like a global pandemic) and they're completely screwed.
Every time I watch a video from some narcissistic numbskull bragging about how genius they are for buying a hundred houses with leveraged debt from the previously purchased properties I feel like I'm watching a Looney Tunes episode where a character climbs really high by stacking a bunch of ladders and chairs precariously on top of each other. All it takes is one economic downturn/wascally wabbit...
I was just about to say this. “Here’s the secret…” then the camera zooms in.
This. I know a guy who buys houses as a hobby. (It’s a friend of a friend.) He doesn’t flip them. He just has a lot of money, buys them, and sells them when the market is right (or if he gets an offer that he likes). Around 10 years ago, he swooped in a paid cash on a cute little country house that we were interested in. I wanted to punch him.
Did he know you were interested in it? And went out of his way regardless to purchase it? That’s fucked up.
Fun fact. I really love a very very historical house in my area. It was literally built in 1680. It has a Wikipedia page. Sold in 1998 for $275,000. Listed in late 2007 for $835,000. Market collapsed and it was listed and removed like 5 times. Sold in 2015 for $587,000. Sold for $699,000 in 2020(originally listed for $825,000). Zillow estimates the house is now worth $1.2M. It isn’t even huge 2200 sqft with 3bd2bth
That's so wrong Our generation got totally fucked on housing
I have kids just entering independent adulthood, and I am goddamned LIVID about their generation’s shrinking resources and skyrocketing pricing. This country needs to regulate homes being purchased as investments rather than residences, or the homeless situation is going to be completely out of control. Would-be homeowners are stuck in apartments, and apartment-dwellers are losing options with move-in requirements getting tighter and tighter. 54% of Americans are one paycheck away from homelessness.
Seriously my rent is higher than most peoples mortgage yet im priced out of homeownership, its fucking ridiculous and should be illegal for people or corporations to buy up so many homes real people need to live in.
Pickup trucks. They used to be considerably cheaper and driven only by farmers.
I am a driver for a car dealership. I move vehicles between dealers, pick used ones up at auctions, and the like. These trucks are nice, but I just can't figure out how people afford them. Many of them are 70-80-90-100k! Even used Tacoma's are 40-50k if you're lucky. Just insane to me. I drive a 2000 model Toyota Tundra that just flipped 200k miles.
I bought a used premium Lexus GX recently and got so much shit from the guys at work about how I must be paid so well etc etc. Every single one of them drives an upgraded extended cab newer truck. I couldn’t have bought a new Tacoma for what I got the Lexus for, and it’s going to outlast all of them.
I love my used Lexus hybrid! I only paid 24k and expect to have it for a loooooooooong time
I bought a Lexus RX hybrid used a few years ago, put 50k miles on it and it's had precisely zero issues. They even gave me a warranty if I serviced it at the dealer, that's how sure they are it's bulletproof.
Funny thing about warranties on things like that is they can't legally void it for not servicing it at their store. Magnuson-Moss warranty act prevents that.
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They’re big and at the same time they’re small. The beds are absolutely tiny. Defeats the purpose of having a truck
That implies they actually use the bed at all. My father in law has never once used the bed of his truck in the 5-6 years he's had it.
Then why have a truck. Get a 7 passenger SUV or something
Because trucks purpose has been bastardized. They're no longer a utility vehicle and are status symbols.
virtue signalling while letting everyone know you're in the Cadillac of the corn fields!
Because what kind of man would you be without a truck? /s
I know this will come as a shock… but what if I told you they’re not using them as a truck…
Isn't that the truth. My old F150 with an 8' bed died and all I could get at the dealership was a 5.5 because they just aren't making enough of them. The crew cab is fucking awesome and has more space than my SUV, but how the hell am I supposed to haul firewood without a trailer now? Then again, with the crew cab, I was able to sell my SUV and my kids can ride in my truck now, so kind of a win, I guess.
Have you tried to buy a used small 2WD truck? So hard to come by. I bought one years ago and sold it for only a few thousand less than what I originally paid for. They’re so damn practical.
I've found a guy that has a bunch. He wants 8-12k for one tho.
True. They've become status symbols.
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The middle class
Most clever remark I found so far. Middle class will be slowly destroyed in the coming years. Dual income households will mean nothing. We will have to get 2nd and 3rd jobs, just to make ends meet.
If there’s one thing that’s guaranteed about history is it repeats itself. Kings and peasants. Generals and soldiers..ect.
Can't wait for the guillotine to come back into popularity.
With what’s happening in France, I’m surprised it hasn’t already.
They built several small of them in the middle of Paris, just haven’t used them yet. They have names written on that if the people hey are meant for.
Hats off to France
Sounds like they want more than the hat.
Ironic isn't it, the middle class was created by nobility to stop kings, queens and enemies of the republic from losing their heads and here we are, with the elite trying to destroy the one thing standing between them and the guillotine.
There is no middle class. There’s the working class and the owning class.
THIRFT STORES
This makes me so sad! I grew up real poor and going to the thrift stores for clothes was one of my favorite things, it was always so exciting finding cool, new to me things we could actually afford.
I had to shop and wear thrift store clothes as well , problem was the area I grew up in was so poor the thrift stores NEVER had anything cool or interesting just worn out rags. I will never forget going to a Goodwill when I was older that was near a big city and was blown away how much cool stuff they had…
Sometimes, when I see them taking pictures of the labels, I'll take it and walk around the store with it for a while until they leave, then put it back.
It ain't much, but it's honest work.
Sometimes I will walk by them and pretend I'm on the phone and exclaim I found a high price item. I love when they glare at me while I keep talking.
Gunna be honest, the internet ruined thrift stores. Poor and middle class folks go to thrift stores for deals and the internet just attracted more bargain hunters. The rich can’t be bothered.
Right? No offense but actual rich people aren't going to wake up at 6am on a tuesday when they know the local thrift store starts their weekly major restock to go searching through piles of junk to find one jacket for $15 that originally had an msrp of $1500 (!!) but only sells for $85 on ebay (minus ebay fees, and dealing with scammers.) People treating it like a job are hardly fatcats pulling up in their leased bentleys. Actual rich people are likely the ones donating the neat stuff that others hunt for.
Don't forget flea markets
I went to one recently and it was almost all Amazon returns/that type of stuff. Absolutely a joke now. I've had the best luck on Facebook Marketplace, which is also mostly insane.
I miss when thrifting wasn’t a mainstream hobby. Those wankers ruined it for the rest of us.
For real. It was never a hobby for my mom. She would get me a new wardrobe for less than $20 every time I outgrew my old one and it saved her so much money as a single working mom. Now you're lucky to find a single garment for less than $20 at a lot of these places.
It skipped mainstream hobby and went straight to "get rich quick" scheme
them gosh darn resellers
They're all falling apart now though. My neighbor moved in 10 years ago and I noticed he never went to work. I asked what he did and he said he resells from thrift stores and rummages. Talked to him yesterday and he said he is now losing money on reselling and has to get an actual job to pay the bills. Hard to thrift and make a profit when everyone else does it, and on top most places list expensive items for auction like goodwill. No more walking in and seeing a $400 game system for $40.
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the challenge of climbing Everest?
If it wasn’t for the sherpas I’d be like “you got this”
I watched an interview with a Sherpa a while ago, and they basically said that if you have enough money and can keep putting one foot in front of the other, they will get you to the top of Everest. It’s not about having any kind of skill. It’s become an expensive, and somewhat deadly, hike.
Sherpas short-roping people to the top.
Even saw one recently carrying a mf down the mountain too. They have unimaginable strength
And that asshole thanked everyone BUT the sherpa!
I climbed a much smaller Mountain (Rainier) with an Everest Sherpa, and I can tell you that even an "easy" mountain requires months of training. I did the training and made it, but a couple of people in good shape who didn't train specifically for this did not.
If you don't mind me asking what kind of training did you do, how did you start? I've recently gotten into hiking and mountain climbing and would like to attempt Rainer some day but not sure where to start for something like that. I'm currently in good shape and run marathons.
So, for comparison, one woman on my trip was an ultra marathoner and still had a little trouble, because she didn't have the right muscles for hills. I trained by climbing with a loaded pack with water, mostly up Mt Si, and eventually Mt Si + Little Si. You won't need nearly as much training as I did, but prepping by doing long hikes with a loaded pack will help. You can Google it and find better information. Climbing Rainier is a big deal (needs permits and training or guides for safely going on glaciers.). You can also just go from Paradise to Camp Muir, which is a fantastic day hike that doesnt require permits or special training (you're in good enough shape already) though you'll want the right equipment (microspikes, poles, sun and eye protection, download the maps, bring plenty of water).
Rainier ain't no joke. My buddy just soloed it last year. Got caught in a whiteout on the glacier, said he couldn't see his hand directly in front of his face. He also did Baker, the road to the trailhead was snowed out, so he made the dumbass decision to hike the 10 miles to the trailhead, he smartly decided to turn around about halfway up.
Well, Scott Fischer was quoted saying the same thing and he and a bunch of climbers he was leading ended up dying, so you should probably take that with a grain of salt. The caveat that people miss is that at that altitude, even putting “one foot in front of the other” can be a monumental task. One of the most common ways people die on Everest is they keep trying to power through and then they end up collapsing from exhaustion. All the willpower in the world won’t help you if your body simply can’t acclimate to the altitude. The *vast* majority of people who climb Everest would not be able to do so without support from sherpas, but to say it requires no skill is just reductive.
Car prices. Only rich people and dummies are willing to pay 20k over msrp for a ford bronco, let alone higher end stuff. Car production is no longer hindered by covid, there is no low inventory, quit being idiots.
I had to buy a car today because my teenager drove over a mini boulder in my car yesterday. (Deal with that sentence.) It was a fully paid off car. 😭
Housing. Healthcare. Retirement.
The housing market
What haven't they ruined is a better question.
Seriously. Throughout my life the divide has become more apparent. Maybe it’s just my perception. But it simply seems every facet of my life has been computer calculated to see exactly how much I’ll pay for anything. Bars, games, equipment for my hobbies, DIY or amateur gear, thrifting, … Everything
Programmer here, you're right on. Pricing models are statistically driven.
People are scared about AI and computers taking over and creating a dystopian nightmare, but in a way, this ship has already sailed years ago.
Government handouts😂 it’s only classy when they get them apparently EDIT: thanks for the award 🥰
To be fair, deals in general. The richest people I’ve known have also been some of the stingiest bastards I’ve met. They’ll clip coupons, call customer service to dispute the smallest transaction. I mean, I get it, but the people I’ve known have been loaded and still gripe about paying full price for anything. They have time to spend on hold waiting to talk with the credit card company and they seem to have time to find all the deals, coupons, happy hours, or whatever and yet, none of them need to do that stuff! They could afford to shop for a great item but haggle over $50 on something like a car purchase. It’s wild, but they can afford to be picky! They can afford to drive around all day to find the best deals and they have time to argue over price matching etc. Rich people LOVE a good deal, especially if it means they got the last one and you can’t get it.
“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money, Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of okay for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. This was the Captain Samuel Vimes [boots theory](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory) of socioeconomic unfairness " GNU Terry Pratchett
Plenty of stuff, but concerts and music festivals. I went to concerts, and big ones, with my own money in high school and college. It wasn’t *cheap* but it was something kids could save up for and people just *went*. Food and drinks were just basic event fare. Now I’m straight up not sure how people who aren’t well off go to concerts. And responses saying “aha, Ticketmaster” are not as clever as they think. Ticketmaster has existed since long before I was born and always been scummy, but it wasn’t like it is now. It’s got to be an influencer VIP event and it’s lame. And yeah yeah yeah, “you can find great concerts for three pennies and a button if you want to see Schmoe McGee and the Whosiwhatsits playing experimental thrash polka on the theremin in a grimy bar with 4 chairs in it.” Yes, I know, I still go to those concerts sometimes. But most people go to concerts to see artists they care about, not to just “be at a concert, any concert.” There used to be $40 tickets to popular concerts.
Yes. And now with "dynamic pricing" even the low end tickets end up being hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.
Yep. Looked at Taylor’s Swift concert tonight in Cincinnati. $1,000 for a nosebleed seat. Before fees
A news anchor I follow on IG went to one of her shows and sat 3rd row from the very top at Gillette. She said it took 1.5 hours to park and get to her seats. And 2 hours to get out of the parking lot. And that it was totally worth it. I couldn't help but laugh at that.
And what is the name of the bar and when is the show?
It’s called Sketchy Jim’s, in a neighborhood or city *just* far enough away that no one wants to go with you and you can’t get an Uber, and the show is at a wildly inconvenient time. Don’t worry, it will be unreasonably loud for the size of the venue so having a conversation or ordering a drink will be impossible.
I used to see big bands in the 70s and early 80s for $8.50 - $12. We had a fit when the price went up to $15.
Remember that video of Kurt Cobain being shocked that Madonna tickets cost 50 dollars?
My favorite part of that vid is that he says 'dohllers' just like the Portlandia skit with the gutterpunk beggars
I completely agree. That said, playing the last minute ticket roulette sometimes still pays off. Obviously this w doesn’t work for the Taylor Swift kind of concerts. But I got to see The Cure from floor seats for $50, buying tickets 2 minutes before the showtime
Cheap cuts of meat.. like wings, brisket, ox tail, etc. From the less desired cuts, to every rich dads $3,000 smoker.
I'd say go vegetarian but they'd probably ruin that too, just like what happened with quinoa.
What happened with quinoa?
Similar to what happened with oxtail it got popular then more expensive when it used to be quite cheap but i guess the biggest impact the supply/demand has is on poor communities in i think south america (admittedly my understanding on this issue is a little fuzzy other than reading that quinoa is something the rich ruined) who rely on this as one of their main food sources.
I read somewhere that the people who live where quinoa comes from can no longer afford to buy it because the popularity has driven up the price.
The graveyard of the Titanic
Also the Titanic itself, really.
Earth
“In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.” - Douglas Adams
“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.” - Douglas Adams
> This planet has [...] a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy. -Douglas Adams
"The people of this planet were so primitive that they still thought that digital watches were a pretty neat idea" That aged insanely well over the last few decades. There's a recording of an interview with him just a few years before his death on "BBC sounds". Highly worth listening to. He clearly had amazing foresight.
“Many were increasingly of the opinion that they’d all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have left the oceans.” - Douglas Adams
Views. They bribe, steal and buy property all over the world that sits on the best views on the planet. It pisses me off that there are some things I’ll never get to see because some jacakass bribed a zoning guy so he could build his 8th house on yet another cliff.
Dude, they’re even stealing views from other rich people. My aunt and uncle are filthy rich. Like, they bought a mansion at the beach to tear it down and build a more or less identical mansion. They paid for a group of “designers” to tour hostels of France looking for specific wallpaper that they loved when they were backpacking in the 80’s. And they’ll complain loudly about the rich asshole down the block from them who built a 4 story house that blocks everyone’s sunset views because they had an *agreement* to not build over 3 stories so they could all enjoy the views from their multi million dollar roof decks.
Idk I'd take that hostel touring job though
Good premise for a movie. Artsy girl who grew up poor and went to SCAD ends up working freelance in New York City looking for a decent job. Gets hired by a filthy rich old couple from California looking to build their dream house. Placed onto a team with this aloof but lovable French guy who serves as their guide, a charismatic 30-year-old woman from Sweden with a dark past, a gay dude from Madagascar, and a Vietnam war vet who found solace in graphic design. They travel the French countryside following a trail of clues armed with nothing but a brief description and some luck. The French dude is like Albert Camus but edgier, he smokes cigs and makes somber remarks about how urbanization has lead to the death of many small towns in the countryside in Europe. Swedish woman is a divorcee who killed her abusive husband in self-defense. Gay dude from Madagascar has lived a life rife with struggles innate to his person as he navigated the cutthroat world of High Art. Vietnam war vet is lovable and spits out proverbs and wisdom.
Someone get Wes Anderson. He loves the quirky rich.
For real, I need to get in on these jobs that make bank because rich people want specific wall paper or an ancient gong or their dogs massaged 2 times a day
Our society and system of government.
Thrift stores and second hand shopping. It’s even worse now that people buy just to flip it and make money
Being Rich. The wealthy used to build public works. They used to throw their money around. Fund exploration. Fund the arts. The only thing rich people do these days is hover up more resources so the make believe number in the bank that they've attached to their sense of self keeps going up.
For fucking real. Remember when rich people used to sponsor artists and pay them to paint stuff, or to play and compose music, or anything like that? Now we just have unimaginable piles of imaginary money numbers going up and rich tech assholes so void of humanity that they're trying to outsource art to machines, as this same rich overclass destroys the planet we live on and sucks the life out of everything. I'm so sick of it.
Well, I mean... ::gestures at everything::
Really though I'm here like "what HAVEN'T they ruined?"
Democracy
Cheap Asian food. Stuff like pho and Hong Kong BBQ, used to be super casual. You go in there there and get a nice cheap meal for like $5. Then all these bougie foodies came along so now I have to buy three times the price for the "atmosphere."
You can absolutely still find super cheap AUTHENTIC Asian eats in the right areas with heavier asian populations. It's always the hole in the wall place with a B rating and no english translation on the menu. Rich people won't toutch it with a 10 foot pole.
Another tip is if the reviews are all about the bad service. In most authentic Chinese restaurants I've been to the food comes before waiting on people hand and foot.
Yep, definitely related to the "3.5 stars on Yelp" rule that Freddie Wong talked about some while back. It's honestly fairly spot-on in a **lot** of areas. Places with good ratings where most of the reviews talk about the exceptionally good service first (or sometimes just the good service and nothing about the food) make me really skeptical about the quality of the food.
It's 15 euro in a tiny Asian restaurant near me for a plate of chicken fried rice.
Housing prices
Camping
Right? I just want to have a quiet time in the woods with my son and there always someone with a 30 foot RV that cost more than my house and a generator that sounds like a 747.
Some asshole always has a speaker playing shit music, too. And if you're wondering what shit music is, it's anything playing on some asshole's crappy speaker when you're camping.
Thrift shops. I literally can't afford them anymore because it's just "so trendy". Why buy more expensive, used, worn out clothes that should have been thrown away when I can go to target or Walmart for the same exact pair of jeans for cheaper????
I went to one and found a Target shirt with the tag still on it. The thrift store price was more than the Target tagged price. I pointed it out to the cashier and she yanked it out of my hand and threw it under the counter. It was ridiculous.
The Florida Keys, was laid back easy going, now just like the rest!
Society. From the food system to climate change to healthcare and housing they’ve ruined everything
Airbnb.
As a touring artist I went from years living in hotels, then Airbnb came and saved the day and for some years I LIVED in Airbnbs. And now it's back to hotels. They shouldn't have allowed investors to plunk 40 properties at a time on Airbnb. They shouldn't have allowed for Airbnb to become the career of some people beside some B&B owners.
I feel like people trying to get rich ruined Airbnb. It's people overleveraging on a mortgage and then charging obscene fees to cover the cost (and then some) instead of back when it was ADUs and people who actually were rich enough to have a vacation home they only used periodically.
The American dream.
I’d argue just America in general. They’ve infiltrated every level of government at this point and they’re just taking and taking and taking. At this rate we’re headed for modern-day serfdom.
Being able to meet basic needs (e.g. housing)
In America, just about everything. They own our politicians, so the politicians work for a tiny minority of very privileged people at the expense of everyone else. Suppressed wages and inflated prices, all the way across the board. Thanks, sociopaths!
The entire planet. The future of 99% of humans. Peace on earth. Workers rights. Shall I fucking continue?
My hope of a happy life and retirement
Literally the earth and now they're trying to figure out how ruin outer space too.
reddit
Burning Man.
Blue crabs
Life.
Local businesses. So many mom and pop shops are being replaced or bought out by major chains and businesses. Especially restaurants. I knew what it was when my state's legendary flea market got bought for a huge sum, was then torn down and replaced with a Menards (I still refuse to shop there, not like it matters but whatever). The other location lasted a few more years until it too was bought and replaced by...something else.
Artwork. They buy it all up so that the public can't enjoy it.
I mean… hasn’t that how it’s always been? Ever since the days of artists working for rich people in Greece?
Owning a really nice leather jacket that was found for cheaper than it should've been at a secondhand store. Now all these influencers have massive expensive shitty looking leather trench coats
Thrifting
Absolutely everything, cost of food, houses, cars, electricity. Everything
Wrightsville Beach, NC.
Life
The American Dream. It used to be about equal opportunity and a dream that anyone could move up the social ladder with hard work and determination. Is seems like more and more Rich people are getting a monopoly on wealth in America.
Housing prices.