Jason seems to be doing the rounds on the center-left-reasonable-white-guy tour* (which i currently have as Barro, Yglassius, Noah Smith, Derek Thompson, probably missing a few others) but does not appear to be coming out with a new book or anything. Is this just coincidence?
*no offence intended--I'm pretty squarely in this demographic
I think one reason home owners with a fixed mortgage aren’t feeling like they are benefitting from inflation is due to rising costs of taxes due to property value increases. It doesn’t feel like benefiting on that fixed mortgage when you’re monthly costs are still going up.
The mortgage comment in the podcast misses a step. My mortgage payment is fixed, but I only get a better deal if my wages go up to keep up with inflation, then I'm paying a fixed debt with "cheaper" or more plentiful dollars than I had when I signed the mortgage contract. If, as is actually the case, I would lose out by refinancing my house against the increased value because the interest rate would get worse and my wages went up 3% as opposed to the 7.5% of inflation, I am spending the same amount on housing while having lost 4.5% of my purchasing power, meaning that my total cost of living has gone up and my savings rate has gone down. Add into this the fact that lumber is once again 50~75% above the price at the beginning of the pandemic and really only fell back to 30% above pre-pandemic levels when we stopped talking about it last year, and this is true of most home maintenance expenses, and home owners are not necessarily winning due to inflation. The only win I've gotten is that the "value" of my house went up according to Zillow, but that's meaningless outside of refinancing or going to sell, at which point I now have to buy another house with equally inflated value, effectively holding me at parity with the past-me that bought the place, less the maintenance costs.
Love your show! Enjoyed it on KCRW and continue to enjoy.
Question: This is a general question, but it is related to your show too, as I have heard it said a few times on Very Serious.
Your Democratic / progressive guests will often comment that the "Filibuster" is not in the US Constitution, which is 100% true. Right? But political parties are not mentioned in the US Constitution either? lol. As an NPP, active voter and listener, I must laugh, but why doesn't mainstream media or Very Serious "call out" the talking heads, when they imply Democrats and Republican Parties are an essential part our US Constitution. The Whig Party?, Federalist Party?etc. How many political parties have there been?
"Representative" "democracy" "citizen" "rights" "press" "freedom" etc. are all mentioned in our constitutional framework, but not "Dem" or "Rep" parties. But they do get deeply Self Righteous about their constitutional importance........ which is totally non-existent. Is it a "social construct" in their own heads?
Therefore, what is the difference between "Party representation" vs "Representative Government" ? Can they be the same? Thx
I always appreciate seeing Jason's takes on Twitter, particularly over the last year or so. Excited to hear the conversation on today's podcast.
Jason seems to be doing the rounds on the center-left-reasonable-white-guy tour* (which i currently have as Barro, Yglassius, Noah Smith, Derek Thompson, probably missing a few others) but does not appear to be coming out with a new book or anything. Is this just coincidence?
*no offence intended--I'm pretty squarely in this demographic
I think one reason home owners with a fixed mortgage aren’t feeling like they are benefitting from inflation is due to rising costs of taxes due to property value increases. It doesn’t feel like benefiting on that fixed mortgage when you’re monthly costs are still going up.
The mortgage comment in the podcast misses a step. My mortgage payment is fixed, but I only get a better deal if my wages go up to keep up with inflation, then I'm paying a fixed debt with "cheaper" or more plentiful dollars than I had when I signed the mortgage contract. If, as is actually the case, I would lose out by refinancing my house against the increased value because the interest rate would get worse and my wages went up 3% as opposed to the 7.5% of inflation, I am spending the same amount on housing while having lost 4.5% of my purchasing power, meaning that my total cost of living has gone up and my savings rate has gone down. Add into this the fact that lumber is once again 50~75% above the price at the beginning of the pandemic and really only fell back to 30% above pre-pandemic levels when we stopped talking about it last year, and this is true of most home maintenance expenses, and home owners are not necessarily winning due to inflation. The only win I've gotten is that the "value" of my house went up according to Zillow, but that's meaningless outside of refinancing or going to sell, at which point I now have to buy another house with equally inflated value, effectively holding me at parity with the past-me that bought the place, less the maintenance costs.
Love your show! Enjoyed it on KCRW and continue to enjoy.
Question: This is a general question, but it is related to your show too, as I have heard it said a few times on Very Serious.
Your Democratic / progressive guests will often comment that the "Filibuster" is not in the US Constitution, which is 100% true. Right? But political parties are not mentioned in the US Constitution either? lol. As an NPP, active voter and listener, I must laugh, but why doesn't mainstream media or Very Serious "call out" the talking heads, when they imply Democrats and Republican Parties are an essential part our US Constitution. The Whig Party?, Federalist Party?etc. How many political parties have there been?
"Representative" "democracy" "citizen" "rights" "press" "freedom" etc. are all mentioned in our constitutional framework, but not "Dem" or "Rep" parties. But they do get deeply Self Righteous about their constitutional importance........ which is totally non-existent. Is it a "social construct" in their own heads?
Therefore, what is the difference between "Party representation" vs "Representative Government" ? Can they be the same? Thx