This is so important.

he raised the standard tax amount to $12500. young buyers now don't have incentive to buy houses (before prices went nuclear). The tax break of mortgage interest and property taxes is eliminated now.

For those who had built up reserves of cash over generations, the Great Recession was a buying opportunity.

They snapped up all the distressed and foreclosed housing while millions lost their homes. Then they had the market power to jack up rents and home prices. Combine that with the loss of the interest and tax deductions and you have a formula for rent peonage.

21st century capitalism at its finest.

And nearly 50 years later... a "six figure income" is still out of reach for the majority of Americans.

My college job at an Engineering office paid around $12/hr in 1987.

I bet the same job today (if it exists) isn't even 25/hr

I've told my story here before... after earning a Mechanical Engineering Degree I sputtered around for a decade working odd jobs because I hated Engineering in the real world...

And literally fell into an opportunity because my best friend in HS was a member of the "original 100" employees at a "major SoCal biotech"...

He approached me one day, "WarGamer" you got an Engineering Degree, right? Want a job? You're a single dude, no wife and no kids... want to spend the next couple years overseas?? Want to live in employee housing eating out-food delivered on a daily basis and not leave the facility grounds for months at a time?"

So I took the job, indeed spent around 50% of my time overseas over a 10 year period... became an expert at one specific process and facility type and 20 years later, retired during COVID in my mid 50's...

My wife is still working as a drug dealer... (inside joke, she's Pharma Rep)

Bottom line, it's hard to make a ton of money nowadays, you need a specific education and skill set... or just be stupidly lucky.