KatjaOct 6, 2023
I just boosted "I think that the biggest reason I believe that we need universal basic income is so that people always have an out. A bad relationship, a bad job, a bad situation, even discovering you've overrotated on something that's turning into a scam or a cult. You should always be able to walk away without fearing destitution."
but,
more than that, we should have UBI so disability isn't a crime with a death sentence.
Show threadAmpelios

@Katja Especially since both traditional pensions and social security are essentially gone.

My retirement plan? I bought a 2-family house in my 20s (with blood money; my dad died young). As a method I don't recommend it.

Rent from one unit should keep a roof over my head. A roommate might defray eventual healthcare costs to an extent. But I also do not aspire to get old, let's put it that way.

It takes a sick society to drive us to this kind of calculus.

Oct 6, 2023 at 4:32pmTusky
Show threadAmpeliosOct 6, 2023

@Katja And I mean, the house is paid off in full. (Again, blood money.) So I'm only counting on rent for taxes, utilities, and bare-minimum repairs. Not mortgage.

Even then, staring down the barrel of the rest of my life living that way is pretty grim.

Of course that's worst-case scenario and so many have it worse. But it shouldn't feel so precarious to live in a paid-off home! It shouldn't feel so precarious to ANYONE!

Show threadKatjaOct 7, 2023
@pelielios but repairs cost so much! Labor costs are rising, less and less people know how to do the work... and there are so many things that can go wrong with a house. But you know all that. It's just so painful to acknowledge how unsafe we are.
Show threadAmpeliosOct 7, 2023

@Katja Yes, the only things making it feasible for the house to pay for itself are

1) front-loading a lot of costs by doing a bunch of "every 30 years" repairs as soon as I bought it and

2) rent being obscenely high in my area. Which makes me kind of queasy but it's really set up as a young professionals' starter apartment.

My mom lives in it now but when I rented it, it was a finance bro & teacher couple. I don't feel bad fleecing anyone who gets Forbes magazine.

Show threadKatjaOct 7, 2023
@pelielios Hahahaha, no, that makes sense!
*sigh* I hear you about the being queasy about high rent, but then you also need to live...