The bond market is warning that 45 years of Republican tax cuts and exploding debt may finally force ordinary Americans to pay for a party the wealthy already enjoyed...
Having been on three HOA boards and president of two, I can attest to the truth of Thom's essay. However, (Democrats, are you listening?), my HOAs had surpluses. I achieved that by pointing out the cost to replace the hot water heater for the building, our 2 elevators, and the roof of our 9-story building. Then I shared the life expectancy of each, pointing out that most were already past their life expectancy. Next, I showed how we could avoid a whopper special assessment by raising monthly fees vs a special assessment. The fee raise was almost unanimous.
But when, besides Bernie or Liz Warren, have the Democrats sincerely pointed out what Thom just did? Pay me now, or pay me later, but you are going to pay a whole lot more if you choose later.
Deferring budgetary responsibility to an ever-receding indefinite but presumably sunny future day is a peculiar disease of human self-governance. Republicans have learned to weaponize this tendency to crimp Democratic socio-political aspirations and rationalize racist and sexist policies with the familiar phrase, "how are we going to pay for that?" Meanwhile, tax cuts and defense spending are somehow immune to this fiscal law of gravity.
The HOA analogy is almost too perfect: keep the dues artificially low, ignore the roof, then act shocked when somebody eventually gets handed a $40,000 assessment. National debt is just deferred maintenance with better branding. The bill always arrives, usually after the people who enjoyed the discount have left the room.
In Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire," one character reminds me of the Republican electorate: Blanche DuBois.
She's a woman of a certain age. A so-called "belle" of the South who stays high on her own supply of delusions.
Meanwhile, her whole inner infrastructure turns out to be spun-thin cotton candy. Not unlike the Kiddie Rapist-In-Chief's hair.
The R electorate have always depended on the kindness of strangers, i.e., the Trump Gang. A gang of selfish Reds who would NOT spit on their heads if their [the R electorate's] collective hair were on fire.
#VOTE for SANITY NOW
#HOW much more does Melania receive for the Harp Humiliation
#PERSONAL FRIEND Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin, paid hundreds of thousands of dollars toward Donald Trump Jr.’s 2026 Bahamas wedding, covering major expenses such as renting private islands, a $70,000 fireworks display, and event planning
I, for one, have never even hoped to begin to understand the Bond market and all of the high finance and sophisticated goings on in financial markets and government. But this explanation and the metaphor of an HOA gives a great deal of clarity to what has been happening and what must happen. The hour is late. But the warning has been given. Either the rich start paying much, much more from now on, or we and our progeny will see another depression, which will be world-wide in all probability. It is suicidal to follow Republicans or to allow the wealthy to continue ripping off the working people and the less fortunate. Voting is not enough. Our voices must be louder and we must get the attention of the people post haste, one way or the other.
I like the way it connects the national to the hyper-local, but I wonder if there is a way to include how the state Republican policies have shaped taxes and public maintenance, within the states, through unsustainable extraction on their "economic engines?"
Two facts: 1. Using the same process, but expecting different results is a sign of insanity. 2. The antithesis is also true. Changing the process, yet expecting the SAME results is a sign of insanity. Yet, that is what the Republicans have done over the last 45 years. They’ve drastically changed all of the processes that were in place that CREATED a growing affordable middle class and a low deficit. To make America great again, we must return to the policies, tax codes and regulations that made it great before Reagan, Bush, Trump and other Republicans destroyed it over the past 45 years.
Ironically, I was in an MBA program in the 1980s. The only thing we learned about “trickle down economics” is that it was “not a viable economic model” and that it NEVER worked.
Get ready to wear a hair shirt. Of course those ultimately responsible, the morons and idiots of MAGA and their antecedents , Won't accept responsibility, when did a conservative ever accept personal responsibility. It was a Democatic president, not a Republican, who put a sign on his desk, The Buck stops here"
Maybe I will buy that 12 gauge pump action shot gun for home defense.
There is one diff twixt and HOA and the USA. One chooses to live and buy into an HOA, and for the life of me I do not understand why.
HOA's are built by shady ass contractors, and are made of the cheapest material they can get away with and labor hired at Home Depot, and then they have CCR's that are impossible, in my neck of thw woods, they were written such that you couldn't have satellite TV or internet, and had to buy into their fiber optic service.
The bill for the 20th century is coming for all of us. We followed the Americans to progress and prosperity right over the cliff. The problem was the Americans cheated. They started with a pristine continent and proceeded to lie, steal, and murder their way to prosperity. This is their business/society model. But most importantly, in their race to own nature they made a single fatal mistake. One that was learned by the rest of the world millenia/eons ago - THEY NEVER CLEANED UP AFTER THEMSELVES. This is the "negative externalities" in economics. It's fine if they want to live in a garbage, nuclear waste,or toxic chemical dump. But CO2 doesn't honour borders. It's all our problem. The solution would have been to to include the cost of cleanup into the price of the product. The only way gas costs $0.99 or $1.99 or $3.99 or whatever a gallon is by dumping the CO2 mess onto everyone else for all time.
The con will only end after all the bills are paid and enough time has passed.
Well, Hell. MAGA was so sure we had it figured out. Just put a "businessman" in office and give him authority to remake the economy as a business. But they elected a con artist who ran his own businesses into the ground. His whole business model is based on debt - getting banks to fund his pet projects, then when they fail, force the bankd to renegotiate terms, or declare bankruptcy. He has done the same thing with the US economy, except this time he can't bully banks to accept less, and bankruptcy would be deadly catastrophic.
One day soon the other countries in the world will demand their money back, and when we default, they will invade and take over the US. And they will succeed, bevause tRump will have bankripted the military as well.
If you want the country run like a business, examine the business model first, and make sure it is not mafia model.
Democratic “leadership”, having long since yielded to (embraced?) neoliberal notions of fiscal responsibility, have painted us all into a financial corner, and they continue to behave as if tweaking the perimeters of the problem will be enough. They know better, of course, but lack the will or skill to do better, preferring to focus their efforts maintaining an unsustainable status quo and the prerogatives of intra-party power. We need to help them spend more time with their families.
Too many people I know have had the HOA experience and fail to see it on the larger scale you describe, Thom. We are among them. A condo we own has been neglected for years in both needed repairs and collection of dues from delinquent owners, many of whom serve on or are friends with board members. We sued for breach of fiduciary duty after our unit was wrecked by a roof leak and got a very large settlement. But we are both lawyers, and my former law firm totally outclassed the insurance defense lawyers the HOA hired.
End of saga? Hardly. We are now dealing with the second special assessment in a year to cover repairs that cannot be deferred, and it is substantial. We are also working with other owners who have consistently paid their dues to force collections from delinquent owners, even if it makes them sell their units. Better if they do.
We have no such power at the federal level but our votes. We need a Congress and POTUS prepared to restore Eisenhower level tax rates on the morbidly rich, get rid of absurd notions like "carried interest", and do other pretty straightforward tax reforms (removing the income cap on Social Security and Medicare payroll contributions is another one). That means any hope of recover is ON US. If another depression happens, that too will be ON US. Those who vote MAGA and those who don't vote. We have no wiggle room left.
It's pretty clear that, as Neil Howe says, "The Fourth Turning is Here". It's time for our next 100 year calamity. It's the only thing that wakes up the dead minds of Americans.
Having been on three HOA boards and president of two, I can attest to the truth of Thom's essay. However, (Democrats, are you listening?), my HOAs had surpluses. I achieved that by pointing out the cost to replace the hot water heater for the building, our 2 elevators, and the roof of our 9-story building. Then I shared the life expectancy of each, pointing out that most were already past their life expectancy. Next, I showed how we could avoid a whopper special assessment by raising monthly fees vs a special assessment. The fee raise was almost unanimous.
But when, besides Bernie or Liz Warren, have the Democrats sincerely pointed out what Thom just did? Pay me now, or pay me later, but you are going to pay a whole lot more if you choose later.
And, both oddly and poetically, HOA's are notoriously corrupt.
Just like your government.
Deferring budgetary responsibility to an ever-receding indefinite but presumably sunny future day is a peculiar disease of human self-governance. Republicans have learned to weaponize this tendency to crimp Democratic socio-political aspirations and rationalize racist and sexist policies with the familiar phrase, "how are we going to pay for that?" Meanwhile, tax cuts and defense spending are somehow immune to this fiscal law of gravity.
The HOA analogy is almost too perfect: keep the dues artificially low, ignore the roof, then act shocked when somebody eventually gets handed a $40,000 assessment. National debt is just deferred maintenance with better branding. The bill always arrives, usually after the people who enjoyed the discount have left the room.
Great HOA/Santa analogies, Mr. H.
In Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire," one character reminds me of the Republican electorate: Blanche DuBois.
She's a woman of a certain age. A so-called "belle" of the South who stays high on her own supply of delusions.
Meanwhile, her whole inner infrastructure turns out to be spun-thin cotton candy. Not unlike the Kiddie Rapist-In-Chief's hair.
The R electorate have always depended on the kindness of strangers, i.e., the Trump Gang. A gang of selfish Reds who would NOT spit on their heads if their [the R electorate's] collective hair were on fire.
#VOTE for SANITY NOW
#HOW much more does Melania receive for the Harp Humiliation
#PERSONAL FRIEND Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin, paid hundreds of thousands of dollars toward Donald Trump Jr.’s 2026 Bahamas wedding, covering major expenses such as renting private islands, a $70,000 fireworks display, and event planning
#WHY The F, Junior?
I, for one, have never even hoped to begin to understand the Bond market and all of the high finance and sophisticated goings on in financial markets and government. But this explanation and the metaphor of an HOA gives a great deal of clarity to what has been happening and what must happen. The hour is late. But the warning has been given. Either the rich start paying much, much more from now on, or we and our progeny will see another depression, which will be world-wide in all probability. It is suicidal to follow Republicans or to allow the wealthy to continue ripping off the working people and the less fortunate. Voting is not enough. Our voices must be louder and we must get the attention of the people post haste, one way or the other.
Great piece, and thank you.
I like the way it connects the national to the hyper-local, but I wonder if there is a way to include how the state Republican policies have shaped taxes and public maintenance, within the states, through unsustainable extraction on their "economic engines?"
Two facts: 1. Using the same process, but expecting different results is a sign of insanity. 2. The antithesis is also true. Changing the process, yet expecting the SAME results is a sign of insanity. Yet, that is what the Republicans have done over the last 45 years. They’ve drastically changed all of the processes that were in place that CREATED a growing affordable middle class and a low deficit. To make America great again, we must return to the policies, tax codes and regulations that made it great before Reagan, Bush, Trump and other Republicans destroyed it over the past 45 years.
Ironically, I was in an MBA program in the 1980s. The only thing we learned about “trickle down economics” is that it was “not a viable economic model” and that it NEVER worked.
Get ready to wear a hair shirt. Of course those ultimately responsible, the morons and idiots of MAGA and their antecedents , Won't accept responsibility, when did a conservative ever accept personal responsibility. It was a Democatic president, not a Republican, who put a sign on his desk, The Buck stops here"
Maybe I will buy that 12 gauge pump action shot gun for home defense.
There is one diff twixt and HOA and the USA. One chooses to live and buy into an HOA, and for the life of me I do not understand why.
HOA's are built by shady ass contractors, and are made of the cheapest material they can get away with and labor hired at Home Depot, and then they have CCR's that are impossible, in my neck of thw woods, they were written such that you couldn't have satellite TV or internet, and had to buy into their fiber optic service.
Why do people buy into an HOA.?
Why have people bought into the Republican lies over the past 45 years?
Because they are lazy, lack critical thinking skills, and are easily manipulated by fears, needs and beliefs.
That was a rhetorical question.
The bill for the 20th century is coming for all of us. We followed the Americans to progress and prosperity right over the cliff. The problem was the Americans cheated. They started with a pristine continent and proceeded to lie, steal, and murder their way to prosperity. This is their business/society model. But most importantly, in their race to own nature they made a single fatal mistake. One that was learned by the rest of the world millenia/eons ago - THEY NEVER CLEANED UP AFTER THEMSELVES. This is the "negative externalities" in economics. It's fine if they want to live in a garbage, nuclear waste,or toxic chemical dump. But CO2 doesn't honour borders. It's all our problem. The solution would have been to to include the cost of cleanup into the price of the product. The only way gas costs $0.99 or $1.99 or $3.99 or whatever a gallon is by dumping the CO2 mess onto everyone else for all time.
The con will only end after all the bills are paid and enough time has passed.
Well, Hell. MAGA was so sure we had it figured out. Just put a "businessman" in office and give him authority to remake the economy as a business. But they elected a con artist who ran his own businesses into the ground. His whole business model is based on debt - getting banks to fund his pet projects, then when they fail, force the bankd to renegotiate terms, or declare bankruptcy. He has done the same thing with the US economy, except this time he can't bully banks to accept less, and bankruptcy would be deadly catastrophic.
One day soon the other countries in the world will demand their money back, and when we default, they will invade and take over the US. And they will succeed, bevause tRump will have bankripted the military as well.
If you want the country run like a business, examine the business model first, and make sure it is not mafia model.
This is a great post and explains a lot.
Democratic “leadership”, having long since yielded to (embraced?) neoliberal notions of fiscal responsibility, have painted us all into a financial corner, and they continue to behave as if tweaking the perimeters of the problem will be enough. They know better, of course, but lack the will or skill to do better, preferring to focus their efforts maintaining an unsustainable status quo and the prerogatives of intra-party power. We need to help them spend more time with their families.
Too many people I know have had the HOA experience and fail to see it on the larger scale you describe, Thom. We are among them. A condo we own has been neglected for years in both needed repairs and collection of dues from delinquent owners, many of whom serve on or are friends with board members. We sued for breach of fiduciary duty after our unit was wrecked by a roof leak and got a very large settlement. But we are both lawyers, and my former law firm totally outclassed the insurance defense lawyers the HOA hired.
End of saga? Hardly. We are now dealing with the second special assessment in a year to cover repairs that cannot be deferred, and it is substantial. We are also working with other owners who have consistently paid their dues to force collections from delinquent owners, even if it makes them sell their units. Better if they do.
We have no such power at the federal level but our votes. We need a Congress and POTUS prepared to restore Eisenhower level tax rates on the morbidly rich, get rid of absurd notions like "carried interest", and do other pretty straightforward tax reforms (removing the income cap on Social Security and Medicare payroll contributions is another one). That means any hope of recover is ON US. If another depression happens, that too will be ON US. Those who vote MAGA and those who don't vote. We have no wiggle room left.
It's pretty clear that, as Neil Howe says, "The Fourth Turning is Here". It's time for our next 100 year calamity. It's the only thing that wakes up the dead minds of Americans.