S09.E15: Housing

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Main topic: Housing

Also: January 6th hearings with John Eastman; Steve Marchant's comments on elections and the America First Secretary of State Coalition; zaddies; it's always happy hour on QVC

Original air date 2022.06.19

[Annber03]

That Chase guy is one hell of a dick. Good lord. I feel bad for anyone who's had to put up with him and his obnoxious ass. And ah, Dave Ramsey coming in with a "I'm totally not a bad Christian" line before proving that he clearly doesn't know what being a Christian actually entails. 

Hey, a segment that I and my family can identify with firsthand! Yay...? Yes, we've had to deal with a lot of the struggles John mentioned here when it's come to trying to find a place to rent, and an affordable one at that. Everything he mentioned is stuff that we've gone through or heard horror stories of others going through. And according to my mom, Iowa has an especially bad history with that - the landlords always get favored over the tenants. I'm definitely within that percentage of Americans who believe that housing should be a basic right - and I'm pleasantly surprised to see the percentage that high. So I would love to see more policies put in place to reflect that. Course, that'd mean making sure we have enough people in power to make that happen, and that requires getting past the hurdles and roadblocks that the political candidates pushing the Big Lie want to put in place if they win their elections later this year*.

(Seriously. What is it going to take to make these Trump sycophants go away already?)

It's also kind of insane that people aren't automatically guaranteed lawyers when going to court over housing disputes. If we can do that for people in criminal trials, one would think we should be able to do it for something like a housing issue. 

*I did love John trying to figure out the backdrop of that one guy testifying at the January 6th hearings, though. My eyes kept being drawn to that weird panda painting, too (and it actually looked more like a fox to me :p). I also want to know more about that story from Peru, with the stripper interrupting that video meeting :D!

The news people discussing "zaddies" was...something (Bezos is not even remotely close to being a "zaddy", WTF?). The last segment, with the guy telling his co-anchor that she said the same things about some other guy in the building, cracked me the hell up XD. 

Edited June 20, 2022 by Annber03

[Enigma X]

I work in affordable housing but can't afford affordable housing. This breaks my spirit daily. I am moving next month, and it was so hard to find a place that I could afford (and that is debatable that I can). 

[ahisma]

1 hour ago, Annber03 said:

The last segment, with the guy telling his co-anchor that she said the same things about some other guy in the building, cracked me the hell up XD. 

They were my favorites—they seemed so fun! 

Ugh, everyone from the landlord side was such a horrible human being. Christian, my Aunt Fanny. And the whole trend of corporations and private equity firms buying up everything for sale is a HUGE issue. All of the suggestions of things to do John showed towards the end were excellent. 

[scarynikki12]

Why yes I do now believe Shel Silverstein was fucking nonstop. Thanks for that Ollie.

I'm glad he highlighted the alarming number of conspiracy nuts running for their state's Secretary of State. Lord I hope none of them win their races.

"People who think that investments deserve more respect than basic human needs." The crux of the problem right there. 

I still have no idea what a zaddy is but those clips were creepy so I don't want to know.

[Annber03]

16 minutes ago, ahisma said:

They were my favorites—they seemed so fun! 

One of the best (or worst, depending on the segment) things this show has highlighted over its run is how so many local news anchors just apparently have no filter whatsoever :p. 

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Republican candidates for Secretaries of State who have the support of Donald Trump and hold the belief that elections were "stolen" were featured on the show.  Donald Trump and his supporters among the general population were not.  Let's not get into a discussion of Trump supporters in general.  Posts have been removed. 

[paigow]

11 hours ago, Annber03 said:

One of the best (or worst, depending on the segment) things this show has highlighted over its run is how so many local news anchors just apparently have no filter whatsoever :p. 

Maybe the news people watched the segment on how fake local car dealer commercials are...[same script every town]... and promised to be edgy and original...

[TexasGal]

12 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

Why yes I do now believe Shel Silverstein was fucking nonstop. Thanks for that Ollie.

I literally just choked on my beverage at "He knows exactly where the sidewalk ends."

[peeayebee]

Sorry I got off-topic. I didn't realize it.

So I'll just try to restate: This episode made me want to cry. 

Hopefully those States where the Republican candidates support the election fraud lie have enough voters paying attention, who recognize the Big Lie, and who will vote against them. It's so scary seeing how far these crazies are getting. John DID call them batshit crazy, didn't he?

15 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

"People who think that investments deserve more respect than basic human needs." The crux of the problem right there.

Yes. This is another thing I despair of, that money grubbers have lost their humanity. So many people hate seeing homeless people out in the open, that hate coming from either compassion or disgust, yet many of these haters probably don't see a problem with landlords and investment groups making money at the general population's expense. 

[andromeda331]

Another depressing episode. There's so many horrible people. Happily evicting people. Raisig their rent and making conditions horrible. John's right housing should be a right.

[Lugal]

Is  Lex Luthor Jeff Bezos a zaddy?  Is zaddy another word for supervillain?

"People who think that investments deserve more respect than basic human needs."

Pretty much.  Rich-on-Poor violence is Standard Operating Procedure while Poor-on-Rich violence is the worst abomination in the history of the world.  All these people like the world's worst Rush fan can throw away people thinking it's never going to effect them.  And maybe it won't, they may live out their days without the consequences touching them.  But when you exclude people, they're still here.  A bunch of people with nowhere to go.  That usually doesn't end well, even for those who think they're on the top.

Housing IS a human right and it's time we recognize it.

Oh, and for all those candidates that are so riled up about the Big Lie/election fraud, I'll just point out that in the last 20 years, there's been two presidents that lost the popular vote.

[Annber03]

20 minutes ago, Lugal said:

Oh, and for all those candidates that are so riled up about the Big Lie/election fraud, I'll just point out that in the last 20 years, there's been two presidents that lost the popular vote.

And both those presidents were Republicans, which makes it all the more infuriating and laughable to hear the GOP pushing the big lie about this supposed election fraud nonsense.. 

On a lighter note, I was reminded this evening of yet another amusing side effect of the "zaddy" segment - having to explain what terms like that mean to my mom, and hearing her use that term to boot :D. Same thing goes for the concept of furries, and other similar terms/groups of people.

John Oliver, creating awkward, weird moments and conversations between families since 2014 :p. 

Edited June 21, 2022 by Annber03

[DoctorAtomic]

Whomever coined 'zaddy' needs to be dragged in front of the Hague for crimes against humanity. 

[peeayebee]

Did we hear an explanation for the Z in zaddy? I think one of the newscasters said something like the Z was just random.

[chediavolo]

My recording cut off. Did he mention another part of the housing crisis is short term rentals in tourist areas?  Locals & especially out of town/staters with more money buying up homes to rent? This is a big problem in some areas. Also student rentals in college towns. 

[peeayebee]

I don't think he talked about those issues.

[scarynikki12]

4 hours ago, chediavolo said:

My recording cut off. Did he mention another part of the housing crisis is short term rentals in tourist areas?  Locals & especially out of town/staters with more money buying up homes to rent? This is a big problem in some areas. Also student rentals in college towns. 

He didn't but that would take up an entire episode on its own so I expect to see the topic revisited from that angle.

[iMonrey]

I'm surprised John brought up the tax deduction for interest on a mortgage. That was eliminated by the Trump administration over five years ago. Or am I missing something?

[PrincessPurrsALot]

The limit on the amount of mortgage interest that can be deducted on federal taxes was changed in 2017 under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.  The limit was changed from interest paid on up to $1 million of principal to $750,000 of principal.  This was included in a comprehensive bill that covered many areas that impacted personal finances and business.  In some states, this was seen as a major strike against homeowners because of the cost of property; i.e., California and New York.

I think where John forgot to state the link is that most large building owners place things into corporations which have much more favorable taxation for holdings and greater allowances to call things expenses. These were mentioned as disconnected points.

John may not need the mortgage deduction on his taxes. I appreciate it when a TV host who makes major money is honest about that.  But the average homeowner often does need that deduction. 

[paigow]

1 hour ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

The limit on the amount of mortgage interest that can be deducted on federal taxes was changed in 2017 under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.  

Canadian tax rules only allow mortgage interest to be deducted for Rental Properties.. The principal residence is ineligible; however, when the principal residence is sold, no capital gains tax is applied. Most of Canada also suffers from a shortage of affordable housing. So tax rules appear to be a secondary / tertiary factor. 

[PrincessPurrsALot]

4 hours ago, paigow said:

Canadian tax rules only allow mortgage interest to be deducted for Rental Properties.. The principal residence is ineligible; however, when the principal residence is sold, no capital gains tax is applied. Most of Canada also suffers from a shortage of affordable housing. So tax rules appear to be a secondary / tertiary factor. 

I think it has an impact to people being able to afford to purchase and maintain homes, but I agree it has little impact to the affordable housing crisis. 

[Lantern7]

I'm surprised John didn't break out "The Rent Is Too Damn High" guy. Probably a good move. No, we get facts, heartbreaking stories, and a few landlords that are too cruel to actually exist. i don't think the a-hole in the Rush hat is a fan of Rush. Well, not the Rush we think of first.

Election deniers that are running for secretaries of state in their home states, setting themselves to potentially overthrow a federal election  . . . that is scary. Probably something that warranted more than a few minutes. Sadly, John and his staff have a cup overflowing with potential topics these days. I'd say they should look into doing a few more episodes per week, but that might do what Reddy Kilowatt couldn't . . . kill John and make it stick.

People still watch shop-at-home networks?

Edited June 26, 2022 by Lantern7

[swanpride]

I am a little bit confused that state build housing was not suggested as a solution...along the line of the Viennese Model. There are also a few ideas one could adapt from Germany to keep the rents at least reasonable...I mean, the rising rents are a topic pretty much everyone where you have big cities, but compared to the US other countries complain on a high level. 

[JustHereForFood]

12 hours ago, swanpride said:

I am a little bit confused that state build housing was not suggested as a solution...along the line of the Viennese Model. There are also a few ideas one could adapt from Germany to keep the rents at least reasonable...I mean, the rising rents are a topic pretty much everyone where you have big cities, but compared to the US other countries complain on a high level. 

I have an idea why that wouldn't work in US, but that would require using forbidden words.

[paigow]

3 hours ago, JustHereForFood said:

I have an idea why that wouldn't work in US, but that would require using forbidden words.

Affordable guns are a higher priority... IS My opinion