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Cameron Caskey
I didn't hear any gen zers other than the nerds during the Harris campaign talking about how Kamala Harris was going to give you $20,000 or something for a starter home. Like, that's not a topic. Like, they're eating the cats, they're eating the dogs.
Tim Miller
Maybe we should come up with something. Maybe there's like an inverse. They're eating the cats, they're eating the dogs. Is there something that the NIMBYs could eat that you could easily brand? They're eating your youth.
Cameron Caskey
Hey, everyone, I'm Cameron Caskey.
Tim Miller
And I'm Tim Miller. This is Fypod. I talk to a lot of bisexual gen zers about what's happening with their social anxiety and what's happening in the news as well. We have a great guest today, Cameron. I knew her from the Internet as Tara. How'd you say your maiden name?
Tara Hoops
Jirari.
Tim Miller
Jirari. I liked that. Tara Jirari had a good look to it. And you've been recently married. We wanted to have you on the podcast, but you're on break because you're getting married. Congratulations. Mazel tov.
Tara Hoops
Thank you.
Tim Miller
But now you're Tara Hoops. I don't know how I feel about that. Hoops. Tara Hoops. That doesn't. It's tough for me. Did you consider a dash? Hoops Jirari would have been kind of nice.
Tara Hoops
I thought about that for a second and it's even funnier when you put in like my middle name and you give it like the correct pronunciation. So like my name is Tahrah Rania Hoops now. So it just like it doesn't fit at times.
Cameron Caskey
Yeah, that last third is.
Tara Hoops
It's pretty white. I've noticed the decrease in people telling me to get deported online though is just like incredible. I was like, I should have done this a while ago.
Tim Miller
Congrats. Yeah. Because your family's from Morocco. Is that right? Did I have that right?
Tara Hoops
Yes. Yeah.
Tim Miller
Tell us about Tara Hoops. Tara Hoops. I was attracted to you because some people, the magas and the fuckboy left, all seem to really not like you. And so that drew you to me immediately. The hatred. If you have good foes, know you.
Tara Hoops
By your foes, great for my self esteem.
Tim Miller
But I know nothing actually about you. So tell us.
Tara Hoops
Yeah, so my name is Tara Hoops. It's a little weird introducing myself as that. I, like I said freshly married. If you ask my friends in New York, I am a child bride. I am 26, originally from Queens, born and raised there. Went to college there, went to Hunter, Big fan of cunys and all public schools. And then I got a fellowship when I graduated, which was in 2020, went straight to D.C. and was working in think tanks. My husband works in entertainment law, so we moved to la. And then someone reached out to me on Twitter about this job. I was like, oh, I get to tweet a lot. I can do that for free.
Tim Miller
So that's your job, tweeting. That's the job.
Tara Hoops
Also, we also have a rebuild, which is a substack that I write with Gary Winslet. He is a professor at Middlebury. We focus a lot on everything from infrastructure, housing, energy. Just a lot of like random policy wonk stuff. So I get to research interesting things that I like find online and then I do a lot of rapid response.
Tim Miller
Got it. So he's looking you. He's like, the situation is basically Gary Winslet is like, I'm a boring white man professor from Middlebury. No one could possibly want to read my substack. I need to recruit a co substacker that's a little spunky. And I found Tara Hoops. Is that what happened?
Tara Hoops
No, no, no.
Tim Miller
Did you recruit him?
Tara Hoops
He was already working at the Chamber of Progress where I work prior to when I started, and he helped start their whole cost of living agenda. He had a big policy paper on different, like specific policies we could use for childcare, protecting the social safety net and so forth. And then when I came along, we noticed like a lot of the things that I did that gained traction were also continuing on the cost of living. And I had just a lot of like tweets that ended up into being threads. So we decided to just make a substack out of it. And it's been a couple of months, but it's doing well so far. And like the ideas and the content does not stop.
Tim Miller
And Chamber of Progress is like a lib pilled Chamber of Commerce. Like, you like businesses, but you like them if they are socially justice oriented. Or is that wrong?
Tara Hoops
Yeah. So it's a tech trade association, but we have taken the stance to be center left. I believe we are one of the few to do so. And it's becoming evident as we enter into a Trump administration where a lot of like business associations are just staying silent, but we have just not done so. As you can see from my tweets. I just never shut up about it.
Tim Miller
I noticed that your volume is pretty high. It's like elon level output. How many posts a day do you think you're doing like 36, 37.
Tara Hoops
No, it's not that much. I actually have never counted because I think it would not do well for my mental health if I knew how much I was tweeting.
Tim Miller
Explain for somebody that dropped out of college after one semester what the agenda is of the rebuild.
Tara Hoops
So basically after, you know, we lost the election, it was a lot of introspection of where Democrats go from here. And we realized, and there's even some data that came out from the Catalyst that confirmed these, that there was a lot of, like, urban discontent. And we just realized we were getting a lot of the basics wrongs. We weren't building infrastructure. Housing, rising cost of living seemed to be an echo housing chamber across any polling that came out. So Democrats need to get better at delivering basics and going back to lowering the cost of living. Kind of lost sight of that. We focused on doing 80 bajillion things at once, and from there we just forgot about the simple basics and kept promising big things but never delivered well.
Cameron Caskey
So, Tara, my question for you is in terms of conversations about regulation, deregulation and all that, where you get sort of yimby libertarian types saying that the way to make housing accessible is deregulate, deregulate, deregulate. What for you is deregulation versus good regulation? Like, do you see regulation in place and say, okay, this could be made better? Or are you guys the type of people who say, no, no, no, we just got to strip this down.
Tara Hoops
When it comes to deregulation versus regulation, you have to look at going back to like the 60s and the 70s when you came in with NEPA and CEQA and the clean Air act, and they all had good intentions. You didn't want to build any infrastructure that was just going to, you know, pollute the skies and so forth. But then these policies started to block progress instead of protecting harms, and people started using them to instead just block anything. I always think of the one story from. I think it was in 2023, Mayor Karen Bass admitted that people were abusing NEPA and CEQA for their own benefit. For example, a liquor store wanted to be built and they didn't. They said they didn't want to build it because it was going to have negative impacts to the environment. And she said, not the environment per se, but the environment of basically vibes. People were starting to block housing based on vibes and developments based on vibes because they didn't want to change the character of their neighborhood. And I remember first learning about NIMBYs and YIMBYs and I just assumed everyone who was a NIMBY was going to be a far right person. I didn't understand people on the left could be NIMBYs. They wanted to like, block housing. It just like did not, like, function in my brain. And then you realized there was this 1 percentage point, anytime a city becomes 10% more liberal, housing slows down double that. And it's just, it's because, you know, we've like allowed all of these small little things. A lot of vetoacracies where anyone can just say, no, I don't want this to happen. And then done. The entire housing plan is just through the roof. So it's not exactly deregulating everything and just going fuck wild. Because obviously that wouldn't make sense. But it's looking back to see does this policy actually make sense? If not, how can we reform it to make it better so it can deliver its actual goals?
Tim Miller
Cameron, what do you have against the poor liquor store owner who just wants to build, you know, and sell 40s and to the neighborhood?
Cameron Caskey
I think a lot of people see regulation that has a negative impact and they say this means we need to deregulate, not we need to regulate more efficiently. And we need to take another look at how this is done. And I think there is a very slippery slope between identifying negative impact regulation and just saying, you know what? Go buckwhile.
Tim Miller
I hear you. I think there's a huge slippery slope. I mean, like, you go all the way down the slope and then what's the worst case that can happen? We have lots of houses that would be like, the more you deregulate after.
Cameron Caskey
The more you deregulate, the closer you get to, you know what, let's bring back asbestos. Where did that go? Like, there's got to be a limit. There's got to be a degree to which people see regulation as something.
Tim Miller
Asbestos is at the bottom of the slide. Okay, to decide what the scary thing was at the bottom of the slope. Asbestos.
Cameron Caskey
Asbestos is up there for sure. But yeah, I just, I've always been so curious and you know, we, I know we wanted to touch on the abundance debate that I've been seeing on Twitter and have just sort of read up on a little bit because of that new book Ezra Klein put out. But while everybody's kind of talking about reassessing, you know, which liberal policies are actually sort of biting everybody, and I totally agree that so many liberals are nimby as fuck and will use stuff like government regulation to enforce their agenda, but I'm always Curious where people think we should draw the line, because so much of housing, by the way, is also determined by car companies that want to make sure that cities are not walkable and that everybody needs to use a car.
Tim Miller
Yeah, I mean, this is my. So this is the question of the line. And I mean, Tara, you're in this debate more than me, so I'm interested. Your take on this is like, I literally don't even understand what people are mad about Ezra. About, like, because those guys, like Ezra and Derek, like, they basically are just like, we should make it easier to build stuff. The progressives, like. Like, they're like, we want trains and we want subways, and we want built, walkable cities, and we want cheap housing, and we want affordable housing. And so we should, like, stop making it so hard to do those things. And then all of a sudden, they'll be like, somebody that has a red rose next to their name on Twitter, that'll just be like, you were a corporate shill. You were a corporate shill. And then like, poor Ezra, who's like, a little liberal cuck pansy boy, is like, I'm not a corporate shill. I just want trains. Why don't. Why don't you guys want trains? I don't really understand what. Even so when you get yelled at, Tara, my question is, like, what do the. What is the best argument that your critics put on? Like, what is the. What's the case that they make that it, like, has a point? Because I have trouble seeing it.
Tara Hoops
I. I don't ever get pushback on, like, boring policy tweets.
Tim Miller
Okay, what do you get pushback on, like, your makeup?
Tara Hoops
I'll get my what?
Tim Miller
Makeup? You just get sexist pushback or you do you actually get sexual?
Tara Hoops
I do get a lot of that. I've also had people ask me if I was a bot because they just simply did not think my account was real. I've had that several times.
Tim Miller
Tara. Hoops does seem fake.
Tara Hoops
I just cannot be real. So I always think that's funny. No, I don't ever really get pushback on policy. If anything, someone will screenshot some political statement that I made, which is probably going to be TRUMP Bad 99% of the time. And then they'll just be like, this is a Silicon Valley shill. No one fucking listened to her. So it's just like, I. It's very hard. I've actually stopped including myself in that discourse because, like, no one's getting anything done. And it's just like, you guys just hate certain People. And that's it. It's not policy discourse anymore. You guys just don't like a couple of actors and you're just running with it every single time. And it causes a certain group of people to view everything that they do from a lens of bad faith. That it's like, no, I promise you, we're all nerds. Everything in the Abundance book has just been policy ideas that have been accumulating from the past, like, five to 10 years. And then they just put it together in one book and made it kind of like a 101, like, policy intro course for people.
Tim Miller
Let me steel, man. Then the smartest opponent of Tara and who pushes back on you. Because what you see, like, when I was watching Ezra and Sam Sader debate, the argument is basically that the real enemy here is not the regulations. It's not the red tape, it's not the NIMBYs. It's like the corporations and the rich hedge fund guys that are buying up all the houses and the Airbnb that are buying up all the houses. What do you say to that argument?
Tara Hoops
I think he also threw in something about vacancy rates, which is, like, hilarious because, like, right now, New York has, like, the lowest vacancy rate that it has had in years, and it's at, like, the 1% level. So it's like, okay, great, we do everything with those, like, vacant houses. That's still not enough supply.
Cameron Caskey
So how many.
Tara Hoops
Sorry, I was just going to say it's not enough supply for everyone to be able to have a home. That would be enough to lower the cost of housing in New York City. So. Sorry, you go ahead.
Cameron Caskey
I was just going to say what? How many starter family homes do you think blackrock should be allowed to buy? And how many Airbnb do you think one person should be allowed to own in a city that's having a housing issue? Like, this is another where do we draw the line question is, like, I get the thing on the vacancy rates and everything, but you do. It's worth noting that stuff like Airbnb and stuff like giant corporations buying out all of these homes and, like, bidding against single mothers for houses. That seems like one of the too far examples, right?
Tara Hoops
I think there was some story that came out, like, a bit ago where they stated some insane statistic on, like, how many houses, like houses like blackrock actually owned. And it was like a shocking number. I believe it, like, was published in the Jacobin, and if they actually owned that amount of housing, like, wow, that would be terrible. And then they realized that the Number was fabricated and it was much lower. So the idea of like how many housing, like houses unit that BlackRock owns is much smaller than we think it to be. And when it comes to Airbnb, I know that New York City has a short term rental ban completely. The people who profited off that the most were the hotels, because that is the only place that you, if you were going to visit New York, which many people do, that's the only place they could stay. They know people want to stay there so they can jack up the prices. But what the city council is looking to do is instead amend that and allow a certain amount of days that people could stay in these rental units and for someone to at least be owning one unit per person, because a lot of people use this to supplement their income. So a complete ban on short term rentals did nothing to make rent lower in New York City. Rent is still increasing in New York. Nothing there to amend that and instead say, okay, we get it, we don't want one person to own 40 Airbnbs. That doesn't make sense. But to allow people to be able to supplement their income and also make it easier for tourists to come into New York and use those short term rentals, that makes sense.
Cameron Caskey
So the amount of houses BlackRock owns right now is fine.
Tara Hoops
I don't know the exact percent.
Tim Miller
What would you like to do, Cameron? Would you like, you'd like, you'd like Mayor Zoran to like, ban to put a limit on who can buy houses? Is that what you think?
Cameron Caskey
I think there should be a limit on how many properties corporation can own. Yeah, I think individual could own. Corporations are individuals.
Tim Miller
I guess corporations are people, my friend.
Cameron Caskey
Yeah, yeah. Citizens United has made, has made corporations the protagonists of the United States. But no, I don't think corporations should be allowed to own that many houses. I think they can have. They could pick a handful. But I think that that has just been extremely devastating to the housing market.
Tara Hoops
I think if you want corporations to own less amount of housing, I can understand that argument. You have to make the permitting process easier first. Because right now, as it stands, the people who are going to be able to get the financing to go through the long permitting process, to even get construction to build, it's not going to be your uncle who lives down the street from you. It is going to be people who are experts in this field who understand how to navigate this long process and they're the ones who are going to be able to build this housing for a much cheaper rate than one person would. Be able to do themselves.
Cameron Caskey
And what about the houses that are already built?
Tara Hoops
Well, like I said before, I don't think the vacancy rate is low enough for us. Even if we were able to just flood everyone into those homes where it would have any meaningful impacts on the market. I agree. I. This is a yes. And I'm not saying like we shouldn't do any of those things. I just think we could also be doing more.
Tim Miller
This is the thing that's confusing to me that both of you that I'm happy that we have hashed this out because I still don't even really understand cam's argument. And the thing is though, it appears to me that almost all of the Gen Zs are attracted to the argument the CAM is putting forth, which I can't really understand. I'm hoping to social. I'm hoping somebody can give me a social construction for why young people who are really struggling to get into the housing market for whom there's a huge shortage of housing, like it would seem like this would be the number one issue and there'd be like little 19 year olds running around with like, build me a house, build me a house. And like that's not really happening. And I can't, I can't figure it. Do you have any theories on that either?
Tara Hoops
I. If you want to go from like a social construct point of view, I think, I think it kind of correlates with the whole. Have you guys heard of like the term vibe session?
Tim Miller
Of course, yeah.
Tara Hoops
And I love that term. It's by Kyla Scanlon. I think she uses it so well. And it's just to describe how when you have a bunch of economists who are putting out all these charts and saying like the economy is actually doing fine and then you open the news and you talk to your friends and you're like, this is all terrible. We are never going to own a home. There are no jobs. This is really bad. And using the term vibe session is able to say like, I understand your concerns. I am also a zoomer who like thinks about the future job market, wonders when I'm going to be able to afford a home, and thinks like, yeah, we could be doing better. But at the same time it's like that makes it very easy to jump to. Well, there's someone to blame here. It's not me. I was just born into this. I was sold. Hey, American dream. You go to school, go to college, jobs will be there for you because you worked hard. And the second that's not delivering to you, it's like, I did all the steps. What are you talking about? Why can't I still afford housing? So it's very easy to be like, well, clearly there's some larger entity at hand. And then when you juxtapose that next to the Trump administration where you saw the inauguration and you saw people like Elon Musk standing there, it's like, these people are running an authoritarian regime where they have a lot of wealth, we can all understand that. And they're living their lives. Making my life worse. So it all has to do with a select few because it is even.
Tim Miller
Appealing to young right wing zoomers like Trump, who was a fucking builder his whole life. Like, all he did was build, like the only thing he ever did. He didn't really build anything, actually. He just put his name on shit that was already built. But his like, brand is like, I'm a builder. And yet, like, it's not just the young left folks that aren't like rallying around abundance. I saw this cute picture of a Ezra Klein meetup and it was like nine white nerds. And I was like, I love you guys, it's so cute. But like, you guys are so cute. But like, so it's not just the left people that aren't like really being drawn to it. It's like the young right wing kids. You would think that with fucking Trump as their avatar, they'd be like, let's build big gaudy fucking apartments so I can get cheaper housing in Phoenix and Tampa and wherever I want to live. And they're not doing that either. Like that Trump got. They're blocking housing building. The Trump administration is.
Cameron Caskey
Trump doesn't say it's a problem. And if Trump doesn't say it's a problem, they're not going to think it's a problem. Even if a problem is directly affecting their lives, if MAGA isn't making them scared about it, they're not going to have anything to say. So but I think in terms of Gen Zs across the board not mobilizing on this and taking to the streets and everything. In terms of vibes, I think the vibes are just so bad that people are having a very hard time focusing on the more complicated situations where lending your voice to something is a little bit more complicated. I didn't hear any Gen zers other than the fucking nerds during the Harris campaign talking about how Kamala Harris was going to give you $20,000 or something for a starter home. Like, that's not a topic. Like, they're Eating the cats, they're eating the dogs that people can really easily.
Tara Hoops
About her housing plan.
Tim Miller
Well, you're one of the nerds he was talking about. Maybe we should come up with something. Maybe there's like, an inverse. They're eating the cats, they're eating the dogs. You know, like, Maybe, like the NIMBYs, maybe. Could we make fun of how the NIMBYs eat stuff? Maybe. Is there something that the NIMBYs could eat that you could easily brand? Um, I think they're eating your.
Tara Hoops
You know, I would say I'll. I'll give the Yimby some credit. Even, like, five years ago, when I first graduated in, like, 2020, Yimbyism was, like, not popular. Like, no one knew what it meant. If I said the word yimbi be like, what. What the fuck is that? So I will give them credit where it is something that people are talking about, even if it's getting a lot of pushback. So I. I believe, like, there is some growth there, because, like I said, it's much easier to look at the headlines and look at everything around you and be like, who's the. Who's the fucking blame here? Instead, it's a really complicated issue where it requires you to go through, like, housing bills, like, permitting processes. Like, I get bored sometimes writing some of the things that I talk about on the rebuild, but it's like, it's important stuff. And my job is figuring out a way to go on Twitter and make it seem like, hey, this is stuff you should fucking care about. Because, like, this is your livelihood. Like, the rent. I mean, your rent is always going to be, like, the largest share of where your income goes to. So it's always going to be, like, the number one thing on the top of your mind when you get a paycheck is like, okay, a lot of this is going to go to my rent or my monthly mortgage, even though a lot of us don't obviously own homes.
Tim Miller
Yeah. So I want you to have an admission moment. I've seen all the Bernie guys coming for you. So do you want to, like, come clean? Have you. Have you ever voted for a Republican? Like, did you support Mike Bloomberg's campaign? Do you have any secret views? Do you want to ban abortion at week five? Do you have any secret Republican views you want to come clean about right now on FYpod?
Tara Hoops
No. I am, like, a really normie Democrat. I probably shouldn't say the word normie because I'm a freak who's online quite a bit, and a weird nerd But I am. It's funny because, like, I gotten a lot of this hate, like, recently, and they. People honestly believe, like, Steve Jobs has resurrected himself to, like, tweet on my account and, like, everything I'm putting out there, or just tech in general, everything I'm putting out there is just, like, some hidden, like, tech agenda. Like, if you scroll back on my Twitter, I have said the same things always. Like, I've always been very vocal in what I believe. It. Like, I just was never. I could understand Bernie's appeal, and I didn't say anything bad about him. So I was really confused why they were so mad at me. I didn't disagree with him either. I kept, like, waiting for him to.
Cameron Caskey
You can sneeze.
Tara Hoops
I never said you can.
Cameron Caskey
You can sneeze in the wrong direction, and the Bernie crowd will find a reason to get upset with you. There's nothing that progressive activists love more than taking people who believe a lot of the same things as them and making sure that those people suffer as miserably as possible. You see that with some of the attacks they're sending to Zo Run. Zoran said something along the lines of, you know, Israel's allowed to exist. And then there were pro Palestine protesters shouting him down at some sort of event. And it's like, yeah, okay, Zoran, who is extremely vocal, Yes, I might be.
Tim Miller
Getting negatively polarized into liking Zo Ron all of a sudden, will you send me. Will you send me these protests? That might be the best way to get me out of the side.
Cameron Caskey
I mean, I saw some tweet that was like, because the video leaked, I don't think it was something that was, like, published, and someone was like, oh, my God, the Zoran campaign's got to be so fucking happy that this video came out. But, yeah, so it's like, you see that type of thing, and it's like, okay, if Zoran is not. With all the things he said about Israeli war crimes, if he's not going to be pro Palestine enough for you, then great. You can go to Palestinian icon Andrew Cuomo and anti apartheid king Eric Adams, and you can go see what they're going to deliver you. So, Tara, I can only imagine that you can tweet, hey, everybody, I hope you have a positive morning. And, you know, the. The crowd of lefties that I hang out with are going to be.
Tim Miller
Are going to Sam Altman Chill.
Tara Hoops
Oh, yeah. I get crazy things said to me, and I'm just like, I don't. Are we reading this? Like, they'll always screenshot my tweet and, like, send it back to me. Like, look what you said. I was like, I know. I wrote it. Like, why are you sending this back to me? I'm.
Cameron Caskey
So who would you say is the most atrocious person you get accused of light of, like, stanning, Like, Because I'm sure people say that you're maga. Of course people said that I was MAGA when I was saying Joe Biden was too old. But, like, other than that, you know when people are like, oh, Tara, you must love.
Tara Hoops
No, because I've been, like, pretty vocal against Elon's. Actually, no, I have had some people said I was a fan of dojo. I was like, I've never said that, so I don't know where you're pulling these things from. So someone also accused me of being against immigrants, and I was like, ha. What? Like. So I. I'm trying to think of, like, someone specifically, but I did have one tweet where I said, it's like, oh, like, how do you. Like, how did Democrats, like, move forward and things like that? And I said, like, own the own MAGA by delivering basic services. Well, like, do that first and every. Like, I had a couple of people be like, she's a fucking Republican. We knew it.
Tim Miller
Yeah. And I was like, okay, yeah, you are. I've seen a lot of evidence. Okay, well, so how about this? I have some zoomer marriage questions I want to get to, and we obviously have Boomer Mailbag and a new segment I'm very excited about. But first, just. I gave you a chance to admit any secret Republican traits you had. You wouldn't, which is kind of suspicious, actually. And so I want to give you a chance also to own marriage.
Tara Hoops
I think marriage is good. Is that a replacement?
Tim Miller
Oh, you're against gay marriage? One man, one woman.
Tara Hoops
No. Stop trying to get me canceled. I never said that.
Tim Miller
Oh, I heard it.
Tara Hoops
But getting married young, I guess, or. I don't even think it's young. I think it's.
Tim Miller
Yeah. Trad. Are you identifying kind of as, like, a trad wife?
Tara Hoops
No, it's like, my older. I do cook dinner. I don't clean them. I'm really messy, so.
Tim Miller
Wow. You might as well be a Josh Hawley fan if you're cooking dinner and getting married young. Okay, so on the other side of the coin, I want you to give me, like, a quick, like, what are the worst things Donald Trump has done? Just, like, just cook. Just be like, Donald Trump. You're a fucking cunt. Go.
Tara Hoops
I mean the first thing that comes to mind is just immigration. I remember when he. The birthright citizenship thing is just like if that was trying to be passed when I was born, like I would not be able to be a citizen of the United States. It is like unfathomable to even think of. In the freeze land we have freaking Ellis island in New York saying give me everyone. We want everyone to thrive here. And yet we now have an administration that is trying to get rid of just anyone. Also, JD Vance and his whole rhetoric on how immigration immigrants are stealing your housing, like that's just not true. That is not true. If you got rid of all immigrants, housing would go up. It is just.
Tim Miller
Yeah, because they're building the house.
Tara Hoops
Yeah, think about that.
Tim Miller
Other things, not JD's lazy ass Appalachian fentanyl out family. They're not building the houses. Sorry. He wrote the book about it.
Tara Hoops
Yeah, no, I know. Just the way you described it was hilarious. I mean there's just so many things that he does and it's part of their whole like flood the zone. They do so many horrible things. So it all becomes little blips that you forget about. And it, it works so well. But the first thing that comes to mind is immigration the way they are just like degrowthing and taking the economy like own nothing. How dare you want five dolls for Christmas. Also attributing the idea of consuming goods and owning material possessions as a feminine childish thing to do is the point. That is what they are trying to do. They're making you trying to seem weak for wanting to own cheap things. That is absurd. This entire tariff thing is just stupid. I don't know how he is considered a pro business president or admin. It just. There's a lot I can keep going.
Tim Miller
It's a good start. Cam, did you have any other political things you wanted to hit before I. Before I moved us to Pinterest content? I've been stalking your Pinterest page.
Cameron Caskey
I do have one more liberal thing I want to hit. Okay, Chris, if you could pull up the video of the Republicans falling asleep. This just comes to mind because, Tara, you were talking about JD Vance blaming on immigrants and I was like, you know, one of the things that maga's doing right now with health care is they are pushing this insane lie that immigrants are getting health care from the state and they just went for this atrocious bill to strip millions of people of their health care. And we're gonna put a clip of how one of the Republicans feels about it right now. Yeah, he. He doesn't seem very interested.
Tim Miller
It was a long night.
Tara Hoops
It was like 30 hours.
Tim Miller
Oh, look at her now. Now the true tar is coming out defending the falling asleep Republicans because they were.
Tara Hoops
They got at a Democrat woman and I was like, it was 30 hours.
Cameron Caskey
I would also doze off Jan Shakowski, who, who is cat is running to replace. She. She's stepping down. Yeah, that's Jan. At least Jan stayed alive.
Tim Miller
Google.
Cameron Caskey
Google Jan Schakowski husband. Google Jan Schakowski husband fraud. And. And let me know how you feel about it. Okay, so the punchline of this video is that I have sympathy for all of them. That was fucking all nighter. I don't blame any of them for being asleep. I. But I see people on Twitter that are pissing me off because they're only talking about the old people and it's like, no, dude, there was a 44 year old Republican who was also sleepy Joeing it. It's like, yeah, they were tired. They were governmenting all night. I'm sorry, I'm pro sleep.
Tara Hoops
No, I, I am completely with you there. If anything, I just always think of the chart. It was who did it, like Republicans or Democrats. And the end thing is like, fuck Democrats, like no matter what. And like that is how it felt for the past ever since Trump got elected. I'm like, we are not in power. We are the minority and yet people always yell at us. And I'm just like. And I criticize the Democrats so much, but like too much of it makes me want to like become some DNC hack and just be like, you know what? They're doing everything. They can. Leave them alone.
Tim Miller
Maybe you and Harry Sisson can have a spin off pod, just kind of go full Harry. Nothing wrong with that. We love Harry. We honor full DNC shill content. There's nothing, there's nothing wrong with that. The sleeping. I got to just say in Jan Szakowski's defense, she stayed alive. Which was pretty important, it turns out, because three Democrats died in the first five months of this year and Republicans only passed the bill by one vote. So I'm not a math major, but it seems like it would have been pretty helpful for the Democrats to have people who are better at doing the job of staying alive. And in Congress, when you don't fucking do anything except vote like five times a year, staying alive seems especially important.
Cameron Caskey
I think you sound ageist, Tim, and I'm gonna comment Bulwarkers. Join me in the comment section to tell Tim how ageist he is. You guys are always calling me ageist. I need you to team up with me this time and call out Tim for his answer.
Tim Miller
Is it ageist to request that congresspeople maintain the ability to vote via life?
Cameron Caskey
You should be respecting senior citizens, Tim. How dare you? I think you ought to be.
Tim Miller
Nothing but respect for all of the congressmen. I think probably, though, they could have found fulfillment elsewhere in life. They could have, you know, let someone else who was a little more vigorous replace them. And they could have.
Cameron Caskey
They could have done that and then gone on a media tour talking about how they would have won the election. They could have done all of those great things. They could have George Bushed it and just started painting.
Tara Hoops
I wish everyone would go, George Bush. Oh, my God. The second you hit, like, 65 and 70, you done. That's it.
Tim Miller
Paint another secret Republican. Tara. Tara's loving the George Bush post presidency. It's slowly but surely it's seeping out. Slowly but surely it is seeping out. So my main complaint about the Democrats in that vote yesterday was inability to maximize the number of people alive to vote against it. But with the Republicans, I think the main complaint is that the bill is fucking garbage. You're not. You cannot possibly have good feelings about the big beautiful turd, do you, Tara?
Tara Hoops
Oh, my God, no, I have. Have you seen any of the tweets? It's just, this is all so it's hard to watch.
Tim Miller
I counted. You did? You've done 30 tweets in the last 48 hours. It's hard for me.
Tara Hoops
No way have I. That's embarrassing. I should get a life. That's so weird.
Tim Miller
Okay, so a couple of them were about how the turd is bad.
Tara Hoops
I think if all of them. It has just been so. It's the largest wealth transfer we've ever seen right in front of our eyes. It is just despicable to take all of those. All that tax cut for people above 500k a year while cutting Medicare, health care, and SNAP, which is food for poor people. That is comically evil. Like, we. Like, we have to point these things out when they happen.
Tim Miller
It is comically evil. Okay. To wedding content. I know what everybody's been waiting for. So you are. I mean, these days you're kind of young, and my mom got married at 22 and look at how well, how well I turned out. So there's nothing wrong with that. And maybe even younger was I born. I was born when she was 22. I think she was married at 21. So that is kind of young. Like, were you your first. Were you the first of your friends, or do you have other friends that have gotten married?
Tara Hoops
Oh, I was the first of my friends. It was really funny when my two best friends are helping me, like, get the wedding dress on. Like, no one knew how to work the buttons. Like, my makeup artist had to come over because she was like, I was tired of watching you guys struggle. I had no clue. I have no clue how to do wedding. To this day, I still don't know which has happened. It was terrible. I hate wedding planning. I hate wedding planning so much. Oh, my God. I hate being a bride. I didn't even really want to do a bachelorette or any of these things. Did not do a bridal shower.
Tim Miller
Not true. False fact check. Not only did you want to do a bachelorette, you have a Pinterest page about your bachelorette. That is. I had to say. I had to say. This was. I think this is the big Republican reveal for me. It was a Nashville bachelorette where you have a cowboy. You have a cowboy hat theme. I mean, if that doesn't say basic Republican zoomer wedding, then I don't know what else would. Tara. So talk to us about the Nashville Bachelorette. Were there any Republicans in the group in the bachelorettes?
Tara Hoops
No, I don't think so. No.
Tim Miller
Interesting.
Cameron Caskey
Have any of your friends. Because you said you're from New York City.
Tara Hoops
Yeah.
Cameron Caskey
Have any of your lib friends from New York City been passive aggressive to you about the wedding and made those types of comments about, like, oh, my God, you're doing it so young.
Tara Hoops
Oh, my God. I had. Actually, there was this one person, like, the day I got engaged, I think she also got married young, and she, like, looked at me. She was like. Were you also nervous that you were really young and thought it was a bit too soon? I was like, I've.
Cameron Caskey
I'm.
Tara Hoops
I just got engaged, like, an hour ago. That was the first thing. I was like, no, I wasn't thinking that. Were you thinking that?
Tim Miller
Did anybody ask you if you were pregnant?
Tara Hoops
You know, my friend did tell me. She was like, you know, everyone's think you're gonna pop out with a kid soon. I was like, what? First of all, do I look fat?
Cameron Caskey
And as somebody who is 24 and not married, but planning to be married within the next 18 months, I don't know to whom yet, but I would like my wedding to be within about two years.
Tim Miller
I have some ideas, Tim.
Cameron Caskey
If Toulouse could be the flower girl, that would be very adorable.
Tim Miller
Hell, Yeah, I also just keep waiting for more people to ask me to be an officiant because I'm a fucking amazing officiant. So, you know.
Tara Hoops
Oh, he'll be a good one.
Tim Miller
You should ask him anyway, no pressure.
Cameron Caskey
Well, I was just gonna say while I'm picturing my fairy tale wedding, I am so excited to plan it and I want you to kind of tell me why I ought to be afraid. Because I think about my princess wedding all the time. It is going to be so extravagant. I'm gonna give Tim Miller a seven drink minimum. And that's not for the party, that's for the reception. I want him to be fucking sloshed while I'm walking up the aisle.
Tara Hoops
As. I mean, the day itself was amazing because there's a lot of young people. We all blacked out. I had so many people who had planes the next day and it was, it just looked bad at that airport. I also had a 20 hour flight the next day to Thailand. So it was, it was not a fun next day for me. But the day of was just like incredible. It was beautiful. Walking down the aisle and like looking at him was just like, I can replay in my head all the time. And you're also with like everyone you've ever loved in your entire life in one place. It's just, you just feel really grateful. And I just said thank you to everyone. Like, thank you so much for coming here. Like, because it was in Santa Barbara and like everyone's on the east Coast. Like, this is so nice. But the planning process is just like, it's a lot of little things where you need to like, put like a lot of thought into it. Like, we never did like any of the food tasting, the cake tasting, like, any of that. I got my veil off Etsy the week before because I forgot that I needed that, the dress for me. I do pride myself in my clothing and fashion. So I was like, oh God, this is really freaking nice. So I like kept going back and forth if I wanted something like trendy or classic. And I've probably tried on every single wedding dress that there is known to man. So that took a lot of time.
Tim Miller
Where'd you land?
Tara Hoops
It's just like a lot trendy or classic. It was more classic. It was just like a strapless kind of like corsetti that came out a little bit.
Cameron Caskey
Okay, wait, I'm sorry. This is my favorite thing we've ever done on the show. What was the bridesmaid col?
Tara Hoops
Oh, I didn't do bridal party because I felt like it would be too much work. I was a very type B bride. I was like, that's no bridezilla.
Cameron Caskey
I'm going to be such a bridezilla.
Tim Miller
What about. What about music? Have the Gen Z's. Have you updated the music? Like, you didn't have black eyed tees or anything, right? Do we have EDM or something?
Tara Hoops
So the DJ sent me his playlist and I thought it was just. He was just gonna play like top 100, which is like, whatever, go crazy. And it was still Black Eyed Peas and like all those things. I'm like, oh, they don't move on from the out. That's. That's scary. So I had to do a whole Spotify thing and I spent hours on that. That one carried on top.
Cameron Caskey
Who are the. Who are the top five artists that made it the most to your wedding rotation?
Tara Hoops
I had some chaperone. I'm a big Taylor Swift fan. I have a 13 tattooed on me, which I just realized Ms. 13, I could get the one.
Tim Miller
Oh, you both have Ms. 13 tattoos.
Cameron Caskey
Mine is 2, 14, 20. Not that. Not that fucking ice knows how to count. But anyway, I'm good.
Tara Hoops
Okay, Cam, don't make this about you.
Tim Miller
I'm good.
Cameron Caskey
I am also a Taylor Swift fan.
Tim Miller
Okay. You might want to update that T. There are a lot of different Taylor Swift themed basic bitch chats out there in the world. Just for safety sake, you just might want to embarrassing.
Cameron Caskey
No, no, no, no. Take the. The three and make it an E and take the one and make it the. The R. And then you could just make it lover.
Tara Hoops
Okay. It's like on my, like, rib cage. Like, there's not that it would be a little awkward.
Tim Miller
Tight.
Tara Hoops
It's. Yeah, it's not. It's just not a good.
Cameron Caskey
You know what else is awkward is. Is hanging out with Bukele over in El Salvador.
Tara Hoops
That's true. That's very true. I should. I should do something about this tattoo. I'd forgot Ms. 13 and I have 13 tattooed.
Tim Miller
Chapel and Taylor.
Tara Hoops
I'm trying to think what else. I had some country music because again, my husband's from Tennessee and we had some family members came by too. We did some. I did like 2016, like EDM music when it wasn't really EDM, it was like pop music. Because a lot of my high schoolers, Calvin Harris, it was from Calvin Harris Flume.
Tim Miller
Flume. Oh, yeah. All right.
Tara Hoops
Yeah.
Cameron Caskey
I literally only know Flume as the brand of nicotine vape that I used to enjoy.
Tara Hoops
Oh, that's gross.
Cameron Caskey
Have you ever seen how many people.
Tim Miller
Were vaping at the wedding? A lot of vaping.
Tara Hoops
A lot of people vape. But I'm really worried for my generation. They're all gonna die.
Tim Miller
A lot of.
Tara Hoops
I'm not a fan of vaping.
Tim Miller
You can't find a fucking cigarette at the weddings these days.
Cameron Caskey
Wait, real quick. I'm going to. Yes. And that. Yes, gonna die from vaping. I vaped too much. I'm gonna have some real hard times. Especially since part of why, you know, you, you do something at our age that you know is unhealthy is because we sort of had this understanding that like, oh, by the time we're old enough to pay the piper for this, there's going to be some medical research that. And it's like, no. Then Trump gets elected and the cancer studies that have been going on for fucking 15 years get cut. And now I do have to pay the piper for vaping. But anyway, yes to that. And I think vaping is something similar to tick tock in the sense that it's something that gets associated very much with Gen Z. But it's like I know some, I know some people way older than Gen Z who are vaping. Like vaping isn't.
Tara Hoops
Older people did it first because it's how they transitioned from cigarettes.
Cameron Caskey
It was like, yeah, it had the reverse effect on me. I'm sorry to my parents who are listening. I stopped. I haven't touched anything in over a year. Calm down. But I, I started vaping because I was hanging out with cool kids in high school and they handed me the nicotine vape. And I was like, I, you know, I'm cool, I can. And I hit the nicotine vape. And then I started to really enjoy the nicotine vape. And then I enjoyed the nicotine vape so much that I was like, wait a second, I hear there's a plant based alternative to nicotine vaping called cigarettes. And a guy who looks exactly like Beto o' Rourke, so very hot, handed me a cigarette at one, at one of the prom after parties that was in San Francisco, famous for its housing. He handed me the brand and suddenly like, this is the, this is the coolest thing in the world.
Tara Hoops
So you do when you smoke a cigarette. I'll give it that.
Cameron Caskey
I know, but, but, but it's not cool to have smoked the cigarette. So to anybody who's watching this show, just hold it. You don't, you don't have to inhale. Hold it and light it and just hold it like this. And that is Big Tobacco's message to the FYpod.
Tara Hoops
This is a throwback. Do you remember that book that was really big in. Oh, God. It was two kids with cancer and the guy owned a cigarette. Yes. Yeah. He held the cigarette. He was like, keep the thing that could kill you, like, closest to you at all times. And you're like, that's beautiful. That is.
Cameron Caskey
A girl who was. A girl who was into me in high school told me that I reminded her of him, and I wasn't even into her, but I still watched the movie because of that.
Tara Hoops
Oh, Ansel Elgort.
Cameron Caskey
Well, not. Not Ansel Elgort per se. The character from the movie.
Tim Miller
I watched that movie. I think I was really high, though, because I don't remember the plot at all.
Cameron Caskey
Turns out it's just one of those, like ya things that, you know, takes an issue and handles it poorly but puts a romance. Good for you.
Tim Miller
All right, we need to get to our new segment before we leave, and I just want to just come clean with everybody. I've sent two tweets during this podcast. A couple times, you guys started talking, and I was like, I'm getting bored. The new segment is Gen Z React. I was on TikTok the other night, which I do when I can't sleep, which is really healthy, and I saw this young guy talk about millennials and millennial bosses, and it really. It kind of struck a nerve. So I want to hear your reaction. Working with millennials is so funny. I was talking to one of my managers, and she just got a new dog, and I was like, oh, how's the dog?
Cameron Caskey
Like, is it situating well in your home? Just making small talk?
Tara Hoops
She just goes, yeah, it's been good, but he's just been humping a lot. What do you want?
Tim Miller
How do I react to that, ma' am? You just talk. Why are you guys struggling? What does that have to do with the boss being a millennial? She was just. She was just making small talk. He asked how the dog was, and she said, the dog's been humping. It wasn't like she took out her vag. Like, what. What was wrong with that?
Cameron Caskey
Could you explain to me, take out a vag? Like, what is the action of taking out.
Tara Hoops
I've never heard that before.
Cameron Caskey
She whipped out her vagina.
Tim Miller
She didn't rip out her vagina. She didn't flash him. You know, she wasn't like. Like, what was the problem? I don't understand the problem.
Tara Hoops
I. I don't.
Tim Miller
I Feel like your people have to invent problems that don't exist because of social anxiety?
Tara Hoops
No, no, we definitely do. I would never post that on TikTok. Especially when you're talking about work, like digital footprint. Do we remember that? Like, it's. That's insane. It's gonna come back to you. It's just like a weird way to like, go through a normal conversation that any average person would not spend two seconds thinking about. Like, they typically would be like, okay, and just like, go about their day. But the intrinsic need that we have as zoomers to instead, like, record it and like, discuss it and put it out there is very funny to me. And in fact, I admire their dedication to content creation.
Tim Miller
Cam, do I ever make you uncomfortable with Millennial?
Cameron Caskey
I'm trying to think of the shit that my millennial boss talks to me about. Like, when we're not talking about the show, we're either talking about our mutual millennial friend or basketball. And like, when you do talk about stuff from home, it's your daughter who's like, so adorable. I'm like, keep, keep cooking, bro. I want to hear all of it.
Tim Miller
Occasionally I give you a little gay bar banter.
Cameron Caskey
Yeah, but gay bar banter is fun. And like, those are the only bars I can ever actually enjoy being in because I really don't like crowds and I don't like loud music and stuff like that. But I'm at a gay bar. It's just the vibes are so good. I was at, you know, the green lantern in D.C. oh, yeah, yeah. I had a great time at the Green Lantern.
Tim Miller
Tara, you've been to the Green Lantern?
Tara Hoops
Yes. This is all the gay bars.
Tim Miller
This is why the gay culture. This is ruined about gay culture.
Cameron Caskey
I finally got there when I was at. When I was at. Just real quick to what I was saying before. The only time my millennial boss makes me uncomfortable is on the show for all of you to see. So if you want to see Tim making me uncomfortable ever, just watch our backlog. We've got a spin off channel called Fypod Channel. It's where you get the full episode. And that is when my millennial boss made me uncomfortable. But back to the green lantern in D.C. gay bar. Lots of shirtless gays there. I was there.
Tim Miller
Sort of like a beefy gay kind of area. It's kind of where the muscle hairy gays go, kind of.
Cameron Caskey
To tell you the truth, I neglected to observe that. But I was there. I was there at the conference that I was just telling you guys about the annoying liberal content creators and everything, but it was last year's version. I went with a group of millennials, actually, and one of my friends was there, a friend of Ellie Schnit, former guest and former girlfriend of mine. She. She was a young woman who had recovered from cancer, and she had fought cancer very young, and she beat it because she is a very resilient and strong person. And she was like, wait, Cam, come with me for a second. And then she walked up to somebody and went, hey, which one of us do you think had cancer? And which one of us do you think survived a school shooting?
Tara Hoops
Oh, my God.
Tim Miller
That's a good bit. I love her energy, and I love, like, making people a little uncomfortable at the bar. Maybe that's a millennial trait of mine. I love getting out of the small talk space. That's all. Good. I just do have to say, if you're a woman, even if you're a cancer survivor, you're not really welcome at the Green Lantern after midnight. So I don't know what time it is. Yeah, I know.
Tara Hoops
I've been there. That late. I'm aware of.
Tim Miller
There's just a time limitation.
Tara Hoops
I get that. I've never been at a gay bar that late because my. My friends have taught me better than that. It's just. It's just not where I'm supposed to be. And I respect that.
Tim Miller
You can. Yeah. Everybody needs their own spaces. We've got. This has been. This has been so delightful. Before we get to the Boomer Mailbag, Cameron, do you have any other final questions about Gen Z anxiety or any other topics we need to touch?
Cameron Caskey
I just. Tara, you've really reminded me how excited I am for my wedding. So if any of you Bulwark listeners. If any of you Bulwark listeners have, like, a grandchild who you might want to set me up with, please feel free to write me. I'm on Twitter, amcaskey. Send in a connection to Boomer Mailbag so Tim can start see my potential betrothals. I'm excited.
Tim Miller
We should do, like, a speed dating thing. Like, kind of a live speed dating FY pod where I cam, you sit in a chair, and then we just bring.
Cameron Caskey
Okay, it's me. Okay.
Tim Miller
All right. It could be both, actually.
Tara Hoops
Table. I'll set you up with someone.
Cameron Caskey
Okay. We'll talk, but I was gonna say we have one table. I'm on one end. A sprightly young individual joins us on the other end, somebody who I could really talk to. And then moderating the Conversation. The Bulwark's very own Bill Crystal.
Tara Hoops
I think we love that.
Tim Miller
You might get Bill Crystal that way. Okay, Boomer, mailbag. All right, here we go. Final question. Mr. B is a Boomer. He's a repeat emailer and self described hate listener.
Tara Hoops
There's been so much hate about this gimmick.
Cameron Caskey
So am I, Mr. Baby.
Tim Miller
Have these kids listened to themselves? I just don't care. Seems to be their opinion on everything. Why give these kids a voice? Find the smart ones that have actually worked to develop an opinion. The privileged kiddos are just so annoying.
Cameron Caskey
This brings to mind one of my favorite Bulwark commenters. I love reading the comments because the ones that love us are very often nice and funny and the ones that hate us are almost always funny. But somebody commented on Monday's episode, this continues to be the best show Bulwark puts out, even though Cameron doesn't know anything about politics.
Tara Hoops
Oh.
Cameron Caskey
Which I think, I think I can't speak to the first half of that because I don't watch other Bulwark stuff. But to the latter half I can say, you know what? Compared to the other contributors to the Bulwark, that's probably true, but compared to your average bear in Gen Z, that was a. That was a Yogi Bear reference, not like your average fat, hairy gay guy. And also, if it's Gen Z, they'd probably be cubs. Anyway, we'll get into the gay stuff a later episode.
Tim Miller
Tara, have you consumed the show before this or is this your inaugural appearance?
Tara Hoops
No, I have. Yeah. I think it's.
Tim Miller
Do you think the other guests have been brain dead youth who don't know anything? I don't know what Mr. B is talking about. I have some bad news for Mr. B. I guess this is my answer. If you think the FY POD guests, people like Josh Rush, Jessica Burbank, who knows a lot about lefty politics. Kat Abu Ghazale, who's running for Congress. Natalie G. Okay, maybe Natalie Winters.
Cameron Caskey
James, running for Congress.
Tim Miller
Yeah, yeah. I mean, these people. Ed Elson knows about the stock market.
Tara Hoops
I like that.
Tim Miller
Drew Pavlov, how many books did he have behind us? He knew a lot about the Chinese Communist history.
Cameron Caskey
Literally. There are all these articles coming out that are like the Gen Z women running for Congress right now. It's like both of them are on our show. So as for young people.
Tim Miller
So if you think our guests can't read or are smart, you probably don't want to meet any other Gen Zs because it's getting pretty dumb.
Tara Hoops
Out there. What, was there a question in, like, the mailbag? What was the question?
Tim Miller
Yeah, the mailbag question was, why give these kids a voice? Oh, they're too dumb. They're too dumb to have an opinion. And I'm like, these are the best Gen Z has to offer that we've brought forth.
Cameron Caskey
I. If I could only care less. If I could only care less about certain things, I would sleep a lot easier at night. I'd probably have quite a bit more money. If I wasn't getting upset all the time about what's happening to teachers, if I wasn't getting upset about war and about deportations and all those things, my life. If I could be the Gen Z er that you're saying I am, you know, I would still be having some trouble on the housing market, but other than that, I would be having a very nice time. And if that is all we have to say to Mr. B. Tara, thank you so much for joining us. Congratulations on the wedding. I'm so happy for you.
Tara Hoops
Thank you.
Tim Miller
Very happy for you. We'll see you next week. Slay.
FYPod Episode 29: Housing Crisis Gets Worse! Cam’s Fairytale Wedding
Release Date: May 24, 2025
Hosts: Tim Miller and Cameron Caskey Guest: Tara Hoops
In the latest episode of FYPod, hosts Tim Miller and Cameron Caskey welcome Tara Hoops, a newlywed and policy analyst from The Bulwark's Chamber of Progress. Tara shares her journey from Queens, New York, to Washington D.C., and eventually Los Angeles, where she now collaborates on the Substack publication Rebuild with Gary Winslet. Their work focuses on critical policy areas such as infrastructure, housing, and energy.
Notable Quote:
Tim Miller [02:05]: "Did you recruit him? Is that what happened?"
The primary focus of the episode centers on the escalating housing crisis in America. Tara explains that despite low vacancy rates in cities like New York, the supply of affordable housing remains insufficient. She emphasizes the need for effective policy reform rather than blanket deregulation.
Key Points:
Infrastructure and Policy Shortcomings: Democrats have historically promised extensive reforms but failed to deliver on essential basics like housing and infrastructure, leading to urban discontent.
Regulation vs. Deregulation: Tara critiques existing regulations such as NEPA and CEQA, which, while initially intended to protect the environment, have been exploited to block housing developments. She argues for a balanced approach that reforms outdated policies to facilitate housing growth without compromising environmental standards.
Corporate Influence: The discussion touches on the impact of large corporations like BlackRock on the housing market. Tara debunks exaggerated claims about corporate ownership of housing units, noting that true figures are lower than some reports suggest.
Notable Quotes:
Tara Hoops [06:15]: "These policies started to block progress instead of protecting harms, and people started using them to instead just block anything."
Cameron Caskey [15:55]: "I think there should be a limit on how many properties corporations can own."
The conversation delves into the YIMBY (Yes In My Back Yard) versus NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) movements, highlighting the complexities within Gen Z's political landscape. Tara points out that both left- and right-leaning individuals can exhibit NIMBY tendencies, complicating efforts to increase housing supply.
Key Points:
Political Polarization: Tara discusses how both sides of the political spectrum have elements that resist housing developments, often using regulation as a tool to enforce their agendas.
Gen Z’s Political Alignment: Despite Gen Z's significant influence, their political engagement on housing issues appears limited. Tara suggests that societal "vibes" and a sense of helplessness contribute to Gen Z's challenges in mobilizing around housing policies.
Notable Quotes:
Cameron Caskey [21:22]: "Maybe there's something that the NIMBYs could eat that you could easily brand?"
Tara Hoops [18:10]: "It all has to do with a select few because it is even."
The hosts and Tara explore the broader theme of Gen Z's social anxiety and its impact on political activism. They discuss how economic uncertainties, such as the inability to afford housing, contribute to a sense of disenfranchisement among young voters.
Key Points:
Economic Pressures: High rent and mortgage costs dominate the financial concerns of Gen Z, overshadowing other political issues and dampening their willingness to engage in activism.
Social Construct Perspectives: Tara introduces the concept of "vibe sessions" to describe how economic data can clash with personal experiences, leading to frustration and a tendency to blame external factors rather than seeking collective solutions.
Notable Quotes:
Tara Hoops [18:23]: "It's very easy to jump to, well, there's someone to blame here. It's not me."
Tim Miller [19:56]: "Why give these kids a voice? Find the smart ones that have actually worked to develop an opinion."
Interspersed with the political discourse, Tara shares anecdotes about her recent wedding planning. She details the challenges of organizing a wedding, from dress selection to managing guest expectations, illustrating the personal side of Gen Z members balancing major life events amidst broader societal issues.
Key Points:
Wedding Planning Struggles: Tara candidly admits to hating wedding planning, highlighting common frustrations like choosing a dress and coordinating with friends.
Social Pressures: Friends and family often impose expectations on young couples, such as questioning the timing of marriage or assumptions about starting a family.
Notable Quotes:
Tara Hoops [34:36]: "Walking down the aisle and looking at him was just like, I can replay in my head all the time."
Cameron Caskey [37:15]: "While I'm picturing my fairy tale wedding, I am so excited to plan it and I want you to kind of tell me why I ought to be afraid."
The episode concludes with light-hearted segments, including a discussion on Gen Z's interactions with millennials and the introduction of the "Boomer Mailbag," where the hosts address criticisms from older generations.
Key Points:
Intergenerational Tensions: Tim Miller expresses frustration with Boomer critics who dismiss Gen Z's opinions, while Cameron and Tara defend the intelligence and engagement of young political voices.
Humorous Exchanges: The hosts engage in playful banter about generational differences, vaping, and workplace dynamics, providing a balance to the more serious discussions.
Notable Quotes:
Tim Miller [52:03]: "If you think our guests can't read or are smart, you probably don't want to meet any other Gen Zs because it's getting pretty dumb out there."
Cameron Caskey [54:10]: "If I could only care less about certain things, I would sleep a lot easier at night."
Episode 29 of FYPod offers a comprehensive examination of the worsening housing crisis through the lens of Gen Z's political engagement and societal challenges. Tara Hoops provides expert analysis on policy reforms needed to address housing shortages, while also sharing personal experiences that humanize the broader issues facing younger generations. The episode successfully balances in-depth political discourse with relatable personal stories, making complex topics accessible to a wider audience.
Overall Notable Quotes:
Tara Hoops [22:51]: "This is your livelihood. Like, the rent. Your rent is always going to be the largest share of where your income goes."
Tim Miller [35:15]: "What's the case that they make that it, like, has a point? Because I have trouble seeing it."
Episode Takeaways:
Policy Reform Over Deregulation: Effective solutions to the housing crisis require thoughtful reforms of existing regulations rather than outright deregulation.
Gen Z's Role: Empowering Gen Z through policy engagement and addressing their economic anxieties is crucial for future political landscapes.
Personal Narratives Matter: Integrating personal experiences with policy discussions can enhance understanding and relatability among listeners.
Tune in next week for more sharp insights into America’s youngest voters on FYPod.