John Oliver warns homeowners about the perils of the "hippie capitalism" of PACE loans
Viewers under 35 can go on paying rent until they die, however
TV News John Oliver
With the former guy spinning his golf cart wheels crashing memorial services like a white supremacist Bill Murray and embarking on a cultist-fleecing barnstorming tour alongside a fellow accused sex offender, John Oliver has had some free time to focus on other things. This first post-Trump Last Week Tonight season has seen the relieved but no less acerbic host taking on and taking down such backlogged societal evils as sketchy companies infiltrating your local news content, the human rotisserie that is the sweltering American prison system, and the predatory hucksterism of personal bankruptcy firms. For, as much as it’s tempting to lay all the blame for every evil, racist, and blatantly fraudulent thing at the feet of the admitted fake university conman and mail-order steak pitchman who inexplicably became president, there’s plenty of money-grubbing chicanery to go around.
Take the PACE program. And here, in keeping with Oliver’s up-top disclaimer before his main story on this “well-meaning” but “fundamentally flawed” home improvement loan program, we’ll just go ahead and give readers born after 1985 a free pass to skip this one. You’re going to be renting forever, while the once-ubiquitous dream of American home ownership recedes further and further into the mists of capitalistic caprice and unforgiven college loan payments. Anyway, now that it’s just the oldies still in the room, Oliver ran through all the reasons why those 35-plus homeowners should slam the door on PACE just as hard as their osteoporotic hands will allow.
Noting that the “well-intentioned” part of this push to have homeowners improve the energy efficiency of their heat-leaky abodes is undeniable, Oliver explained that, in actuality, the program (touted by both former President Barack Obama and current President Joe Biden) represents “A cautionary tale about how good intentions, when not paired with careful, smart design, can end with disaster.” You know, like losing that house you’ve lived in comfortably for thirty years while your liberal arts-educated kids sweat out monthly rental payments alongside their college loans.
That’s because, as Oliver lays out with only a single interruption from a startled and annoyed George Clooney (Oliver can summon The Midnight Sky star with an errant finger-snap, as shown all season), PACE relies on an unholy snarl of largely unregulated independent contractors to install all those expensive solar panels and such. Noting that PACE is the brainchild of self-described “capitalist hippie” and guy whose name sounds like “he’s about to gentrify jazz,” Cisco Devries, Oliver went on to trace the many ways that, when capitalism and good intentions team up, it’s the ’roided-up capitalist grifter that ultimately takes the victory lap.
There’s the way that high-pressure contractors speed homeowners through a process whose “no money down” promises conveniently obscure potentially crippling property tax hikes, and the fact that enrolling in PACE automatically puts a priority lien on your house. And that fact that, as is always the case, these firms like the oh-so-cleverly named Ygrene (“energy” spelled backward, in an unintentionally telling self-own) habitually push hardest in low income, minority, non-English-speaking, and elderly and/or mentally infirm communities. Or how, when pressed on camera by reporters asking just who’s responsible for, say, and elderly gay couple losing their home thanks to a contractor’s escalating estimates for home improvements, everyone from the PACE companies to the contractors themselves shunt the blame onto the consumers for not seeing the potentially disastrous deal they were being rushed to accept.
Oliver stressed once more that investing in renewable and responsible clean energy is something we as a nation should definitely be focused on. But, since a functional human mind not addled by screeching Fox News talking points and “owning the libs” on Twitter can keep two inconvenient truths operating at the same time, he also said that PACE ain’t the way to go. Especially since, as he put it, “We shouldn’t be putting vulnerable people in a position where they are losing their homes.” As Oliver concluded (after a customary, HBO-mandated protest from Ygrene that they’re totally blameless in this mess, etc), the most loving thing his transiently housed, under-35 viewers can do is to advise their parents that, when a PACE-peddling contractor knocks on the door, a simple “KCUF FFO” is the wisest response. The people from Ygrene will be able to translate that just fine.
84 Comments
We’re running out of stuff to talk about, aren’t we
Lol thought the same thing
Agreed. I started to watch Oliver last year and was entertained but this season is boring. I’m kind of surprised that he didn’t touch on any of the insanity that occurred when he was off. I’m also kind of surprised there’s been no mention of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Oh well, back to watching DIY home improvement videos on youtube instead of LWT.
Are you trolling? Those mind-numbing same-o lame-o dull format Over and Over DIY Home improvement videos are what you turn to when… you’re bored?! John is bringing news like no one else, and in a pretty informative way for several award winning seasons with a side of pure cheekiness. He does it convincingly, is unique and refreshing to watch, but yeah go back to watching Jordy Verrill sand a countertop for the umpteenth time.
I actually wasn’t trolling. I have to repair a hole in my ceiling drywall and I’ve never patched anything that big before so I was looking for tips. I honestly would rather not watch these videos but Oliver’s content this season just hasn’t grabbed me as much as his older stuff. Even his older non-djt stuff.
Sorry, I was teasing but please he is the only one doing pieces no one else is even referencing and throws in entertainment and his own brand of humor in-between. He keeps trying and I love his enthusiasm and energy. And I do understand—you are trying to tackle a big job and want to do it right—best of luck, we have all been there—but those DIYs are to be endured, not a substitute for entertainment or news!
Ha! Thanks! You are absolutely right about the DIY’s – watching them feels like high school homework I don’t really want to do. I also absolutely agree with you about Johnny O. I’m being unreasonable. I started watching his content on YouTube just last year and some of them are so great / interesting, I want them all to be that way – and they really all are, even a segment that I might not be interested in is still far far better than the absolute best content from any similar commenter on current issues.
I think he is limited right now with what he can do, less budget, no audience, but all these years the content he has produced in a half hour show is pretty great. I have HBO so I don’t know what YouTube does with his content but uncut and uncensored is the way to enjoy JO; you are probably only getting 1/3 of the good stuff.
“This isn’t something I’ve heard of before and therefore it’s dumb to bring it up!” – My generation, loping happily toward obsolescence.
I don’t know, my Generation has the Been there, Done That, so… meh.. ‘Tude even if they haven’t and I think yours is probably better at adopting new ideas and methods. I like keeping up though…
An episode in mid-May focused on Palestine
Then you aren’t watching cause he most definitely covered the isreal/palestine situation a few episodes ago.
Yeah, he should only cover the things that everyone else is already talking about
He always has a funny but also very pragmatic take on topics and actually comments about ‘what can be done about it’. Not many others cover that last point. So … yeah, I would like to hear him talk about what everyone else is already talking about because his commentary is different and more productive than most others.
I’m also kind of surprised there’s been no mention of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Donald Trump losing the election was the worst thing that ever happened to late night TV, especially politically inclined late night TV.
Fuck, so was Trump being President.Like…I read. I read the shit that the MSM links to and which the propagandists distort. That, on top of literally every media outlet detailing literally every stupid fucking thing that Trump did on an hourly basis, amounted to just a FUCKLOAD of noise.That said, if they had pivoted back to “Biden is POTUS! Brunch is BACK ON, baby!,” you’d still have people bitching. Fuck, just on the basis of the whole “a DEMOCRAT is in the WH, time to stop paying attention!” thing, I’d be mildly bitching about that. But, hey, takes all kinds. James fucking Corden has a prolific career, after all. Ain’t my thing, but someone’s watching it.
Which is just late night TV. And it’s really not politically inclined. It’s liberal inclined. There’s no other viewpoint allowed or accepted.
Donald Trump losing the election was the worst thing that ever happened
to late night TV, especially politically inclined late night TV. to the media as a whole. FTFY. Now that we have a normal and boring President again, the media is desperate to fish around for something, anything to stay relevant.
No they just don’t report honestly when there’s a democrat in the white house. The american media is literally a propaganda machine for liberals because they can’t possibly handle an opposing opinion. Joe Biden is a short time away from not even knowing his own name, his cognitive functions have been known to be in decline and yet everybody from his wife to his handlers are exploiting him for power. Yet nobody in the media seems to want to probe any deeper than “What flavor ice cream do you like, Joe?” Hell we have a literal humanitarian crisis at the border and EVERYBODY is looking the other way.
yeah I’ll take boring competency all day, especially after the last few years. It’s not like the wing nuts have completely left the building, Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor shit for brains are even more insane then their cult leader
– Guy Who Has No Challenges in Life And Has It All Figured Out
How many family and friends have you lost to PACE loans?
5 months later and he’s still living rent free in your head.
Holy Hot Hell is this article poorly written. Also, I’m a very active real estate agent who helps a lot of clients make decisions about their homes and I don’t think I’ve ever heard about this loan.
So, yeah, people should think for awhile before signing a contract with a shitty contractor. Brilliant advice John.
So, yeah, people should think for awhile before signing a contract with a shitty contractor. Brilliant advice John. And yet, we’re a country full of incredibly stupid people, living under a financial system geared toward (in large part) legally rooking incredibly stupid people.Not terribly sustainable, turns out!
Why are even minor negative things in capitalist systems a massive repudiation of the entire idea of capitalism, but negative things in socialist systems not? Also, it seems a little more sustainable than what is going on in most actual socialist countries.And if you are just talking about capitalist countries with strong safety nets, take a look at the cost of housing in Europe as compared to the United States. If you think we have it bad here…
Hey, if we want to blow out Socialism (specifically how and why it absolutely will not take hold over here – it’s a pipe dream along with total U.S. firearm disarmament – cannot happen), I’m all for it.But I’m less interested in “what about THEM!?” and more interested in the country in which I live. Which, to lay it out:1. Has the largest economy.2. Has the largest consumer base.3. Is so incredibly, dangerously, stupidly addicted to “dog eat dog” that we’re now staring down the very real barrel of our collapse.The kicker? We could do a better version of those “socialist (which they are not, actually) nirvanas.” We have the buying power. We have the economic power. But, instead, we’re doing the late-stage capitalism “hoard resources and sell them to people who need them at a markup, because it’s a more stable living than many 9-5 or shift jobs I could get.”“This sucks less” is not a viable long-term strategy. And, like it or not, home ownership was a key pillar of the “American dream,” and that now has several asterisks next to it, at the very least. We need to shift to a new model. The McMansion era is dying, and real estate ownership is one of the strongest “stakes” that one can have in the country.Erase that possibility entirely, or fold it into the same “dog eat dog” shit we *been* doing? Why would they have much reason to *pursue* a “stake?”
God you’re ignorant.
I saw “better version of Nirvana” and now just want to tell everyone all about the Meat Puppets.
Cosigned. Fuck, pretty sure Cobain would’ve said it similarly.
Because Kinja doesn’t nest comments, I can imagine you’re responding to either @Battered Suitcase’s comment about the Meat Puppets or that 35 is old.
I speak only of meat marionettes.
Kurt Cobain had very complicated opinions about my joint health.
What more can we do for people? What more SHOULD we do? The entirety of human knowledge, including financial knowledge, is at everyone’s fingertips. If somebody can’t devote an evening to reading up on their $25,000 purchase and use the Internet to save themselves, how much should I care?These are not rhetorical questions. All policy is drawing a line. Where do we draw it? Do we allow only carrots and no sticks? Do we allow self-harm? If so how much?
“Why would they have much reason to *pursue* a “stake?”
More to the point, what happens when 75% of the country comes to the realization that they will never have the opportunity to have any stake in their home country.
Yep. Exactly that.
What a load of horseshit.
The US has indoctrinated its cititzenry against socialism to such a degree that the fringes use the term as a synonym for everything from kleptocracy through to zionist-paedophile-cabal.
“Oh you never hear about the bad things in socialism…” – oh, apart from the mountain of logical fallacies that get trotted out whenever communism is even alluded to… bUt TeH gUlAgS…
Even the smallest attempts at providing universal healthcare to American citizens were decried because of the confected nonsense of “death panels”; this buy the same right-wing hucksters who told everyone that the old owe it to the young to die of corona virus so no-one has to wear masks.
The “capitalist countries with strong safety nets” you’re referring to are *social democracies* and people in them would describe the “safety nets” you describe as socialist.
Why would anyone want to “look at the cost of housing in Europe”, by the way? So you can pretend the cost of a massive farmhouse in the middle of nowhere with no surrounding amenities represents better value for money than a modest property in the middle of civilisation?
Compare the price of a tiny broom-cupboard apartment in New York with flats in London or Paris – you know, places people actually WANT to live – and then tell us how great you guys have it.
Property markets in Europe are the least socialised elements of those economies.
Good ol’ capitalist market forces are to blame there; in the UK the housing stock drying up and thus causing spiralling costs and a clamour for homes is largely down to Margaret Thatcher’s “right to buy” scheme selling off councils’ housing stocks to tenants (at a marked down rate, no less).
Look at the cost of *medical care*, and then be shamed that a distinctily socialist universal healthcare system like the NHS provides better health outcomes on average and for a fraction of the cost – and that’s despite ongoing attempts by the right-wing to farm out subcontracts and privatise it by stealth. If we look at the least socialised element of UK healthcare – dentistry (which is largely privatised) – you see the worst outcomes and the greatest costs to the consumer.
As someone who lives in Europe, and can see how you guys are living, yes we think you have it bad over there – at the poverty line it’s like you’re living in the third world or something.
Yep. Well said.And, to put it succinctly, our country has spent damned near two centuries or more living by the following maxim (attributed to arch capitalist Jay Gould): “I can pay one half of the working class to kill the other half.”And we in the U.S. largely nod our heads and say “Yes! That sounds like an entirely logical and good system.”
Literally nobody except brainwashed republicans thinks or says Social Democracies are socialists, and literally nobody is advocating for actual socialism, it’s just a ever so slightly updated red scare dog whistle for the modern right wing dingbat to scare them away from their actual self-interests. Also, have you ever actually looked at the cost of housing in Europe? Average rent in Berlin, a city of 3.5M which is nearly 1M more than Chicago (the third most populous US city), has a nearly 50% lower average rent than Chicago as well. If you’re talking about purchasing a home that’s a little different since that’s not nearly as common or expected outside the US, nor do many of those countries have the ample amount of land or lack of population density the US does.
I think the cost of housing in Europe has a lot more to do with the boring physical reality of land availability than ‘socialism’ or the strong safety net. There just isn’t the space to create vast, boxy suburbs around major conurbations with houses that sell for the kinds of prices you get in the US.
It’s not about it being sustainable. It’s about making a quick buck and then moving on. And knowing that regardless of outcome, the government will be there to bail them out. Next crash, I think the government is going to need to say no to a bailout. time to cut them off.
They’re not available in every state. The aspect of them that can lead to issues is that they don’t require the level of disclosure nor homeowner financial inquiries that a typical loan or refinance would. I believe only California requires the full disclosure of all potential costs and requires mortgage level financial inquiries to ensure the homeowner can afford it. It’s structured as a tax reassessment rather than a typical loan, and is attached to the property, so in most states that level of disclosure and inquiry isn’t required.So between contractors that are either ignorant of the financial implications, or just unscrupulous and overcharge, a homeowner can be misled about how the program works. The idea is that the energy savings make up for the increased taxes but it doesn’t always work out that way.
That sounds like a pretty stupid program. But, not to sound like Ron Swanson, it would work a lot better if the government wasn’t involved. Structuring it as a tax reassessment is nuts. In NY, if I want to put on solar I just need to go to a company, sign a contract and if I’m not paying outright, get a loan through a bank or the solar company’s bank. There will likely be some tax increases because the local governments use any chance they can to do that, but nothing too serios.
Yeah, I just bought my first house a few months ago and it’s well suited for solar. If were to do it there’s better programs offered by my state than PACE. They have the benefit of, you know, not losing my house if the savings aren’t as extensive initially planned.
i have to admit i don’t have a huge amount of sympathy for people who lose their homes because they willfully signed a bad contract. if you’re signing a contract for a major, expensive change that does not have all of the responsibilities of all of the parties laid out in plain english and you also haven’t engaged a lawyer to review it for you if you’re confused, what are you even doing?
Being poor?
i guess. i just find it baffling that someone would sign a contract they don’t understand in a circumstance like this where you can walk away at any moment with no negative consequence.
You’re probably someone who hard sell sales tactics don’t work on, and someone who has a pretty good understanding of contracts and financial concepts. Most people aren’t like you, and can much more easily be taken advantage of.“Buyer beware” as a principle is predicated on the assumption that both parties have roughly equal power in the transaction. But we as a society began to figure out long ago that that’s rarely the case: someone whose job is, day-in day-out, to peddle a product has a significant advantage over someone who only buys one of those products once every few years. Giant corporations who have teams of lawyers have a tremendous advantage over individual buyers.When the person proffering the contract assures you repeatedly that it’s all meaningless legal boilerplate (even though it isn’t), and that the contract is fair (even though it isn’t), and explains the terms to you in ways that more or less seem to make sense (even though their explanations do not match what the terms actually mean), and you’re someone who rarely ever even encounters contracts like this… it would be baffling to be surprised that people would fall for it.
This issue is that there isn’t a contract per se and the normal disclosures required by a loan don’t apply because strictly speaking it’s a tax lien on your property. I believe only California requires full disclosure of future costs and a financial inquiry to make sure the applicant can afford it with regards to PACE. The contractors get paid either way so there’s no penalty for making a bad “loan” on their end if they present the customers savings as much less than they are in the short term. They can truthfully say this solar refit will save you thousands of dollars in the long term without disclosing that your quarterly property taxes can jump hundreds of dollars in the short term. Oh, and now you have a lien on property that makes it hard to sell. This presents a situation where long term home owners, particularly the elderly and others on fixed income, can suddenly lose their home that they paid off decades ago.
Yes. I think you lay out the problems well. I think the segment could’ve demonstrated them better, though. The first example wasn’t really an issue with the program, but rather two people who agreed to have additional repairs beyond what they were originally quoted. The images associated sure looked like the repairs were warranted, but it’s still their decision.The man with the disability was really bad, but I’m not sure the issue was inherent to the PACE program. The woman with the giant tax increase was definitely a problem. That
can happen with any improvement to your house, though. I was assessed a $14,000
increase in appraised value because the county thought I had a hot tub
(I didn’t). I thought the professor made a good point about not having any kind of neutral assessment about the actual potential savings.
The whole idea sounds insane. Opting to raise your property taxes is not something anyone would be doing if properly informed. This program is designed to erode all protections you may have as a homeowner if you can’t pay the loan. It makes it as easy as possible for someone else to foreclose on you while they profit, so they have every incentive to lie to you when setting up the deal.
Is this about the guy in the commercials for solar panels? He’s right up there with Mike Lindell as far as being shady AF. You can smell the sleaze thru the tv. Over 35 is now old? I know at least three people under the age of 30 in the last six months who purchased a home. There’s a Chicago Title in our building, and I work for a residential and commercial real estate developer, whoever thinks only people over 35 are buying homes is out of their goddamn mind. Might want to tell all the people down stairs at Chicago Title signing closing documents.
Acording to my 37 year old knees, yes, over 35 is old.
Over 35 is now old?I am 37. The answer to this question is “yes.”
I am WAY older than you and no, 35, or 37 or even 40 is not old.
I think they are likely speaking in generalities based on generational data, and not actually saying that no one under 35 buys homes. Justin Beiber owns several, I’m sure, and he’s still in his twenties… presumably people are aware of his existence.
Also, I’m a very active real estate agent who helps a lot of clients make decisions about their homes and I don’t think I’ve ever heard about this loan….kinda says a lot more about you than it does this article or segment, but thanks for your two cents I guess? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PACE_financing
In my state, they seem to only be for commercial properties.
Thought it sounded like they tried to rip Oliver’s tone and style, all while rewording the bits he delivered.
Yeah, not good. Somehow the attempts at being funny made all the actual facts confusing. I watched the segment before getting to the article and Oliver explained it way better. Keep in mind LWT airs at 11 pm and this article was published at 3 am. That’s 3.5 hours (in the middle of the night) to write, proofread, and publish a difficult concept in a way that’s easy to understand. It’s pretty much written like a stream of consciousness, and reads that way.Stick to the facts, leave the comedy to Oliver.
We live in a country that specifically deprioritizes education because wealthy people finding ways to separate the poor and uneducated from their hard-earned money is what Capitalism is.
Yep. Our schools BEEN geared toward “filling the mills,” long after mills stopped being a fucking thing, by and large.::remembers service industry:: Oh! My mistake!
I guess there’s no problem then. All those people in arrears due to said shitty program just didn’t happen.
Sorry you can’t afford that house down payment
Dennis still has a bitter taste in his mouth from all the student debt he took out to invest in a college degree and tried to repay that investment by working as a “journalist” for a website that’s half a degree short of “Buzzfeed”.At least he’s part of a union so he won’t get fired. (but he still has to pay those dues!)
We get it. You vote Conservative and look like gammon.
You’d be shocked!
I’m actually just a logical person who didn’t want student loans dragging me down like most of the people around me. Getting a job right away and beginning to save sounded A LOT better than sitting in school piling on debt that I might be able to pay back on my deathbed.
Fair enough. I only did about a year of college, but I can at least say that I have no debt whatsoever.Sorry about my tone, I wasn’t expecting you to be reasonable! 😆
(Oliver can summon the The Facts Of Life star with an errant finger-snap, as shown all season)
Holy Hot Hell is this article poorly written. Well, like every “article” about LWT, this is just a free promotional synopsis.
The AVClub wants the clicks associated with the show but have always been too lazy to actually review it. And it’s not like there isn’t more on the topics LWT covers which could be investigated and written about or times when Oliver needs to be fact-checked but that’s also not what the AVClub does.
Obviously, the strategy here works to some degree, as here I am in the comments, but it’s indicative of how nearly content-free the AVClub has become.
“Well, like every “article” about LWT”
You think this is about LWT articles?
If you just assume that everyone is trying to screw you over in America, you’re generally right 99.99% of the time.
But, since a functional human mind not addled by screeching Fox News talking points and “owning the libs” on Twitter can keep two inconvenient truths operating at the same time…What you’re describing is what Keats (and later Fitzgerald) referred to as negative capability, and in my experience it’s actually a pretty rare gift, regardless of political persuasion.
Tends to be much lower in ‘conservative’ mindsets (regardless of political persuasion). Authoritarian aligned mindsets (again, regardless of the politics espoused by someone with authoritarian inclinations) pretty much cannot hold 2 POVs or truths at the same time, which is part of the reason irony is dead.
“You’re going to be renting forever,”1) Owning a house is a huge responsibility, but it can also be fun.
2) You CAN own a house.
Start small and buy a condo like I did when I worked for Best Buy. Then fix it up, and sell it. Work your way up and buy that house you want. It might take 5 or 10 years but you can do it.
For me it was accepting I can’t afford a house in the major city I loved and moving out to the cheaper suburbs completing my transition to Old.
And it’s easy once you have your 3.9 million tomatoes.
But mommy told me I can be whatever I want to be and do anything I want to and I want a house now! It boggles my mind how many people buy a house, do absolutely nothing to it and then have the most dumbfounded looks on their face when their house has (get this) decreased in value.
It’s still somewhat feasible, depending on area. But as we clamor for more space, the interior of the country WILL be terraformed. Lot of vast, available, cheap real estate just waiting for eager telecommuters to relocate and start Manifest Destiny 2.0.Me? I’m building up a down payment, waiting on the market to tank (it will). But I’m also deciding whether I’m interested in making a significant investment in a country currently enamored with forcing a second Civil War.
There is so much defamation in this article it is tough to know where to begin. You’re a useless human being and a pathetic waste of space.
This is an interesting piece. Except the very people who need to know about it will never hear it, because they either are working 2 jobs, busy on their phones keeping up with the Kardashian gossip, or are watching GOT. To those people, John Oliver is an obnoxious Brit who is too annoying to listen to.
Learn to write without bias. This article sucks tailpipe.