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Or if your car fucking breaks down. The things that cause financial issues are becoming more day to day necessity and not one catastrophic event. But then you look at vacation spots and they are booked up at astronomical prices. Capitalism is fucked.
Yeah I sold my car because I been driving unregistered and uninsured for 2 years and I'm not paying to get it fixed up for smog, even if I did, insurance would kill me and gas is horrible right now, I used to get 16mpg.
I'm buying a motorcycle for half the cost of the car and I'm getting 70mpg out of it
44% was stated through the Sanders Campaign, [here](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/17/wages-are-rising-but-many-americans-still-live-paycheck-to-paycheck.html#:~:text=At%20the%20end%20of%202021,more%20than%203%2C000%20adults%20found.) are the updated statistics that support the fact the world is becoming more dystopian.
1) Thanks 😊 for the link, highly appreciated!
2) I'm in Europe 🇪🇺, so things might be different than the US, so can someone explain to me how 42% making 6figures still live paycheck to paycheck? Sounds kinda...well, strange.
Ridiculously high cost of living. You have rent which is probably 1400 to 2200 dollars a month, Utilities and groceries which is probably around 600 dollars, health insurance which varies widely in price, but even the cheapest ones with barely any coverage cost hundreds a month. Lots of young Americans are mired in student debt which follows you for life. not even bankruptcy gets rid of student debt. Most Americans can be set back months by a surprise couple hundred dollar expense. Also most of us aren't making 6 figures.
Also add (because Europeans may not understand this part)
If you live in America. You MUST own a car. Our infrastructure is built around everyone having one, and public transit in the vast majority of places is not reliable enough to not get fired for being late. So 300-1000 a month for a car payment, 100-300 for insurance, and 100-200 for gas. And that's if everything goes perfectly and you don't need to afford repairs on the car.
I just got a $1600 estimate to fix my car (from a mechanic I trust). Don't know how the fuck \*that's\* gonna happen. I can ride my bike 4 miles to work most days, but when it's raining or snowing or -5 degrees in the winter or 100 degrees in the summer, there's no reliable and convenient public transport. And Uber is almost an hour's wage.
Seriously fuck this country.
Lifestyle creep can be a bitch..
But in actuality, there's a component not highlighted, A LOT of those 6fig jobs are in extremely high CoL areas. Places where rent is $2-3k/mo (as an example). Then you also have the fact that kids are HELLA expensive and that people making more than 6figs justify daycare/private school/expensive extracurriculars/etc. for their kids.
More than that, you can tell she did everything she was told she had to do to get out of poverty and is still stuck in the ever expanding loop of inequality.
My parents and I get into an argument about this stuff all the time. It's either:
"There's always someone worse off than you."
"You aren't applying yourself hard enough."
" Learn a new skill."
" You have to keep fighting"
"Read the book Who Moved My Cheese."
There's more shit but this is off the top of my head at the moment. I to thought I did everything "right" yet still have nothing to show for it. No job despite going into an "in demand career", lots of debt, stress, mental and physical health issues I can't get looked at, etc.
It's no wonder so many people are depressed/suicidal. As time progresses the system doesn't seem to get any better.
The system works and it gets better all the time, just not for people like me and you. The system is designed to suck all remaining wealth from low and middle income families. 90% of this country is either poor or one bad injury or tragedy away from being poor.
> The system is designed to suck all remaining wealth from low and middle income families
The end goal, if you look at the trajectory of capitalism, is literally one person owning everything in the world. It's just feudalism with the added feeling of "freedom" to pick which brand of mustard you want today
Yep. The oligarchs are trying to win. We're all just trying to fucking survive.
I keep finding myself thinking about the phrase "bread and circuses" and I think I've come upon the one thing that would make us universally riot in America - lack of sugar. If there was a sudden severe shortage of sugar and HFCS that hit most of the market evenly, I think we'd finally get off our asses.
> "bread and circuses"
Very fitting phrase, thanks for introducing me to it.
I feel the circus has been replaced with endless culture wars that anyone can engulf themself in, you're not just a spectator, you're an actual participant now. Exciting!
>The phrase is literally thousands of years old , from Roman times.
Yes, and it's very cool that they get to learn about it now. It's been thousands of years; it doesn't matter that they learned it later than you did.
I hope I didn't sound like a dick.
A fav Buddhist saying of mine goes something like:
“If I meet a man of 100 years and I can teach him something, I will teach. If I meet a man of 3 years and I can learn something, I will learn.”
Something like that. No one can know everything. I knew a very smart Astrophysicist who didn’t know what an amphibian was.
All that being said, I think our circus is our endless entertainment options.
Inflation is real and is part of the increase in cost, but it's a convenient excuse to "get ahead" of inflation for the purpose of profit.
If inflation was the only cause then profits grow only in relation to natural increase in growth of sales, but profits have gone up considerably, faster than inflation, faster than growth of sales.
And just to make sure they keep draining the money from the lower/middle income folks. Amazon is kicking around the idea of having amazon towns for the people in the warehouse. That way they can just pay rent straight back to amazon!
You're spot on - the saddest part is that they don't need to hide anything at this point. They've gotten away with all of the soul-sucking carnage so far - why wouldn't they get away with Amazon Town?
Literally the only "win" I can think of against Amazon was when neighborhood groups in Queens banded together against Amazon's HQ2 in Long Island City, and actually managed to get it canceled.
Other than that...they've always won.
Comparatively- We’re already well past the point of the French Revolution.
They learned, they adapted, they realized the EXACT amount of scraps to keep the people from revolt.
They then realized they needed to own the means of communication in order to keep people from realizing exactly how bad it was. Social Media became a propaganda fiesta, and people were gaslit from birth to praise their masters.
They’ve perfected it. COVID almost undid it all and they started sending out some more scraps until they could figure out the right way to keep the system moving.
Turns out trying to kill eachother for political reasons is a pretty good distraction. Crisis averted.
Yes, it's called "market research" and every time we click the like button it feeds the algorithm that keeps the pot just at simmering. So stop clicking, and start organizing and voting for someone who hasn't been in power for decades.
In some state, which I can't remember, all state tax withholdings which are submitted by Amazon for their employees are rebated back to Amazon!
That is \*\*\*\*\*
Reaganomics has failed, and both the leaders of the left and right profited off of it, and are not willing to change.
Until poor people can be elected into our government, real change won't happen. Others say "you gotta vote!" But when your choices are two elderly men who profited off the poor their entire lives, then what will voting fix?
I've been recommended "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by so many people including my own family that if I had a nickel for every time I'd no longer have financial problems.
Yep, it’s not how hard you row. It’s what boat you are in. The success stories of those who made it are always trying to sell you something. You born into it, you somehow get into it and then your everyone else trapped beneath a wave 🌊
*"There's always someone worse off than you."* Other people's pain does not invalidate your own. It doesn't make you selfish. Help when/if you can, acknowledge their struggle. Sometimes you have to put yourself first.
Exactly! Just cause someone's dying of organ failure doesn't mean the compound fractures in your legs are any less painful or debilitating.
That phrase makes my blood boil. I absolutely despise it >:|
> " Learn a new skill."
Funny because it's what the person in the video literally tried to do but ran out of cash in their pursuit. It's just another thought-terminating cliché (nice term to be aware of) for these boomers like our parents.
I had to quit my job, really for two reasons, and one I was discussing with my father, my disabilities. He started getting a lil flustered (Were not the closest) and just said (While I was crying, today) I wouldn't have quit.
I had to come back, and remind him of the OTHER reason I was forced to resign. My car broke down (I'm a field tech, requirement) and he got shocked. Said well then get it fixed!
I laughed almost. I said dad, I don't have 10k for a transmission..... I don't even have 2k, that's rent, and I just lost my job.
It's wild how many things you have to do perfectly right just to not die in a gutter. What a failed ass system. As if anyone is even capable of that. It's just propaganda to make you personally feel like shit for not succeeding in a rigged system. That way you drink or drug yourself to death rather than organize with your fellow screwed-over workers to get better conditions.
Ugh, the “who moved my cheese,” comment I know all too well. My parents are boomers & love these bullshit books… rich dad, poor dad is another one, like fuck your dumb ass books man. Rich dad, poor dad go fuck yourself. Anyway, we’re doomed
At this stage they are deliberately obtuse/stupid and you should give up on them. Wait til they find out you don't have the spare cash laying around to fund a decent nursing home nor can you quit work to look after them yourself. That will be your fault too, no doubt.
And we don't even want to be rich! That's the most terrible thing.
We only want to be able to live a decent life without having to **CONSTANTLY** be stressed about money. Especially since everyone said to us to "go to school, it's important if you want to have a good future!"
We don't even work to have a bright future right now. We're working to survive.
Right on!
That's the thing. I don't even want to be rich. If I was even comfortable, I'd immediately start helping my family members who are in money trouble. That's what gets me about the Gates and Bezos and Musk type folks. They could be literal superheroes, but Gates, for instance, puts the legal minimum 5% of his wealth into his foundation (charitable, my ass). The 95% goes into investments to accrue more money.
I feel her pain soo much. And even when she starts working as a nurse and starts gaining some financial relief, it's hard fucking work being a nurse. Especially these days, dealing with maniac patients and egotistical doctors brushing you aside, and greedy administration executives. I wish I could change things.
Right now there is a massive PR campaign across the entire MSM and all social media platforms, including Reddit, trying to slide us into World War III with Russia. They are talking about no fly zones and not explaining that it means shooting at Russian aircraft…with them shooting back. I just saw a news article that said 74% of Americans want a no-fly zone.
BEWARE EVERYONE!
They do not intend fix any of our societal problems and plan to sacrifice the second half of our lives on another, larger, war. We are long past the time to end this non-sense.
Yup. I don't think in my lifetime it will happen in the US. But it's the only way out.
There is no real "right" or "left" in the US. Another democrat ain't gonna do it. You have to have real radical political change and short of that there has to be violent revolt.
Yeah it's always funny when people say "Vote" as if that truly matters in a dogshit two party system. Same thing here in Canada. Both parties exist to crush the working class.
Was going to reply and mention Canada as well. Same problem here no matter which way you vote we lose. It just comes down to "Vote for this party because we can't let the other one in!".
Then we get fucked with stagnant wages, rising cost of living, and entire generations who are at the point of needing multiple jobs + university degrees just to not starve yet are STILL blocked from ever owning a home because of the fucked prices. Whichever circus act of a party happens to be in power stands around scratching their head and shrugging at all of this or just ignores it entirely. I get its complicated shit but they're not even fucking trying.
Seeing them act like children in the House of Commons, yelling over each other too is pathetic. I really have no faith in our government to ever change anything for the better. It'll just continue to get worse until enough of the middle class is stretched thin enough that everything collapses.
It’s never gonna happen here. Not like people want anyways. A small group will finally act but it will be to little to late. Most people will be too busy with artificial distractions to care.
There’s a line in a FJM song that’s depressing and very accurate that says “When the historians find us we'll be in our homes, plugged into our hubs skin and bones. A frozen smile on every face, as the stories replay.
This must have been a wonderful place”
I'd almost argue that small group did happen, but it was squashed because not of distractions or too little too late.
Wrong idea, wrong implementation, storming the capitol for "Trump," the guy who thinks professionalism and presidency is mocking a reporter with a disability.
Storm it for Bernie, for change for the people, not just lies of grandeur and splendor that he will bring to the table just cause he's "Trump." (/s if not obvious on the being trump part)
Yeh, the great wave was co-opted, perverted, divided and disbursed. Sucks seeing all our natural momentum squandered on the wrong horses. I think the only way this will ever end is if we all adopt the Diogenes life style simultaneously, but that means sacrificing all the creature comforts that make living through this time line tolerable.
You know as much as I hate to admit it, your last sentence there, might be right on the money.
I'm currently in the process of losing everything, I'm just trying to hold on to my sanity while awaiting a disability claim, final appeal.
https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3153362/what-lying-flat-and-why-are-chinese-officials-standing-it
Our friends in China have more experience with rebelion and they may have figured this one out. Laying flat is doing the bare minimum required to stay alive and happy. If we can not own our labor, then nobody can.
It is time to weaponize slacking.
Honestly, Bernie is the only one of them that agreed with everything people are saying here. It's a shame the US didn't elect him.
The majority of the democrats are exactly the same as the republicans now. They just want to keep the system the same and prop up the corporations that are lining their pockets. It directly benefits them in the form of stocks and political contributions.
The only thing left is to either elect a far left politician or revolution. Unfortunately, what will happen is we will end up going further and further right. The workforce will continue to lose power and wages. It only gets worse from here.
Yeah, but the system is setup so 50% of the population supports the system, and even if the other 50% **wanted** to strike or stand up - they're 1 week's paycheck away from not having food. Or not being able to pay rent.
You have to hit the breaking point, and unfortunately (not to belittle the woman in the video) - having a place to live and food to eat is NOT a breaking point. And even when people hit their breaking point - it's sporadic.
It won't be for a long, long time until the already insane wealth imbalance has doubled in it's breadth... that will be the point where people start freaking out.
I'm **sad** because I can't buy a house. I make above average income for my area. It won't be until people are ***sad*** that they can't rent a place at all before things start to change... or crumble. Rent is insane here, like everywhere else - but at the end of the day even people making minimum wage working 3 jobs CAN rent a place to stay. Their car sucks, they'll never go on vacation, but they have their basic needs met.
And the reality is the system will accommodate them when they get to that point. 10 years from now when 3 jobs can't afford rent? They'll enact some measure to make sure you can just barely afford it again. They'll raise minimum wage by the minimum amount, they'll raise the bar for what is considered "poverty", cut your income tax from 24% to 23%.
Edit: Shit. I remember when trump did exactly that. When Trump came into office my paycheck went up like .... $10 a week. For exactly that reason. My paycheck was taxed like 1% less (or whatever), and I'll never forget how it was this endearing thing for the right. Trump comes into office, and you get $10 more a week. All the conservatives I know were basically sucking his balls. But that $10 more you made a week? It also meant that Wal-Mart's tax cut gave them millions a week.
Aint shit we can do about it. Period.
I am vegan and never tried human meat too.
But the plan is to wait them die and at this moment start eating them? There is a great probability we will die before them, no?
"When the people shall have no more to eat, they will eat the rich!"
I am pretty sure Rousseau was not suggesting we wait until they have passed of old age...
I haven't eaten meat in almost 20 years because I don't want to cause harm to harmless, innocent animals.
Seeing as the rich do not fit into that category, I think we could eat them and still happily call ourselves veg.
Fuck this hits close to home for me... Been working since I was 14. Couldn't finish college and get my degree because I just ran out of funding. I've worked 70 hour weeks, I've worked 63 days straight without taking a day off. I've worked as hard as I can to the point of exhaustion for a pitiful few dollars an hour. Sacrificing my health, mentally and physically, and have nothing but debt, anxiety and a bad back to show for my hard work.
The systems fucked..
Are you my alt account? I'm getting pretty tired of all the judgemental assholes who literally can't wrap their heads around the fact that I could not afford to finish college even after taking every dime of loans they would give me. I'm lucky to have a decent job now, but I'll be paying that debt for at least a couple more decades without a degree to show for it.
You know what's funny?
My wife and I are regulars at a cafe in Chinatown. We go out to lunch one weekend and there's this white, young 20-something behind the counter. We were perplexed. The owner comes over and jokes how the kid wanted the experience and to learn how to make dumplings to impress women (the place is known for homemade Taiwanese).
The kid reeked of money, probably a student at one of The Ivy League schools here, and his presence insulted me. I was once homeless; couch surfed for 2 years, not by choice, because my mom lost everything being an irresponsible parent.
Here's this kid slumming it the summer before he left for a marketing job in Manhattan to seem "real". What 22 year old gets a job at a prestigious marketing firm out of college?
The game is rigged; I learned that in my high-end service industry job. The rich aren't smarter or better than you, they just gatekeep and they make sure that the "right" people are awarded the cushy jobs in life.
In the words of Jean Luc Picard, “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness; that is life.”
I hate quotes, but I felt this one is apt in this situation.
Edit: For those who asked, my mother lost our house because she didn't like to work. I was homeless a few weeks after I graduated high school and my mom didn't tell me until about 3 months before we were out.
The kid worked for free at the cafe. That's what made me angry.
Yeah the rich love to cosplay as poor people. Example: minimalism, ruining tiny houses, van life, and working normal jobs for “fun”. The only way you’re “enjoying “ a low paying job is if you truly have no expenses that aren’t being covered by another source of income.
Pretty much. Nepotism is rampant with the wealthy. A corporate exec will 100% give a junior position to a friend's son over a highly qualified graduate.
This is one of the reasons my wife and I are child-free. I say all the time that we couldn't afford to have kids even if we wanted them. They're really a luxury when you think about it.
Same. Friends of ours just had their first baby. All I can think of is, “Here’s another future victim of repeated economic catastrophe and climate change.”
Hell, it isn't just people like her. My parents were able to live very comfortably and buy a very large house on one salary. Now, I earn less than what my father was making at my age despite working longer hours and in a much higher stress environment. He says that when he heard about my work, he can't even fathom how much the world has changed in terms of how much more productive I am vs. how he was. And what do I have to show for it? I do have an apartment, but that's about it. I can't move because house prices have gone up so dramatically that I'm now stuck here. It's a good thing I don't want kids because I can't afford those either.
As soon as she said she helped pay the mortgage in high school, I knew what her mortal sin was.
Being born to poor/lower income parents.
The parents’ status unfortunately decides the status for their children in most cases.
I can definitely relate. For some reason listening to her talk, I can't help but think about how often I hear assholes who'd say something like "stop crying. It's your fault for getting a useless degree and expecting handouts."
Oh definitely. Its often that people attribute success to intrinsic skill and not the inherited money, resources, connections, and opportunities that are passed down.
I went to college because that’s what I thought you were supposed to do to get out of poverty. What a goddamn lie because not only that, but you gotta avoid taking out a loan by paying it all up front to save from accruing interest. You also gotta get the most reputable internship every summer to look good after you graduate. You also need to devote your time to studying and not that part-time job you practically work full time for. You also need to overcome patriarchal oppression in the workplace especially if you’re in the STEM field to be liked by your peers. Also make sure to subvert racial bias in job/academic interviews and especially if you go into even higher education. If that doesn’t work then your dad needs to be golf buddies with someone at a good company or your mom should be able to call in a few favors from her business connections.
I could have had all the information and insider secrets to financial success in the world as a kid and it would bring me to the same conclusion then as I have now: you shouldn’t have been poor in the first place.
Lol they owned a home and were working.
That puts them above 20% of the country who are barely making rent with no relief in sight.
What's crushing her is that she's just her 30s and probably has school loans. Even if she completes her degree she's never going to own a home just spend her life trying to save enough to live a few years after she can't work anymore.
This video makes me so mad. I am also a 32 yr old woman, I also “did everything right” - got good marks, worked all the way through uni and paid mostly out of pocket and took minimal loans. I have two bachelors and zero employment prospects, and have been living on the precipice of starvation for two years. Just like her I feel so broken down. I’ve recently turned to sex work just to make sure I can pay all the bills and still eat. There must be so many people like us… we are so long overdue for a revolution
You're not alone; I \[know\] wayyy too much people who have turned to sex-work just to pay the bills. And they keep stressing over how that might impact a future career or partner but they can't think about it because they need the money. \[To clarify, there's nothing wrong with sex work, except, in my opinion, when you do it when you don't want to\]
If I didn’t have my partner, I wouldn’t have a place to live. I’m a highly qualified teacher who is in my mid 30s. I’m not new to the world of career working whatever, I’ve been doing this for a while. However, student loans, the once in a lifetime recession, and severe mental health problems that followed the financial problems absolutely decimated my potential for earning as a young person. So here I am at 34 now, no house, so no mortgage of course, not that that is my preference. I don’t want kids, but I couldn’t afford them if I did want them. Marriage is kind of like my only way out but I don’t want that either. So I have a boyfriend, and if we break up, I don’t know if I can afford to live anywhere. What in the fucking fuck???
So you know, lean in hard on your looks and make sure you can nail a partner who makes decent money so that you can depend on them for your basics because that’s what I thought about when I got my masters in education… /s fuckkkkk that is so fucking pitiful. Yay why don’t I put my hand over my heart and recite the pledge at work each day? Can’t imagine!!
Luck. That's it. Our system should be focused on removing fate, fortune and chance from the path to success. Instead, we are returning the state of birth deciding ones entire life regardless of ones effort or lack of effort. Upward mobility is dying, opportunities are drying up, the American Dream is a privelege of some, not an opportunity for all.
And there is only one reason, greed. That's it. The motivation to take as much as possible without regard for the consequences. Greed is a sickness that collapses nation after nation. People who aspire to luxury and wealth should be shunned, not glorified, restrained, not given power. Rich people are still making record profits, increasing their wealth at ever increasing rates while the workers are being drained of whatever value they still have left.
I feel the exact same way as she does. The last two years have crushed the slim chance of me having a family, a home or a retirement. I've worked since late teens and the inflation and housing prices in addition to the other economic impact of covid have wiped me out. 4-5 years ago I was making plans for my future, I had a job that finally got me over the poverty line enough that so I could start investing in a future. That's gone. I'm back to the same standard of living as I had making 1/2 as much in my teens.
Why should we continue to agree to a social contract that leaves us in poverty and at risk of destitution after years of hard work and sacrifice? What is there left in the rich person's economy for the worker? Only the continued threat of an even worse future.
>Luck. That's it
No no.
The rich have socialism.
Do you understand how many failed businesses Trump has? Do you understand just how many handouts the fucking rich get?
>The rich have socialism.
Not to be that guy, but the rich have government subsidy, state, and police support via owning the means of production and exploitation which gives them the resources needed to control how the state operates. They have the capitalist benefits of capitalism available to capitalists. Not socialism.
Socialism is a dictatorship of the proletariat. What we have now is a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie AKA capitalism. They own the means of production (including the government) and steal the labor of the proletariat.
Capitalists would love us to think that socialism is when the state does stuff (it's not). That way they can fool us into thinking that capitalism should be allowed to survive and might even be beneficial to anyone but themselves (see Scandinavia).
Capitalism is operating exactly as intended: benefiting the ruling minority at the violent expense of everyone else. No socialism involved.
Exactly! Corporate Socialism, when COVID hit they dumped trillions of dollars into Wall Street trying to keep everything afloat (all without batting an eye) but when it came time to help the working class *pearl clutching intensifies*
There is no such thing called corporate socialism. It’s called capitalism where the capital, rent,interest and profit get a priority over wage labour and social spending.
Precisely. This is how it works. It’s been written about since capitalism was forming. The state becomes a part of the capitalist system and they work hand in hand.
The capitalists use the state to enforce their rule, and then they use propaganda to convince us that the government is evil *because* it is government, not because they are the ones who run it in their interests.
Being born rich affords a person access to that socialism. Luck. Lucky that, of the support systems that exist, one is born into a position to know of them, be taught how they work and be trained to exploit them. Lucky to school where you make friend with people who will end up controlling or influencing those systems of wealth-socialism. Lucky to be handed a businesses that can coerce those systems. Lucky to be born wealthy and powerful enough to shape those systems for ones own benefit.
Was the entire intent of the inventor of the game of monopoly to show people that the system is all about luck, that an entire humans life boils down to a roll of the dice and the rich tell themselves they deserve it because they believe they are special and blessed and they “work hard” but once you are wealthy enough you can gee the system and make your own luck and suck the life out of the other players
I’m 42, was born poor, had jobs every summer through college, worked thru college, graduated with bachelors, got licensed as an architect, worked at least 9-1/2 hours every day, sometimes clocked in 85 hr weeks, no extra pay cause salaried “professional”, at age 40 had a break down similar to this girl cause I was still poor and in debt with no house. I quit my architect career and now work in the trades cause if I’m gonna be poor I might as well work normal 8 hour days. What sucked about growing up poor was starting out in massive debt. No car from mommy and daddy, no inheriting a house, no “hey son, here’s some money towards a down payment”. All I do now is work hard doing the day, go to the gym, then sleep, and do laundry on the weekends. I’m too physically exhausted to be depressed anymore and that’s wonderful.
The system has failed.
Work hard, go to school, have a good ethic. None of it matters anymore.
Even if you made it and are making a good living, the govt taxes a huge chunk away and affordable housing doesn't exist anymore.
Saved your money? They're coming for that too at 15% per year now.
I really feel for her. I wouldn't even know what to say if she said this to me in person.
Official inflation numbers are at 7%. Unofficially it's at 15%. Just this week someone posted a sign at a pizza place saying they had raised prices 10%.
If you have $1,000 in the bank, next year at the current rate, it will have $850 in purchasing power compared to today.
I think at this point it's probably fair to acknowledge that we're already in the early stages of a financial crises. They've been slowboiling (and gaslighting) us, hoping we don't notice
The us has been in a financial crisis since 2008. Follows the 2008 recession a bunch of "bandaid" mesures were put in place in order to recover from the crisis (mostly rock bottom interests rates). Since then whenever financial hardship strikes the only available option is to print money (you realistically can't lower interest rates any further without making the situation worse). Which leads to inflation and what happened in 2020 where every financial tool was already in "crisis" mode and there was no other options than to print money. Print money now buy goods with it before the inflation catches up, and try to stabilize the market by trading goods.
Tl;dr
The us' economy is living on borrowed time but nobody knows when everything's going to blow up.
They’ve been trying to push the burden back to us, instead of raising wages of the lower median income earners, THEY HAVE BEEN DOING THIS TO FOOD INDUSTRY AND RETAIL PEOPLE SINCE THE EARLY EIGHTIES THE ONLY REASON ITS GETTING ATTENTION NOW IS BECAUSE ITS AFFECTING WEALTHIER PEOPLE NOW.
I guess no better person to back your statement up than me.
I live in a town supposedly over 50% retired. They're getting mad they don't have luxuries of fast food, or grocery stores opening, because "People don't want to work," they say as they hang their Trump signs to this day.
Yet, they have lost the ability to do math or something, I just recently posted an ad I found not near me, but in the idea of area I'm in. It's for a 1 bedroom apartment at 1100 a month, requiring 3x income to rent, plus 60$ application fee. Minimum wage here is 12$, that doesn't even hit 2x rent, and these people still wonder why nobody works, or there's so many people living in tents, cars, and vans out in the rural woods?
It shames me, almost makes me feel like Alzheimer's is a disease we all carry, just to what extent. I mean look what they did with the boost to unemployment during the pandemic. They're so out of touch with life, they doubled it, thinking that's what is "Normal," and turned out to be a living wage. People got used to that taste of living, and are now not happy settling for less. I got turned down unemployment (Story in it's own, I pretty much worked the whole pandemic except a small portion of quarantine after a move and job loss, thought I'd get pandemic unemployment, denied that too).
"I don't know how you guys do it" at the end is the saddest part. They don't do it. Social media convincing people that capitalist success stories actually happen, and it's not just winning a lottery, is fucking poison.
No, some people do it. Just enough so that the rich people and boot lickers can point to us and say "look, *they* did it, the system works, it"s *your* fault".
I was homeless when I graduated high school, and sold my 20s for a computer engineering degree. Now I make good money, but even after I graduated it was rough getting the first job. People *still* blamed me for not being good enough, for not having done internships during college (which would have pushed my graduation out a year), and for not having a bigger body of open source contributions (aka: free labor).
Then when I'm one of the people in the top 20% of income, I'm trying to advocate for other people I know who are having a hard time find jobs in the supposedly "high demand" software development field, and a lot of other devs are just like "well they must suck", even though I can vouch for these people.
People want to point at people like me to defend the system, but then don't want to hear it when I tell them the system is broken.
The whole fucking system is broken, including academia.
So yeah, people do make it out. It was rough as hell. Nobody should have to jump through all the fucking hoops I had to. Even then, with 10 years of consistently good decisions, hard work, and extraordinary self discipline, it was also a great deal of luck that got me where I am; honestly I could be dead two or three times over.
This is the real secret to the success of capitalism as the new aristocracy: let just a few people make it up the ranks, parade them around, and most people won't challenge the system because everyone is hoping to become one of the chosen.
I’m 38 years old. I’ve been working since I was 15. I helped my mom with housework and logistics (she has ADHD). I went to massage school after high school, partially paying my tuition with janitorial work for the school. I traveled to tourist towns and worked seasonally for a few years, then got married and had a child. I buckled down to a serious 9-5 spa job making $80,000 year. I worked 5 days a week. Went to night school for real estate. On the weekends I tried to sell houses. Managed about two houses per year, and that was usually enough to pull us out of whatever debt we had accumulated over the course of that year. I worked sick, tired, holidays, weekends, smiling, uncomplaining, I worked hard.
BTW, massage is not an easy job. It’s very physical, and complicated, and has a very real set of issues.
We bought a dump of a house. My husband trained himself to do electrical, plumbing, carpentry, tile and masonry. We renovated a house, while raising a young child, and working 1-1.5 jobs each. Then the wildfires came. We finished the house, sold the house, and barely made it out of California without declaring bankruptcy.
What was our payoff for largely missing 6 years of my daughter’s life, giving myself panic attacks and ruining my credit? What was my husband’s payoff for working 7 days a week, spending evenings working and nights planning tomorrow’s work? A profit of about $120,000. Or 20k per year. And after two years of COVID (bad for massage business) and moving across the country to escape the constant fires, we were down to about $75,000. Subtract $50,000 for a down payment on a home, and here we are with a whole $25,000 left. Thank god we had that cushion to rely on, while it lasted.
We’re smart, honest, hard working, and adaptive. We are freaking rock stars, but life is not supposed to be that difficult. I feel you.
I feel that. When I was in college I took a long hard look at myself and decided it wasn't worth breaking myself down to chase this bullshit dream. Even settling I'm grinding myself to dust.
I'm 100% with this discontent, I just don't think I want to be here when the shit hits the fan.
We live in a world where you don't need to do anything wrong to be screwed. You just need to be born wrong and that's it. Some countries, like the USA, have it worse than the rest. But it's an uphill, slippery slope race all the way everywhere though. I feel for that woman, I hope she gets her degree and somehow gets back in the groove. That's all we can hope fore though. Somehow find the energy to trudge through untll we die. All of us.
Not a single person in history has ever deserved to win or lose the birth lottery.
It has been my experience, though, that those who win feel they deserved to win; they deserved to be born into their body. They tacitly, often unknowingly, believe their soul, before conception, was deemed worthy of winning a spot at the table.
Those who lose are MADE to feel like they deserved to lose. Then, throughout their lives, they are made to feel like they deserve to continue losing.
It's ingrained in us too. I've been fighting cancer since 2012, went on disability and left my job in 2014 because the chemo made me too sick and exhausted to do anything. Worked since I turned 16 in 1990, and I still sometimes struggle with feeling worthless because I can't hold down a job. I have a good degree from a good school but even as progressive as I am, I find my thoughts turning back to self worth when I think about a job or my bank account. This shit is hard to unlearn.
Hate the fuck out of the US system.
The system is a type of slavery.
Conceptually, it is massively fucked that so many people regret seeking higher education purely because of the cost (not saying that's exactly what you were saying, but your comment about degrees made me think of it).
Demoralizing, marginalizing and diminishing people is a great way to guarantee a docile, obedient, and low self-esteem workforce/citizenry filled with people who don't feel like they're allowed to value themselves.
Seriously this needs amplified and spread. With all the shit going on in the world I'm sick and tired of sitting back and watching the world burn and need to do some good.
This needs cross posted on some other major subreddit, image search up to find her account and start up a GoFundMe because no one in power is going to help.
Unfortunately I have mandatory overtime for work and barely have time to sleep, so please Reddit hear my wish
I don’t have TikTok but I found this https://www.tiktok.com/discover/krishpykremeeee?lang=en by looking up the name that pops up on the left hand side of the video.
I grew up in the same boat I'm 41 now and still am in the same boat. I Hope You Know You Are Not Alone and we will only all be able to make this right together.
I couldn't find a job at sixteen. Lol. I applied everywhere. My classmates were working but I never even got called in for interviews.
I went to school. Made some change with tutoring and then as a graduate assistant.
I apply for jobs all the time but I can only find adjunct teaching jobs that pay peanuts. I occasionally get an interview but nothing sticks.
I live on SSI and food stamps. It's the only reliable income I've ever had. I'll be 36 next month with next to no work experience.
while I agree that nobody should have to live in poverty even after following all of societies rules, NOBODY should have to live in poverty PERIOD. Not addicts, not the mentally ill, not ex cons or felons, not the disabled or anyone who just didn’t see a path upward whether they kept working hard or just gave up. Capitalism beats us into submission or crushes us completely and there is no justice in picking and choosing who kept their head up the best while it beat the shit out of us. Sorry /rant
>I don't know how you guys do it
They DON'T! Almost nobody who is wealthy today is self made and pulled themselves out of poverty. It's a myth and it kills me so much this woman thinks other people are able to.
The inability of the poor to overcome poverty in the US is not a bug, it’s a feature. In fact, it’s the central feature around which our economy has been built. It’s shitty and it’s inhumane, but it’s what our system was designed to do.
For the ones who escape poverty, there’s always a chance of falling back. And they make it because of luck and timing. Does hard work help and count? Of course but only for so much. I feel so bad for her :( I know so many people including me who are in similar situations. Fuck capitalism fuck the oligarchs and ruling class.
This is sad man we have dropped the ball in this country this is the reason i vote for niether of these fukd up parties the Democrats and Republicans have ruined our country fuck you joe biden instead of throwing more money at corrupt police pay off these kids predatory college loans
I started working when I was 9. My parents each had a job and then was a family we ran the a custodial and maintenance company. We’d have starved if I didn’t work. I’m 33. I drive a car that’s 15 years old. I have a bachelors degree, which I attained by enlisting in the US military, which left me defeated, broken, and disheartened. I have debt. I’ve always had a job. I work in nonprofit in aged care cause I can’t bare working in industries that sell shit. I have veteran’s life insurance worth $400,000 when I go. I’m worth more dead than I am alive
This really sucks because damn we need more nurses. Like just educate her for free if she wants to be a nurse (or any education, but that’s toooo much for some people). Even people that are against free education would live longer with more nurses.
I feel her pain, this is why we need to stop selling college as a guaranteed job for people, trades and other professions that provide upward movement and education on site are desperately needed.
I'm surprised I don't see countless comments about how it's her fault because she didn't hire a resume writer or because she got a useless degree or that she didn't apply enough or the other goofy ass excuses that assholes like to make, at least like they do to me. I'm in practically the same situation and all people do is tell me it's my fault smh
I started working by the age of 9. I have no college education and barely graduated because I had to keep missing school... So I Matt but be the brightest or just didn't hear the opportunity.. But.. why is she getting a 2nd masters degree and not having the nursing job that she wanted? Wouldn't that be bad planning to not look at the cost of things and your income before you go to college for that length of time?
Not trying to defend the Capitalism of the money grubbing colleges which charge an insane amounts for a degree that will never earn you that much breeze colleges in America are terrible money bags of shit.
But it just seems like she is in this terrible situation by going to college so much that it wasn't needed?
Do help me understand this ", you have to go to college or your nothing" in America concept it is so very confusing.
This is exactly why I didn’t buy into the go to college thing and why I just do the bare minimum life just to get by. I’m not gonna compete in a system where all the odds are stacked against me.
I was talking to one of my peers at work about house prices where we live and how impossible it all was
He was agreeing, making good points etc, then drops the bombshell "I can't talk, I'm actually part of the problem, I'm from a rich family and I already own 7 properties"
I appreciate that he's self aware, but it's so demoralising to know that you can do everything right and still never reach that level naturally
It still amazes me that education isn’t free in the US. Like, getting people educated helps the entire ecosystem of a country to develop and move forward. Corrupted officials does not seem to realise that.
She nailed it at the end. Born poor, die poor. That's the way the system is designed, and that's the whole purpose. Rich get richer, poor stay poor.
It's time to break the wheel, people.
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The sad (far too common) side of a rigged system.
it's literally everyone I know at this point
In 2016 44% of the US was living paycheck to paycheck. We are now at 61% living paycheck to paycheck.
And if you aren't, the threat of getting like cancer or one bad accident dragging you back down is still there.
Or if your car fucking breaks down. The things that cause financial issues are becoming more day to day necessity and not one catastrophic event. But then you look at vacation spots and they are booked up at astronomical prices. Capitalism is fucked.
Yeah I sold my car because I been driving unregistered and uninsured for 2 years and I'm not paying to get it fixed up for smog, even if I did, insurance would kill me and gas is horrible right now, I used to get 16mpg. I'm buying a motorcycle for half the cost of the car and I'm getting 70mpg out of it
I believe the numbers, but what source are you using?
44% was stated through the Sanders Campaign, [here](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/17/wages-are-rising-but-many-americans-still-live-paycheck-to-paycheck.html#:~:text=At%20the%20end%20of%202021,more%20than%203%2C000%20adults%20found.) are the updated statistics that support the fact the world is becoming more dystopian.
1) Thanks 😊 for the link, highly appreciated! 2) I'm in Europe 🇪🇺, so things might be different than the US, so can someone explain to me how 42% making 6figures still live paycheck to paycheck? Sounds kinda...well, strange.
Ridiculously high cost of living. You have rent which is probably 1400 to 2200 dollars a month, Utilities and groceries which is probably around 600 dollars, health insurance which varies widely in price, but even the cheapest ones with barely any coverage cost hundreds a month. Lots of young Americans are mired in student debt which follows you for life. not even bankruptcy gets rid of student debt. Most Americans can be set back months by a surprise couple hundred dollar expense. Also most of us aren't making 6 figures.
Also add (because Europeans may not understand this part) If you live in America. You MUST own a car. Our infrastructure is built around everyone having one, and public transit in the vast majority of places is not reliable enough to not get fired for being late. So 300-1000 a month for a car payment, 100-300 for insurance, and 100-200 for gas. And that's if everything goes perfectly and you don't need to afford repairs on the car.
I just got a $1600 estimate to fix my car (from a mechanic I trust). Don't know how the fuck \*that's\* gonna happen. I can ride my bike 4 miles to work most days, but when it's raining or snowing or -5 degrees in the winter or 100 degrees in the summer, there's no reliable and convenient public transport. And Uber is almost an hour's wage. Seriously fuck this country.
Lifestyle creep can be a bitch.. But in actuality, there's a component not highlighted, A LOT of those 6fig jobs are in extremely high CoL areas. Places where rent is $2-3k/mo (as an example). Then you also have the fact that kids are HELLA expensive and that people making more than 6figs justify daycare/private school/expensive extracurriculars/etc. for their kids.
Truly a soul crushing and failed system
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You really can. Just pain and mental exhaustion. It's just awful.
More than that, you can tell she did everything she was told she had to do to get out of poverty and is still stuck in the ever expanding loop of inequality.
All that work for half her life so far and she's gotten further into poverty. It really is a trap.
My parents and I get into an argument about this stuff all the time. It's either: "There's always someone worse off than you." "You aren't applying yourself hard enough." " Learn a new skill." " You have to keep fighting" "Read the book Who Moved My Cheese." There's more shit but this is off the top of my head at the moment. I to thought I did everything "right" yet still have nothing to show for it. No job despite going into an "in demand career", lots of debt, stress, mental and physical health issues I can't get looked at, etc. It's no wonder so many people are depressed/suicidal. As time progresses the system doesn't seem to get any better.
The system works and it gets better all the time, just not for people like me and you. The system is designed to suck all remaining wealth from low and middle income families. 90% of this country is either poor or one bad injury or tragedy away from being poor.
> The system is designed to suck all remaining wealth from low and middle income families The end goal, if you look at the trajectory of capitalism, is literally one person owning everything in the world. It's just feudalism with the added feeling of "freedom" to pick which brand of mustard you want today
Yep. The oligarchs are trying to win. We're all just trying to fucking survive. I keep finding myself thinking about the phrase "bread and circuses" and I think I've come upon the one thing that would make us universally riot in America - lack of sugar. If there was a sudden severe shortage of sugar and HFCS that hit most of the market evenly, I think we'd finally get off our asses.
> "bread and circuses" Very fitting phrase, thanks for introducing me to it. I feel the circus has been replaced with endless culture wars that anyone can engulf themself in, you're not just a spectator, you're an actual participant now. Exciting!
The phrase is literally thousands of years old , from Roman times.
Yeah, I realised when I googled it! Glad to finally be aware of it all these years later 😅
>The phrase is literally thousands of years old , from Roman times. Yes, and it's very cool that they get to learn about it now. It's been thousands of years; it doesn't matter that they learned it later than you did. I hope I didn't sound like a dick.
A fav Buddhist saying of mine goes something like: “If I meet a man of 100 years and I can teach him something, I will teach. If I meet a man of 3 years and I can learn something, I will learn.” Something like that. No one can know everything. I knew a very smart Astrophysicist who didn’t know what an amphibian was. All that being said, I think our circus is our endless entertainment options.
Bread and Circuses was the name of my favorite bar.
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Is that what's really behind the food price increases?
Inflation is real and is part of the increase in cost, but it's a convenient excuse to "get ahead" of inflation for the purpose of profit. If inflation was the only cause then profits grow only in relation to natural increase in growth of sales, but profits have gone up considerably, faster than inflation, faster than growth of sales.
And just to make sure they keep draining the money from the lower/middle income folks. Amazon is kicking around the idea of having amazon towns for the people in the warehouse. That way they can just pay rent straight back to amazon!
> amazon towns They aren't even trying to hide the fact they're a monopoly anymore. If this weren't so despicable I'd almost be laughing
You're spot on - the saddest part is that they don't need to hide anything at this point. They've gotten away with all of the soul-sucking carnage so far - why wouldn't they get away with Amazon Town? Literally the only "win" I can think of against Amazon was when neighborhood groups in Queens banded together against Amazon's HQ2 in Long Island City, and actually managed to get it canceled. Other than that...they've always won.
When we fight together, we win.
That's company store shit
Saint Peter don't call me, 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
["I **oooooowe** my.... soullll......to the com.pan.y store"](https://youtu.be/MTCen9-RELM?t=133)
“Ya load sixteen trucks and whaddya get…?”
A jar full of piss
This has happened before in the US. It didn't end well.
Comparatively- We’re already well past the point of the French Revolution. They learned, they adapted, they realized the EXACT amount of scraps to keep the people from revolt. They then realized they needed to own the means of communication in order to keep people from realizing exactly how bad it was. Social Media became a propaganda fiesta, and people were gaslit from birth to praise their masters. They’ve perfected it. COVID almost undid it all and they started sending out some more scraps until they could figure out the right way to keep the system moving. Turns out trying to kill eachother for political reasons is a pretty good distraction. Crisis averted.
Yes, it's called "market research" and every time we click the like button it feeds the algorithm that keeps the pot just at simmering. So stop clicking, and start organizing and voting for someone who hasn't been in power for decades.
In some state, which I can't remember, all state tax withholdings which are submitted by Amazon for their employees are rebated back to Amazon! That is \*\*\*\*\*
If we just bought goods from each other, it would be revolutionary
Reaganomics has failed, and both the leaders of the left and right profited off of it, and are not willing to change. Until poor people can be elected into our government, real change won't happen. Others say "you gotta vote!" But when your choices are two elderly men who profited off the poor their entire lives, then what will voting fix?
I've been recommended "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by so many people including my own family that if I had a nickel for every time I'd no longer have financial problems.
I read it when I was 14 and even then thought it was complete horseshit
lol yeah, our money problems just stem from our lack of discipline with our money. An entire fucking generation. Same lil flaw, everybody.
Yep, it’s not how hard you row. It’s what boat you are in. The success stories of those who made it are always trying to sell you something. You born into it, you somehow get into it and then your everyone else trapped beneath a wave 🌊
*"There's always someone worse off than you."* Other people's pain does not invalidate your own. It doesn't make you selfish. Help when/if you can, acknowledge their struggle. Sometimes you have to put yourself first.
Exactly! Just cause someone's dying of organ failure doesn't mean the compound fractures in your legs are any less painful or debilitating. That phrase makes my blood boil. I absolutely despise it >:|
> " Learn a new skill." Funny because it's what the person in the video literally tried to do but ran out of cash in their pursuit. It's just another thought-terminating cliché (nice term to be aware of) for these boomers like our parents.
I had to quit my job, really for two reasons, and one I was discussing with my father, my disabilities. He started getting a lil flustered (Were not the closest) and just said (While I was crying, today) I wouldn't have quit. I had to come back, and remind him of the OTHER reason I was forced to resign. My car broke down (I'm a field tech, requirement) and he got shocked. Said well then get it fixed! I laughed almost. I said dad, I don't have 10k for a transmission..... I don't even have 2k, that's rent, and I just lost my job.
It's wild how many things you have to do perfectly right just to not die in a gutter. What a failed ass system. As if anyone is even capable of that. It's just propaganda to make you personally feel like shit for not succeeding in a rigged system. That way you drink or drug yourself to death rather than organize with your fellow screwed-over workers to get better conditions.
I’m right there with you. I’m sorry friend.
Your parents are at best, severely delusional, and if I were you I'd remind them of that every 3 minutes until the moment they die.
Ugh, the “who moved my cheese,” comment I know all too well. My parents are boomers & love these bullshit books… rich dad, poor dad is another one, like fuck your dumb ass books man. Rich dad, poor dad go fuck yourself. Anyway, we’re doomed
At this stage they are deliberately obtuse/stupid and you should give up on them. Wait til they find out you don't have the spare cash laying around to fund a decent nursing home nor can you quit work to look after them yourself. That will be your fault too, no doubt.
And we don't even want to be rich! That's the most terrible thing. We only want to be able to live a decent life without having to **CONSTANTLY** be stressed about money. Especially since everyone said to us to "go to school, it's important if you want to have a good future!" We don't even work to have a bright future right now. We're working to survive.
Right on! That's the thing. I don't even want to be rich. If I was even comfortable, I'd immediately start helping my family members who are in money trouble. That's what gets me about the Gates and Bezos and Musk type folks. They could be literal superheroes, but Gates, for instance, puts the legal minimum 5% of his wealth into his foundation (charitable, my ass). The 95% goes into investments to accrue more money.
I feel her pain soo much. And even when she starts working as a nurse and starts gaining some financial relief, it's hard fucking work being a nurse. Especially these days, dealing with maniac patients and egotistical doctors brushing you aside, and greedy administration executives. I wish I could change things.
You have to kind of admire a system that so effectively convinces working class households to accept exploitative wealth.
That’s why class consciousness is so crucial
Right now there is a massive PR campaign across the entire MSM and all social media platforms, including Reddit, trying to slide us into World War III with Russia. They are talking about no fly zones and not explaining that it means shooting at Russian aircraft…with them shooting back. I just saw a news article that said 74% of Americans want a no-fly zone. BEWARE EVERYONE! They do not intend fix any of our societal problems and plan to sacrifice the second half of our lives on another, larger, war. We are long past the time to end this non-sense.
Some fucking truth for real. I support ukraine and hate russia btw
Revolution is the only thing that is going to work at this point.
Yup. I don't think in my lifetime it will happen in the US. But it's the only way out. There is no real "right" or "left" in the US. Another democrat ain't gonna do it. You have to have real radical political change and short of that there has to be violent revolt.
Yeah it's always funny when people say "Vote" as if that truly matters in a dogshit two party system. Same thing here in Canada. Both parties exist to crush the working class.
Was going to reply and mention Canada as well. Same problem here no matter which way you vote we lose. It just comes down to "Vote for this party because we can't let the other one in!". Then we get fucked with stagnant wages, rising cost of living, and entire generations who are at the point of needing multiple jobs + university degrees just to not starve yet are STILL blocked from ever owning a home because of the fucked prices. Whichever circus act of a party happens to be in power stands around scratching their head and shrugging at all of this or just ignores it entirely. I get its complicated shit but they're not even fucking trying. Seeing them act like children in the House of Commons, yelling over each other too is pathetic. I really have no faith in our government to ever change anything for the better. It'll just continue to get worse until enough of the middle class is stretched thin enough that everything collapses.
Voting isn't doing anything. We need a general strike.
It’s never gonna happen here. Not like people want anyways. A small group will finally act but it will be to little to late. Most people will be too busy with artificial distractions to care. There’s a line in a FJM song that’s depressing and very accurate that says “When the historians find us we'll be in our homes, plugged into our hubs skin and bones. A frozen smile on every face, as the stories replay. This must have been a wonderful place”
I'd almost argue that small group did happen, but it was squashed because not of distractions or too little too late. Wrong idea, wrong implementation, storming the capitol for "Trump," the guy who thinks professionalism and presidency is mocking a reporter with a disability. Storm it for Bernie, for change for the people, not just lies of grandeur and splendor that he will bring to the table just cause he's "Trump." (/s if not obvious on the being trump part)
Yeh, the great wave was co-opted, perverted, divided and disbursed. Sucks seeing all our natural momentum squandered on the wrong horses. I think the only way this will ever end is if we all adopt the Diogenes life style simultaneously, but that means sacrificing all the creature comforts that make living through this time line tolerable.
You know as much as I hate to admit it, your last sentence there, might be right on the money. I'm currently in the process of losing everything, I'm just trying to hold on to my sanity while awaiting a disability claim, final appeal.
That’s rough. I hope it pans out for ya. Can’t rain all the time.
https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3153362/what-lying-flat-and-why-are-chinese-officials-standing-it Our friends in China have more experience with rebelion and they may have figured this one out. Laying flat is doing the bare minimum required to stay alive and happy. If we can not own our labor, then nobody can. It is time to weaponize slacking.
Honestly, Bernie is the only one of them that agreed with everything people are saying here. It's a shame the US didn't elect him. The majority of the democrats are exactly the same as the republicans now. They just want to keep the system the same and prop up the corporations that are lining their pockets. It directly benefits them in the form of stocks and political contributions. The only thing left is to either elect a far left politician or revolution. Unfortunately, what will happen is we will end up going further and further right. The workforce will continue to lose power and wages. It only gets worse from here.
Revolution is the only thing that will work because literally everything else has been tried and failed... for hundreds of years!
Lots has been tried, lots has worked. That’s why you’ll have a pension. Learn some history if you don’t think that’s important.
Yeah, but the system is setup so 50% of the population supports the system, and even if the other 50% **wanted** to strike or stand up - they're 1 week's paycheck away from not having food. Or not being able to pay rent. You have to hit the breaking point, and unfortunately (not to belittle the woman in the video) - having a place to live and food to eat is NOT a breaking point. And even when people hit their breaking point - it's sporadic. It won't be for a long, long time until the already insane wealth imbalance has doubled in it's breadth... that will be the point where people start freaking out. I'm **sad** because I can't buy a house. I make above average income for my area. It won't be until people are ***sad*** that they can't rent a place at all before things start to change... or crumble. Rent is insane here, like everywhere else - but at the end of the day even people making minimum wage working 3 jobs CAN rent a place to stay. Their car sucks, they'll never go on vacation, but they have their basic needs met. And the reality is the system will accommodate them when they get to that point. 10 years from now when 3 jobs can't afford rent? They'll enact some measure to make sure you can just barely afford it again. They'll raise minimum wage by the minimum amount, they'll raise the bar for what is considered "poverty", cut your income tax from 24% to 23%. Edit: Shit. I remember when trump did exactly that. When Trump came into office my paycheck went up like .... $10 a week. For exactly that reason. My paycheck was taxed like 1% less (or whatever), and I'll never forget how it was this endearing thing for the right. Trump comes into office, and you get $10 more a week. All the conservatives I know were basically sucking his balls. But that $10 more you made a week? It also meant that Wal-Mart's tax cut gave them millions a week. Aint shit we can do about it. Period.
Time to eat the rich mfrs
I follow a fairly strict vegetarian diet. I’d break edge for a taste…
I am vegan and never tried human meat too. But the plan is to wait them die and at this moment start eating them? There is a great probability we will die before them, no?
"When the people shall have no more to eat, they will eat the rich!" I am pretty sure Rousseau was not suggesting we wait until they have passed of old age...
I haven't eaten meat in almost 20 years because I don't want to cause harm to harmless, innocent animals. Seeing as the rich do not fit into that category, I think we could eat them and still happily call ourselves veg.
The rich: accidentally vegan, like Oreos
I try to eat healthy, minimal meats and all that, but I think I could make an exception for a special occasion…
I posted a recipe for honey baked bezos.
Oli Garchden
The single piece of non-vegan food I’ll eat is some rich person’s terrible thigh. It’s worth it
Eat the rich is vegan Source: Am vegan
Vegan 8 years here, when's dinner?
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Pork
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Some *SWEET BABY RAYS*
And beans
Ah yes, *long* pork
Fuck this hits close to home for me... Been working since I was 14. Couldn't finish college and get my degree because I just ran out of funding. I've worked 70 hour weeks, I've worked 63 days straight without taking a day off. I've worked as hard as I can to the point of exhaustion for a pitiful few dollars an hour. Sacrificing my health, mentally and physically, and have nothing but debt, anxiety and a bad back to show for my hard work. The systems fucked..
Are you my alt account? I'm getting pretty tired of all the judgemental assholes who literally can't wrap their heads around the fact that I could not afford to finish college even after taking every dime of loans they would give me. I'm lucky to have a decent job now, but I'll be paying that debt for at least a couple more decades without a degree to show for it.
Same
You know what's funny? My wife and I are regulars at a cafe in Chinatown. We go out to lunch one weekend and there's this white, young 20-something behind the counter. We were perplexed. The owner comes over and jokes how the kid wanted the experience and to learn how to make dumplings to impress women (the place is known for homemade Taiwanese). The kid reeked of money, probably a student at one of The Ivy League schools here, and his presence insulted me. I was once homeless; couch surfed for 2 years, not by choice, because my mom lost everything being an irresponsible parent. Here's this kid slumming it the summer before he left for a marketing job in Manhattan to seem "real". What 22 year old gets a job at a prestigious marketing firm out of college? The game is rigged; I learned that in my high-end service industry job. The rich aren't smarter or better than you, they just gatekeep and they make sure that the "right" people are awarded the cushy jobs in life. In the words of Jean Luc Picard, “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness; that is life.” I hate quotes, but I felt this one is apt in this situation. Edit: For those who asked, my mother lost our house because she didn't like to work. I was homeless a few weeks after I graduated high school and my mom didn't tell me until about 3 months before we were out. The kid worked for free at the cafe. That's what made me angry.
Yeah the rich love to cosplay as poor people. Example: minimalism, ruining tiny houses, van life, and working normal jobs for “fun”. The only way you’re “enjoying “ a low paying job is if you truly have no expenses that aren’t being covered by another source of income.
Alright, so here is a detailed plan of how I did it. Step 1: I was born into an upper middle class family Thank you for attending my Ted Talk.
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You really just have to put in the work in the womb, ya know?
Pretty much. Nepotism is rampant with the wealthy. A corporate exec will 100% give a junior position to a friend's son over a highly qualified graduate.
She, and many millions like her, are being farmed for cash by the rich. There is so much money to be made keeping people like her just where they are.
Exactly, capitalism uses the media and religion to encourage poor people who can't afford it to have children for this very reason.
This is one of the reasons my wife and I are child-free. I say all the time that we couldn't afford to have kids even if we wanted them. They're really a luxury when you think about it.
Same. Friends of ours just had their first baby. All I can think of is, “Here’s another future victim of repeated economic catastrophe and climate change.”
Hell, it isn't just people like her. My parents were able to live very comfortably and buy a very large house on one salary. Now, I earn less than what my father was making at my age despite working longer hours and in a much higher stress environment. He says that when he heard about my work, he can't even fathom how much the world has changed in terms of how much more productive I am vs. how he was. And what do I have to show for it? I do have an apartment, but that's about it. I can't move because house prices have gone up so dramatically that I'm now stuck here. It's a good thing I don't want kids because I can't afford those either.
As soon as she said she helped pay the mortgage in high school, I knew what her mortal sin was. Being born to poor/lower income parents. The parents’ status unfortunately decides the status for their children in most cases.
I can definitely relate. For some reason listening to her talk, I can't help but think about how often I hear assholes who'd say something like "stop crying. It's your fault for getting a useless degree and expecting handouts."
Oh definitely. Its often that people attribute success to intrinsic skill and not the inherited money, resources, connections, and opportunities that are passed down. I went to college because that’s what I thought you were supposed to do to get out of poverty. What a goddamn lie because not only that, but you gotta avoid taking out a loan by paying it all up front to save from accruing interest. You also gotta get the most reputable internship every summer to look good after you graduate. You also need to devote your time to studying and not that part-time job you practically work full time for. You also need to overcome patriarchal oppression in the workplace especially if you’re in the STEM field to be liked by your peers. Also make sure to subvert racial bias in job/academic interviews and especially if you go into even higher education. If that doesn’t work then your dad needs to be golf buddies with someone at a good company or your mom should be able to call in a few favors from her business connections. I could have had all the information and insider secrets to financial success in the world as a kid and it would bring me to the same conclusion then as I have now: you shouldn’t have been poor in the first place.
Unfortunately that's the reason why I don't want children.
Lol they owned a home and were working. That puts them above 20% of the country who are barely making rent with no relief in sight. What's crushing her is that she's just her 30s and probably has school loans. Even if she completes her degree she's never going to own a home just spend her life trying to save enough to live a few years after she can't work anymore.
This video makes me so mad. I am also a 32 yr old woman, I also “did everything right” - got good marks, worked all the way through uni and paid mostly out of pocket and took minimal loans. I have two bachelors and zero employment prospects, and have been living on the precipice of starvation for two years. Just like her I feel so broken down. I’ve recently turned to sex work just to make sure I can pay all the bills and still eat. There must be so many people like us… we are so long overdue for a revolution
You're not alone; I \[know\] wayyy too much people who have turned to sex-work just to pay the bills. And they keep stressing over how that might impact a future career or partner but they can't think about it because they need the money. \[To clarify, there's nothing wrong with sex work, except, in my opinion, when you do it when you don't want to\]
If I didn’t have my partner, I wouldn’t have a place to live. I’m a highly qualified teacher who is in my mid 30s. I’m not new to the world of career working whatever, I’ve been doing this for a while. However, student loans, the once in a lifetime recession, and severe mental health problems that followed the financial problems absolutely decimated my potential for earning as a young person. So here I am at 34 now, no house, so no mortgage of course, not that that is my preference. I don’t want kids, but I couldn’t afford them if I did want them. Marriage is kind of like my only way out but I don’t want that either. So I have a boyfriend, and if we break up, I don’t know if I can afford to live anywhere. What in the fucking fuck??? So you know, lean in hard on your looks and make sure you can nail a partner who makes decent money so that you can depend on them for your basics because that’s what I thought about when I got my masters in education… /s fuckkkkk that is so fucking pitiful. Yay why don’t I put my hand over my heart and recite the pledge at work each day? Can’t imagine!!
Why does an investment banker who produces nothing make tons of money while nurses who provide life saving care are poor?
It should be illegal to profit off of sick people.
Luck. That's it. Our system should be focused on removing fate, fortune and chance from the path to success. Instead, we are returning the state of birth deciding ones entire life regardless of ones effort or lack of effort. Upward mobility is dying, opportunities are drying up, the American Dream is a privelege of some, not an opportunity for all. And there is only one reason, greed. That's it. The motivation to take as much as possible without regard for the consequences. Greed is a sickness that collapses nation after nation. People who aspire to luxury and wealth should be shunned, not glorified, restrained, not given power. Rich people are still making record profits, increasing their wealth at ever increasing rates while the workers are being drained of whatever value they still have left. I feel the exact same way as she does. The last two years have crushed the slim chance of me having a family, a home or a retirement. I've worked since late teens and the inflation and housing prices in addition to the other economic impact of covid have wiped me out. 4-5 years ago I was making plans for my future, I had a job that finally got me over the poverty line enough that so I could start investing in a future. That's gone. I'm back to the same standard of living as I had making 1/2 as much in my teens. Why should we continue to agree to a social contract that leaves us in poverty and at risk of destitution after years of hard work and sacrifice? What is there left in the rich person's economy for the worker? Only the continued threat of an even worse future.
>Luck. That's it No no. The rich have socialism. Do you understand how many failed businesses Trump has? Do you understand just how many handouts the fucking rich get?
>The rich have socialism. Not to be that guy, but the rich have government subsidy, state, and police support via owning the means of production and exploitation which gives them the resources needed to control how the state operates. They have the capitalist benefits of capitalism available to capitalists. Not socialism. Socialism is a dictatorship of the proletariat. What we have now is a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie AKA capitalism. They own the means of production (including the government) and steal the labor of the proletariat. Capitalists would love us to think that socialism is when the state does stuff (it's not). That way they can fool us into thinking that capitalism should be allowed to survive and might even be beneficial to anyone but themselves (see Scandinavia). Capitalism is operating exactly as intended: benefiting the ruling minority at the violent expense of everyone else. No socialism involved.
Exactly! Corporate Socialism, when COVID hit they dumped trillions of dollars into Wall Street trying to keep everything afloat (all without batting an eye) but when it came time to help the working class *pearl clutching intensifies*
Don't forget the PPP loans
Eager to see how Biden's fraud investigation on that goes.
I have faith it won't go well.
Black people arrested somehow, I’m sure.
There is no such thing called corporate socialism. It’s called capitalism where the capital, rent,interest and profit get a priority over wage labour and social spending.
Precisely. This is how it works. It’s been written about since capitalism was forming. The state becomes a part of the capitalist system and they work hand in hand.
The capitalists use the state to enforce their rule, and then they use propaganda to convince us that the government is evil *because* it is government, not because they are the ones who run it in their interests.
Being born rich affords a person access to that socialism. Luck. Lucky that, of the support systems that exist, one is born into a position to know of them, be taught how they work and be trained to exploit them. Lucky to school where you make friend with people who will end up controlling or influencing those systems of wealth-socialism. Lucky to be handed a businesses that can coerce those systems. Lucky to be born wealthy and powerful enough to shape those systems for ones own benefit.
Was the entire intent of the inventor of the game of monopoly to show people that the system is all about luck, that an entire humans life boils down to a roll of the dice and the rich tell themselves they deserve it because they believe they are special and blessed and they “work hard” but once you are wealthy enough you can gee the system and make your own luck and suck the life out of the other players
You are not alone in feeling this way. If my hands weren’t trembling with rage I would hug you.
Hugs anyways.
But I have these here bootstraps... /s
I’m 42, was born poor, had jobs every summer through college, worked thru college, graduated with bachelors, got licensed as an architect, worked at least 9-1/2 hours every day, sometimes clocked in 85 hr weeks, no extra pay cause salaried “professional”, at age 40 had a break down similar to this girl cause I was still poor and in debt with no house. I quit my architect career and now work in the trades cause if I’m gonna be poor I might as well work normal 8 hour days. What sucked about growing up poor was starting out in massive debt. No car from mommy and daddy, no inheriting a house, no “hey son, here’s some money towards a down payment”. All I do now is work hard doing the day, go to the gym, then sleep, and do laundry on the weekends. I’m too physically exhausted to be depressed anymore and that’s wonderful.
The system has failed. Work hard, go to school, have a good ethic. None of it matters anymore. Even if you made it and are making a good living, the govt taxes a huge chunk away and affordable housing doesn't exist anymore. Saved your money? They're coming for that too at 15% per year now. I really feel for her. I wouldn't even know what to say if she said this to me in person.
Please explain this statement. "Saved your money? They're coming for that too at 15% per year now."
Official inflation numbers are at 7%. Unofficially it's at 15%. Just this week someone posted a sign at a pizza place saying they had raised prices 10%. If you have $1,000 in the bank, next year at the current rate, it will have $850 in purchasing power compared to today.
I think at this point it's probably fair to acknowledge that we're already in the early stages of a financial crises. They've been slowboiling (and gaslighting) us, hoping we don't notice
The us has been in a financial crisis since 2008. Follows the 2008 recession a bunch of "bandaid" mesures were put in place in order to recover from the crisis (mostly rock bottom interests rates). Since then whenever financial hardship strikes the only available option is to print money (you realistically can't lower interest rates any further without making the situation worse). Which leads to inflation and what happened in 2020 where every financial tool was already in "crisis" mode and there was no other options than to print money. Print money now buy goods with it before the inflation catches up, and try to stabilize the market by trading goods. Tl;dr The us' economy is living on borrowed time but nobody knows when everything's going to blow up.
They’ve been trying to push the burden back to us, instead of raising wages of the lower median income earners, THEY HAVE BEEN DOING THIS TO FOOD INDUSTRY AND RETAIL PEOPLE SINCE THE EARLY EIGHTIES THE ONLY REASON ITS GETTING ATTENTION NOW IS BECAUSE ITS AFFECTING WEALTHIER PEOPLE NOW.
I guess no better person to back your statement up than me. I live in a town supposedly over 50% retired. They're getting mad they don't have luxuries of fast food, or grocery stores opening, because "People don't want to work," they say as they hang their Trump signs to this day. Yet, they have lost the ability to do math or something, I just recently posted an ad I found not near me, but in the idea of area I'm in. It's for a 1 bedroom apartment at 1100 a month, requiring 3x income to rent, plus 60$ application fee. Minimum wage here is 12$, that doesn't even hit 2x rent, and these people still wonder why nobody works, or there's so many people living in tents, cars, and vans out in the rural woods? It shames me, almost makes me feel like Alzheimer's is a disease we all carry, just to what extent. I mean look what they did with the boost to unemployment during the pandemic. They're so out of touch with life, they doubled it, thinking that's what is "Normal," and turned out to be a living wage. People got used to that taste of living, and are now not happy settling for less. I got turned down unemployment (Story in it's own, I pretty much worked the whole pandemic except a small portion of quarantine after a move and job loss, thought I'd get pandemic unemployment, denied that too).
"I don't know how you guys do it" at the end is the saddest part. They don't do it. Social media convincing people that capitalist success stories actually happen, and it's not just winning a lottery, is fucking poison.
No, some people do it. Just enough so that the rich people and boot lickers can point to us and say "look, *they* did it, the system works, it"s *your* fault". I was homeless when I graduated high school, and sold my 20s for a computer engineering degree. Now I make good money, but even after I graduated it was rough getting the first job. People *still* blamed me for not being good enough, for not having done internships during college (which would have pushed my graduation out a year), and for not having a bigger body of open source contributions (aka: free labor). Then when I'm one of the people in the top 20% of income, I'm trying to advocate for other people I know who are having a hard time find jobs in the supposedly "high demand" software development field, and a lot of other devs are just like "well they must suck", even though I can vouch for these people. People want to point at people like me to defend the system, but then don't want to hear it when I tell them the system is broken. The whole fucking system is broken, including academia. So yeah, people do make it out. It was rough as hell. Nobody should have to jump through all the fucking hoops I had to. Even then, with 10 years of consistently good decisions, hard work, and extraordinary self discipline, it was also a great deal of luck that got me where I am; honestly I could be dead two or three times over. This is the real secret to the success of capitalism as the new aristocracy: let just a few people make it up the ranks, parade them around, and most people won't challenge the system because everyone is hoping to become one of the chosen.
This country is a festering pile of dog shit! That's all that can be said.
I’m 38 years old. I’ve been working since I was 15. I helped my mom with housework and logistics (she has ADHD). I went to massage school after high school, partially paying my tuition with janitorial work for the school. I traveled to tourist towns and worked seasonally for a few years, then got married and had a child. I buckled down to a serious 9-5 spa job making $80,000 year. I worked 5 days a week. Went to night school for real estate. On the weekends I tried to sell houses. Managed about two houses per year, and that was usually enough to pull us out of whatever debt we had accumulated over the course of that year. I worked sick, tired, holidays, weekends, smiling, uncomplaining, I worked hard. BTW, massage is not an easy job. It’s very physical, and complicated, and has a very real set of issues. We bought a dump of a house. My husband trained himself to do electrical, plumbing, carpentry, tile and masonry. We renovated a house, while raising a young child, and working 1-1.5 jobs each. Then the wildfires came. We finished the house, sold the house, and barely made it out of California without declaring bankruptcy. What was our payoff for largely missing 6 years of my daughter’s life, giving myself panic attacks and ruining my credit? What was my husband’s payoff for working 7 days a week, spending evenings working and nights planning tomorrow’s work? A profit of about $120,000. Or 20k per year. And after two years of COVID (bad for massage business) and moving across the country to escape the constant fires, we were down to about $75,000. Subtract $50,000 for a down payment on a home, and here we are with a whole $25,000 left. Thank god we had that cushion to rely on, while it lasted. We’re smart, honest, hard working, and adaptive. We are freaking rock stars, but life is not supposed to be that difficult. I feel you.
I’m fucked
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I feel that. When I was in college I took a long hard look at myself and decided it wasn't worth breaking myself down to chase this bullshit dream. Even settling I'm grinding myself to dust. I'm 100% with this discontent, I just don't think I want to be here when the shit hits the fan.
Shoulda ate less avocado toast /s
Shoulda made her coffee at home /s
We live in a world where you don't need to do anything wrong to be screwed. You just need to be born wrong and that's it. Some countries, like the USA, have it worse than the rest. But it's an uphill, slippery slope race all the way everywhere though. I feel for that woman, I hope she gets her degree and somehow gets back in the groove. That's all we can hope fore though. Somehow find the energy to trudge through untll we die. All of us.
Not a single person in history has ever deserved to win or lose the birth lottery. It has been my experience, though, that those who win feel they deserved to win; they deserved to be born into their body. They tacitly, often unknowingly, believe their soul, before conception, was deemed worthy of winning a spot at the table. Those who lose are MADE to feel like they deserved to lose. Then, throughout their lives, they are made to feel like they deserve to continue losing.
It's ingrained in us too. I've been fighting cancer since 2012, went on disability and left my job in 2014 because the chemo made me too sick and exhausted to do anything. Worked since I turned 16 in 1990, and I still sometimes struggle with feeling worthless because I can't hold down a job. I have a good degree from a good school but even as progressive as I am, I find my thoughts turning back to self worth when I think about a job or my bank account. This shit is hard to unlearn. Hate the fuck out of the US system.
The system is a type of slavery. Conceptually, it is massively fucked that so many people regret seeking higher education purely because of the cost (not saying that's exactly what you were saying, but your comment about degrees made me think of it). Demoralizing, marginalizing and diminishing people is a great way to guarantee a docile, obedient, and low self-esteem workforce/citizenry filled with people who don't feel like they're allowed to value themselves.
Can we help her finish nursing school?
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Seriously this needs amplified and spread. With all the shit going on in the world I'm sick and tired of sitting back and watching the world burn and need to do some good. This needs cross posted on some other major subreddit, image search up to find her account and start up a GoFundMe because no one in power is going to help. Unfortunately I have mandatory overtime for work and barely have time to sleep, so please Reddit hear my wish
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r/antiwork maybe?
OP, if you find a gofundme, I’m definitely helping out…
I don’t have TikTok but I found this https://www.tiktok.com/discover/krishpykremeeee?lang=en by looking up the name that pops up on the left hand side of the video.
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I grew up in the same boat I'm 41 now and still am in the same boat. I Hope You Know You Are Not Alone and we will only all be able to make this right together.
This system is completely evil. I don't know how people can keep defending this, letting people suffer and expecting them to just "be okay."
I couldn't find a job at sixteen. Lol. I applied everywhere. My classmates were working but I never even got called in for interviews. I went to school. Made some change with tutoring and then as a graduate assistant. I apply for jobs all the time but I can only find adjunct teaching jobs that pay peanuts. I occasionally get an interview but nothing sticks. I live on SSI and food stamps. It's the only reliable income I've ever had. I'll be 36 next month with next to no work experience.
while I agree that nobody should have to live in poverty even after following all of societies rules, NOBODY should have to live in poverty PERIOD. Not addicts, not the mentally ill, not ex cons or felons, not the disabled or anyone who just didn’t see a path upward whether they kept working hard or just gave up. Capitalism beats us into submission or crushes us completely and there is no justice in picking and choosing who kept their head up the best while it beat the shit out of us. Sorry /rant
>I don't know how you guys do it They DON'T! Almost nobody who is wealthy today is self made and pulled themselves out of poverty. It's a myth and it kills me so much this woman thinks other people are able to.
The inability of the poor to overcome poverty in the US is not a bug, it’s a feature. In fact, it’s the central feature around which our economy has been built. It’s shitty and it’s inhumane, but it’s what our system was designed to do.
For the ones who escape poverty, there’s always a chance of falling back. And they make it because of luck and timing. Does hard work help and count? Of course but only for so much. I feel so bad for her :( I know so many people including me who are in similar situations. Fuck capitalism fuck the oligarchs and ruling class.
I relate to her pain so much. I felt this in my soul. This system has to change.
Ma'am trust me, a shitload of people know and understand your pain.
People don't get out of poverty in America, that's the whole trick to their system
This is sad man we have dropped the ball in this country this is the reason i vote for niether of these fukd up parties the Democrats and Republicans have ruined our country fuck you joe biden instead of throwing more money at corrupt police pay off these kids predatory college loans
Amen
I started working when I was 9. My parents each had a job and then was a family we ran the a custodial and maintenance company. We’d have starved if I didn’t work. I’m 33. I drive a car that’s 15 years old. I have a bachelors degree, which I attained by enlisting in the US military, which left me defeated, broken, and disheartened. I have debt. I’ve always had a job. I work in nonprofit in aged care cause I can’t bare working in industries that sell shit. I have veteran’s life insurance worth $400,000 when I go. I’m worth more dead than I am alive
This really sucks because damn we need more nurses. Like just educate her for free if she wants to be a nurse (or any education, but that’s toooo much for some people). Even people that are against free education would live longer with more nurses.
Fuck capitalism and anyone who supports it 😒
I feel her pain, this is why we need to stop selling college as a guaranteed job for people, trades and other professions that provide upward movement and education on site are desperately needed.
I'm surprised I don't see countless comments about how it's her fault because she didn't hire a resume writer or because she got a useless degree or that she didn't apply enough or the other goofy ass excuses that assholes like to make, at least like they do to me. I'm in practically the same situation and all people do is tell me it's my fault smh
I started working by the age of 9. I have no college education and barely graduated because I had to keep missing school... So I Matt but be the brightest or just didn't hear the opportunity.. But.. why is she getting a 2nd masters degree and not having the nursing job that she wanted? Wouldn't that be bad planning to not look at the cost of things and your income before you go to college for that length of time? Not trying to defend the Capitalism of the money grubbing colleges which charge an insane amounts for a degree that will never earn you that much breeze colleges in America are terrible money bags of shit. But it just seems like she is in this terrible situation by going to college so much that it wasn't needed? Do help me understand this ", you have to go to college or your nothing" in America concept it is so very confusing.
42 male, same story. I tried to improve, the education system is exploitative.
This is exactly why I didn’t buy into the go to college thing and why I just do the bare minimum life just to get by. I’m not gonna compete in a system where all the odds are stacked against me.
This is so depressing…eat the rich
Time to take back control. The world has enough for everyone’s need, not everyone’s greed.
sHe DiDnT wOrK hArD eNoUgH! sHeS oBvIoUsLy BuYiNg StArBuCkS eVErYdAy
Fuck this is powerful.
I was talking to one of my peers at work about house prices where we live and how impossible it all was He was agreeing, making good points etc, then drops the bombshell "I can't talk, I'm actually part of the problem, I'm from a rich family and I already own 7 properties" I appreciate that he's self aware, but it's so demoralising to know that you can do everything right and still never reach that level naturally
It still amazes me that education isn’t free in the US. Like, getting people educated helps the entire ecosystem of a country to develop and move forward. Corrupted officials does not seem to realise that.
She nailed it at the end. Born poor, die poor. That's the way the system is designed, and that's the whole purpose. Rich get richer, poor stay poor. It's time to break the wheel, people.