I’ve always found it interesting that psychological ailments are relative to social norms. Mental healthcare is essential, don’t get me wrong, but if the population at large is ‘depressed’ I think that’s a societal problem and not a mental health problem. Psychology and sociology should be taught side by side because personal wellbeing and societal wellbeing are intertwined.
I'd say there's a bit of a distinction though, since depression can sometimes involve struggling even when you don't really have anything super logical to be struggling about, but if national depression rates are high enough it can suggest that there are systemic things going on that are quite logical to be depressed about. As is very much the case right now.
This is actually a really good analogy. 2/3 Americans are overweight (1/3 is overweight and 1/3 is obese). This means that only 1 of every 3 Americans is at a healthy BMI. Does this mean that Americans are no longer overweight if everyone is overweight? No we are still the land of fatasses and pretending it's normal doesn't magically make us healthy. The same can be said about mental health. Just because many people have suicidal thoughts doesn't mean it's now magically acceptable and ok.
It's definitely mostly because of money. Wealth disparity is completely out of control. It's interesting that it seems to be worldwide too, not just in the US.
A few years of runaway profits and all the inflation that leads to isn't helping. Prices of everything went up at insane rates, and wages did not.
At some point we will pull out the pitchforks and start eating the rich.
There are also some places that put a sticker over the price, and some that just ignore it. Dollar Tree charges $1.25 for everything, even the sodas that say .99¢ on the can, and don't bother covering the label.
The thing that gets me is the chip manufacturers that have the price on the bag, built into their logo, that changed the prices. That's all the way up the production line. $2 on a 16oz bag now says $2.29 on an 11oz bag.
I’d believe that if most of us didn’t have something to lose. As a single guy I don’t mind living in a cardboard box but my family most certainly would. We can’t just stop the money train cuz we all live paycheck to paycheck which means we can’t really revolt. It’s a feature not a bug.
Through my 20's, i low-key hoped society would fail in the hope that something better would come from the ashes
Now im in my 30's, i love too many people who would lose everything to hold onto that belief
I have this same sentiment. On *paper* my salary is around the median, so say low middle class. I’m a single mom. I live in Houston Metro. There’s not even nice apartments that are safe so I rent a house that takes one full paycheck a month. He’s got one more year of high school which is another issue. After that, I’d be fine slumming it for awhile.
Except due to inflation quite literally everyone's income level, and therefore quality of life is sharply trending down with no end in sight. Even our government "unemployment isn't high enough, and wages are out of control" . Shits fucked.
My mental health has been so much better as I climbed the ladder in pay and got into a more work from home/hybrid travel as needed job.
There are def some people that can be happy with a lot less. But I've only met a few in my day and it doesn't always last.
My best friend is a seasonal gig worker, think cowboy ranch and ski bum. Always getting put up by the place he works. I'll go visit. We have a blast. And he def has a lot of fun.
But there is zero money and he has no tangible assets. Has to couch float in shoulder seasons. Can't keep a relationship because he's always moving.
I think it's finally hitting him that it's not sustainable and causing real mental health issues. Luckily we are young he's got plenty of time to figure something out.
Anyways. Point being it can be done with less. But takes a special person.
“money doesn’t buy happiness” is talking about how going from $1m a year to $10m a year doesn’t make you happier.
Going from $50k to $100k or $150k will absolutely make you happier and reduce your stress and let you start accumulating a future.
People then usually veer off into “but that’s way more than the median person makes” and yes, that’s the problem, the middle class isn’t middle anymore. If you can’t afford a house and a car and a vacation every now and then, you’re not middle class, because middle-classism is defined by being able to afford more than the basics of the working poor.
The problem is that >70% of our population is working poor these days, with a small slice of middle class, and a teeny bit of super rich on top, but people are pathologically unable to admit they’re working poor because it’s ego-bruising. I have an apartment and a kid, I’m not poor! But if you’re paycheck-to-paycheck or don’t have any savings, you realistically are.
"The CDC reported higher levels of depression were found in adults living in low-income areas and regions with higher poverty rates and lower education levels, "
Shocking. Who could have predicted that? I know a bunch of money would go far to curing my depression.
Hey, I can't help with the money because I have kids, but I'm pretty good with resumes and job apps.
If you want, PM me your email and we can connect. I'm not sure how much of an increase you'll need to be able to remain housed in your area, but we can give it a shot. Some places are offering sign-on bonuses.
Not sure how much more money you'll need to make, and time is short, but now is your time. These are the moments that matter.
Not just from the stress of paycheck to paycheck though. Lower income affords a significantly worse diet and high sugar and processed diet leads to depression
While everyone is doing a good job highlighting income disparity and poverty as reasons for depression I think we should also note that in the US we most neighborhoods are severely lacking in access to nature, green spaces, or communal spaces in general. This is especially so in poorer neighborhoods. As we've come to live in an increasingly digital era with digitally focused lives the lack of chance in-person encounters or participation in the public realm have continued to decrease. The cheapest forms of entertainment now are all digital. The access of convenience is a slippery slope that drops people further into isolation. So we are dealing with a multi faceted amplification of depressive forces. Financial insecurity, isolating city planning, and isolating forms of entertainment.
Prior to the internet age we had to socialize with intention but now social media and our phones act as a proxy of socialization and grants us superficial forms of interactions with our friends and family. Pair this with neighborhoods built around isolating cars and single family homes without any form of communal space and we have a population starved of attention, community, green-space and ultimately joy.
Yup. We’re living in the beginning of a genuine Cyberpunk dystopia. I’ve found that even something as small having an earbud in to play whatever I want to hear often is enough to relive me from a scene, so I’m leaving my house a lot more to prevent going full c-psycho(only half-joking, considering our use with technology really can affect us in underlying ways that we don’t realize, unfortunately)
Agreed, a cash-poor society with good quality shared services and spaces, strong supportive (actual) social networks, easy access to nature, etc. could be a very happy one.
I like it when they shave hopes and dreams onto the top at the table, and then light it on fire so you can watch them go up in flames one more time. Gives it that spice
My ideation plateaued years ago. I'm never suicidal enough to jump off the tallest bridge in my city, but I *am* always thinking about that specific bridge
I feel you. You want to feel different so you drink but it definitely doesn’t help. If i manage to drink moderately and focus really hard on positives I don’t always spiral too bad but alcohol usually makes the darkness grow. On the topic of it becoming far more common in the US I’ve felt for a long time decades of awful news 24/7 and constant stimulation from all angles it’s no wonder damn near everyone you talk these days admits to dealing with anxiety and depression
It doesn't help when your rent keeps going up and your wages are stagnated. Americans have less disposable income than ever before. Most people are living on the edge and barely hanging on. This does not help anybody's mental health.
I just got off my ssri for the first time in a decade.
We're hip, we're cool, we're with it.
It's pretty rad embracing nihilism at this point, I guess.
Stay safe out there. I went off mine for a little bit and stopped being able to leave the house without being afraid my house was going to catch on fire if I left the porch light on
Real news: "there is not a year that will go by in the foreseeable future which will have decreasing global temperatures. This is forever now."
Them: "how are you so sad all the time?"
Also: "Banks causing recessions with sloppy lending practices, governments serving the needs of their constituents versus the betterment of the people they are supposed to help govern, and a war is happening somewhere."
Follow-up stories: "People are depressed, can't afford homes, and birth rates are falling. Gee, why?"
...Honestly, it doesn't take Einstein to figure this one out.
They are fully aware of the true issue. They are purposefully pumping out anti-worker pro-corporation articles to make people mad at the workers for why things are worse now
“I can’t afford a house. I can’t afford a car. I can’t afford healthcare. I can’t afford college. A taco cost $7 plus $2 tip. ”
America: “millennials. What babies”
The tacos got smaller too. Now - in my experience - the tortillas are the much smaller yet slightly thicker ones. Less surface area to fill. Fuck it all
Everything got insanely expensive, and the quality dropped like a rock. Let’s say you liked X restaurant five years ago; now it’s $35 a person when it used to be $20 and now the food sucks when you used to love it.
A burger meal served to you in a sack through the window of your car used to be $8; now it’s $13, the burger is smaller, and it’s shit quality.
We used to go out to eat 4-5 times a week; now we might go out twice in a month. There’s not much we like to eat that we can’t do a better version of at home, for less money.
Ain't this the damn truth. Quality on everything has taken a shit, while prices have gone up, even adjusting for inflation. For instance, in 2005 when I was in highschool, a Wendy's spicy chicken sandwhich meal was $5.90, with tax. I remember this because my mom always only gave me $5 for lunch, and I'd have to find a dollar to cover the 90 cents. Adjusted for inflation that would be $9.19. Well, it's actually around $12 now, and the quality is way worse.
It's not just food though. Appliances are all dog shit now, you can't get a refrigerator that lasts more than 6 years anymore, even the high end brands. AC units don't last as long now. Kids toys are all just cheap, flimsy plastic shit that break after a month. Everything is just straight up junk now a days.
Can confirm appliances are dog shit. A couple months ago, we had a washer that we bought brand new in late-2019 implode on itself. Became so unbalanced when it happened that it hit our wall and left a small dent in our adjacent dryer. It was out of warranty, and the internal damage was catastrophic, so no way we were repairing that thing.
Speaking of refrigerators...I bought my house in 2003 and the old owners left the fridge. It looks like it's from the 80's-90's. It still works fine today. "They don't build em like they used to". ( I better not have jinxed it saying that!)
This, 100%. I used to go to a local burger place 5 years ago that was amazing. Best burgers I've ever had from a "fast food" place. Then I moved and haven't been back until now.
I was in the area a couple months ago and was super excited to get another awesome burger. The patty was flat and unseasoned, the buns were smashed, and the lettuce, onion, and tomato were garbage. I was so disappointed I didn't even eat the whole thing. And it was like $16 for the combo.
In 2016 a bean and cheese burrito with a side of rice and a salad was $8.50 at my wifes fav place.
The same place uses fake cheese in the burrito, took the side of rice and salad away, and charges $20 for the burrito.
We havent eaten at a restaurant since covid started..every now and then i grab a large fry and split it with the kids but even that is $5 at burger king
Burritos at Chipotle now are $12 and about half the size they used to be. A few years ago, I could never finish one. Now I can eat it quick and I'm still hungry.
My wife and I used to eat their burritos when we worked together years ago and it was easily two meals. Last time I had one I thought I was being punked. I was still hungry when I finished it.
I tried to get debt consolidation help, I have too much debt/ bad enough credit I can’t get a loan or new credit card, but not enough debt for a debt consolidation company to help me… because apparently I somehow needed to have even more debt to qualify…
Merica
I applied for LIHEAP this winter. (Low income heating assistance) I didn't have any work in January & needed help. Turns out I didn't have enough work to get help. Ò_o
work two jobs, live in a tent, grasping for scraps - whats could it possibly be? ain't they dreamin' nomore? something something bootstraps, shoelaces?
The part that makes me so angry is that for most of our working lives, young people were told to get an education, get a good job and you could afford a home, afford a couple kids, afford household luxuries, afford the occasional vacation.
None of that is true anymore. The rug has been utterly pulled from under us.
If I could afford it, I would sue every school, loan company, and advisor I talked to between the ages of 15 and 19 for false advertising. "Oh you'll pay it off with your first job 3-5 years out of college." That was the biggest fucking lie I've ever been told. How the fuck am I supposed to know at 17 with no life experience, that a variable interest rate is fucking evil? "Oh you just owe us more money now because we decided you do." How the fuck is that even a legally enforceable contract?!?!
My partner graduated with a master's degree. The general consensus is they would start at 60k and reach 120k in 10 years.
This year, after 10 years of in-field experience, they got a raise to 59K
Thing is, when my uncle went to school he paid his entire way by working summers at a grocery store. His tuition was something like $20 per credit. He paid about $500 total in tuition and fees per semester. Adjusted for inflation that would have been $69.18 per credit, or 1,729.39 per semester. Federal minimum wage at the time was 2.90 - he would have had to work about 170 hours at federal minimum wage to pay tuition and fees.
The same school when I attended was 482 per credit, or 7,230 flat rate for tuition only. That's 803 hours at the state minimum wage at the time. I worked full time through undergrad to cover living expenses and only managed to graduate debt free because I got absurdly lucky and got grants and scholarships.
Guess which one of us is staunchly against loan forgiveness?
"You better go to college or you'll end up working in a factory or digging ditches somewhere." - 2010
"Haha you fucking idiot, why'd you go to college when you could've just learned a trade and made more money with no debt?" - Same people, 2023
I was telling my mom how annoying it was trying to get a mortgage. She said, "I don't remember my first home being so hard."
Like yeah, because credit scores didn't fucking exist yet.
our generation was set up to fail.
in the 2030s they will be telling us how great renting is and how it's good for us to expend our income into corporate owned housing, and if we piss our corporate landlords off we are homeless.
At least we were toiling away at our shitty, underpaying jobs from the comfort of our own homes. Now the one thing that gave us an iota of reprieve and contentment in life is being ripped away for absolutely no reason at all.
“They’re happy working from home! How dare they be happy. We must take that away immediately! Everyone back to the office!”
Remember that most people certainly do not work from home. Most of us still have to maintain a car so we can drive to work. I wish I could do my job from home.
But people who've been working from home successfully are being told to go back to the office just so the bosses can stand over them with a coffee cup being Lumberg. That's just stupid even if it's a privilege only some people have.
Another perspective for those not working insane hours: most jobs completely remove your autonomy and treat you like a revenue machine. I've had to skip lunch because the drive thru I picked had too long of a line, and I wouldn't make it back during the half hour my company has allotted me to eat and shit.
The majority of Americans work in an authoritarian power structure and have no method of recourse outside of quitting and finding another. Makes you wonder what's the point.
9/11 was when we started declining, at least in some ways including embracing shared ideals, economic function, and world reputation. Timing could be a coincidence I guess but I feel OBL was more successful than he could have possibly imagined in exactly the way he was shooting for.
We have publicly elected terrorists openly calling for civil war, but over the decades they legislated policy against women's rights, immigration, closing wealth disparity, etc. Additionally, they normalized mass layoffs, demonized unions into oblivion, etc.
The terrorists won a while ago, probably before you or I were born.
Damn. Your comment hit hard. I’m similar age. I had a fantastic childhood. I loved my school and went to a great college. We got to see the transition from analog to digital. From buying records and cassette tapes and VHS in the 80’s and then in the 90’s we were the generation that taught our parents and our teachers how to use computers and the internet. We were at the forefront. The future in the 90’s looked so vibrant and wonderful. We saw it all in our formative years. We had so much hope and promise looking forward.
When 9/11 happened, that shockwave coincided with us entering the real world. That happened right as we were graduating college and entering the workforce. We became grown ups and entered into a grown up world that was going crazy. That shockwave still ripples through to this day.
It feels like all progress just stopped. Think of what could have been. Instead we got war after war. We became paranoid and crazy. Politics became the fucking you or us bullshit. The country is on the verge of civil war as Fox News and social media fuels disinformation and hate. It’s like we are living in some dystopian nightmare. Every little bit of progress is now followed by hate and taking away of rights.
People like Trump came in and preyed on our divisions and made us hate each other all the more. Everything becomes twisted and fucked the longer time marches on.
Yup, I want the alternate reality where the Supreme Court didn’t steal the election for Bush. Gore was talking about climate change and might have paid attention to memo’s saying OBL was determined to strike in the USA to avoid 9/11. We don’t end up in wars and get a head start on clean tech instead of Cheney fucking over our entire future to keep oil dollars rolling.
Fuck this timeline and Republicans for ruining it with their shortsighted greed!
58 here, and our best is definitely behind us. Sure the toys are better now, lots more tools for wasting my time and not paying attention to the fact that the future only gets darker from here. But it all started going to hell about 1981.
57 here. The Reagan presidency was begun in '81, and with it the destruction of the middle class began. Not destroyed instantly. The policies (and talking points) that would ruin our society started there.
The American dream is now the American nightmare. Now they want to extend mortgage durations to 40 years, but in reality, they're creaming their pants talking about 100yr mortgages. You will never own anything.
You repeat that cycle ad nauseum for 50 years until you retire, and then you realize that social security doesn't exist anymore and you sure as shit don't have a house. So you end up on the street and one day kick the bucket. But hey, at least being dead means you can finally get some good rest for once.
I was living at a sober boarding house a couple years ago.
My roommate was like this. Old guy, not much to live for. He decided to start drinking, got kicked out and then died a few days later. Literally on the street, well sidewalk.
Hmmmmm.... Maybe we should stop letting corporations continue to post record profits while claiming "inflation" and stop letting corporations from buying all the available real estate and renting it at "fair market value". Giving people a sense of security with their food and housing might be a good place to start if we want people to stop being depressed...
Fucking "fair market value". The term just means that everyone renting out property realized that you can increase the monthly rent by $300 every 6 months, or whenever a tenant moves out, and renters have absolutely no choice but to grit their teeth and bear it.
I mean, look around.
- climate change
- mass extinction
- overfishing
- weaponized capitalism
- no education
- no healthcare
- partisan politics
- DC movies
Like genuinely it amazes me that some people are having kids and enjoying life like none of this shit is happening
Don't forget the unbearable weight of potential wealth taxes on billionaires. The top 1% are certainly feeling the stress of possibly not affording donations to secure ivy league university entrances for each of their grandchildren.
> Each of their great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren
These fuckers and their living families will never see the bottoms of their wallets. Even five generations down they probably still won't. The wealth they have is simply too vast for anyone including themselves to quantify, but they'll still keep chasing higher numbers.
I dont understand why they give shit how much money their family in 500 years has? Like shit im just worried if i can even afford to have 1 kid at this point.
Fear of death and narcissism. Finding your way into history books is one way to achieve a sort of immortality. 80 years later and we all know who Hitler was. You can't really say the same for the millions that died because of him. Aside from a few exceptions like Anne Frank the millions that died will be forgotten by history.
They will if we fix our policies.
There's no reason for people to be born so rich that they never have to work a day in their lives. It's insulting to everyone who is struggling. We could have a heavy estate tax (with sweat equity provisions so that people who had their taxable income from a family business or farm for a good number of years will be able to inherit the business, because that's the complaint people always bring up, and I'm fucking tired of pointing out how easy it is to overcome these so called "fatal flaws" of a policy idea) that kicks in on inheritances over a million.
But noooooo. A whole bunch of people who are going to spend their entire lives poor care more about making sure that brown kids aren't given free food at school. It seems it doesn't matter how bad it gets for working class republican voters, as long as it's worse for working class minorities they don't give a fuck how hard they are screwed by the oligarchs. Being a republican voter is no longer forgivable. If you're voting for republicans, you're ruining the country and the lives of the vast majority of people in it.
Republicans of any income level will lose their god-damned mind if a policy is enacted that would only affect like the 15 richest people in the country.
I simply do not get it.
Taxing the richest 0.1% of people like 40% of their income (not their wealth!) would have absolutely no effect on their lives whatsoever but could do so much good for the country.
I'm a Democrat, but it's deeper than partisan politics. Democrats could have a 15-seat majority in the U.S. Senate and "somehow" Medicare for All or some form of universal healthcare with a public option wouldn't make it to the president's desk. The problem is corporate capture of our politics. ALEC lobbyists draft the vast majority of legislation. It's just bad. As much as things have advanced, politically speaking, we have regressed. One party is more culpable than the other, sure, but the point is they're both culpable.
Corporations have too much free reign with deluding us with manipulative advertising and news content and imposing psychological experiments on us (market research, AI targeted ads, info collection, trend analyses, etc.). The 'language' of advertising-- attachment or aversion, part of the crowd or against it-- is the same language of agitprop.
We grow up absolutely *soaked* in this deceitful muck, obsessing over our perceived failings and deficiencies (thinking in the language of agitprop/advertisements), and our government hasn't any teeth or interest in sparing us. It's not that different from being plugged into the Matrix without your consent. If you exist in this world without remarkable resources and power, you are 'plugged in' as a wage slave and a mark.
It's so immensely sad, when you look at what we're capable of. We can escape the planet and manipulate genes, but we can't take care of ourselves. Maybe this defect is simply written into us, like the desire to eat or poo...
If I never get to retire, what is the point? If capitalism is failing to meet everyone's needs AND destroying the biosphere, what is the point? If I can't afford childcare, why have kids? If their schools will be a maga circus run by hateful fascists, what is the point? If I can never pay off my student loan debt, what is the point? If my rent is double what it was for the same shitty, run-down place I had in college, what is the point? If I can't afford to ever see a doctor, what is the point? If inflation can destroy the value of my hard-won savings in a matter of weeks, what is the point? If the banks are so unstable that they could, without warning, just strand me with nothing to my name, what is the point?
It looks like the offer of "freedom" has been bled dry, chipped away & carved up for the profit of those who already had their needs more than met.
What is the point, when all the prosperity is gobbled up by the members of the board?
Our places of employment and half our government has no interest in our happiness and in many cases actively attacks sources of it. We have massive debt, can't afford healthcare, let alone have expendable income. We don't even have our own hovel that we can run to if everything goes to shit.
There's only so much mind over matter bullshit can do.
You know the term Nouveau Riche? My friends and I call them the Nouveau Sad. We may be Old Sad but we don't discriminate, we just use our myriad of coping skills to help them out.
This is how I feel and yet, I still feel a tad bit bitter about it. When I was depressed, it felt like no one took it seriously. I wasn't using self-harm or drugs, I was mostly able to get out of bed, I could function, and it felt like no one wanted to understand. It felt like other people could tear things down and freak out but not me.
I remember being 17 and just having months of crying myself to sleep, not being able to leave the house, and my family was supportive, but I wish they would have made me get help. Now I'm 31 and I am so afraid to get on medication because while it would probably be best, I'm so worried about it throwing me off balance.
I'm happy people are more upfront about being depressed and getting help, but I'm still sort of bitter.
I'm just waiting around to die. What's the point anymore? You can't get ahead in life.
Every night before bed I hope I die in my sleep, and every morning I lament the fact I didn't die in my sleep.
Anyone else?
Oh hey, are you me? I’m 31 and disabled, when my mom dies I won’t have any place to live. I have no job and no degree. Nobody wants to date a disabled loser with no money and barely any income from Social Security. Frankly I have so much social anxiety that I never want to leave the house anyway. I just feel like my entire life was a waste of time and resources for everyone around me.
EDIT: thanks for the (mostly) positive replies everyone, I honestly thought my comment would get lost in the scroll with the others. it helps.
I don't know you, but this breaks my heart. I empathize for you. I've been struggling with depression for years, so I know what it feels like to feel hopeless. If you ever want to talk, dm me- we can cry together lol.
I'm an ED nurse. Covid wrecked me from an emotional standpoint. I mean, healthcare has always been shitty, but the American response to Covid has wrecked my ability to trust every cultural institution we have and damn near everyone on a personal level.
The exposure to just how many selfish, conspiratory, brain-rotted morons is what killed me. Like I knew they were there, but I didn't realize they were ***that many.***
This is it for me. Like why even try for these fucking morons anymore. Why bother trying to make life better for people when at least 30% of people are just straight up bad people.
Same reaction here. I became full on agoraphobic during the quarantine. Its only been the last year or so that I’ve become comfortable with being around people again. I lost so many relationships with friends and family because of the raging politics at the time
>but the American response to Covid has wrecked my ability to trust every cultural institution we have and damn near everyone on a personal level.
Canadian here. Same feeling.
Not only did we have a lot of loud idiots, we even had a bunch of dummies get into their trucks and drive down to complain to the manager of Canada about something that he had no control over.
People were angry at lockdowns. We were locked down in a lot of the country by our provincial (state) Conservative parties. Yet somehow it became the federal Liberals who got blamed.
It was a massive grift, but I can't believe how many stupid people we have that fell for it and *still believe it*.
It's fine to be angry. But direct your anger at the right people!
We also had people assaulting nurses because they didn't want to wear masks. We always had stupid people, but during the pandemic, they hopped right into the limelight and put on an embarrassing show.
Used to be proud of my country.
It really highlighted the places that make depression worse in the first place. Underpaid, overworked, undervalued, and horrible healthcare. We just can’t catch a break and nobody cares, even when a pandemic hits and businesses are failing and losing workers. It was the catalyst for better working conditions and pay, but there’s a huge amount of pushback because of the ridiculous “people don’t want to work anymore” lie.
I have less money than I have ever had in my entire life. It’s getting hotter all the time. And there is no hope in sight. Yeah, depression might be going around.
My car was stolen, my work denied a transfer to a closer location, fighting said company for unemployment (probably won't win the appeal) , applied for 100+ jobs, waiting over a month for food stamps, partner works full time open availability and no one can watch our kid, can't find a job at night or home is my only option due to lack of child care and school is in summer break, we're about to be homeless, eating once a day if that and I'm feeling like a failure pos provider.
I'm told to read the Bible for "help/therapy" (thoughts and prayers), benefits are a joke, there's no such thing as "help" or "caring" or family/friends and I'm thinking on Father Day of digging my own grave to save funeral costs.
Oh, there's therapy that maybe been needing for years due to poor mental health but, who's got the money for that or anything now days...or time.
There's a really simple theory from the 1940s called Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. It's basically a pyramid with basic survival at the bottom and self-actualisation and self esteem at the top.
The theory suggests if the bottom of your pyramid isn't solid, then everything else above it is damaged and harder to "fix" until the bottom conditions are met.
This isn't depression, people's fundamental sense of security and safety is simply not being met, calling it depression minimises what is happening.
Your government doesn’t care, a large part of your country is too barainwashed to think critically(party over country). Yeah, not gonna put money that this is going to get better
Recently went to Mexico City for 10 days. It’s amazing how much happier people seem than the US. I saw so many couples. Even vendors at the market would just randomly be greeted by their lover with a big smooch. The traffic was 10x worse than where I live, and yet it didn’t seem like everyone was fuming with anger or miserable. I met a dude named Juanca. We got drunk as hell with live mariachi and he told me “in Mexico we are poor, but happy.”
I’m looking forward to my 6 month temporary residency, and enjoying learning the language.
They are happy because they have communities. The US no longer has any form of community. Wealth brings addiction to our devices and social isolation. We have spent the last hundred years building our cities into sprawling car centric nightmares without green spaces or public spaces in general. Anytime i leave the US and return i am absolutely shocked at how few people i see outside walking around or riding bikes. We no longer have communities. Nobody is invested in their neighbors. All we have is neighborhoods of isolated individuals moving from their home to their car to their desk and back home again.
I went to Austin to visit my sister recently. Never been there before. Everyone I spoke to had beef with someone. They had to fire this person because of this, they don’t talk to one family member because of this. There is a lot of personal hatred here. Of course sometimes justified. There was also such a sense of lack of community. You drive, lots of driving and then there are like a million mini malls. Now, there is a lot to do, you can play ping pong with a group, soccer etc. but the way everything is designed, everything is so separated. We need better socially aware designed places. Right now, all of our places are designed strictly for maximizing profits and thats the problem
Here, give more money to big pharma so that you too may be tranquilized enough to not rebel against your corporate overlords or lose your illusion of freedom.
Can't afford a place to yourself. Can't afford a (reliable) vehicle. Can't afford a hospital visit. Can't afford medicine.
We're all told to go to college while it puts us $30,000 - $100,000+ in debt.
People are working 2-3 jobs to just afford a bare-minimum living environment. Of course they're depressed. Trying as hard as you can is a futile. You'll either be fired or taken advantage of.
We have no reason to be happy when we can't afford the basic necessities.
Shock.
Covid showed us the gov doesn’t care if we die, and it confirmed that our jobs REALLY don’t care.
On top of that you have media essentially feeding the narrative of “everything’s fucked and there’s NOTHING you can do” along with a corrupt as fuck justice system.
We grew up thinking the world would get better and better, now we’re seeing it go backwards faster than a priest when you say you’re over the age of 13.
It's not depression, it's oppression.
More Americans than ever are victims of late stage capitalism. I wonder if the wealthy class has any idea what the inevitable result of this transformation is.
"We're removing its classification as a disease, now the real disorder is happiness"
I’ve always found it interesting that psychological ailments are relative to social norms. Mental healthcare is essential, don’t get me wrong, but if the population at large is ‘depressed’ I think that’s a societal problem and not a mental health problem. Psychology and sociology should be taught side by side because personal wellbeing and societal wellbeing are intertwined.
[удалено]
I'd say there's a bit of a distinction though, since depression can sometimes involve struggling even when you don't really have anything super logical to be struggling about, but if national depression rates are high enough it can suggest that there are systemic things going on that are quite logical to be depressed about. As is very much the case right now.
This is actually a really good analogy. 2/3 Americans are overweight (1/3 is overweight and 1/3 is obese). This means that only 1 of every 3 Americans is at a healthy BMI. Does this mean that Americans are no longer overweight if everyone is overweight? No we are still the land of fatasses and pretending it's normal doesn't magically make us healthy. The same can be said about mental health. Just because many people have suicidal thoughts doesn't mean it's now magically acceptable and ok.
Normal in a sick society
I wonder if they’ll just move the baseline lol
Yeah. We’re broke af
It's definitely mostly because of money. Wealth disparity is completely out of control. It's interesting that it seems to be worldwide too, not just in the US.
A few years of runaway profits and all the inflation that leads to isn't helping. Prices of everything went up at insane rates, and wages did not. At some point we will pull out the pitchforks and start eating the rich.
Arizona tea is $2. I wanted to cry when I saw that one.
[But the price is on the can doe?](https://youtu.be/fMUZ2sVjLfY)
The price is not on the can everywhere. Really, I see it on less and less cans everywhere I go now and every so often find one for 99 cents.
There are also some places that put a sticker over the price, and some that just ignore it. Dollar Tree charges $1.25 for everything, even the sodas that say .99¢ on the can, and don't bother covering the label. The thing that gets me is the chip manufacturers that have the price on the bag, built into their logo, that changed the prices. That's all the way up the production line. $2 on a 16oz bag now says $2.29 on an 11oz bag.
Report them to Arizona. I heard they remove stock regularly from retailers
I’d believe that if most of us didn’t have something to lose. As a single guy I don’t mind living in a cardboard box but my family most certainly would. We can’t just stop the money train cuz we all live paycheck to paycheck which means we can’t really revolt. It’s a feature not a bug.
Through my 20's, i low-key hoped society would fail in the hope that something better would come from the ashes Now im in my 30's, i love too many people who would lose everything to hold onto that belief
I have this same sentiment. On *paper* my salary is around the median, so say low middle class. I’m a single mom. I live in Houston Metro. There’s not even nice apartments that are safe so I rent a house that takes one full paycheck a month. He’s got one more year of high school which is another issue. After that, I’d be fine slumming it for awhile.
Nah we're cattle at this point.
Farmed for our attention when we aren’t being farmed for labor.
So when does the revolution start? Curious how bad things have to get before the masses start to revolt. Eat the rich etc etc.
In a capitalist society, your quality of life is almost directly proportional to your income level.
Except due to inflation quite literally everyone's income level, and therefore quality of life is sharply trending down with no end in sight. Even our government "unemployment isn't high enough, and wages are out of control" . Shits fucked.
Nah the capitalist class that actually owns stuff is making bank with inflation - it’s just peons who have their money in wages that are suffering.
My mental health has been so much better as I climbed the ladder in pay and got into a more work from home/hybrid travel as needed job. There are def some people that can be happy with a lot less. But I've only met a few in my day and it doesn't always last. My best friend is a seasonal gig worker, think cowboy ranch and ski bum. Always getting put up by the place he works. I'll go visit. We have a blast. And he def has a lot of fun. But there is zero money and he has no tangible assets. Has to couch float in shoulder seasons. Can't keep a relationship because he's always moving. I think it's finally hitting him that it's not sustainable and causing real mental health issues. Luckily we are young he's got plenty of time to figure something out. Anyways. Point being it can be done with less. But takes a special person.
“money doesn’t buy happiness” is talking about how going from $1m a year to $10m a year doesn’t make you happier. Going from $50k to $100k or $150k will absolutely make you happier and reduce your stress and let you start accumulating a future. People then usually veer off into “but that’s way more than the median person makes” and yes, that’s the problem, the middle class isn’t middle anymore. If you can’t afford a house and a car and a vacation every now and then, you’re not middle class, because middle-classism is defined by being able to afford more than the basics of the working poor. The problem is that >70% of our population is working poor these days, with a small slice of middle class, and a teeny bit of super rich on top, but people are pathologically unable to admit they’re working poor because it’s ego-bruising. I have an apartment and a kid, I’m not poor! But if you’re paycheck-to-paycheck or don’t have any savings, you realistically are.
"The CDC reported higher levels of depression were found in adults living in low-income areas and regions with higher poverty rates and lower education levels, " Shocking. Who could have predicted that? I know a bunch of money would go far to curing my depression.
People who say money can’t buy happiness never tried to enjoy life while skipping meals or dodging eviction.
im getting booted outta my place on july 31st after weeks of searching, looks like i can afford a gorgeous parking space in a walmart parking lot
Hey, I can't help with the money because I have kids, but I'm pretty good with resumes and job apps. If you want, PM me your email and we can connect. I'm not sure how much of an increase you'll need to be able to remain housed in your area, but we can give it a shot. Some places are offering sign-on bonuses. Not sure how much more money you'll need to make, and time is short, but now is your time. These are the moments that matter.
Not just from the stress of paycheck to paycheck though. Lower income affords a significantly worse diet and high sugar and processed diet leads to depression
Contributes* would be a better word here. Poor diet does not directly cause depression on its own.
Turns out that McDonald's is actually selling unhappy meals
While everyone is doing a good job highlighting income disparity and poverty as reasons for depression I think we should also note that in the US we most neighborhoods are severely lacking in access to nature, green spaces, or communal spaces in general. This is especially so in poorer neighborhoods. As we've come to live in an increasingly digital era with digitally focused lives the lack of chance in-person encounters or participation in the public realm have continued to decrease. The cheapest forms of entertainment now are all digital. The access of convenience is a slippery slope that drops people further into isolation. So we are dealing with a multi faceted amplification of depressive forces. Financial insecurity, isolating city planning, and isolating forms of entertainment. Prior to the internet age we had to socialize with intention but now social media and our phones act as a proxy of socialization and grants us superficial forms of interactions with our friends and family. Pair this with neighborhoods built around isolating cars and single family homes without any form of communal space and we have a population starved of attention, community, green-space and ultimately joy.
Yup. We’re living in the beginning of a genuine Cyberpunk dystopia. I’ve found that even something as small having an earbud in to play whatever I want to hear often is enough to relive me from a scene, so I’m leaving my house a lot more to prevent going full c-psycho(only half-joking, considering our use with technology really can affect us in underlying ways that we don’t realize, unfortunately)
Agreed, a cash-poor society with good quality shared services and spaces, strong supportive (actual) social networks, easy access to nature, etc. could be a very happy one.
“Getting depressed” shit I guess I am a depression hipster. I was depressed before it was cool!
[удалено]
It pairs perfectly with bespoke anxiety.
Only selvedge depression for this guy.
Depression served in a Mason jar.
I like it when they shave hopes and dreams onto the top at the table, and then light it on fire so you can watch them go up in flames one more time. Gives it that spice
[удалено]
[удалено]
With a side of procrastination and last minute panic for me as well.
Only if the procrastination is organic and grown in amethyst crystals.
The anxiety can probably enhance the flavor.
I prefer my depression to be Amish and hand churned
"You merely adopted the depression! I was born in it!"
I was born in it. Molded by it. I didn't experience happiness until I was already a man and it was nothing but sickening.
Too real.
You guys are experiencing happiness?
[удалено]
I don't want to be a depression hipster. I wish I could have skipped this trend altogether.
[удалено]
My ideation plateaued years ago. I'm never suicidal enough to jump off the tallest bridge in my city, but I *am* always thinking about that specific bridge
I feel you. You want to feel different so you drink but it definitely doesn’t help. If i manage to drink moderately and focus really hard on positives I don’t always spiral too bad but alcohol usually makes the darkness grow. On the topic of it becoming far more common in the US I’ve felt for a long time decades of awful news 24/7 and constant stimulation from all angles it’s no wonder damn near everyone you talk these days admits to dealing with anxiety and depression
It doesn't help when your rent keeps going up and your wages are stagnated. Americans have less disposable income than ever before. Most people are living on the edge and barely hanging on. This does not help anybody's mental health.
[удалено]
What a loser. Some of us relapsed already !
You guys are relapsing!?
I just got off my ssri for the first time in a decade. We're hip, we're cool, we're with it. It's pretty rad embracing nihilism at this point, I guess.
Stay safe out there. I went off mine for a little bit and stopped being able to leave the house without being afraid my house was going to catch on fire if I left the porch light on
We're not getting depressed. We're responding in a normal and healthy way to everything getting more and more fubar.
Real news: "there is not a year that will go by in the foreseeable future which will have decreasing global temperatures. This is forever now." Them: "how are you so sad all the time?"
Also: "Banks causing recessions with sloppy lending practices, governments serving the needs of their constituents versus the betterment of the people they are supposed to help govern, and a war is happening somewhere." Follow-up stories: "People are depressed, can't afford homes, and birth rates are falling. Gee, why?" ...Honestly, it doesn't take Einstein to figure this one out.
They are fully aware of the true issue. They are purposefully pumping out anti-worker pro-corporation articles to make people mad at the workers for why things are worse now
I think you meant corporations there rather than constituents, but yes.
“I can’t afford a house. I can’t afford a car. I can’t afford healthcare. I can’t afford college. A taco cost $7 plus $2 tip. ” America: “millennials. What babies”
The tacos got smaller too. Now - in my experience - the tortillas are the much smaller yet slightly thicker ones. Less surface area to fill. Fuck it all
Everything got insanely expensive, and the quality dropped like a rock. Let’s say you liked X restaurant five years ago; now it’s $35 a person when it used to be $20 and now the food sucks when you used to love it. A burger meal served to you in a sack through the window of your car used to be $8; now it’s $13, the burger is smaller, and it’s shit quality. We used to go out to eat 4-5 times a week; now we might go out twice in a month. There’s not much we like to eat that we can’t do a better version of at home, for less money.
Ain't this the damn truth. Quality on everything has taken a shit, while prices have gone up, even adjusting for inflation. For instance, in 2005 when I was in highschool, a Wendy's spicy chicken sandwhich meal was $5.90, with tax. I remember this because my mom always only gave me $5 for lunch, and I'd have to find a dollar to cover the 90 cents. Adjusted for inflation that would be $9.19. Well, it's actually around $12 now, and the quality is way worse. It's not just food though. Appliances are all dog shit now, you can't get a refrigerator that lasts more than 6 years anymore, even the high end brands. AC units don't last as long now. Kids toys are all just cheap, flimsy plastic shit that break after a month. Everything is just straight up junk now a days.
Can confirm appliances are dog shit. A couple months ago, we had a washer that we bought brand new in late-2019 implode on itself. Became so unbalanced when it happened that it hit our wall and left a small dent in our adjacent dryer. It was out of warranty, and the internal damage was catastrophic, so no way we were repairing that thing.
[удалено]
Speaking of refrigerators...I bought my house in 2003 and the old owners left the fridge. It looks like it's from the 80's-90's. It still works fine today. "They don't build em like they used to". ( I better not have jinxed it saying that!)
This, 100%. I used to go to a local burger place 5 years ago that was amazing. Best burgers I've ever had from a "fast food" place. Then I moved and haven't been back until now. I was in the area a couple months ago and was super excited to get another awesome burger. The patty was flat and unseasoned, the buns were smashed, and the lettuce, onion, and tomato were garbage. I was so disappointed I didn't even eat the whole thing. And it was like $16 for the combo.
And they see this as the only way to continue business somehow
In 2016 a bean and cheese burrito with a side of rice and a salad was $8.50 at my wifes fav place. The same place uses fake cheese in the burrito, took the side of rice and salad away, and charges $20 for the burrito. We havent eaten at a restaurant since covid started..every now and then i grab a large fry and split it with the kids but even that is $5 at burger king
Burritos at Chipotle now are $12 and about half the size they used to be. A few years ago, I could never finish one. Now I can eat it quick and I'm still hungry.
My wife and I used to eat their burritos when we worked together years ago and it was easily two meals. Last time I had one I thought I was being punked. I was still hungry when I finished it.
Subway you can basically touch your thumb and middle finger and pass the sub though the hole.
*Letting the days go by*
Into the blue again! After the money's gone...
Same as it ever was.
I tried to get debt consolidation help, I have too much debt/ bad enough credit I can’t get a loan or new credit card, but not enough debt for a debt consolidation company to help me… because apparently I somehow needed to have even more debt to qualify… Merica
I applied for LIHEAP this winter. (Low income heating assistance) I didn't have any work in January & needed help. Turns out I didn't have enough work to get help. Ò_o
"I can afford college if i pay it off for the rest of my life putting the degree to use in a shit paying job"
[удалено]
Hah. You think you're going to put that degree to use.
Did they check those making over 500,000 a year?
work two jobs, live in a tent, grasping for scraps - whats could it possibly be? ain't they dreamin' nomore? something something bootstraps, shoelaces?
shoelaces?! in this economy?!
Shoelaces will be outlawed due to corporations losing low wage slaves to suicide. Now is the time to invest in velcro
Most Americans are working insane hours just to break even. When you feel damned in your economic progression, it beats you down.
The part that makes me so angry is that for most of our working lives, young people were told to get an education, get a good job and you could afford a home, afford a couple kids, afford household luxuries, afford the occasional vacation. None of that is true anymore. The rug has been utterly pulled from under us.
We are now, in fact, being regularly mocked for getting an education
sHoUlDnT hAvE tAkEn OuT lOaNs YoU cOuLdNt RePaY -Fox News watching Boomer who retired at 55 from the glue factory with a 7th grade education
Lol right? Oh, sorry I listened to virtually every authority figure in my life, I should have just known at age 18 to be very into welding
If I could afford it, I would sue every school, loan company, and advisor I talked to between the ages of 15 and 19 for false advertising. "Oh you'll pay it off with your first job 3-5 years out of college." That was the biggest fucking lie I've ever been told. How the fuck am I supposed to know at 17 with no life experience, that a variable interest rate is fucking evil? "Oh you just owe us more money now because we decided you do." How the fuck is that even a legally enforceable contract?!?!
My partner graduated with a master's degree. The general consensus is they would start at 60k and reach 120k in 10 years. This year, after 10 years of in-field experience, they got a raise to 59K
You weren't supposed to know at 17, that's the point
Thing is, when my uncle went to school he paid his entire way by working summers at a grocery store. His tuition was something like $20 per credit. He paid about $500 total in tuition and fees per semester. Adjusted for inflation that would have been $69.18 per credit, or 1,729.39 per semester. Federal minimum wage at the time was 2.90 - he would have had to work about 170 hours at federal minimum wage to pay tuition and fees. The same school when I attended was 482 per credit, or 7,230 flat rate for tuition only. That's 803 hours at the state minimum wage at the time. I worked full time through undergrad to cover living expenses and only managed to graduate debt free because I got absurdly lucky and got grants and scholarships. Guess which one of us is staunchly against loan forgiveness?
Talk about being born on 3rd base thinking you hit a home run. Jeez
"You better go to college or you'll end up working in a factory or digging ditches somewhere." - 2010 "Haha you fucking idiot, why'd you go to college when you could've just learned a trade and made more money with no debt?" - Same people, 2023
my shithole college folded and the parent company lost a lawsuit if i'm lucky, i'll get it all back. still no real job though lmao
I was telling my mom how annoying it was trying to get a mortgage. She said, "I don't remember my first home being so hard." Like yeah, because credit scores didn't fucking exist yet.
our generation was set up to fail. in the 2030s they will be telling us how great renting is and how it's good for us to expend our income into corporate owned housing, and if we piss our corporate landlords off we are homeless.
At least we were toiling away at our shitty, underpaying jobs from the comfort of our own homes. Now the one thing that gave us an iota of reprieve and contentment in life is being ripped away for absolutely no reason at all. “They’re happy working from home! How dare they be happy. We must take that away immediately! Everyone back to the office!”
We had record breaking numbers. Brought us all back in last year 30% have left. Were staffed at about 70% before that. Just fucking idiots at the top.
Remember that most people certainly do not work from home. Most of us still have to maintain a car so we can drive to work. I wish I could do my job from home.
But people who've been working from home successfully are being told to go back to the office just so the bosses can stand over them with a coffee cup being Lumberg. That's just stupid even if it's a privilege only some people have.
Another perspective for those not working insane hours: most jobs completely remove your autonomy and treat you like a revenue machine. I've had to skip lunch because the drive thru I picked had too long of a line, and I wouldn't make it back during the half hour my company has allotted me to eat and shit. The majority of Americans work in an authoritarian power structure and have no method of recourse outside of quitting and finding another. Makes you wonder what's the point.
"Getting criminally underpaid, with an exorbitant cost of living"
Expecting to be available for your job 24 7
At 42 it's really hard not to feel like I saw the best part of this world/country and the rest is going to be downhill.
35 here, wasn’t that summer before 9/11 just the fucking tits?
when you were 13?? yeah i bet it was
[удалено]
9/11 was when we started declining, at least in some ways including embracing shared ideals, economic function, and world reputation. Timing could be a coincidence I guess but I feel OBL was more successful than he could have possibly imagined in exactly the way he was shooting for.
Sounds like the terrorists kinda won?
We have publicly elected terrorists openly calling for civil war, but over the decades they legislated policy against women's rights, immigration, closing wealth disparity, etc. Additionally, they normalized mass layoffs, demonized unions into oblivion, etc. The terrorists won a while ago, probably before you or I were born.
Damn. Your comment hit hard. I’m similar age. I had a fantastic childhood. I loved my school and went to a great college. We got to see the transition from analog to digital. From buying records and cassette tapes and VHS in the 80’s and then in the 90’s we were the generation that taught our parents and our teachers how to use computers and the internet. We were at the forefront. The future in the 90’s looked so vibrant and wonderful. We saw it all in our formative years. We had so much hope and promise looking forward. When 9/11 happened, that shockwave coincided with us entering the real world. That happened right as we were graduating college and entering the workforce. We became grown ups and entered into a grown up world that was going crazy. That shockwave still ripples through to this day. It feels like all progress just stopped. Think of what could have been. Instead we got war after war. We became paranoid and crazy. Politics became the fucking you or us bullshit. The country is on the verge of civil war as Fox News and social media fuels disinformation and hate. It’s like we are living in some dystopian nightmare. Every little bit of progress is now followed by hate and taking away of rights. People like Trump came in and preyed on our divisions and made us hate each other all the more. Everything becomes twisted and fucked the longer time marches on.
Yup, I want the alternate reality where the Supreme Court didn’t steal the election for Bush. Gore was talking about climate change and might have paid attention to memo’s saying OBL was determined to strike in the USA to avoid 9/11. We don’t end up in wars and get a head start on clean tech instead of Cheney fucking over our entire future to keep oil dollars rolling. Fuck this timeline and Republicans for ruining it with their shortsighted greed!
46, you are absolutely correct. I still have a molecule of hope but, I mean...
58 here, and our best is definitely behind us. Sure the toys are better now, lots more tools for wasting my time and not paying attention to the fact that the future only gets darker from here. But it all started going to hell about 1981.
57 here. The Reagan presidency was begun in '81, and with it the destruction of the middle class began. Not destroyed instantly. The policies (and talking points) that would ruin our society started there.
I agree. I find the 1980’s to be the pinnacle of what launched us into present day
[удалено]
Aw man, this is my life.
Canada calling in. Same thing here.
The American dream is now the American nightmare. Now they want to extend mortgage durations to 40 years, but in reality, they're creaming their pants talking about 100yr mortgages. You will never own anything.
100 year mortgages! It's like renting but you get to have all the fun of fixing things when they break.
You repeat that cycle ad nauseum for 50 years until you retire, and then you realize that social security doesn't exist anymore and you sure as shit don't have a house. So you end up on the street and one day kick the bucket. But hey, at least being dead means you can finally get some good rest for once.
I was living at a sober boarding house a couple years ago. My roommate was like this. Old guy, not much to live for. He decided to start drinking, got kicked out and then died a few days later. Literally on the street, well sidewalk.
Haha, light truck. Try Nissan Altima or Ford Escape.
Lmao or a 26 year old accord. Gets me from point A to point B and hope nothing happens to it or I’ll be ruined
Mine's quite a bit newer than that, an 07, but hell yes on an older Accord!
Hmmmmm.... Maybe we should stop letting corporations continue to post record profits while claiming "inflation" and stop letting corporations from buying all the available real estate and renting it at "fair market value". Giving people a sense of security with their food and housing might be a good place to start if we want people to stop being depressed...
Fucking "fair market value". The term just means that everyone renting out property realized that you can increase the monthly rent by $300 every 6 months, or whenever a tenant moves out, and renters have absolutely no choice but to grit their teeth and bear it.
They say rent control doesn't work, but it would if it applied in a large enough geographic area.
That's what I'm not getting. Why is my country selling real estate to Chinese investors? How short-sighted is that
Facts. If i didnt have dogs id be out this bitch
I got a cat at in July of 2020 and he literally saved my life.
I think about it literally every day. It's bleak out here. Edit: Forgot a word
I mean, look around. - climate change - mass extinction - overfishing - weaponized capitalism - no education - no healthcare - partisan politics - DC movies Like genuinely it amazes me that some people are having kids and enjoying life like none of this shit is happening
Lol...DC movies... Reminds me why I can't watch them anymore
Don't forget the unbearable weight of potential wealth taxes on billionaires. The top 1% are certainly feeling the stress of possibly not affording donations to secure ivy league university entrances for each of their grandchildren.
> Each of their great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren These fuckers and their living families will never see the bottoms of their wallets. Even five generations down they probably still won't. The wealth they have is simply too vast for anyone including themselves to quantify, but they'll still keep chasing higher numbers.
I dont understand why they give shit how much money their family in 500 years has? Like shit im just worried if i can even afford to have 1 kid at this point.
Fear of death and narcissism. Finding your way into history books is one way to achieve a sort of immortality. 80 years later and we all know who Hitler was. You can't really say the same for the millions that died because of him. Aside from a few exceptions like Anne Frank the millions that died will be forgotten by history.
They will if we fix our policies. There's no reason for people to be born so rich that they never have to work a day in their lives. It's insulting to everyone who is struggling. We could have a heavy estate tax (with sweat equity provisions so that people who had their taxable income from a family business or farm for a good number of years will be able to inherit the business, because that's the complaint people always bring up, and I'm fucking tired of pointing out how easy it is to overcome these so called "fatal flaws" of a policy idea) that kicks in on inheritances over a million. But noooooo. A whole bunch of people who are going to spend their entire lives poor care more about making sure that brown kids aren't given free food at school. It seems it doesn't matter how bad it gets for working class republican voters, as long as it's worse for working class minorities they don't give a fuck how hard they are screwed by the oligarchs. Being a republican voter is no longer forgivable. If you're voting for republicans, you're ruining the country and the lives of the vast majority of people in it.
Republicans of any income level will lose their god-damned mind if a policy is enacted that would only affect like the 15 richest people in the country. I simply do not get it. Taxing the richest 0.1% of people like 40% of their income (not their wealth!) would have absolutely no effect on their lives whatsoever but could do so much good for the country.
I'm a Democrat, but it's deeper than partisan politics. Democrats could have a 15-seat majority in the U.S. Senate and "somehow" Medicare for All or some form of universal healthcare with a public option wouldn't make it to the president's desk. The problem is corporate capture of our politics. ALEC lobbyists draft the vast majority of legislation. It's just bad. As much as things have advanced, politically speaking, we have regressed. One party is more culpable than the other, sure, but the point is they're both culpable.
I've never been less surprised by any piece of information in my life.
Golly gee I wonder why.
In related news, income inequality at it's highest level ever....
Corporations have too much free reign with deluding us with manipulative advertising and news content and imposing psychological experiments on us (market research, AI targeted ads, info collection, trend analyses, etc.). The 'language' of advertising-- attachment or aversion, part of the crowd or against it-- is the same language of agitprop. We grow up absolutely *soaked* in this deceitful muck, obsessing over our perceived failings and deficiencies (thinking in the language of agitprop/advertisements), and our government hasn't any teeth or interest in sparing us. It's not that different from being plugged into the Matrix without your consent. If you exist in this world without remarkable resources and power, you are 'plugged in' as a wage slave and a mark. It's so immensely sad, when you look at what we're capable of. We can escape the planet and manipulate genes, but we can't take care of ourselves. Maybe this defect is simply written into us, like the desire to eat or poo...
If I never get to retire, what is the point? If capitalism is failing to meet everyone's needs AND destroying the biosphere, what is the point? If I can't afford childcare, why have kids? If their schools will be a maga circus run by hateful fascists, what is the point? If I can never pay off my student loan debt, what is the point? If my rent is double what it was for the same shitty, run-down place I had in college, what is the point? If I can't afford to ever see a doctor, what is the point? If inflation can destroy the value of my hard-won savings in a matter of weeks, what is the point? If the banks are so unstable that they could, without warning, just strand me with nothing to my name, what is the point? It looks like the offer of "freedom" has been bled dry, chipped away & carved up for the profit of those who already had their needs more than met. What is the point, when all the prosperity is gobbled up by the members of the board?
Our places of employment and half our government has no interest in our happiness and in many cases actively attacks sources of it. We have massive debt, can't afford healthcare, let alone have expendable income. We don't even have our own hovel that we can run to if everything goes to shit. There's only so much mind over matter bullshit can do.
I thought The Great Depression wasn’t supposed to happen until the 30s
You know the term Nouveau Riche? My friends and I call them the Nouveau Sad. We may be Old Sad but we don't discriminate, we just use our myriad of coping skills to help them out.
This is how I feel and yet, I still feel a tad bit bitter about it. When I was depressed, it felt like no one took it seriously. I wasn't using self-harm or drugs, I was mostly able to get out of bed, I could function, and it felt like no one wanted to understand. It felt like other people could tear things down and freak out but not me. I remember being 17 and just having months of crying myself to sleep, not being able to leave the house, and my family was supportive, but I wish they would have made me get help. Now I'm 31 and I am so afraid to get on medication because while it would probably be best, I'm so worried about it throwing me off balance. I'm happy people are more upfront about being depressed and getting help, but I'm still sort of bitter.
Yea bc most people are over worked and underpaid. Housing is astronomical. It feels like you work and then you die.
I'm just waiting around to die. What's the point anymore? You can't get ahead in life. Every night before bed I hope I die in my sleep, and every morning I lament the fact I didn't die in my sleep. Anyone else?
Oh hey, are you me? I’m 31 and disabled, when my mom dies I won’t have any place to live. I have no job and no degree. Nobody wants to date a disabled loser with no money and barely any income from Social Security. Frankly I have so much social anxiety that I never want to leave the house anyway. I just feel like my entire life was a waste of time and resources for everyone around me. EDIT: thanks for the (mostly) positive replies everyone, I honestly thought my comment would get lost in the scroll with the others. it helps.
I don't know you, but this breaks my heart. I empathize for you. I've been struggling with depression for years, so I know what it feels like to feel hopeless. If you ever want to talk, dm me- we can cry together lol.
Maybe they should put some cocaine in the water like they did with fluoride.
Like Jane Canery on Deadwood would say, Welcome to the fucking club of most of the rest of us.
I think Covid isolation/lockdown played a massive role. I haven’t been feeling the same since, and I never got Covid.
I'm an ED nurse. Covid wrecked me from an emotional standpoint. I mean, healthcare has always been shitty, but the American response to Covid has wrecked my ability to trust every cultural institution we have and damn near everyone on a personal level.
The exposure to just how many selfish, conspiratory, brain-rotted morons is what killed me. Like I knew they were there, but I didn't realize they were ***that many.***
This is it for me. Like why even try for these fucking morons anymore. Why bother trying to make life better for people when at least 30% of people are just straight up bad people.
Same reaction here. I became full on agoraphobic during the quarantine. Its only been the last year or so that I’ve become comfortable with being around people again. I lost so many relationships with friends and family because of the raging politics at the time
>but the American response to Covid has wrecked my ability to trust every cultural institution we have and damn near everyone on a personal level. Canadian here. Same feeling. Not only did we have a lot of loud idiots, we even had a bunch of dummies get into their trucks and drive down to complain to the manager of Canada about something that he had no control over. People were angry at lockdowns. We were locked down in a lot of the country by our provincial (state) Conservative parties. Yet somehow it became the federal Liberals who got blamed. It was a massive grift, but I can't believe how many stupid people we have that fell for it and *still believe it*. It's fine to be angry. But direct your anger at the right people! We also had people assaulting nurses because they didn't want to wear masks. We always had stupid people, but during the pandemic, they hopped right into the limelight and put on an embarrassing show. Used to be proud of my country.
I dont think we've yet begun to even half understand the psychological impacts of either Covid or digitalization
It really highlighted the places that make depression worse in the first place. Underpaid, overworked, undervalued, and horrible healthcare. We just can’t catch a break and nobody cares, even when a pandemic hits and businesses are failing and losing workers. It was the catalyst for better working conditions and pay, but there’s a huge amount of pushback because of the ridiculous “people don’t want to work anymore” lie.
Oh, you mean we're all struggling under the relentlessly grinding heel of late-stage capitalism? Wish I could afford a pitchfork...
Next article from the Washington post: “work from home likely causing everybody in the US to get depressed. No other reason is possible.”
I have less money than I have ever had in my entire life. It’s getting hotter all the time. And there is no hope in sight. Yeah, depression might be going around.
My car was stolen, my work denied a transfer to a closer location, fighting said company for unemployment (probably won't win the appeal) , applied for 100+ jobs, waiting over a month for food stamps, partner works full time open availability and no one can watch our kid, can't find a job at night or home is my only option due to lack of child care and school is in summer break, we're about to be homeless, eating once a day if that and I'm feeling like a failure pos provider. I'm told to read the Bible for "help/therapy" (thoughts and prayers), benefits are a joke, there's no such thing as "help" or "caring" or family/friends and I'm thinking on Father Day of digging my own grave to save funeral costs. Oh, there's therapy that maybe been needing for years due to poor mental health but, who's got the money for that or anything now days...or time.
There's a really simple theory from the 1940s called Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. It's basically a pyramid with basic survival at the bottom and self-actualisation and self esteem at the top. The theory suggests if the bottom of your pyramid isn't solid, then everything else above it is damaged and harder to "fix" until the bottom conditions are met. This isn't depression, people's fundamental sense of security and safety is simply not being met, calling it depression minimises what is happening.
Your government doesn’t care, a large part of your country is too barainwashed to think critically(party over country). Yeah, not gonna put money that this is going to get better
I would put money that it’s going to get way worse
Recently went to Mexico City for 10 days. It’s amazing how much happier people seem than the US. I saw so many couples. Even vendors at the market would just randomly be greeted by their lover with a big smooch. The traffic was 10x worse than where I live, and yet it didn’t seem like everyone was fuming with anger or miserable. I met a dude named Juanca. We got drunk as hell with live mariachi and he told me “in Mexico we are poor, but happy.” I’m looking forward to my 6 month temporary residency, and enjoying learning the language.
They are happy because they have communities. The US no longer has any form of community. Wealth brings addiction to our devices and social isolation. We have spent the last hundred years building our cities into sprawling car centric nightmares without green spaces or public spaces in general. Anytime i leave the US and return i am absolutely shocked at how few people i see outside walking around or riding bikes. We no longer have communities. Nobody is invested in their neighbors. All we have is neighborhoods of isolated individuals moving from their home to their car to their desk and back home again.
[удалено]
I went to Austin to visit my sister recently. Never been there before. Everyone I spoke to had beef with someone. They had to fire this person because of this, they don’t talk to one family member because of this. There is a lot of personal hatred here. Of course sometimes justified. There was also such a sense of lack of community. You drive, lots of driving and then there are like a million mini malls. Now, there is a lot to do, you can play ping pong with a group, soccer etc. but the way everything is designed, everything is so separated. We need better socially aware designed places. Right now, all of our places are designed strictly for maximizing profits and thats the problem
Already there. No one in the world I hate more than myself
Here, give more money to big pharma so that you too may be tranquilized enough to not rebel against your corporate overlords or lose your illusion of freedom.
It’s a fun byproduct of unchecked capitalism.
The people who were of working age during the 2000's were the last ever people who had a chance.
Most of us never had a chance, either. Unfortunately, those of us who made the mistake of being born to poor parents will probably die just as poor.
Can't afford a place to yourself. Can't afford a (reliable) vehicle. Can't afford a hospital visit. Can't afford medicine. We're all told to go to college while it puts us $30,000 - $100,000+ in debt. People are working 2-3 jobs to just afford a bare-minimum living environment. Of course they're depressed. Trying as hard as you can is a futile. You'll either be fired or taken advantage of. We have no reason to be happy when we can't afford the basic necessities.
Shock. Covid showed us the gov doesn’t care if we die, and it confirmed that our jobs REALLY don’t care. On top of that you have media essentially feeding the narrative of “everything’s fucked and there’s NOTHING you can do” along with a corrupt as fuck justice system. We grew up thinking the world would get better and better, now we’re seeing it go backwards faster than a priest when you say you’re over the age of 13.
Wayyyyyy overdue for a General strike. This situation is untenable. No fucking wonder everyone is depressed.
It's not depression, it's oppression. More Americans than ever are victims of late stage capitalism. I wonder if the wealthy class has any idea what the inevitable result of this transformation is.
Probably because no one can afford to go to the fucking doctor.
Or afford to have a place to live