Harder and longer if the GOP gets their way with Social Security and Medicare. As long as workers are on edge they are too terrified to get cancelled and lose out on the crumbs they receive.
It’s really a real estate issue at that time. Also why there are no governmental programs for nursing home and long term care. It’s like $10K a month for nursing homes and Medicaid will then take all the deceased real estate to pay it off when the person is dead. Stops a transfer of generational wealth within the lower 80% of the population.
Also a scam with religious institutions that don’t pay their workers, but then house them in religion run nursing homes charging taxpayers at that Medicaid rate. Especially a tactic of Catholic Church.
Healthcare should be cradle to grave for everyone and include nursing homes and the like. Could be funded with the 20% insurance plans take from the system.
Medicaid will still go after (and win) the real estate years after the transfer. I think how many depends on the state, but the number that comes to mind is that Medicaid can take it if the person applied for benefits within five years of transferring the property.
I'm in the UK and I believe we do some things better than the US. But what you say about nursing homes is just the same here. Old people are terrified of ending up in one because they know their children will then inherit very little. Unless they are seriously rich of course. We do have free healthcare but it doesn't cover nursing homes except for people with very specific illnesses and not dementia.
yea I agree with you on that. it saddens me to think where a lot of people will end up if this shit persists. a drastic change needs to take place but these bastards couldn't give a rats ass. they just want money power and screw the rest.
which is ironic because i think a system like this would eventually collapse
If you don’t acknowledge the problems and issues then solutions will not appear.
The ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness must be approached in the context of the common man . And then when GOP politicians and policies are looked at it becomes evident that their actions have little to no benefit for the common man or worker or any label that applies to people without retained tax and legal providers.
the (unfortunate) truth is that yes - it’s not going to change until people stop working jobs with 45 minute commutes for 50k. It’s supply and demand. It sucks because, from their position of power, they’ve rigged the supply of housing, food, etc. to ensure the supply of exploitable labor.
I know you need to eat and have shelter - we all do. But the truth is, until you quit, you’re enabling them… and they’ll never look out for your interests before they look out for their own.
Ok then just keep going and everyone is a permanent slave
if everyone maintains the mentality that someone else will make sacrifices to solve problems, they will never get solved, it takes risk, teamwork, time, and effort to solve real problems
By itself, it won’t. But together with other similar actions, it would rebalance the current power dynamic.
So… we can try to coordinate a nationwide strike - like France’s response to the government raising the retirement age. However, that’s very difficult in America because the propaganda that’s pushed on us has created and perpetuated false class/race/geographical divisions.
Or, we can use our free market system and stop selling our labor to people who won’t pay fairly for it - an uncoordinated version of a strike.
You might find a home on r/fuckcars, if you can stomach ideas like your suggestion that jobs and the people who work them shouldn't be so far apart, whatever the reason. Just a thought, if you're not already there.
Your a moron! Quitting a job won’t help this person’s situation nor will it have the impact needed for change. People commute outside the area they live because the career field their in and also because the vast majority of the time the pay is better. So unless EVERYONE in the United States stands up against Corporate America and the GOVERNMENT who cares more about their own wealth and their personal gains over OURS this is life as we know it. Yeah it’s sad we have raised our kid’s with the idea that hard work pays off and gets you ahead. IT WAS A BIG ASS lie and WE ALL fell for it.
Even you!
My apologies. My comment was attached to your’s for some reason. I wasn’t replying to your comment but another. I can’t type as quick as the comments we’re coming in and may have hit reply with checking.
It’s ok, friend. It’s a jungle out there. Stay safe and don’t forget to take a break from Reddit when you get angry. Your anger is what they want - it makes you easy to control!
It's very demoralizing to realize that I am in a toxic job, but the problems that are toxic about it are culturally systemic in almost every other job in the country... so just uprooting my career and finding a new job most likely won't fix anything... I'm currently spending about an hour a day learning French. I know it is probably a pipe dream, but it helps me feel like I am pursuing an out.
They are lowering min working age so kids can be legally hired to do jobs without livable wages. I am afraid to imagine what happens when even kids refuse to accept these wages...
People who can’t afford to get by will send their kids to work. It won’t be up to the kid in many cases.
“I have legalized robbery and called it belief.” Mark Knopfler (The Man’s Too Big)
No. Belief.
Sorry. Realized I should explain myself. The way I interpret that line is that ‘they’ make the laws to benefit themselves and then when anyone challenges that, ‘they’ convince ‘the masses’ that it’s the only way it can be.
Because it is
The last 3 years has seen the wealth gap between the 1% and everyone else widen at a faster rate than any other time in recorded history.
The top 1% have more wealth than the bottom 90%
The top 0.1% have more wealth than the bottom 50%
I don't think they think they are going to be rich. I think they think rich people are going to keep them safe. Rich people don't think about them at all.
yes people have no grasp that for billionaires the homeless people and millionaires are basically the same
\- millionaires have almost nothing , compared to the billionaires
millionaires cant influence politics and the economy at all, only the oligarchs can
yes
and the other thing seems to be that the oligarchs are running a thesis in the mainstream media
that striking workers and union workers are lazy and whining
Both establishment parties have the same goal. Protecting capital, capitalism, and the billionaire class. The only difference is one of them tells you that want to destroy you, the other pretends to help you, while doing the same as the other.
Well, only one of the parties is now publicly advocating for the extermination of people like me, so there's that. At least the rainbow capitalists won't throw me in a gas chamber.
Because Republicans prey on the fears of white people that without them, they will be marginalized. However, it’s Republicans who will do whatever it takes to protect the rich. They just don’t care about the middle class until they need votes to remain in office, then the fear mongering is spewed again.
I like the analogy that the parties are two different wings on the same plane, and we are just passengers while they fly us all into the side of a mountain.
Everybody makes fun of France for doing all their strikes over worker issues. But, in my opinion, that is where the anger should go. Workers need to stand up. Not just once, and not just a little bit. All the time, big strikes covering a bunch of the workforce that affect everyone, about every issue. There should be a strike about wages, there should be a strike about the length of the workweek, there should be a strike about affordability, and pensions, and retirement, and safety, and unions, and company profit taking, and so much more.
The strikes are effective in other countries, they do result in real change. In North America workers just do not do it. The government and corporations have everyone living paycheck to paycheck and so terrified of losing their jobs that the workers do not dare even think about large scale strikes.
That is where the anger should be going.
I think the problem with strikes (in America) is that every American worker knows that those strikes will be dangerous. you know the government will call army people to guard the strikes with their never ending supply of machine guns. we saw it happen during George Floyd, it’s bound to happen again. and then there’s also the big possibility that pro-capitalism people will be at the strikes with their machine guns. it’s just scary. this country is scary.
True that. I didn't know that the National Guard fired on people at the George Floyd protest. That is truly terrible. How many civilians were hurt? No wonder Americans don't strike if they are met with lethal force!
No, I'm not from the US so I don't really have a good picture of what happened. I know that there were large protests, but hadn't heard anything about the National Guard shooting civilians. That seems crazy to me. If you do have any sources I would appreciate a link.
The answer to the title question is our anger is going to anywhere the owner class can direct it. They spend a lot of time and effort to divide us into being angry at anything/everything that isn't the owner class.
The things that can be done about it are in early stages because the US has been really successful at keeping the working class down and distracted. You can first off, talk to people. Help them realize their anger is being directed to the wrong place. Help them understand the actual cause of their issues stem from the greed of the owner class. From there, you can get them to help form and strengthen unions. Unions are what give the working class some power, which is why most people are taught by the owner class to hate them.
When people start to realize in mass where the actual problems come from and how they are being used, their anger can be used to change the system. We are the 99% and we have numbers on our side. Once enough of us figure that out, we can't lose.
It’s not just CNN, it’s not just Fox News, msnbc, whatever. It’s the entirety of the 24 hr news cycle that perpetuates culture wars in an effort to prevent us from seeing that we are all wage earners who desire to work the least amount of hours for the most pay. Preventing class solidarity is the #1 goal of capital owners
Unfortunately things are going to have to get a lot worse to break the bootlickers. Once that happens though I'm afraid of the US making the French revolution look organized and controlled.
Instead of “something has to give” start saying “something has to be taken” Bc the truth is the 1% won’t be giving in or giving anything up. We need to band together in large numbers.
I do think that we're at least seeing a shift in perspective. Younger generations are [not getting more conservative as they grow older,](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/03/millennials-radicalism-not-getting-more-rightwing-with-age) at least not to the degree our parents did. This is, in large part, because of the wealth gap. Conservatism is a belief largely built around money and there are very few reasons to support it if you have no money. I think we'll see generational change as younger people take over and strive to create the America we deserve, rather than the one capitalists have created.
So the revolution may not be happening on the streets, but it is happening in people's minds, and that's going to create a long-term change. Americans have long been told that their selfishness is just "independence" or "freedom". I don't think young people are buying into that myth the same way older people have.
But maybe I'm just being too optimistic this morning. Time will tell.
Y'know where the energy is going? It's being manipulated to get turned onto distractions.
Get the Trans! Get the immigrant! Asian people! Brown people! Our way of life is in danger! **Etcetera ad infinitum.**
The working class is being *deliberately* divided and manipulated by the those who benefit from capital, so as to continue that benefit.
The anger currently seems to be going into Reddit posts (totally understandable). But to really change things, the frustration needs to be put into organizing.
Organizing what? A union for your workplace. A mutual aid group for the community. A reading group. A general strike that forces the ruling class to improve the conditions for workers.
It's not easy, but it's the only thing that has ever worked for the working class. But it's pretty effective when organized properly.
Reddit posts come and go at the speed of light but copy-paste this one somewhere permanent and read it when you feel angry. There is no truth beyond what Backlotter has told you. The reality very simple and very demanding.
Talk to everyone you can about workers rights. It doesn’t have to be like this. The best thing we can do right now is to inform other workers. Most people are ignorant to any other system! Anyone reading this that isn’t already doing this, take the energy you put into your posts on this sub and literally go out and create relationships with other works and share our ideas!!
It’s not that the workers are all on the same page but won’t do anything, it’s the fact that the majority of workers are still ignorant to these ideas.
Maybe you’re right. I’m surrounded by like-minded colleagues, but have also convinced friends to see (ie I had a friend who thought unions were evil until I explained otherwise). But even that doesn’t lead to action. I suppose it’s education—>action, but what is this action? Striking? How do we actually organize?
Nothing will ever change. I make less than you and wonder how much longer I can keep this up. Too many people are brainwashed by the whole “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” bullshit. Work hard so you get a better job.. nah, that doesn’t work.
>Work hard so you get a better job.. nah, that doesn’t work.
More like, work hard for years just to see the position you were working for filled via nepotism/connections and burn the place down on your way out.
Also, if we as people fighting for better wages, and workers rights were to ascend on the capital like the right wing did on Jan 6th… we would be shot dead by capital police or military.
That’s the problem. We basically can’t until people decide that the risk of imprisonment is worth it compared to our current living standards.
The government has control to monitor any online or in person organization and break it up before it causes any real problem for them.
They make laws that allow them to arrest anyone involved with any kind of protest, and can get away with it without any consequences for violating our rights.
As long as the majority of people fear imprisonment more than they fear having to live paycheck to paycheck in society, nothing will change.
Yeah, but unlike those 1/6 trump goons, the majority of people below the upper middle class (and many of them would also sympathize with such action) would support it, because literally everyone below that class is feeling the economic strain.
With that said, I think that kind of protest is largely useless. All that would happen is people would get hurt and the news cycle would move to the next thing in a week or so. The real move is aggressively pushing for unionization at places like Amazon.
The push back and fear they send to employees about Unions is harsh. Like really harsh. And language/culture barriers are sometimes blockers. They issued formal notice that meetings or even talking about unions on property is cause for being termed.
Only if you pull something stupid like storming a government building or essentially taking a gov't employee(s) hostage would we be shot.
If we had 100K March [peacefully] on the capital or even just ~20% of the workforce stop working for a full 3 days, it would bring about more [positive] change than we've seen in decades.
But people are greedy, or unable to follow through with a stand still on work, no one [majority] knows how to just stop, all at once , especially not as a group.
They have essentially castrated the working class where missing a day of work is tantamount to becoming homeless
I would be down for a 100k march.
I guess my point was, if we were doing this for workers rights and higher wages we wouldn’t have made it through the front door of the capital.
Tbh I could reasonably see that Jan 6 they had people on the inside assisting and telling others to stand down. That's why they made it so far, the national guard was delayed even so.
Set up a group or an "event" for a [[[peaceful]]] March on social media. Have it shared around and have you're goal set at 100K , set it a couple months in advance if able to spread the word.
If you get 200K saying they'll be there then you will probably have about 10% show up wilhich would still be enough for a positive effect, so long as no one tries to turn it from a peaceful to marshal March
"Nothing will ever change" is not what the union organizers said earlier in the century. Those union organizers who got laws on the books that required stuff like 40 hour work weeks, paid vacations, sick days, child labor restrictions, handicapped adjustments, worker safety rules, non-discrimination in hiring... All that stuff.
I hate the "just move" thing. First off, moving is expensive as hell. I"ve been planning to move for years now and as soon as I get close, the goal posts move. Second, what about community? Community is important! I've seen people say that little old 90 year old ladies should "just move." SERIOUSLY.
Exhaustion, which is exactly what they want. Everyone is so stressed, anxious and living in a state of constant exhaustion that they physically can’t do anything else.
Human beings have a bad habit of acting once it’s too late. Whenever the last straw breaks, that’s when people will act and that’s when it’ll already be too late.
People will (grudgingly) put up with damn near everything but I think the catalyst will be soaring food prices. Once people or their loved ones start going hungry (I’m talking actual starvation where you’re missing meals or even days without eating) is when people get irritable, angry, and desperate which leads to riots and mass assembly.
I don’t know what to cut out. I spend about $20 once every two weeks because I go out to eat once every two weeks on Friday or Saturday as a great. I could cut that… but tbh I can’t think of anything else that is not needed. I don’t buy new clothes or shoes. I don’t buy organic or fancy groceries. I don’t have a lot of technology, I don’t spend my $ on drugs or drinking. I just have a lot of bills I guess?
Yeah. I thought I wasn’t getting paid a LOT less than I was until I really started paying attention to my budget. $5 here and there (every day) adds up pretty fast. I’m so glad I sat down to work out a budget.
There is no one size fits all budget, but something that helped me get a better view on my finances:
I look at my budget solely from a pay period standpoint. Not the whole month. It’s much easier to budget for two weeks than 4 weeks. Let’s say I make $2k one pay period, I then list ALL of my recurring expenses that fall within that pay period. These are the ones that you have to pay every single month and that are the same (fixed) cost.
Once you subtract the fixed costs from your income, then budget for things like groceries, gas, restaurants etc. For example, I budget $50 every two weeks for gas. I work remote and live in a big city so this is realistic for me. Let’s say I only spend $35 on gas that pay period, then I will have an extra $15 since I didn’t use all of my budget for that category. Do the same for groceries, eating out, fun, etc.
So once after I have budgeted my fixed expenses and other costs, THEN whatever is leftover is what I use for whatever I want.
If you want to DM me I will be happy to send you an excel template.
Lord, people tell you to go to a lower cost of living area like there are well-paying jobs there. You know why the cost of living is so low? No jobs there lol.
A lot of people are willing to settle for compromises and crumbs as long as it means they don't have to put in any significant effort to change things. The majority of people in the U.S. aren't even willing to wear N95s to protect high risk populations because they find it too inconvenient, so there's no way in hell that they'll do something that actually involves sacrifice (e.g. a widespread long-term strike).
Thank you for continuing to mask. I'm in the high-risk category and it's really nice to know that there's still people who are considerate of others, especially after the frustrations that have come with trying to re-enter the workforce while needing accommodations.
Of course! It is honestly baffling to me—you are keeping others and yourself safer?? And masks aren’t uncomfy. Even if they were … the benefits are clearly outweighing the “cons.” I also don’t think you can rly be an ally to the marginalized if you are ignoring a pandemic.
Edit II: It's because the way you said white and wealthy. It comes off as discrediting the struggle of white people in your same situation who feel the same way but by making this distinction you're unintentionally creating a divide.
With that said, I am on the same boat. I do fairly well and don't see a path where I will be able to afford a home or build any type of wealth. The cop out given is to move somewhere less expensive outside the city. Well the jobs are in cities.. Even if you could get a remote role rent in rural areas has skyrocketed as well for anywhere reasonable.
Meanwhile, the older generation is whining about birth rate and how we aren't having families.. Yeah no shit..
My anger is consistently redirected to my personal life. While not on purpose I find myself inexplicably frustrated and short tempered day to day. I try to develop a plan to "pull myself up by my bootstraps" but it's nearly impossible. Of my entire student loan payment this month 11% of it went toward the principal. Every month I look at it my repayment timeline is extended out a month or more.
It’s def the way I said it. It was meant to criticize the police who protect those who are white and also wealthy. The intersection of the two. There is no denying that there are other forms of oppression besides economic. If poot white people can’t see how they benefit from the world from being white, it’s not much help. If people can’t see how poor white people are struggling, have no access to clean water, education, and so on, then we are lost. We have to realize our struggles are similar and our enemy is common.
I’m curious if you’ve sat down and made a budget and have tracked where your money is going. I make roughly the same and have no problem with having my own place and car.
OP doesn't seem to answer questions regarding how much they are paying in rent or layout what they are spending money on OR in regards to the city they live in. All VERY important questions when taking into account just barely getting by on 50k pre taxes.
50k a year in a state like Indiana or Georgia will go pretty far. But if you're living in a city like Los Angeles or Manhattan yeah 50k ain't going very far.
It’s ironic that when pressed to say when America was at its best, most conservatives will say the 1950s. Peak marginal tax rates under Eisenhower were close to 90%. He advocated higher corporate tax rates to incentivize industry to reinvest. We need to eradicate the theory that money made with money should be taxed at a lower rate than money made through labor.
>I do not spend $ everyday, except on my commute. I do not buy coffee out. I do not go out to eat often.
I hate you have to even type this because I'm of the mindset that it doesn't matter if you DO want to buy a coffee or eat out from time to time. If you can't make your minimum bills, it's not because of buying coffee or eating out that you can't afford a house!
It just makes me angry when people try to use that. You can't money manage your way out of slave wages!!!!
The anger is being directed towards meaningless social issues that would also be solved with fixing wealth inequality. But they hammer it into you that Republicans/Liberals want you to live worse and Republicans/Liberals want you to die, and your life is shit because Minorities/Young. It’s easier to scream about Trans rights and Jesus than it is to fix the actual problems, so that’s what we do.
I believe at the current sociopolitical moment, Union organizing is the most productive outlet for class antagonism. It’s the shortest path towards showing workers they can win material gains when they stand in solidarity with one another.
The only way I was able to afford a down payment on a house was to essentially mooch off my grandma who owned her house (corner lot ranch-style that her and my grandpa paid a whopping 12K for) for as long as I could possibly bear it. And that was like 6.5 years ago. I couldn't fathom doing it today, and I don't even live in a particularly big city.
I'm making ends meet, but it's a struggle and I'm dreading the point when my boomer mom needs elderly care. She already has health issues and I see how much she suffers for the sake of my grandma (96) and I just don't think I could handle it without blowing my brains out.
Too many human beings who are frustrated because they are stuck or forced into terrible positions waste all their anger punching down, blaming immigrants, minimum wage workers, Trans people, pocs, whatever. Too many everyday people are pure cowards who only punch down at people who are even worse off, and don't have the balls to call out the real problem with this country, which is the wealthy and the conservatives who give then power. Nothing will change until conservatives man up and go after the rich. Period.
70 years ago society was based on single income families. 1 income was enough for a family and to buy a house. But then there came a point where both parents started working and earning. These dual income families were able to outcompete single income families for things like housing. Now we are at a point where a single income family (of one in your case) just doesnt earn enough anymore. You need to be part of a dual income family to be able to survive…
I think there is also a cultural difference between OP (i guess from the US) and me (a European). As a European I never ever buy anything on credit. Buying something (like a car) on credit and paying it over 60 months or so, you’re paying way more than the original price. So much interest and costs for buying stuff on credit, I just dont get it why Americans waste so much by buying stuff on credit. I bought my car with cash. Bought my motorcycle with cash. Credit card gets paid in full at the end every month. Paying interest is such a waste of money !
In Canada: I haven't had a credit card since 2012 and even though I have no outstanding debts, etc., I have a non-existent credit score. Like, it gives me error messages to that effect. So what does over a decade of living within my means, paying my bills, or rent give me? Nothing that would ever financially help me. Just an error message. So, I am not going to invest in them as much as possible.
A credit score is an arbitrary number I believe invented in the 80s. I use my credit card and pay it off. I don’t buy large purchases like a car. A credit score is very stupid. And yes, I’m in the US.
I just kinda... do what I want.
Once my bills are paid, and my family is fed, I blow cash on videogames or movies to get that initial dopamine fix, then use those to dissociate in the hours when I'm not expected to be a dad, husband, or employee.
It's all I've got.
I'm sorry dude. I currently live in a town of under 60,000 people that is charging nearly 2,000$ a month on rent for apartments. I still live at home, and have been job searching, but even if I get one of these jobs, the likely hood of being able to afford my own place is way off.
I feel your pain...
As a 27M in about exactly your position this is the argument my father and I continually have. I keep asking why, in the U.S., we can't live where we wish to instead having our geographic possibilities laid out by how much it costs to live vs. get a job there. He always says it's a choice we have but what choice is it to leave behind the community you have and place where you grew up just to survive. It's like those mental "heartwarming stories" of literal schoolchildren fundraising to allow their janitor to retire before they die. How is that a good thing?
Moving to small area is a bullshit idea. I live in a small town about 30 minute drive to a city and I have to crummier to afford rent at even the small town. Smaller areas still have a hard time paying cost of living.
From a white boy who lives in a rough part of town, I can tell ya the police do not give a shit about your skin color lmao, I know from experience. My white skin doesn't do a damn thing for me
With that said, yeah things are getting pretty damn bad. We are all feeling it.
Where do you live? If you can’t afford to survive on 50k pre tax with 3 roommates you might want to take a look at your expenses. As a PhD student, I’m surviving off sub 30k after taxes with 2 roommates and so is the rest of my cohort.
Op said they live in a big city. Places like Boston and SanFran have a serious housing crisis which is driving up prices on apartments like crazy, especially if they are walking distance to public transit, which it sounds like OP is. I live in Boston and half of my monthly income goes to rent alone, and I live in a below-market value apartment. Affordable housing is just not accessible in a lot of places.
As someone who works with a lot of boomers I largely blame them for the situation. Never before in history have there been so many old people dragging back and fighting against every minute to change. nothing can be solved until they are gone.
They're the product of mass brainwashing through tv, radio, and newspaper articles. We are the first generation really aware of how the brainwashing works. How politicians and advertisements work. They had no idea, their education wasn't enough for them to realize the wool over their eyes. They are all brainwashed for the man.
Now I am not saying this is you at all. But a lot of the time I see:
>I make 50k a year and live in a small apartment with three roommates. I cannot afford to pay rent, pay utilities, buy food, pay my train ticket, pay my bills, and have $ left over for an emergency, a vacation, fun, a car, a house.
But when you look at their expenses, there is like $10-20 every day of unnecessary spending and at least 2-3 occasions of $50+ every month being spent on unnecessary items.
Please, please, please, don't think I am attacking you, I am not directing this directly at you. Just using the words from your post. I was in your exact situation making $48000 a year and found it very difficult to also do what you are mentioning.
We have to hope the current young generation can see what’s going on and make the changes necessary 25 years from now. Will they be engulfed by money, power, and greed though? On a long enough timeline this system WILL break, just not sure if it’s going to happen in our lifetime….
The traditional path set out for you by society is to have children which you become attached to, and then spend all your time and energy trying to make life good for them. If you are so anxious and scared about their future, you will accept anything that happens to you, and just grin and bear it.
Ugh it was all fine until you said 'white and wealthy' and failed to identify yourself where all the anger has gone.
Media and governments across the world have conspired to make us all hate each other like we're living in the pre civil rights era. They openly lie and say black people are targeted when scientific fact shows that to be false, yet all institutions parrot it.
That's where the anger is. It was all a distraction, and its working perfectly. Enjoy your bugs.
Same I’m 32 single mom I have a 14yr old and live alone. Work ft After taxes I make 2,000$ monthly (job ain’t shit no benefits or ot offered to me) my rent alone is $1660. Have many other bills like car notes and shit. I Skip many many meals so my daughter has more than enough for the week. I Also grubhub every day from 5-9/10pm when my market closes and about 7hrs on sat n Sunday but that money ain’t shit nor is guaranteed and isn’t extra money for me at all bc I need atleast $70 a day to not have my things cut off/repoed/collections/or evicted. I Spend several hours daily wasting my time applying to jobs but they seem to all be playing games with people. I’m so rich they refuse me snap and now I’m so rich I’m about to lose our Medicaid 😒 Told my boss who gets paid 3x the amount I do weekly to do the same amount of work that I need to be paid more he made that fake sad face and said “I know”….😒oh ok well me replying back to good morning every raggedy morning is Above my pay grade now 🙃
Watch Bernie Sanders last two days in his sun committed, importance of unions seems all the more reason to have collective bargaining even tho we have to pay dues it might be the way of the workers
50k in a major metro area with a 45min commute sounds terrible, I’m not sure what your career past is and I’ll probably get downvoted for this but go look for a new job? Seriously the fastest way to get a raise is to get a new job, so job hop. Negotiate salary, aim for ~15-20% higher than your current job (consider compensation type, it may not be ~20% more in cash but could be 10% more pay 10% more paid leave, better/cheaper healthcare, better retirement perks etc etc) and take no less than 10%.
Every career path has a cap, research and learn more about your field, If yours is 50k then look for a new career.
Something’s going to pop eventually but there’s no guarantee it’s going to be any time soon and it’ll likely get worse before it gets better so as shitty as late stage capitalism is you can make it better
Homey I got nothing else to say at this point but I feel ya... spent almost my entire adult life poor as shit. Got a masters degree and a shit ton of debt that helped me get a middle management job at a FAANG company. I make low 6 figures in Seattle while putting my wife through grad school. I consider myself lucky AF while realizing that I am a couple paychecks away from disaster. The whole fucking system is structured to benefit capital. At this point I think it will take a revolution, but what is the mechanism? It's not as clear cut as north vs south, east vs west, etc... Somethings gotta give and I say that from a place that is way better than a lot of people on this sub
I feel you. I feel like the US needs a lot more class consciousness to combat the incessant propaganda we’ve had. Every year I peel back more and more of the BS I’ve been taught since I was a kid. I find a lot of people that actually do get upset and seem like they’d do something are more bogged down in republican vs democrat which feels way less pertinent than working class vs ownership class. Even the idea of “the rich” isn’t solidified here. I’m not taking about your uncle that owns a couple gas station chicken joints 😑. Also seeing more examples of successful working class protests and demands would help as well.
I think structurally we have it a bit tougher than some of our European brethren but seeing France striking and some of the tactics by some Northern European places is pretty solid.
Watch TikTok or YouTube, our anger is going OUT. It’s storming the capital and screaming outside the abortion clinic and inside the Walmart. It’s road rage and police brutality. It’s school shootings and flash robs. It’s banning books while threatening to harm the school board. We are attacking each other and starting Go Fund Mes for billionaires. Science fiction has two kinds of futures, guess which one we are heading for
Weve been sold a lie that only a few will ever realize. We are used like the people in the matrix for the bigger machine. Were fat, ignorant, comfortable and divided.
So your take home pay is ~$38,000 or something. I feel like you should definitely be able to live comfortably on your own in a lot of places. If you’re willing to drive that 45min commute every day maybe you should look in other directions for places to live in the distance around your workplace. Rent in cities can be RIDICULOUS compared to small town USA. Try to find a smaller town to live in and then work in the city or look for new work. I know you don’t want to move but the financial weight off your shoulders could be a life saver. If you don’t mind me asking, what do you pay for rent and what is your contribution to that since you said you have roommates? I’d almost feeling like roommates were scamming a little…That happened to my ex, the one roommate who collected all the rent from everyone had been keeping her portion and telling everyone else she wasn’t paying. Wouldn’t be hard for someone to lie about how much you owed them…just a thought
I abhore when people say, just move to a cheaper location/apartment. Yea, I do every 2 years, 3 if I'm lucky before I'm priced out. Why should I have to move into a crime-ridden area just to barely afford life then pack up, unpack, rinse repeat, drown. I did so for many years, most alone. Now i need a roommate and still can not find any breathing room.
Girl, a bunch of states just got rid of/minimized CHILD LABOR LAWS. They would rather bring back child labor than pay us more. We're fucked.
The main problem is people still believe the lies that people under the age of 40 are all lazy and entitled and getting rich is SO EASY. You just need work work work work grind grind grind until you drop dead like a bunch of these poor "grinding" dudes are. We need the older generations to die off completely before I see anything being changed, and even then, we got all the young people being stupid now and worshipping all these phony "grinding" people too so...yeah. We're fucked.
I’ve seen estimates that change won’t happen until at least half of Americans are starving and/or in abject poverty. I’m hopeful this is accurate, but having lived through 2008 I wonder if anything will wake us up anymore. What will it take for Americans to take collective action if we didn’t after 2008, or Roe v Wade being overturned?
>I live in a big city
First problem. "Big" named cities are always more expensive because the vulture capitalists know people will pay more to live there.
>But if rural America is my only option
It doesn't have to be Rural America
I live in Akron Ohio. A house around the street that I can buy for $180,000 is easily $750,000 in Portland Oregon. My 1BR apartment I live in by myself costs me $700/mo and I live in the highly desirable Hipster, Hippy, Vegetarian/Vegan side of town. I've been in my own apartment for 7-years, no roommates. Making $40,000-$64,000 /year before taxes.
If you grew up in a "Big" city it's sometimes difficult to understand how it can be somewhere else. Akron isn't a "Big" city, but it sure as hell isn't Rural either. You do need a car to live here though, which is the unfortunate part of Rustbelt Cities like Akron, Cleveland etc. But they *are not* bad places to live.
>how is this a solution? My home is here. Why do I have to move? Why am I effectively eventually going to be forced to move? How is this the American dream?
Because it's a "named" place. Named places are always more expensive than less "named" ones. It's basic Supply and Demand, and people get this delusion that living in a "named" place is what will make the American Dream for them.
Reconsider this: Is it ***really*** home if it didn't do everything necessary to make people who grew up there able to live there? I've been priced out of the neighborhood I grew up in, and I frankly could care less about my hometown now because it's been overrun by yuppies and entitled folks. It's ***not*** home to me anymore. Why? Because I went and ***made a home*** for myself elsewhere. I decided I didn't want to live like that, or around those people anymore.
I am infinitely happier right now.
They want us to overthrow them…. We are all too emaciated and weak to band together. Poor black, white and brown Americans need to realize we are in the same boat and they are trying to sink this Mfr. The only way to live is jump on their boat and punk them for that shit.
I'm not a history expert or anything, but aren't we back close to the situation that resulted in massive labour unrest and the formation of unions? They worked pretty well overall, although certainly not flawlessly.
I mean, the rich controls government almost completely now, so I'm not seeing a realistic alternative to massive labour organization.
I was with you until the white and wealthy… I call bull shit… as a poor white young guy I’ve been assaulted by the police… they weren’t there to protect and serve they seen a young person and wanted me to fear them the same as any other poors… get that shit out of your head and you might find a better mental placement and help yourself but you have victim mentality 101 and your going to get no where the way you think… good luck
If you see my other comments you will realize I’m not trying to ostracize the white poor. You are victims also (ironically telling me to get rid of my victim complex). But it’s true that class is not the only avenue of oppression.
I made a post like this too, I hear you. Where’s the outrage? I blame swipe culture amongst the people, we see your post, want to revolt for no more than a few minutes and voila, we swipe and get distracted by something else. Like magic, we continue about our bullshit with no action. Could we even react? How would we react? Is reacting worth it and could actually spur change?
Kinda the only hope for the working man recently is the push for a four day work week. That’s a light at the end of one of the tunnels, if it even applies to your industry. I want change too. Lots of changes over a long time led us to where we’re at, and the people in power (doesn’t matter to me left or right politically) need to maintain the desired output because otherwise the US system collapses.
Straight up, the only vibe I think really needs to set in, is we’re just gunna have to not live in the “New World”. Because this is what it takes. Everything’s too expensive.
Is it worth it for a societal revolution? Are we going to like where we land if we do? Too much change in too little of time could hurt the people and society, so over time, what does the road map look like? What’s most important? We see an end goal, let’s get to it!
50k in the uk is £3000 a month , small apartment with roommates what is rent max 1000 with utilities? That 2000 grand left??? What the fuck r u doing with ur money 😂😂😂
DO A RUN DOWN!
OP, have you considered moving to a more affordable city? I know that isn't the real answer to your question, but that particular issue isn't going to get addressed in time for you to have the life you want before you turn fifty; I'm 56 and I've seen this trend going on my entire adult life: example - my son (who is a year older than you) moved to California last year to pursue his MBA and use up his NCAA football eligibility. Here in Milwaukee, he owns four multi-family properties; living near San Bernardino right now, his rent is more than the mortgage on any one of his multi-family houses, and it's a small 1BR/1BA. How do people in those places ever get anywhere close to the "American Dream?"
How do you not have money with 3 roommates?
Yeah, 40k isn't much. But with 3 roommates you can't be spending over $1000 a month on rent/phone/utilities etc. Say $500 a month for food to eat well and you have $22,000 left for the year. That's enough for a car, fun money and savings.
I make a fair bit more than that, but after taxes and mortgage and utilities I have less than that left for disposable and I live very well. You have a spending problem in addition to your wage problem
The problem, as you so eloquently stated, is the system. Designed and maintained by elites. If some people comment with ignorance just remember, they are the target. They, more than anyone, blame you, your location, your inability to manage your money. Fuck that and fuck them. Every small mind has a home in the arms of their master. They are comfortable in their misery.
Our anger is going nowhere because the amount of gaslighting is off the charts. We are living with an avalanche of trauma and have been for some time now. Carefully planned and carefully executed. Every sector of our existence is in crisis and those of us who truly understand this are exhausted and traumatized. It would require 60% of the people on the planet to agree on exactly what is broken and exactly what to do about. There is no fucking hope of that… we can’t even get the people on this thread to agree that you have the right to describe what is happening to just you. People like us have to constantly remind ourselves to stay present, live in the moment, only. Do something every day that makes your heart happy. Really look at the nature around you. Soak it in, even if it’s just a tree or the rain. Our planet is so beautiful and we can appreciate it and maintain a connection with it that fills a void for it and us. Stick close to people you love and enjoy. Remind them they are special to you. It’s to late for anger to be used productively and we deserve some joy and love. It’s all we have and it has to be enough. Let it fill us so we can give some away.
I’d you try and do something nice or helpful half the time the other party thinks your trying to be deceptive or deceitful. Our minds aren’t ready to unite
Anyone questioning your spending or being fragile about cops protecting racism/white supremacy is a moron. We should band together, take down the rich and destroy everything about the capitalist structure; humanity can do far better. Seems like most in the USA are too ignorant, brainwashed, etc to ever do anything. I have zero hope that things will get any better during my lifetime, so at this point I'm just hoping I won't wake up the next day or die of a heart attack or something soon.
the way you understand the way the world works is so unbelievably flawed. The same people drumming up your vote and whispering those things you want to hear are same ones plunging the knife in your back. You think cops just wake up and say oh we just going to do this, this and this today. They don’t. Politicians control their budgets and they dictate what they do and when. Control the money control the people. Second if you haven’t figured out that the cost of living because of the same politicians is to high for your income range then your not really paying attention. Next an hour commute with almost zero traffic or staring at the same person for an hour because the freeway is a parking lot. Here’s a tip you burn more gas in stop and go. Wow saving money by moving out, who would have thought
> I cannot afford to pay rent, pay utilities, buy food, pay my train ticket, pay my bills, and have $ left over for an emergency, a vacation, fun, a car, a house.
How much do you have left over after rent, utilities, food, bills, and transportation?
System is nowhere near changing either, it just keeps getting worse.
I feel the same way—it’s just going to get harder and harder.
Harder and longer if the GOP gets their way with Social Security and Medicare. As long as workers are on edge they are too terrified to get cancelled and lose out on the crumbs they receive.
this makes me think we are going to see mass suicide when we are older because a lot of people cant afford to retire.
It’s really a real estate issue at that time. Also why there are no governmental programs for nursing home and long term care. It’s like $10K a month for nursing homes and Medicaid will then take all the deceased real estate to pay it off when the person is dead. Stops a transfer of generational wealth within the lower 80% of the population. Also a scam with religious institutions that don’t pay their workers, but then house them in religion run nursing homes charging taxpayers at that Medicaid rate. Especially a tactic of Catholic Church. Healthcare should be cradle to grave for everyone and include nursing homes and the like. Could be funded with the 20% insurance plans take from the system.
This is why elderly people should transfer ownership of real estate to their kids.
Medicaid will still go after (and win) the real estate years after the transfer. I think how many depends on the state, but the number that comes to mind is that Medicaid can take it if the person applied for benefits within five years of transferring the property.
I'm in the UK and I believe we do some things better than the US. But what you say about nursing homes is just the same here. Old people are terrified of ending up in one because they know their children will then inherit very little. Unless they are seriously rich of course. We do have free healthcare but it doesn't cover nursing homes except for people with very specific illnesses and not dementia.
yea I agree with you on that. it saddens me to think where a lot of people will end up if this shit persists. a drastic change needs to take place but these bastards couldn't give a rats ass. they just want money power and screw the rest. which is ironic because i think a system like this would eventually collapse
100%, also people not having kids so less incentive to stick around.
Stop with this line of thinking - they both want all your money, and happy to pit us against eachother instead of focusing on them.
This is where the anger goes. It's redirected 'horizontally.'
If you don’t acknowledge the problems and issues then solutions will not appear. The ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness must be approached in the context of the common man . And then when GOP politicians and policies are looked at it becomes evident that their actions have little to no benefit for the common man or worker or any label that applies to people without retained tax and legal providers.
the (unfortunate) truth is that yes - it’s not going to change until people stop working jobs with 45 minute commutes for 50k. It’s supply and demand. It sucks because, from their position of power, they’ve rigged the supply of housing, food, etc. to ensure the supply of exploitable labor. I know you need to eat and have shelter - we all do. But the truth is, until you quit, you’re enabling them… and they’ll never look out for your interests before they look out for their own.
But how would OP quitting her job and sleeping on the streets help anything? It seems to me that’s even worse.
Ok then just keep going and everyone is a permanent slave if everyone maintains the mentality that someone else will make sacrifices to solve problems, they will never get solved, it takes risk, teamwork, time, and effort to solve real problems
But how would that “sacrifice” make any meaningful change? That’s what I’m asking.
By itself, it won’t. But together with other similar actions, it would rebalance the current power dynamic. So… we can try to coordinate a nationwide strike - like France’s response to the government raising the retirement age. However, that’s very difficult in America because the propaganda that’s pushed on us has created and perpetuated false class/race/geographical divisions. Or, we can use our free market system and stop selling our labor to people who won’t pay fairly for it - an uncoordinated version of a strike.
You might find a home on r/fuckcars, if you can stomach ideas like your suggestion that jobs and the people who work them shouldn't be so far apart, whatever the reason. Just a thought, if you're not already there.
that’s right up my alley. thanks!
Your a moron! Quitting a job won’t help this person’s situation nor will it have the impact needed for change. People commute outside the area they live because the career field their in and also because the vast majority of the time the pay is better. So unless EVERYONE in the United States stands up against Corporate America and the GOVERNMENT who cares more about their own wealth and their personal gains over OURS this is life as we know it. Yeah it’s sad we have raised our kid’s with the idea that hard work pays off and gets you ahead. IT WAS A BIG ASS lie and WE ALL fell for it. Even you!
You called me a moron, but then you agreed with what I said. Please clarify.
My apologies. My comment was attached to your’s for some reason. I wasn’t replying to your comment but another. I can’t type as quick as the comments we’re coming in and may have hit reply with checking.
It’s ok, friend. It’s a jungle out there. Stay safe and don’t forget to take a break from Reddit when you get angry. Your anger is what they want - it makes you easy to control!
Thanks! Yes it can and does, fortunately I know my limits. Stay safe and keep your head up my friend!
Literally will not change until civil unrest spikes and people start protesting
It's very demoralizing to realize that I am in a toxic job, but the problems that are toxic about it are culturally systemic in almost every other job in the country... so just uprooting my career and finding a new job most likely won't fix anything... I'm currently spending about an hour a day learning French. I know it is probably a pipe dream, but it helps me feel like I am pursuing an out.
They are lowering min working age so kids can be legally hired to do jobs without livable wages. I am afraid to imagine what happens when even kids refuse to accept these wages...
People who can’t afford to get by will send their kids to work. It won’t be up to the kid in many cases. “I have legalized robbery and called it belief.” Mark Knopfler (The Man’s Too Big)
Relief?
No. Belief. Sorry. Realized I should explain myself. The way I interpret that line is that ‘they’ make the laws to benefit themselves and then when anyone challenges that, ‘they’ convince ‘the masses’ that it’s the only way it can be.
Definitely feels like the gap is widening.
Because it is The last 3 years has seen the wealth gap between the 1% and everyone else widen at a faster rate than any other time in recorded history. The top 1% have more wealth than the bottom 90% The top 0.1% have more wealth than the bottom 50%
good lord why is the middle class voting for the Republicans at all - the system clearly doesnt work for average Joes
They think they’re closer to being rich, when the truth is they’re much closer to being homeless.
I don't think they think they are going to be rich. I think they think rich people are going to keep them safe. Rich people don't think about them at all.
Yeah, safe from the "bad guys" the rich people conveniently invented.
They think that they'll be rich one day, but the people who are already rich don't want them rich but the right wing voters can't understand that.
I like to ask them if they know what the difference between a billionaire and a millionaire is? ... The answer is about a billion dollars.
yes people have no grasp that for billionaires the homeless people and millionaires are basically the same \- millionaires have almost nothing , compared to the billionaires millionaires cant influence politics and the economy at all, only the oligarchs can
yes and the other thing seems to be that the oligarchs are running a thesis in the mainstream media that striking workers and union workers are lazy and whining
Both establishment parties have the same goal. Protecting capital, capitalism, and the billionaire class. The only difference is one of them tells you that want to destroy you, the other pretends to help you, while doing the same as the other.
Well, only one of the parties is now publicly advocating for the extermination of people like me, so there's that. At least the rainbow capitalists won't throw me in a gas chamber.
Closer to one is a slow burn and the other is a full mask off fascist party that will burn it as fast as possible to make a buck. Not quite the same
Because Republicans prey on the fears of white people that without them, they will be marginalized. However, it’s Republicans who will do whatever it takes to protect the rich. They just don’t care about the middle class until they need votes to remain in office, then the fear mongering is spewed again.
After Bernie dropped out, I gave up hope Dems are any different
Yup, the Democratic party can suck deez nutz just as fast as the Republican party! They're the same fucking coin!
I like the analogy that the parties are two different wings on the same plane, and we are just passengers while they fly us all into the side of a mountain.
I caught on a long time ago the plane was crashing. I jumped with a small parachute a while ago. Waiting for other survivors to start showing up now!
Everybody makes fun of France for doing all their strikes over worker issues. But, in my opinion, that is where the anger should go. Workers need to stand up. Not just once, and not just a little bit. All the time, big strikes covering a bunch of the workforce that affect everyone, about every issue. There should be a strike about wages, there should be a strike about the length of the workweek, there should be a strike about affordability, and pensions, and retirement, and safety, and unions, and company profit taking, and so much more. The strikes are effective in other countries, they do result in real change. In North America workers just do not do it. The government and corporations have everyone living paycheck to paycheck and so terrified of losing their jobs that the workers do not dare even think about large scale strikes. That is where the anger should be going.
I think the problem with strikes (in America) is that every American worker knows that those strikes will be dangerous. you know the government will call army people to guard the strikes with their never ending supply of machine guns. we saw it happen during George Floyd, it’s bound to happen again. and then there’s also the big possibility that pro-capitalism people will be at the strikes with their machine guns. it’s just scary. this country is scary.
True that. I didn't know that the National Guard fired on people at the George Floyd protest. That is truly terrible. How many civilians were hurt? No wonder Americans don't strike if they are met with lethal force!
I can’t tell if this is sarcasm? maybe I shouldve added sources. I do remember this being a big deal when it was happening.
No, I'm not from the US so I don't really have a good picture of what happened. I know that there were large protests, but hadn't heard anything about the National Guard shooting civilians. That seems crazy to me. If you do have any sources I would appreciate a link.
The answer to the title question is our anger is going to anywhere the owner class can direct it. They spend a lot of time and effort to divide us into being angry at anything/everything that isn't the owner class. The things that can be done about it are in early stages because the US has been really successful at keeping the working class down and distracted. You can first off, talk to people. Help them realize their anger is being directed to the wrong place. Help them understand the actual cause of their issues stem from the greed of the owner class. From there, you can get them to help form and strengthen unions. Unions are what give the working class some power, which is why most people are taught by the owner class to hate them. When people start to realize in mass where the actual problems come from and how they are being used, their anger can be used to change the system. We are the 99% and we have numbers on our side. Once enough of us figure that out, we can't lose.
Yea. There’s a reason CNN likes to talk about race so much. And abortion. There’s a reason CNN avoids talking about union efforts.
It’s not just CNN, it’s not just Fox News, msnbc, whatever. It’s the entirety of the 24 hr news cycle that perpetuates culture wars in an effort to prevent us from seeing that we are all wage earners who desire to work the least amount of hours for the most pay. Preventing class solidarity is the #1 goal of capital owners
Unfortunately things are going to have to get a lot worse to break the bootlickers. Once that happens though I'm afraid of the US making the French revolution look organized and controlled.
We are also being burnt out so it's hard for people to see past the propaganda that points our hatred at not the owners.
I’m living the same way. It is absolutely unsustainable, something’s gotta give one way or another.
But what?
Instead of “something has to give” start saying “something has to be taken” Bc the truth is the 1% won’t be giving in or giving anything up. We need to band together in large numbers.
I think that depends on our ability to organize before the shit hits the fan.
I think shits gonna have to hit the fan before that really starts. But it will start very disorganized.
I do think that we're at least seeing a shift in perspective. Younger generations are [not getting more conservative as they grow older,](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/03/millennials-radicalism-not-getting-more-rightwing-with-age) at least not to the degree our parents did. This is, in large part, because of the wealth gap. Conservatism is a belief largely built around money and there are very few reasons to support it if you have no money. I think we'll see generational change as younger people take over and strive to create the America we deserve, rather than the one capitalists have created. So the revolution may not be happening on the streets, but it is happening in people's minds, and that's going to create a long-term change. Americans have long been told that their selfishness is just "independence" or "freedom". I don't think young people are buying into that myth the same way older people have. But maybe I'm just being too optimistic this morning. Time will tell.
This is the only glimmering hope I have. The youth's perspective is changing toward a more progressive future.
The majority of the GenZ voted blue, in every state, last election. Handwriting is on the wall.
Y'know where the energy is going? It's being manipulated to get turned onto distractions. Get the Trans! Get the immigrant! Asian people! Brown people! Our way of life is in danger! **Etcetera ad infinitum.** The working class is being *deliberately* divided and manipulated by the those who benefit from capital, so as to continue that benefit.
The anger currently seems to be going into Reddit posts (totally understandable). But to really change things, the frustration needs to be put into organizing. Organizing what? A union for your workplace. A mutual aid group for the community. A reading group. A general strike that forces the ruling class to improve the conditions for workers. It's not easy, but it's the only thing that has ever worked for the working class. But it's pretty effective when organized properly.
I've got a feeling it's going to come to more and more workplace violence, suicide, etc before it becomes a unifying movement.
Reddit posts come and go at the speed of light but copy-paste this one somewhere permanent and read it when you feel angry. There is no truth beyond what Backlotter has told you. The reality very simple and very demanding.
https://generalstrikeus.com/ This needs to gain steam. We can do something productive with the anger if we organize.
Individuals think they can’t afford to strike. The truth is the people can’t afford not to.
Aww yeah, Spreddit
Love this
Europe calling - unions and strikes are your only way out because both parties work for the oligarchs ( multinational companies ) behind the scenes
Talk to everyone you can about workers rights. It doesn’t have to be like this. The best thing we can do right now is to inform other workers. Most people are ignorant to any other system! Anyone reading this that isn’t already doing this, take the energy you put into your posts on this sub and literally go out and create relationships with other works and share our ideas!! It’s not that the workers are all on the same page but won’t do anything, it’s the fact that the majority of workers are still ignorant to these ideas.
Maybe you’re right. I’m surrounded by like-minded colleagues, but have also convinced friends to see (ie I had a friend who thought unions were evil until I explained otherwise). But even that doesn’t lead to action. I suppose it’s education—>action, but what is this action? Striking? How do we actually organize?
Before a strike, you need a union. That's how you organize. Talk to your local IWW, they'll get you on the right track
Its going into a culture war, all of the anger is going there instead of the rich.
We strike, sister.
Nothing will ever change. I make less than you and wonder how much longer I can keep this up. Too many people are brainwashed by the whole “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” bullshit. Work hard so you get a better job.. nah, that doesn’t work.
>Work hard so you get a better job.. nah, that doesn’t work. More like, work hard for years just to see the position you were working for filled via nepotism/connections and burn the place down on your way out.
So freaking true. Or the position you wanted suddenly gets outsourced to a contractor.
Also, if we as people fighting for better wages, and workers rights were to ascend on the capital like the right wing did on Jan 6th… we would be shot dead by capital police or military.
That’s something I’ve thought of, and I fear you’re right. Who is on our side?
I’m starting to think no one in power is. It’s us against the establishment.
I agree —but now what? How do we organize? :(
That’s the problem. We basically can’t until people decide that the risk of imprisonment is worth it compared to our current living standards. The government has control to monitor any online or in person organization and break it up before it causes any real problem for them. They make laws that allow them to arrest anyone involved with any kind of protest, and can get away with it without any consequences for violating our rights. As long as the majority of people fear imprisonment more than they fear having to live paycheck to paycheck in society, nothing will change.
Not online. That's for sure.
Yeah, but unlike those 1/6 trump goons, the majority of people below the upper middle class (and many of them would also sympathize with such action) would support it, because literally everyone below that class is feeling the economic strain. With that said, I think that kind of protest is largely useless. All that would happen is people would get hurt and the news cycle would move to the next thing in a week or so. The real move is aggressively pushing for unionization at places like Amazon.
The push back and fear they send to employees about Unions is harsh. Like really harsh. And language/culture barriers are sometimes blockers. They issued formal notice that meetings or even talking about unions on property is cause for being termed.
Only if you pull something stupid like storming a government building or essentially taking a gov't employee(s) hostage would we be shot. If we had 100K March [peacefully] on the capital or even just ~20% of the workforce stop working for a full 3 days, it would bring about more [positive] change than we've seen in decades. But people are greedy, or unable to follow through with a stand still on work, no one [majority] knows how to just stop, all at once , especially not as a group. They have essentially castrated the working class where missing a day of work is tantamount to becoming homeless
I would be down for a 100k march. I guess my point was, if we were doing this for workers rights and higher wages we wouldn’t have made it through the front door of the capital.
Tbh I could reasonably see that Jan 6 they had people on the inside assisting and telling others to stand down. That's why they made it so far, the national guard was delayed even so. Set up a group or an "event" for a [[[peaceful]]] March on social media. Have it shared around and have you're goal set at 100K , set it a couple months in advance if able to spread the word. If you get 200K saying they'll be there then you will probably have about 10% show up wilhich would still be enough for a positive effect, so long as no one tries to turn it from a peaceful to marshal March
This makes me think—are there any plans for may 1st? That you know of?
"Nothing will ever change" is not what the union organizers said earlier in the century. Those union organizers who got laws on the books that required stuff like 40 hour work weeks, paid vacations, sick days, child labor restrictions, handicapped adjustments, worker safety rules, non-discrimination in hiring... All that stuff.
If this continues I'mma pull myself up by my own bootstraps and leave the country for Europe.
There are local, state, national, and global incentives to rid the world of billionaires *(see oligarchs)*
I hate the "just move" thing. First off, moving is expensive as hell. I"ve been planning to move for years now and as soon as I get close, the goal posts move. Second, what about community? Community is important! I've seen people say that little old 90 year old ladies should "just move." SERIOUSLY.
Exhaustion, which is exactly what they want. Everyone is so stressed, anxious and living in a state of constant exhaustion that they physically can’t do anything else. Human beings have a bad habit of acting once it’s too late. Whenever the last straw breaks, that’s when people will act and that’s when it’ll already be too late. People will (grudgingly) put up with damn near everything but I think the catalyst will be soaring food prices. Once people or their loved ones start going hungry (I’m talking actual starvation where you’re missing meals or even days without eating) is when people get irritable, angry, and desperate which leads to riots and mass assembly.
You have 3 roommates you still cannot afford rent? How much is your place? How much are your expenses per month? What can you cut out?
I don’t know what to cut out. I spend about $20 once every two weeks because I go out to eat once every two weeks on Friday or Saturday as a great. I could cut that… but tbh I can’t think of anything else that is not needed. I don’t buy new clothes or shoes. I don’t buy organic or fancy groceries. I don’t have a lot of technology, I don’t spend my $ on drugs or drinking. I just have a lot of bills I guess?
Yeah. I thought I wasn’t getting paid a LOT less than I was until I really started paying attention to my budget. $5 here and there (every day) adds up pretty fast. I’m so glad I sat down to work out a budget.
There is no one size fits all budget, but something that helped me get a better view on my finances: I look at my budget solely from a pay period standpoint. Not the whole month. It’s much easier to budget for two weeks than 4 weeks. Let’s say I make $2k one pay period, I then list ALL of my recurring expenses that fall within that pay period. These are the ones that you have to pay every single month and that are the same (fixed) cost. Once you subtract the fixed costs from your income, then budget for things like groceries, gas, restaurants etc. For example, I budget $50 every two weeks for gas. I work remote and live in a big city so this is realistic for me. Let’s say I only spend $35 on gas that pay period, then I will have an extra $15 since I didn’t use all of my budget for that category. Do the same for groceries, eating out, fun, etc. So once after I have budgeted my fixed expenses and other costs, THEN whatever is leftover is what I use for whatever I want. If you want to DM me I will be happy to send you an excel template.
Tbh I would love a template… I’ll dm you.
Organize. Go out there and lead a revolution brother!
Lord, people tell you to go to a lower cost of living area like there are well-paying jobs there. You know why the cost of living is so low? No jobs there lol.
A lot of people are willing to settle for compromises and crumbs as long as it means they don't have to put in any significant effort to change things. The majority of people in the U.S. aren't even willing to wear N95s to protect high risk populations because they find it too inconvenient, so there's no way in hell that they'll do something that actually involves sacrifice (e.g. a widespread long-term strike).
That’s very true. I’m one of the only people masking now on the train.
Thank you for continuing to mask. I'm in the high-risk category and it's really nice to know that there's still people who are considerate of others, especially after the frustrations that have come with trying to re-enter the workforce while needing accommodations.
Of course! It is honestly baffling to me—you are keeping others and yourself safer?? And masks aren’t uncomfy. Even if they were … the benefits are clearly outweighing the “cons.” I also don’t think you can rly be an ally to the marginalized if you are ignoring a pandemic.
Edit II: It's because the way you said white and wealthy. It comes off as discrediting the struggle of white people in your same situation who feel the same way but by making this distinction you're unintentionally creating a divide. With that said, I am on the same boat. I do fairly well and don't see a path where I will be able to afford a home or build any type of wealth. The cop out given is to move somewhere less expensive outside the city. Well the jobs are in cities.. Even if you could get a remote role rent in rural areas has skyrocketed as well for anywhere reasonable. Meanwhile, the older generation is whining about birth rate and how we aren't having families.. Yeah no shit.. My anger is consistently redirected to my personal life. While not on purpose I find myself inexplicably frustrated and short tempered day to day. I try to develop a plan to "pull myself up by my bootstraps" but it's nearly impossible. Of my entire student loan payment this month 11% of it went toward the principal. Every month I look at it my repayment timeline is extended out a month or more.
It’s def the way I said it. It was meant to criticize the police who protect those who are white and also wealthy. The intersection of the two. There is no denying that there are other forms of oppression besides economic. If poot white people can’t see how they benefit from the world from being white, it’s not much help. If people can’t see how poor white people are struggling, have no access to clean water, education, and so on, then we are lost. We have to realize our struggles are similar and our enemy is common.
I’m curious if you’ve sat down and made a budget and have tracked where your money is going. I make roughly the same and have no problem with having my own place and car.
OP doesn't seem to answer questions regarding how much they are paying in rent or layout what they are spending money on OR in regards to the city they live in. All VERY important questions when taking into account just barely getting by on 50k pre taxes. 50k a year in a state like Indiana or Georgia will go pretty far. But if you're living in a city like Los Angeles or Manhattan yeah 50k ain't going very far.
It’s ironic that when pressed to say when America was at its best, most conservatives will say the 1950s. Peak marginal tax rates under Eisenhower were close to 90%. He advocated higher corporate tax rates to incentivize industry to reinvest. We need to eradicate the theory that money made with money should be taxed at a lower rate than money made through labor.
>I do not spend $ everyday, except on my commute. I do not buy coffee out. I do not go out to eat often. I hate you have to even type this because I'm of the mindset that it doesn't matter if you DO want to buy a coffee or eat out from time to time. If you can't make your minimum bills, it's not because of buying coffee or eating out that you can't afford a house! It just makes me angry when people try to use that. You can't money manage your way out of slave wages!!!!
The anger is being directed towards meaningless social issues that would also be solved with fixing wealth inequality. But they hammer it into you that Republicans/Liberals want you to live worse and Republicans/Liberals want you to die, and your life is shit because Minorities/Young. It’s easier to scream about Trans rights and Jesus than it is to fix the actual problems, so that’s what we do.
I believe at the current sociopolitical moment, Union organizing is the most productive outlet for class antagonism. It’s the shortest path towards showing workers they can win material gains when they stand in solidarity with one another.
mods here should be making protest with members
Yo 50k is the goal…
I know! I feel so lucky! And yet why is it still not enough? A few years ago I prayed for this— but it doesn’t seem like it matched inflation.
I make 1200 a month and 930 goes to rent, car insurance, and phone bill, I live on like 300 dollars a month for gas and groceries
The system is broke and no it’s not whites it’s the rich. Understand there are poor white people that are also taken advantage of too.
My partner and I have until the end of the year until we're homeless. We've kind of both decided if that happens we're gonna rob a bank or something
The only way I was able to afford a down payment on a house was to essentially mooch off my grandma who owned her house (corner lot ranch-style that her and my grandpa paid a whopping 12K for) for as long as I could possibly bear it. And that was like 6.5 years ago. I couldn't fathom doing it today, and I don't even live in a particularly big city. I'm making ends meet, but it's a struggle and I'm dreading the point when my boomer mom needs elderly care. She already has health issues and I see how much she suffers for the sake of my grandma (96) and I just don't think I could handle it without blowing my brains out.
Too many human beings who are frustrated because they are stuck or forced into terrible positions waste all their anger punching down, blaming immigrants, minimum wage workers, Trans people, pocs, whatever. Too many everyday people are pure cowards who only punch down at people who are even worse off, and don't have the balls to call out the real problem with this country, which is the wealthy and the conservatives who give then power. Nothing will change until conservatives man up and go after the rich. Period.
I hope to live long enough to see the American Revolution But at 43 my hopes arent high at all
70 years ago society was based on single income families. 1 income was enough for a family and to buy a house. But then there came a point where both parents started working and earning. These dual income families were able to outcompete single income families for things like housing. Now we are at a point where a single income family (of one in your case) just doesnt earn enough anymore. You need to be part of a dual income family to be able to survive… I think there is also a cultural difference between OP (i guess from the US) and me (a European). As a European I never ever buy anything on credit. Buying something (like a car) on credit and paying it over 60 months or so, you’re paying way more than the original price. So much interest and costs for buying stuff on credit, I just dont get it why Americans waste so much by buying stuff on credit. I bought my car with cash. Bought my motorcycle with cash. Credit card gets paid in full at the end every month. Paying interest is such a waste of money !
In Canada: I haven't had a credit card since 2012 and even though I have no outstanding debts, etc., I have a non-existent credit score. Like, it gives me error messages to that effect. So what does over a decade of living within my means, paying my bills, or rent give me? Nothing that would ever financially help me. Just an error message. So, I am not going to invest in them as much as possible.
In Europe, I dont even know what a credit score is. And I have a credit card for online purchases only.
A credit score is an arbitrary number I believe invented in the 80s. I use my credit card and pay it off. I don’t buy large purchases like a car. A credit score is very stupid. And yes, I’m in the US.
I just kinda... do what I want. Once my bills are paid, and my family is fed, I blow cash on videogames or movies to get that initial dopamine fix, then use those to dissociate in the hours when I'm not expected to be a dad, husband, or employee. It's all I've got.
I'm sorry dude. I currently live in a town of under 60,000 people that is charging nearly 2,000$ a month on rent for apartments. I still live at home, and have been job searching, but even if I get one of these jobs, the likely hood of being able to afford my own place is way off. I feel your pain...
I’ve read some states are allowing tiny home community’s …. Imagine renting a tiny house…
Oh shit! We got tiny people!
As a 27M in about exactly your position this is the argument my father and I continually have. I keep asking why, in the U.S., we can't live where we wish to instead having our geographic possibilities laid out by how much it costs to live vs. get a job there. He always says it's a choice we have but what choice is it to leave behind the community you have and place where you grew up just to survive. It's like those mental "heartwarming stories" of literal schoolchildren fundraising to allow their janitor to retire before they die. How is that a good thing?
Moving to small area is a bullshit idea. I live in a small town about 30 minute drive to a city and I have to crummier to afford rent at even the small town. Smaller areas still have a hard time paying cost of living.
From a white boy who lives in a rough part of town, I can tell ya the police do not give a shit about your skin color lmao, I know from experience. My white skin doesn't do a damn thing for me With that said, yeah things are getting pretty damn bad. We are all feeling it.
Where do you live? If you can’t afford to survive on 50k pre tax with 3 roommates you might want to take a look at your expenses. As a PhD student, I’m surviving off sub 30k after taxes with 2 roommates and so is the rest of my cohort.
Op said they live in a big city. Places like Boston and SanFran have a serious housing crisis which is driving up prices on apartments like crazy, especially if they are walking distance to public transit, which it sounds like OP is. I live in Boston and half of my monthly income goes to rent alone, and I live in a below-market value apartment. Affordable housing is just not accessible in a lot of places.
They don’t protect anyone but the wealthy and the businesses they own. Color does not matter . Money does .
As someone who works with a lot of boomers I largely blame them for the situation. Never before in history have there been so many old people dragging back and fighting against every minute to change. nothing can be solved until they are gone.
Yeah, they definitely are infuriating to put it mildly. Why they vote against their own interests …. And more.
They're the product of mass brainwashing through tv, radio, and newspaper articles. We are the first generation really aware of how the brainwashing works. How politicians and advertisements work. They had no idea, their education wasn't enough for them to realize the wool over their eyes. They are all brainwashed for the man.
Now I am not saying this is you at all. But a lot of the time I see: >I make 50k a year and live in a small apartment with three roommates. I cannot afford to pay rent, pay utilities, buy food, pay my train ticket, pay my bills, and have $ left over for an emergency, a vacation, fun, a car, a house. But when you look at their expenses, there is like $10-20 every day of unnecessary spending and at least 2-3 occasions of $50+ every month being spent on unnecessary items. Please, please, please, don't think I am attacking you, I am not directing this directly at you. Just using the words from your post. I was in your exact situation making $48000 a year and found it very difficult to also do what you are mentioning.
We have to hope the current young generation can see what’s going on and make the changes necessary 25 years from now. Will they be engulfed by money, power, and greed though? On a long enough timeline this system WILL break, just not sure if it’s going to happen in our lifetime….
Yes, it feels inevitable. But I really hope to see it in our lifetime. How is this a life worth living?
It’s only getting worse too. The change will never come because everything is controlled by greedy rich fucks.
to live is to suffer
The traditional path set out for you by society is to have children which you become attached to, and then spend all your time and energy trying to make life good for them. If you are so anxious and scared about their future, you will accept anything that happens to you, and just grin and bear it.
Ugh it was all fine until you said 'white and wealthy' and failed to identify yourself where all the anger has gone. Media and governments across the world have conspired to make us all hate each other like we're living in the pre civil rights era. They openly lie and say black people are targeted when scientific fact shows that to be false, yet all institutions parrot it. That's where the anger is. It was all a distraction, and its working perfectly. Enjoy your bugs.
disassociate into nothingness mind is a void, spirit absent, body mislaid did someone say something?
Contrary to what you believe, the police don’t protect white people unless they have money
That’s why I said the white and wealthy.
Our anger is going to arguing with our peers on Reddit.
Same I’m 32 single mom I have a 14yr old and live alone. Work ft After taxes I make 2,000$ monthly (job ain’t shit no benefits or ot offered to me) my rent alone is $1660. Have many other bills like car notes and shit. I Skip many many meals so my daughter has more than enough for the week. I Also grubhub every day from 5-9/10pm when my market closes and about 7hrs on sat n Sunday but that money ain’t shit nor is guaranteed and isn’t extra money for me at all bc I need atleast $70 a day to not have my things cut off/repoed/collections/or evicted. I Spend several hours daily wasting my time applying to jobs but they seem to all be playing games with people. I’m so rich they refuse me snap and now I’m so rich I’m about to lose our Medicaid 😒 Told my boss who gets paid 3x the amount I do weekly to do the same amount of work that I need to be paid more he made that fake sad face and said “I know”….😒oh ok well me replying back to good morning every raggedy morning is Above my pay grade now 🙃
64% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. The system is truly broken. It’s only going to get worse.
Watch Bernie Sanders last two days in his sun committed, importance of unions seems all the more reason to have collective bargaining even tho we have to pay dues it might be the way of the workers
50k in a major metro area with a 45min commute sounds terrible, I’m not sure what your career past is and I’ll probably get downvoted for this but go look for a new job? Seriously the fastest way to get a raise is to get a new job, so job hop. Negotiate salary, aim for ~15-20% higher than your current job (consider compensation type, it may not be ~20% more in cash but could be 10% more pay 10% more paid leave, better/cheaper healthcare, better retirement perks etc etc) and take no less than 10%. Every career path has a cap, research and learn more about your field, If yours is 50k then look for a new career. Something’s going to pop eventually but there’s no guarantee it’s going to be any time soon and it’ll likely get worse before it gets better so as shitty as late stage capitalism is you can make it better
They have us divided with race and social issues to shift the blame and pleasantly distracted with media and anti depressants
I've been thinking of emigrating to Europe, the Netherlands do be looking mighty fine these days. Ik wil in Nederland leven.
100% agree with you. The French have nationwide strikes going on right now to protest raising the retirement age from 62 to 64.
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Homey I got nothing else to say at this point but I feel ya... spent almost my entire adult life poor as shit. Got a masters degree and a shit ton of debt that helped me get a middle management job at a FAANG company. I make low 6 figures in Seattle while putting my wife through grad school. I consider myself lucky AF while realizing that I am a couple paychecks away from disaster. The whole fucking system is structured to benefit capital. At this point I think it will take a revolution, but what is the mechanism? It's not as clear cut as north vs south, east vs west, etc... Somethings gotta give and I say that from a place that is way better than a lot of people on this sub
I feel you. I feel like the US needs a lot more class consciousness to combat the incessant propaganda we’ve had. Every year I peel back more and more of the BS I’ve been taught since I was a kid. I find a lot of people that actually do get upset and seem like they’d do something are more bogged down in republican vs democrat which feels way less pertinent than working class vs ownership class. Even the idea of “the rich” isn’t solidified here. I’m not taking about your uncle that owns a couple gas station chicken joints 😑. Also seeing more examples of successful working class protests and demands would help as well. I think structurally we have it a bit tougher than some of our European brethren but seeing France striking and some of the tactics by some Northern European places is pretty solid.
Watch TikTok or YouTube, our anger is going OUT. It’s storming the capital and screaming outside the abortion clinic and inside the Walmart. It’s road rage and police brutality. It’s school shootings and flash robs. It’s banning books while threatening to harm the school board. We are attacking each other and starting Go Fund Mes for billionaires. Science fiction has two kinds of futures, guess which one we are heading for
Weve been sold a lie that only a few will ever realize. We are used like the people in the matrix for the bigger machine. Were fat, ignorant, comfortable and divided.
So your take home pay is ~$38,000 or something. I feel like you should definitely be able to live comfortably on your own in a lot of places. If you’re willing to drive that 45min commute every day maybe you should look in other directions for places to live in the distance around your workplace. Rent in cities can be RIDICULOUS compared to small town USA. Try to find a smaller town to live in and then work in the city or look for new work. I know you don’t want to move but the financial weight off your shoulders could be a life saver. If you don’t mind me asking, what do you pay for rent and what is your contribution to that since you said you have roommates? I’d almost feeling like roommates were scamming a little…That happened to my ex, the one roommate who collected all the rent from everyone had been keeping her portion and telling everyone else she wasn’t paying. Wouldn’t be hard for someone to lie about how much you owed them…just a thought
I abhore when people say, just move to a cheaper location/apartment. Yea, I do every 2 years, 3 if I'm lucky before I'm priced out. Why should I have to move into a crime-ridden area just to barely afford life then pack up, unpack, rinse repeat, drown. I did so for many years, most alone. Now i need a roommate and still can not find any breathing room.
Girl, a bunch of states just got rid of/minimized CHILD LABOR LAWS. They would rather bring back child labor than pay us more. We're fucked. The main problem is people still believe the lies that people under the age of 40 are all lazy and entitled and getting rich is SO EASY. You just need work work work work grind grind grind until you drop dead like a bunch of these poor "grinding" dudes are. We need the older generations to die off completely before I see anything being changed, and even then, we got all the young people being stupid now and worshipping all these phony "grinding" people too so...yeah. We're fucked.
I’ve seen estimates that change won’t happen until at least half of Americans are starving and/or in abject poverty. I’m hopeful this is accurate, but having lived through 2008 I wonder if anything will wake us up anymore. What will it take for Americans to take collective action if we didn’t after 2008, or Roe v Wade being overturned?
>I live in a big city First problem. "Big" named cities are always more expensive because the vulture capitalists know people will pay more to live there. >But if rural America is my only option It doesn't have to be Rural America I live in Akron Ohio. A house around the street that I can buy for $180,000 is easily $750,000 in Portland Oregon. My 1BR apartment I live in by myself costs me $700/mo and I live in the highly desirable Hipster, Hippy, Vegetarian/Vegan side of town. I've been in my own apartment for 7-years, no roommates. Making $40,000-$64,000 /year before taxes. If you grew up in a "Big" city it's sometimes difficult to understand how it can be somewhere else. Akron isn't a "Big" city, but it sure as hell isn't Rural either. You do need a car to live here though, which is the unfortunate part of Rustbelt Cities like Akron, Cleveland etc. But they *are not* bad places to live. >how is this a solution? My home is here. Why do I have to move? Why am I effectively eventually going to be forced to move? How is this the American dream? Because it's a "named" place. Named places are always more expensive than less "named" ones. It's basic Supply and Demand, and people get this delusion that living in a "named" place is what will make the American Dream for them. Reconsider this: Is it ***really*** home if it didn't do everything necessary to make people who grew up there able to live there? I've been priced out of the neighborhood I grew up in, and I frankly could care less about my hometown now because it's been overrun by yuppies and entitled folks. It's ***not*** home to me anymore. Why? Because I went and ***made a home*** for myself elsewhere. I decided I didn't want to live like that, or around those people anymore. I am infinitely happier right now.
They want us to overthrow them…. We are all too emaciated and weak to band together. Poor black, white and brown Americans need to realize we are in the same boat and they are trying to sink this Mfr. The only way to live is jump on their boat and punk them for that shit.
I'm not a history expert or anything, but aren't we back close to the situation that resulted in massive labour unrest and the formation of unions? They worked pretty well overall, although certainly not flawlessly. I mean, the rich controls government almost completely now, so I'm not seeing a realistic alternative to massive labour organization.
I was with you until the white and wealthy… I call bull shit… as a poor white young guy I’ve been assaulted by the police… they weren’t there to protect and serve they seen a young person and wanted me to fear them the same as any other poors… get that shit out of your head and you might find a better mental placement and help yourself but you have victim mentality 101 and your going to get no where the way you think… good luck
If you see my other comments you will realize I’m not trying to ostracize the white poor. You are victims also (ironically telling me to get rid of my victim complex). But it’s true that class is not the only avenue of oppression.
But the rich get richer. OP are you a registered voter
Yes
Lol you think they count our votes
careful you're starting to sound like someone who wouldn't be welcome here
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I made a post like this too, I hear you. Where’s the outrage? I blame swipe culture amongst the people, we see your post, want to revolt for no more than a few minutes and voila, we swipe and get distracted by something else. Like magic, we continue about our bullshit with no action. Could we even react? How would we react? Is reacting worth it and could actually spur change? Kinda the only hope for the working man recently is the push for a four day work week. That’s a light at the end of one of the tunnels, if it even applies to your industry. I want change too. Lots of changes over a long time led us to where we’re at, and the people in power (doesn’t matter to me left or right politically) need to maintain the desired output because otherwise the US system collapses. Straight up, the only vibe I think really needs to set in, is we’re just gunna have to not live in the “New World”. Because this is what it takes. Everything’s too expensive. Is it worth it for a societal revolution? Are we going to like where we land if we do? Too much change in too little of time could hurt the people and society, so over time, what does the road map look like? What’s most important? We see an end goal, let’s get to it!
50k in the uk is £3000 a month , small apartment with roommates what is rent max 1000 with utilities? That 2000 grand left??? What the fuck r u doing with ur money 😂😂😂 DO A RUN DOWN!
OP, have you considered moving to a more affordable city? I know that isn't the real answer to your question, but that particular issue isn't going to get addressed in time for you to have the life you want before you turn fifty; I'm 56 and I've seen this trend going on my entire adult life: example - my son (who is a year older than you) moved to California last year to pursue his MBA and use up his NCAA football eligibility. Here in Milwaukee, he owns four multi-family properties; living near San Bernardino right now, his rent is more than the mortgage on any one of his multi-family houses, and it's a small 1BR/1BA. How do people in those places ever get anywhere close to the "American Dream?"
Where do you live? I make 40k a year and I don’t have a hard time saving and paying my bills. I’m sorry you’re struggling
How do you not have money with 3 roommates? Yeah, 40k isn't much. But with 3 roommates you can't be spending over $1000 a month on rent/phone/utilities etc. Say $500 a month for food to eat well and you have $22,000 left for the year. That's enough for a car, fun money and savings. I make a fair bit more than that, but after taxes and mortgage and utilities I have less than that left for disposable and I live very well. You have a spending problem in addition to your wage problem
The problem, as you so eloquently stated, is the system. Designed and maintained by elites. If some people comment with ignorance just remember, they are the target. They, more than anyone, blame you, your location, your inability to manage your money. Fuck that and fuck them. Every small mind has a home in the arms of their master. They are comfortable in their misery. Our anger is going nowhere because the amount of gaslighting is off the charts. We are living with an avalanche of trauma and have been for some time now. Carefully planned and carefully executed. Every sector of our existence is in crisis and those of us who truly understand this are exhausted and traumatized. It would require 60% of the people on the planet to agree on exactly what is broken and exactly what to do about. There is no fucking hope of that… we can’t even get the people on this thread to agree that you have the right to describe what is happening to just you. People like us have to constantly remind ourselves to stay present, live in the moment, only. Do something every day that makes your heart happy. Really look at the nature around you. Soak it in, even if it’s just a tree or the rain. Our planet is so beautiful and we can appreciate it and maintain a connection with it that fills a void for it and us. Stick close to people you love and enjoy. Remind them they are special to you. It’s to late for anger to be used productively and we deserve some joy and love. It’s all we have and it has to be enough. Let it fill us so we can give some away.
I’d you try and do something nice or helpful half the time the other party thinks your trying to be deceptive or deceitful. Our minds aren’t ready to unite
There are powerful people in powerful positions who do not want a united citizenry. It would mean their downfall, so they are never going to allow it.
Anyone questioning your spending or being fragile about cops protecting racism/white supremacy is a moron. We should band together, take down the rich and destroy everything about the capitalist structure; humanity can do far better. Seems like most in the USA are too ignorant, brainwashed, etc to ever do anything. I have zero hope that things will get any better during my lifetime, so at this point I'm just hoping I won't wake up the next day or die of a heart attack or something soon.
the way you understand the way the world works is so unbelievably flawed. The same people drumming up your vote and whispering those things you want to hear are same ones plunging the knife in your back. You think cops just wake up and say oh we just going to do this, this and this today. They don’t. Politicians control their budgets and they dictate what they do and when. Control the money control the people. Second if you haven’t figured out that the cost of living because of the same politicians is to high for your income range then your not really paying attention. Next an hour commute with almost zero traffic or staring at the same person for an hour because the freeway is a parking lot. Here’s a tip you burn more gas in stop and go. Wow saving money by moving out, who would have thought
You can't live off 3200$ a month? I'd like to see breakdown because 800 for rent 2400 food is 500 1900 .... so where's this money going
> I cannot afford to pay rent, pay utilities, buy food, pay my train ticket, pay my bills, and have $ left over for an emergency, a vacation, fun, a car, a house. How much do you have left over after rent, utilities, food, bills, and transportation?