I’m not, have a pretty high double income. But, a lot of my friends are. I’m starting to notice things getting more expensive, but I was pissed off before that.
I don’t have to be struggling myself to be upset at how things are going. I guess not everybody is like that.
Oh, come, everyone. Come see the Moral Man who was so Righteous and Moral that he spent half his response on telling us all how Virtuous he is, and indeed already was, before it was even cool.
/s
My situation exactly. I get pissed off thinking about how unaffordable everything is for the majority of people right now.
Not sure anyone asked you yet… tell us your story. Where you living and what’s the sitch?
Does a bear shit in the woods? But for real, it’s getting baaaaad and we gonna have civil war soon, buckle up butter cup and figure out your afterlife because we gon’ die.
It won’t exactly be a civil war. But when the trump family hardens their power over the government, the US will be a lot like Mexico. Local militias and cartels will largely replace government.
There is a line. People who make their money from assets have been doing well. People who make their money from wages have not.
Not yet.
No. Financially, I’m in a good spot right now.
Most other aspects of my life, I’m struggling hard.As a family we make 10 to $11,000 a month.
We can hardly put anything away. Between cars and daycare and rent and groceries and gas prices, there’s nothing left.
These corporations are unwilling to sacrifice anything for the people that consume them.
And when these ass hats say crap like corporations or people too. It just pisses me off even more.
Wtf we make half that and are hardly putting anything away. What are you doing?
Guessing live in a high cost of living area in the US. I live in MA and have a high tech worker salary and don’t have daycare of a car payment and I’m still just above water. I have literally no idea what my neighbors with multiple young children are doing.
I live in the Atlanta metro area, two kids two car payments rent and credit card debt which is kinda my fault but at the same time it helps keep us afloat. Also day care is 1000+ a month.
Grocery’s and gas alone tripled.
Not yet. But it feels like the squeeze is getting tighter every month that passes. It feels like I can’t get through a day without having to spend money on some shit. And I’m not talking about luxuries. I’m not talking about avocado toast or coffee. I’m talking about fixing shit in my coop apartment. Getting new brakes on my car. Getting clothes for my kids. New shoes because mine literally have a hole worn through them. I try to go with low cost options. I buy food in bulk and meal prep. It feels like the system is nickel and dime-ing me harder and harder every day. I’m trying to stay optimistic, but the future feels bleak. Capitalism is bleeding us dry while keeping us alive. We are the prisoners of financial vampires.
Scientific Socialism, look it up
Feels like it. I’m getting the most pay in my life and 5 years ago it would have been comfortable. Now with the cost of everything I’m just eeking by. Hell I drive a 30 year old car still as I can’t afford a new one or even a newer used one
Motorcycles are much cheaper, easier to maintain, and convenient if you don’t live in a place with snow. If I ever go back to America, I am selling my 20 year old toyota and buying a sensible Honda Motorcycle.
I would totally ride a motorcycle if I wasn’t surrounded by people on their cell phones not staying in their lane.
The bigger danger is people not looking or their brain not working and pulling out directly infront of you.
Unless you live in America, then the biggest dangers by far, accounting for >3/4 accidents are drinking and riding or going into a turn too fast for conditions and eating shit.
Here in vietnam, its probably people with a phone in their hand riding into the back of stuff, then alcohol.
In Cambodia its probably people with shit tires and no helmet lowsiding and getting squished by an oncoming truck or banging their heads.
I’ve been bumped by people doing the no-look-lane change once hard enough to deform my foot peg, as long as you have grip, there is a lot of force trying to keep a moving bike upright.
I actually used to ride believe it or not. But with starting a family and the insane amount of distracted driving here in the US I quit. It’s disturbing to see people with their phone in their hands while driving. Plus I didnt want to leave my family without a father. I loved riding and still miss it
I used to ride, but even bikes are getting quite more expensive, and it’s much dangerous to ride on at least in the US as everyone is driving bigger and bigger vehicles and more distracted as well.
I know Harleys are overpriced, but you can get a brand new cb750 for 7-8K, cheaper most of the world.
What is weird is that much cheaper bikes the third world gets are way more expensive in the US, a XR150L is 3.4K in the US, a CB150 verza has the exact same engine, it’s less than half the price in Indonesia.
Same with the Honda Wave in asia vs Grom in the US, they switch the functional frame/clutch for something “sporty” and just double the price.
you can’t afford a 25K civic or similar?
issue i see with people is they seem to want 50K cars. at least going by the average price of new car purchases, but most car buyers buy like 2x the car they actually need.
Something like 65% of people can’t afford a $1k emergency. NO thry can’t afford a payment on a 25k civic. We are all people scraping couch cusions to get a used car lot $4500 Toyota.
Don’t know about you, but a $4,500 used Toyota in my neck of the woods would be an early 2000’s Toyota with 200k+ miles and in serious need of expensive repairs. And those living paycheck to paycheck wouldn’t have a way to put down the cash to buy even that car.
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Nope not with kids and a lack of child care. One parent stays at home as their paycheck got devoured by child care and I work. Both of us with degrees in tech too. Once both kids are in school maybe she’ll be able to work part time but obviously someone still has to go pick up the kids. I have zero family support. My parents died of cancer and meth.
I’d love a hybrid civic or corolla. Hybrid mostly to save on gas. I absolutely don’t need a F150 or something
childcare is about 3K a month max in a HCOL. even with 2 kids that’s 6K a month.
if you both have degrees in tech in your 30s, you should both be making like way more than 6k a month. neither parent should stay home, unless it’s a lifestyle choice. i have known a few people who did this. a dual income tech couple should be pulling in well over 200K/yr
and yeah if you are poor because of lifestyle choices… that’s not struggling. that’s you choosing to make less money than you could. or i suppose you could be 24 or something and both be making 60K, but why you had kids so early is against a lifestyle choice and your struggle would again be self-imposed.
and by the sounds of it you very much could afford a cheap least or car payment. a lease on basic hybrid civic is 250/mo or so. sounds you aren’t open to leasing a car though and think you have to purchase it outright.
Got to love when people say 24 is young to have a child and it’s a choice. Not every state allows abortion, and even with birth control and contraception, children occur.
oh who is forcing people to have children? exactly?
Then the dogshit advice to lease… Sure, it might make sense to some, but it’s almost always a terrible choice.
At least in the US the average new car price is now close to $50k. That’s the reason car loans now are going upwards of 7 years. A lot of the car price is more and more expensive safety features being added on cars. Add in, you are quite a lot safer in a modern new car compared to even a 20 year old car.
yes, but all those feature are in 25K cars.
It’s just that people don’t buy those cars, they would rather financially ruin themselves buy 2x the car for the ‘image’ of it. Just like how many people by unreliable, bad MPG, shitty cars, but whine about the cost… because well they ‘have to have a Jeep’. So now they have a 50K car that is going to need $1000s in repairs just to keep it running after a year or two.
And 99% of people who own Jeeps never offorad them, they’d be better off with a Civic or Corolla, but they can’t get over themselves, they’d rather whine about being poor and broke while paying 4x the cost for a car that they need to.
Not everybody.
All of the worst people you know of or can imagine are doing GREAT.
I heard one of their private rape islands got shut down. That had to be inconvenient.
I wouldn’t worry. They’ll have another up and running before too long
I’m doing great.
if I claim I’m doing awful, does that make me a good person all the sudden?
B-> !A != !B -> A
Edit: Don’t post logic equations tired, folks.
It’s just basic logic.
One thing I’ve noticed is that movies and TV shows don’t use exact amounts of money anymore.
‘The Rockford Files’ always talked about Jim’s $200.00 a day fee, and characters would say things like ‘Hey, this is a fifty dollar jacket’ or ‘That house must have cost $100,000.’
The $5.00 milkshake was a big plot point in ‘Pulp Fiction.’
Prices are going up so fast that what was unreasonably expensive when the script was written will be the norm by the time the show gets aired.
I noticed that when watching How I Met Your Mother as a teenager, they almost always avoid naming specific amounts of money. The narrator might replace an amount of money with “crapload” or the characters might show eachother a money offer on a piece of paper. Older shows like All In The Family, made in the 70s, frequently mention specific amounts of money but now, with inflation, those amounts of money sound laughably low. Bread for 11 cents? I always figured modern shows avoid mentioning specific amounts of money to try and keep it timeless so in the future people won’t laugh at what was considered a high or low amount of money at the time
To be fair, they’re trying to make “evergreen” content, meaning it stays funny/meaningful/believable/etc. no matter how far into the future that you watch it.
That wasn’t really a thing until the 90s though. Probably started with The Simpsons
Yeah, shits tight and every institution is in decay. On the other hand it’s only gonna get worse until it gets better, so theres that.
…and it’s probably going to get a LOT worse.
To put things in perspective, imagine it being way, way worse in 5 years and the point you are at right now is the least struggling you’ve been through that you can remember. You might look fondly at these days, before shit hit the fan.
Try to save whatever you can.
Yeah that’s why I think its important to be a part of a community, if you can.
More than that, we have to be a worldwide community, because those who are receiving the benefits of our hard work act at that level. Left, right, democrat, republican, none matter, the strings are pulled by the same people. We are in this together, we have to see through the bullshit and help each other.
…Why help each other when we can just kill the hoarding puppeteers?! Then everyine will be able to easily help themselves!
Lol dafuq are you on about?
I’m good. Though, I feel like I don’t really have the life I expected for my current level of income. Like my parents made a lot less, but had it better.
Even before my unemployment I felt this way. I mean by felt that its just a fact. My father never went to high school. Im not saying did not graduate. Im saying never went. Mom only worked a few part time jobs and never for a need for money. Grew up in a massive 5 bedroom house and we always had 2 or more cars. Dad was a janitor. I have a BS and masters and had changed to IT due to my first career not paying enough and have no kids (I had 6 siblings). One car and two bedroom condo is my max achievement and im running through savings in my 50’s. Oh my dad had multiple pensions and a good amount of retirement savings.
Sounds like he had a union job and/or worked for govt. Like a janitor in a school district.
yeah but the bs janitor jobs were not such a thing back then to. LIke being a janitor at abbot in the 70’s was non union and non government but nice. Janitors were in house and part of the company and not part of a service.
I feel this. I love modestly but my parents had it worse so we didn’t do much either. What gets me is the amount of people who are reaping the benefits of generational wealth which I think is the only reason my peers are affording the lives they have.
It’s part of why I associate most with immigrants. They understand the struggle more than people who look like me.
I have an Indian coworker who lives with her husband and child in a 1 bedroom apartment and she’s the single breadwinner and struggles hard. I admire her more than anyone else in my office.
I sure get that. My dad did 80 hours of trade school in turn late 90s and turned out a six figure job with one day off a week and it was plenty. I do better now than we did then, but it took a PhD and like 17 years of work. Consequently I’m an older dad, but I guess it is what it is.
I’m not struggling but damnit i want some fucking slack.
…so youre struggling and you just cant admit it?
…Wot?
