Yes but I have a safety net for now.
Life is about to turn to hell.
For them, right? Rally your neighbors. Make sure everybody knows how shitty this will make everything. Annoy your politicians.
Drive them out!
Everyone seems to have given up already. No one cares, no one is fighting.
I can’t do it on my own. I can file complaint after complaint after complaint but it’s just been accepted.
you could detonate a complaint instead >:3
I’ll save it as a last ditch effort, since I’d rather detonate myself with the data center than die in other ways.
Yep. They’re boiling frogs.
We’ll be the ones eating the pets.
As lower income households struggle to afford Walmart, Walmart is growing in popularity with higher income households seeking out sales.
“Walmart posts worst comparable sales performance in six years”
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?
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 buy. Hell I drive a 30 year old car still as I can’t afford a new one or even a newer used one
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.
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.
If you look, there are very few $25k cars these days, hence the comment, the average is $50k for a new car in the US.
there are tons of compact suvs and sedans at that price point. almost every major brand makes them.
the issue is people don’t want them because they are ‘too small’ or ‘don’t feel safe’. they would rather pay 50K for a big ass car and whine about it then buy one that’s half the cost and 2/3 of the size. And almost all of them are just commuting to work in it, they will never ever use the extra space or capacity of the larger vehicle. and if you argue with them and point this out, they will tell you what a stupid ignorant asshole you are and how they ‘need’ a 50K car, and they couldn’t possibly ever buy a shitty small car like a Civic. And most of them will go further be like ‘well i can only afford the 50K car, but I REALLY WANT the 80K car.’ Tons of people buy these 80K 3-row SUVs and whine about how expensive they are, when they absolutely positively have no actual need for a vehicle that large. but psychologically they need it because it’s a status symbol and reflection of their ‘pride and value’ of themselves.
you can get a brand new HRV or Civic for 24-26K, but people refuse to buy those cars, they want the Passport which is 45K to start.
fwiw i drive a 10 year old hatchback and people endless tell me shit like ‘you have no self-respect if you drive such a shitty small car’. and i ask them what car I should get then, and they always say ‘audi/bmw 5/7 series SUV’. Because it’s not about the utility or use, it’s all about the fragile image they are protecting by owning a large expensive vehicle.
Meh, knowing people that have been t-boned and are permanently disabled because they drove too small of cars, the unfortunate reality is newer cars are safer, larger, and you are more likely to survive. They are also more expensive. But hey, when your teenage daughter ends up a paraplegic in your 10 year old hatch back, maybe you will feel something about not buying a safer vehicle. At least you saved a few bucks.
Not sure why you are going on about 25-50k cars. I read OP’a comment as them not being able to afford a nugget that is worth a couple of thousand at best.
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.
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.
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 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.
I would totally ride a motorcycle if I wasn’t surrounded by people on their cell phones not staying in their lane.
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.
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.
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
Everyone except the already very wealthy yes.
Elect Republicans, get republican policies.
The country still hadnt really recovered from Reagan, then we got Bush, then we got Trump.
Obama and Biden could only do so much to stop the dumpster fire, and Nazis are famously bad for the economy.
Everyone except the already very wealthy yes.
That’s not true
the question wasnt specifically about the USA, but yes
Everyone except the already very wealthy
I think that’s not quite right. I think there is a (now approaching vanishingly small middle class) which goes from like top 10% but less than 2% or 3% earners who are still doing ok. This is the household income at like 175k to probably… Idk 300k?
Compared to 40k/yr yeah that’s very wealthy, but compared to 600k+ it definitely isn’t.
My main point being that “very wealthy” is very VERY relative.
As someone making a household income of 200k, pre COVID was wonderful, actually didn’t have to worry about even thinking about money, now though, shit is getting thin… if it’s that way for me I feel horrible for everyone else less well off. Really is a shit show when 6 figures can’t secure you from having to go paycheck to paycheck.
I mean yeah by the time you’ve got 36k (or more) for mortgage, 35k for daycare, if 200k pre tax and married 30k to the fed, 20k groceries now probably, 10k for car payments (presuming 2), then state and property taxes, insurance, maintenance, clothes, diapers maybe, benefits, gas (probably idk we went electric), yeah I could see how that money goes fast.
It’s definitely first world problems because it beats renting and 3 jobs and grandma watches the kids, but to do all the things you’re “supposed to do” by 1950s standards you probably need something north of 250k/yr.
even something as simple as owning your house makes finances so much easier.
I somehow continuously managed to live below my means. My wife has an indestructible career and I’m raking in now as I may not be able later. We’re well off, but buying a house in a good area would still be very lucky… but not impossible.
I’m unemployed for a entire year , it sucks and I’m sick of being unemployed
Yeah that’s mighty frightening. Last time I was in that situation, I had no dependencies and it was bad enough. Now I have a mortgage, 2 kids in college, and am wondering if ageism would let me get another job of if I had to
I am.
To answer your question, though: no. Some people are doing GREAT. It may not be a majority of people, but anyone who was rich in 2015 is now super rich. The super rich are now obscenely rich. Even a majority of the moderately well-off - e.g. people who own their houses outright or people with >3 times their annual income in investments - are doing pretty damn well. That is part of the reason that Trump, no matter how vile or incompetent, never dips below 30% approval. People will overlook all kinds of evil when their bottom line is improving.
This unfortunately, too real
Not at the moment no, I was unemployed for around 9mo last year after layoffs but I finally found a job and am doing pretty well for myself.
I’m trying to pay off debt from my mom at the moment but decided to splurge on myself for a few months first now that I’m employed again.
Shit was damn good, but now, I’m a frog boiling in water; it’s no longer easy, and I’m house poor, but I do still own a house and two cars that are getting old enough to vote.
Job got bought up by another company, they’re horrible, but the market is so bad I can’t find a good place to advance. No cost of living increases in 6 years, regular bonuses went to zero, and people who work hard are threatened with being fired every day.
Not really. I’m my industry I’m making just as much as I have the last several years. Some parts of my business have slowed down, others have increased.
My situation isn’t great, but it’s not new enough to really be “right now”.
Some people are doing just fine, but they’re not going to post as much. If you want a representative sample, you need a poll instead.
Is it great? No, but I’m above water and not having to cut back. Couldn’t afford kids though
The trick is, if you have them you just have to afford them :/.
Two good jobs and digging out from each of us being single parents before we got together but no, we are ok. Can’t retire or anything like that but not one bad month from homeless anymore.
I was even in a position to help a friend with a (no interest) loan when she had a very bad month, it was tight for us but not impossible, and my husband did not get mad or worried at all that I did that, so I would say we are well off?
The overall economy is made up of a lot of data points - we are a little bit worse off than we were in terms of cash flow, but wealthier because we bought a house before (well at the start of) the bubble.
2018? If we hadn’t bought then I’m not sure we could have bought in.
