606
submitted 11 months ago by JoMiran@lemmy.ml to c/news@lemmy.world

TL;DR: Americans now need to make $120K a year to afford a typical middle-class life and qualify to purchase a home. Minimum.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 163 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I honestly don't even know why this upsets me so much. I am 50 and all set. I don't have children and barely any debt. I never considered myself particularly patriotic but somehow this whole thing gets under my skin. I guess it sours my achievements and fruits of decades of struggle (it took three generations of planning and hustle to get us out of poverty). It's like being a kid having a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese by yourself while all your friends are locked outside and you can see them through the glass windows.

[-] Daxtron2@startrek.website 150 points 11 months ago

Because you have empathy for others, it's a good thing.

[-] MaXimus421@lemmy.world 48 points 11 months ago

I agree. Something I wish we saw more of.

[-] Cold_Brew_Enema@lemmy.world 9 points 11 months ago

Something foreign to MAGAts

[-] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 102 points 11 months ago

It gets under my skin because the west was on the right trajectory; improving wealth equality, quality of life, work life balance, etc — Then Capitalists killed all those gains using Conservatism, Neoliberalism, and a bastardised version of Libertarianism — just to enrich a tiny percentage the human population and return the rest of humanity to feudalism.

Why should they own all the gains from humanities collective efforts, when all of us have a rightful claim to a share of those gains?

[-] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 47 points 11 months ago

In the early 1900s we had huge fights for labor. Strikes yes, but also some literal armed fights.

We won a lot. They conceded a lot.

But they've eroded those wins, little by little, for a century or so.

This is what will ALWAYS happen when you live in a system explicitly designed to extract profit from workers and reward greed. It cannot be reformed. It cannot be controlled. It will always slide backwards into this. We need a different system altogether.

[-] speck@kbin.social 20 points 11 months ago

Yup, we could be creating an amazing life for more people - and damaging the environment less while we are at it; but instead "we" keep doubling down in the other direction

[-] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

the west was on the right trajectory

A lot of the west is still on the right trajectory. It's the US that is not.

There are a lot of developed countries, especially in Europe, where the "American Dream" is much easier to attain than in America. But, more often than not, they don't even want that dream. For good reason.

[-] tsonfeir@lemm.ee 40 points 11 months ago

Wanting other people to have what you have, without your struggle, is an opinion we need more of.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 30 points 11 months ago

Especially when we have a society with a huge number of people who think that if you're poor, you deserve it.

[-] tsonfeir@lemm.ee 28 points 11 months ago

What gets me is, a lot of the POOR people say that about POOR people.

[-] pearable@lemmy.ml 9 points 11 months ago

We live in the most effectively propagandized society ever created. It hasn't been until more recently that it's started to slip. A lot of folks still believe in the old lies and believe that everything would work if we just got rid of the immigrants, Jews, and corrupt politicians. Still I think more people are waking up to the reality that this system is broken not the people in it.

[-] InternetUser2012@midwest.social 5 points 11 months ago

And that's because they are stupid. They are not educated becasause the education they received was garbage. All by design from your "trickle down" bringing republikkkans. Working as planned.

[-] tsonfeir@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago

By “your,” you mean United States’s of course? Because they aren’t mine.

[-] InternetUser2012@midwest.social 1 points 11 months ago

What in the fuck are you talking about?

[-] tsonfeir@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago
[-] InternetUser2012@midwest.social 1 points 11 months ago

Yeah, I am responding to you talking to me.

[-] tsonfeir@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago

Well, I’m the only one here.

[-] Alto@kbin.social 11 points 11 months ago

Because you're not an awful person trying to pull the ladder up while saying "fuck you I got mine"

[-] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

I'm in a similar boat, except in my early 40's.

My parents are in their 80's and working for DoorDash. They are lucky they at least paid off their home, because they didn't save enough and this country is sucking every penny it can get from them.

I bought a condo that I love, have almost all my debt paid off, and am saving for what I hope will be an early retirement. It breaks my heart to see people struggling everywhere, and if I had Elon Musk money, I wouldn't be blowing it on a vanity space program.

[-] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I'm so glad my Dad, also in his 80s, programs COBOL. My parents have owned their home since 86, but I'm sure that without the random COBOL job they'd have to do door dash or something as well.

this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2024
606 points (96.5% liked)

News

23627 readers
2635 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS