Yeah. I hate the negativity of the Internet, but this is what "life" (at least in the first world) has become: the negative stories are amplified and the positive ones are short.

In a time of great planetary wealth creation, there is still disparity. One of the richest nations on the Earth has packed all of its citizenry onto the "liveable coasts", into cities.

The couple mentioned in the article tried to move away to a more affordable area with more land (Portland is Urban, and Spokane is rural), and were met with boredom and dissatisfaction.

They both earn collectively $250,000/year, which seems like a lot, and to many people in the U.S who earn the median salary of $52-65,000/year, it is.

They mention not wanting to pay more than 30% of their budget to mortgage costs, which they stated with "$5,000 being 50%", which means their real adjusted income is closer to $120,000, not $250,000.

That's still a lot, but more reasonable to the point of Median Salary × 2.

What this average couple demonstrates however, is that the erosion of the "middle class" in the United States is complete: The middle class is dead. They are both educated professionals who are working honestly, and don't make enough money to own a home.

That makes them poor. That makes all of us poor -- and it is a gross failure of the economic system with misplaced incentives and lack of regulations that has led us to this point.

The important thing to remember that this socioeconomic and political atmosphere is wholly contrived.

A better world is possible -- it however requires sacrifices that many people are unable or unwilling to endure. Whatever you are imagining going through your head right now, that's exactly what is necessary to change the first world for the better.

It's not any one individual's fault this happened. The honest working man and woman haven't done anything wrong here, and aren't to blame -- it's precisely because the honest (the just) have enabled the dishonest (the unjust) to continue to run amok, completely unchecked and unchained.

Here is to a better future, and for all the hardship we must all endure, to get there. 🍺

Fuck Private Equity.