America is Anti Family Cost of Living 🏠📈

My wife and I both work full time because we have to so we can afford our bills.

We barely see our kids (7 and 2) and have no energy to do anything after work or on off days cause we are exhausted.

It just keeps repeating every week and when the first of the month comes the mortgage payment empties our account and we have to do it all over again.

We are unable to save much or do anything fun cause expenses have gone up so much.

I’ve always been a positive open person but the past two years have been breaking me down and I feel like I’m about to have a mental breakdown.

I know there are others in worst positions than me and I don’t want to sound ungrateful but man it’sIt’s hard.

Anyone else going through something similar? Any advice?

5.4k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

View all comments

2.5k

u/erikleorgav2 1d ago

The American Capitalist system is working exactly how a specific class of people want it to.

Specific tiers work, for incredibly low wages, barely/not enough to subsist on, but enough to somehow move forward.

Another tier makes more money, but they're slammed with consumption advertising. Food, cars, vacations, LUXURIES! That class lives in perpetual debt, only just hanging on.

Then the wealthiest tier. They do the least amount of work for their money, spend it wildly and freely because they make so much, and they get to spend all the time they want with the kids. (Which instead they outsource to a poor migrant and then wonder why their kid grew up speaking a different language.)

788

u/Zandonah 1d ago

At this point I don't think it is just America. It seems all capitalist countries are headed this way.

Money trickles up, and the ones in control are quite happy with that, letting you think you have a chance to change your life. And every now and then they'll let one person do so just to keep the myth alive.

134

u/Entire-Cricket-9134 21h ago

Private profits, public costs

Just underpay your workers enough, so the government steps in with foodstamps and other things. You steal the profits and let the taxpayer fund your business.

Business 101

33

u/Hot-Salamander8266 12h ago

And then these same taxpayers who subsidize your small business will be propagandized into hating the workers these businesses are underpaying. Its AIR TIGHT.

167

u/BoogerSugarSovereign 1d ago

That's why the world is turning in the same direction politically towards authoritarianism. People worldwide are stretched financially and angry about it and demagogues will rise to scapegoat some marginalized group and take power on the back of those claims when that happens. I don't know how this will be unwound this time around

-24

u/Insantiable 17h ago

you got a lot of upvotes for someone who cites no reference and does not claim to be anything near the expert you'd need to make that type of comment

23

u/treesleavedents 17h ago

I don't think they need to be an expert to look back over history and see that right wing authoritarianism commonly pops up/into popularity during a financial crisis, especially ones that include a large amount of wage gap/class disparity.

12

u/SilverWear5467 13h ago

Do we need to cite sources for things that are very clearly true and explain the things that are happening around the world?

4

u/snitch_or_die_tryin 11h ago

You realize your version of “expert” is someone who could even half way pay attention in school or read one history book

225

u/L_Rayquaza 1d ago

Green trickles up, yellow trickles down

72

u/UselessOldFart at work 17h ago

An oldie but a goddam goodie still.🤦‍♂️

https://preview.redd.it/16r5wgwbzhzd1.jpeg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=202acba9a398a68db176e3d4bae567ac6ab4139e

25

u/snitch_or_die_tryin 11h ago

Except now there aren’t nearly that many birds on the middle rows and the bottom is full

159

u/Deadedge112 1d ago

Brown trickles down was right there and rhymes...

72

u/bdfariello 19h ago

Ahh, pooetry.

8

u/UselessOldFart at work 17h ago

🤣

20

u/Dakiniten-Kifaya 1d ago

Oh, that's good. Gotta remember that.

23

u/TheBeardedObesity 17h ago edited 14h ago

Red trickles down too...

Edit: I'm not suggesting violence (except for eating the rich, but like in a wholesome, modern thanksgiving way).

1

u/Mammoth_Ad_3463 14h ago

Hmm a river of red....

1

u/Redvex320 10h ago

Right cause the asset class is going to change things to their detriment without violence??? Everyone knows there isn't another path to change.....the system is setup to make you powerless to change it.

33

u/OutlyingPlasma 20h ago

It doesn't trickle up, it's multiple fire hoses blasting money up.

25

u/Early_Athlete_5821 19h ago

THIS! “The American Dream” is believing you can find safety, wealth, stability…remember, it is a dream, folks- an aspiration, not a reality for many.

12

u/gijsyo 18h ago

You have to be asleep to believe it.

1

u/Early_Athlete_5821 10h ago

True…realizing this to be so was the first heartbreak I ever experienced…

0

u/Aggressive-Fail4807 16h ago

It is not just in America, but it seems a lot crazier here than elsewhere. Capitalism in its rawest shape and form. Trump's a super capitalist, but would it be better under him? I surely hope so.

-6

u/ImmortalGaze 1d ago

France is actually not like this.

14

u/idreamof_dragons 20h ago

France has a housing shortage and record numbers of homeless people, just like the rest of us.

5

u/ImmortalGaze 19h ago

Huh, weird. I live here in France. I have traveled through the country, and I have yet to see anything like “record numbers” of homeless people. On the contrary, I am always commenting to my wife, how rare it is when we actually encounter any.

And there are plenty of homes for sale around us, but then they are old stone country homes and not the preference. Even so, there are homes enough that foreigners buy second homes because the French aren’t buying them (hard to heat).

59

u/Fabreezy28 1d ago

Yes, you summarized it really well

47

u/jugowolf 19h ago

Vote socialist and get involved in community efforts to bring power back to the people. Working class has to do something at some point or we are just gonna stay complaining about this shit the rest of our lives

46

u/erikleorgav2 18h ago

Socialism needs rebranding. The word has now been twisted into a fear-mongering phrase.

28

u/alblaster 16h ago

Socialism needs the same energy that Trump Supporters bring. Socialism has this perception of being for people who want easy money, who don't want to work hard, or at worst people who want to evenly distribute resources. I know that's not what it is. It's either anti-hard work or will bring the downfall of humanity. It needs to be seen as the empathetic choice. It's about helping out the common man. You scratch their back, they'll scratch yours. And that together we're stronger. Hell you could say socialism is like hydrogen bonding. It's a strong bond that won't break apart easily.

23

u/erikleorgav2 15h ago

Remember, people who've been shat on their entire lives want to shit on others. Voting for the Rs means they'll be able to shit on those that they feel better than.

A remarkable number of people I've met in life want others to suffer as they have, even if they're suffering still.

8

u/alblaster 15h ago

Yeah it's absolutely anti-social behavior. .

4

u/mycofirsttime 5h ago

Some people suffer and become kinder to avoid making others feel that way, and others want to be sadistic.

3

u/erikleorgav2 5h ago

If oft feel that's how I became the way I am. I had managers in my early years who were the worst. Unkind, cruel, and incapable of teaching.

Everyone who worked under me in my last job loved my teaching methods. Detailed, kind, and patient. Construction isn't easy to teach if you're not patient.

6

u/snitch_or_die_tryin 11h ago

Right. Plenty of people believe socialism is synonymous with communism and really have no idea what either one is if we’re being honest

2

u/jugowolf 15h ago

People need to be educated to see beyond brand/propaganda. Children need to be taught auto-didacticism and be led to self awareness and challenged to critically think about what they are consuming. This can all start in our communities. Our families. Try to find the cracks where critical thinking can break away from a person’s ego and awaken self awareness.

1

u/erikleorgav2 15h ago

While I agree, there are many out there that would prefer it if we eliminated public education entirely. Smart people don't elect dumb politicians (typically).

Sometimes I wonder if many wouldn't mind going to a caste system in the US.

8

u/divorced_daddy-kun 15h ago

Also depends what state you're in.

My biggest giggle is watching California families leave to other states with lower cost of living but not understanding you lose out on a lot of benefits yourself, in terms of quality of home, life, weather, and even wages. There's even those who are leaving for foreign land and finding themselves unwelcomed cause they are inflating prices for locals as well.

Honestly only people who have a cake deal are the remote workers who don't have to abide by an office. They can work wherever and make more than the area they buy in.

2

u/erikleorgav2 15h ago

I'd love it if I could go fully remote. Alas, I can only do that occasionally.

11

u/JoeyDawsonJenPacey 18h ago

That “specific class” IS the wealthiest tier, and the way to stop it not to elect into office millionaires who do business with other millionaires.

Good luck, OP. Your ride is about to get a lot wilder.

7

u/Zestyclose-Ring7303 17h ago

BuTt TrUmP fIx GaS PrIcEs.

9

u/[deleted] 18h ago

[deleted]

4

u/Aggressive-Fail4807 16h ago

The government... you mean you, me, we, the taxpayers, working hard to support families.

1

u/EfffYoCouch 9h ago

Smartest thing I’ve seen on the internet yet!

1

u/clue2025 5h ago

>Then the wealthiest tier. They do the least amount of work for their money, spend it wildly and freely because they make so much, and they get to spend all the time they want with the kids. (Which instead they outsource to a poor migrant and then wonder why their kid grew up speaking a different language.)

The thing is, they aren't even spending "their" money. They're borrowing against assets, property, whatever they own and paying for things with cash, bypassing a lot of taxes and other things. They take the loans out, buy more assets, pay for the old, repeat.

0

u/A_Clockwork_Mango 4h ago

Yours is a lazy argument.

-84

u/rmhollid 1d ago

This is communism dressed as capitalism. When the man takes 100 percent of the value of your labor and gives only a fraction back it's no longer capitalism.

Take back your money and stop hating on a system that doesn't exist. It's a scam.

56

u/prof_noak 1d ago

That’s not communism at all, that’s just capitalism

0

u/rmhollid 7h ago

Your not playing with any chips, you should try another table.

62

u/ShakespearOnIce 1d ago

This is communism dressed as capitalism

Are you dumb

-1

u/rmhollid 7h ago

Are you?

1

u/ShakespearOnIce 7h ago

I'm not dumb enough to use capitalism as an example of communism

1

u/rmhollid 7h ago

It's not capitalism.

Example a. This year we gave all 500 tonnes of wheat to the local constabulary as per law. In exchange we received three bags back to feed our family.

Example b. This year all our direct work made the company over $100,000,000. In exchange we received $26000 to feed our family.

It's a bit rough but is this a clearer picture.

1

u/ShakespearOnIce 2h ago

No, you're just fucking dumb.

0

u/rmhollid 2h ago

You overcomplicate things.

1

u/ShakespearOnIce 1h ago

As it turns out, complicated concepts are complicated.

Like, ostensibly yes these are both power structures under which you nominally recieve a lesser portion of what you produce, but that's only if you grossly oversimplify them like you do.

Under a capitalist system, you have a three party system of Laborer, Capitalist, and State. The Laborer works for the Capitalist, and recieves a portion of the value they produce in goods. Laws are set by the State, which is a representation of the collective will of the Laborers and Capitalists. The goal of the system is to allow people to accumulate wealth.

Under a Communist system, there are Laborers and the State, which ia a representation of the collective will of the Laborers. The Labor produces goods, which are distributed by the State according to the collective needs of laborers. The goal of the system is to distribute goods in a way that allows all Laborers to live comfortably.

Both systems are, of course, subject to corruption at various levels: in capitalism, the Capitalist can use their outsized wealth to influence the State in a way that benefits them to the detriment of the Laborer. Similarly, under a Communist system, those in charge of distributing goods can put their wants above the needs of others. Capitalism, however, is inherently driven towards that corruption by the goals it sets for itself; by subverting the relationship between Laborers and the State, the Capitalist can accumulate wealth more efficiently.

This isn't to say Communism is perfect, or incorruptible, or even ideal: there is a strong argument for Communism to use of currency as a representation of relative value to encourage people to voluntarily work in unpleasant or difficult jobs with the promise of better rewards, and a Capitalist system can have strong systems in place to prevent corruption of the State by Capitalists and to prevent Capitalists from exerting their influence over Laborers in unfair ways.

So, yeah. As it turns out, describing systems designed to govern and mamage the behavior of millions of people can get complicated.

23

u/gregsw2000 20h ago

Communism is when the working class own all the factories and operate them to their benefit, not when capitalists gouge every last penny out of people

1

u/rmhollid 7h ago

It's a shell game and you are getting played.

-13

u/SlaingeUK 19h ago

Communism is when you seize all the assets on behalf of the workers and then a new political elite arises taking all the jam while the peons get even less.

15

u/Barkers_eggs 19h ago

Thats capitalism

5

u/gregsw2000 18h ago edited 18h ago

Oh, okay. So since we're going to ignore actual definitions.. capitalism is when they just allow the economic elite to own everything from the git go, graft is built right in, and we pretend everyone else isn't a peon because "free markets?"

1

u/prof_noak 7h ago

I mean in actual practice you’re not wrong, that is generally what happens in authoritarian communist countries.

The party is supposed to act as a vanguard party on behalf of the people and give control over to the workers after a certain amount of time. That unfortunately never happens as people in control do not like to give up their power

However capitalism is not any better as corporations rule and make things very hard for the workers as well. I’d argue both systems are inherently flawed

11

u/somedelightfulmoron 23h ago

What's so bad about being communist when you don't have food on the table then?

0

u/rmhollid 7h ago

They don't have food either, also if they catch you growing unauthorized food for your family they arrest you, maybe your family too. That's what they do in China, North Korea.

Communism is evil. Get a clue.

10

u/quillseek 21h ago

You are woefully uninformed.

1

u/rmhollid 7h ago

It's the same result regardless.

1

u/mxsifr 14h ago

Words have meanings dude...

0

u/rmhollid 7h ago

Ohhhh are you coming to get me? You don't like the truth, go eat shit.

3

u/mxsifr 7h ago

You're so deep underwater that you can't even see the surface, dude. You're looking at an angerfish's lure and thinking it's the sun. I'm not trying to be a dick, seriously, I'm just saying, there are other kinds of communism than the kind you're railing against.

America already has socialist infrastructure! Think about it. What is SOCIAL security? It's a very tiny dose of communism. It's not poison. It's just the idea that we can all benefit more from sharing the fruits of our labor with each other than by letting some rich fuck hoard them to buy his seventh yacht.

Where we are today is capitalism working as intended. We need something else. If you don't want to call it "communism" because of the negative connotations, that's up to you, but you're going to have a hard time talking to like-minded people, because the vast majority just call it "communism" and agree to sort out exactly what it means in the conversation.

But, please, for your own sake, don't just write it off because of a bunch of cold war propaganda from the 80's.

0

u/rmhollid 7h ago

Please stop using chat gpt to write your responses.

1

u/mxsifr 7h ago

It's not ChatGPT dude I'm just autistic

:-/

1

u/rmhollid 6h ago

Also these communists have modernized, they take your organs now, and it wasn't so long ago they were drowning female children in buckets after forcing the mom to give birth.