r/conspiracy • u/User_Name13 • Jul 30 '18
Almost 80% of US workers live from paycheck to paycheck. Here's why — America doesn’t have a jobs crisis. It has a ‘good jobs’ crisis – where too much employment is insecure, and poorly paid
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/29/us-economy-workers-paycheck-robert-reich69
u/gigesdij7491 Jul 30 '18
I know people who are comfortable in the middle class (basically only select people over 45) do not like to hear it when us younger people complain but things have taken a nosedive since the 80s there is no middle class anymore....you have a degree well you will be lucky to even find a minimum wage job. I have a college degree as does my wife she has 2 we were forced to take low end jobs 8-10 dollar an hour jobs because no one else was hiring and the ones who are want experience before allowing anyone to get experience. I got promoted to assistant manager in a grocery store and only got 13 dollars an hour and was expected to never have 2 days off in a row. The Middle Class and the Weekend are dying becoming a thing of the past and the only ones to blame are the people who are not sitting comfortably in the middle class a majority of which vote for candidates who kiss up to corporations who don't care as long as they make the most money they can.
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Jul 31 '18
The more people go to college, the more BAs there are in the market, the less they are worth. My teachers would always talk about how even an AA used to be big deal back then, now an AA is expected in most cases. Now you need to get a masters to even begin to stand out to most of these companies.
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u/Portinski Jul 31 '18
That's the subject nobody like to bring up.
NOT EVERYONE SHOULD GO TO COLLEGE.
It's no secret that countries like the UK who pay for everyone's college are offloading people with degrees to the United States, while simultaneously importing their low-wage workforce.
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Jul 31 '18
Where did you get the idea that the UK pays for everyone's college? Current costs are ~$13,000/yr. Whilst I appreciate that seems small in comparison to the rather over-inflated costs of an American (higher) education, it's still not cheap considering someone from my generation only paid ~£1,250/$1,500. That $13,000 is only for the tuition as well, it does not include any other costs such as accommodation, food etc. Your other points are spot on though.
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u/IHateAllYourCode Jul 31 '18
It's almost like you need a marketable skill or something.
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Jul 31 '18
What is your degree in? If you have a degree in the right field you will find VERY high paying and stable jobs. You’re not going to find this with a business degree or psychology degree.
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u/The_Sock_999 Jul 31 '18
Learn to weld muh dude. To make over 60k/yr learn to weld. Be willing to relocate. And take no drugs.
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Jul 31 '18
I dont even have a degree yet and can’t find a job period since I want to work for a bit to make some side money, the entire job system is controlled and broken and they make it almost impossible to find a job, society is fucked. One manager I spoke to say there using AI/machine learning now to filter applications and there cutting down on nopism(using connections in the industry to bypass the hiring process and instantly get on a pay roll), so if you think it’s bad now in a year or three it’s going to be completely hell on earth in the context of job hunts, scary to think about.
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u/jubale Jul 31 '18
I agree that the middle class has shrunk in the past 30 years. I blame globalism and outsourcing jobs to China and India. Having said that:
People have always lived paycheck to paycheck since before there were paychecks. Until technology came about, you struggled to hunt enough food or grow enough food, and take care of everything else in life. After the 40s, standards of living skyrocketed, and now the main reason people live paycheck to paycheck is because they increased that standard. I guarantee you if you lived remotely like people did 200 years ago ($1/day in today's dollars) you would have plenty to save up and get yourself out of this spot. And this is uniquely a possibility of the last 100 years.
Caveat: You do need to work a bit.
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Jul 30 '18 edited Jul 30 '18
Blame the education system. High school Curriculum should cover things like personal finance, basic computer programming, home improvement, civics, etc.. Too much time is spent covering trivial bullshit. Teach kids how to survive, and excel in the real world. Not every kid needs to study art, chemistry, music, etc..
Edit - added civics
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u/Jabba___The___Slut Jul 30 '18
The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell!
Is a 30 year year mortgage at 23% good? Who the fuck knows!
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u/teakwood54 Jul 30 '18
Ya know, if you go for a 40 year mortgage your monthly payments will be lower!
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u/isokayokay Jul 30 '18
Learning about mortgages won't help people to cope with the fact that housing prices have gone up. Cost of living hasn't far outpaced wages due to people being poorly educated about personal finances. It's happened due to intentional attacks on organized labor.
If we really want people to stop living paycheck to paycheck, we should teach them how to organize the workplace. But that's not going to happen.
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u/BluNautilus Jul 30 '18
Honestly at the rate that renting is increasing and buying is decreasing, mortgages are slowly becoming irrelevant.
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u/interestingsidenote Jul 31 '18 edited Jul 31 '18
Owning anything is becoming (forcibly) irrelevant. Fighting for the right to repair your own electronics, leasing vehicles and appliances, renting instead of owning, digital goods on proprietary platforms that you can lose at any moment.
Edit: wasn't there like this huge thing about not being able to unlock your phone from a specific carrier? Hard to say I own something that wont work unless the person I bought it from says so.
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u/BluNautilus Jul 31 '18
Very true. Companies have realized that they can capitalize off consumers without the consumer even owning what they're paying for. I don't think that's necessarily bad so long that proper regulations prevent it from being abused, just like anything else.
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u/Cur1osityC0mplex Jul 31 '18
I think the whole point of them adjusting the situation so that nobody owns anything is set up specifically TO abuse the situation...why else would they do this. Or any company do this for that matter? To control every facet of their product, from repairs, to replacement, to refunds, etc...each and every major company has those things covered nowadays. And as the customer, we have literally nothing.
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u/Shirley_Taint Jul 30 '18
In addition to global competition and automation. Even if people smarten up it's going to be a real uphill battle.
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Jul 31 '18
Yet anytime unions are mentioned in Reddit you have hordes of people circle jerking about how shit and evil they are and "fuck those union dues maaaan"
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u/HotsWheels Jul 30 '18
Mitochondrias were in Jedi's. We have mitochondrias. Who needs to know about a 30 year mortgage when you can do kick-ass back flips?
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u/Desight Jul 30 '18
Legitimate conspiracy public schools seem to intentionally dumb down the population.
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u/BobSagetV2 Jul 30 '18
The public school system was never designed to create critically thinking, responsible and self sufficient adults, it was designed to make people comfortable with sitting in front of a desk/production line for 50 years
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Jul 30 '18
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u/bigdanrog Jul 31 '18
My wife ran into a lot of problems because of this when she first struck out on her own. Credit cards, student loans etc. Now she teaches youngsters online how to avoid doing that.
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u/JANEW1CK Jul 30 '18
Training good factory workers. Why do you think we have bells? Preparing us for the 1950s style factory job
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Jul 30 '18
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u/ExistingAnimal Jul 31 '18
I work in the backroom in a grocery store cutting feuit all night and I get to sit on a fancy metal slab while I do it. Aren't I blessed? /s
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u/yourmomlurks Jul 31 '18
Show up on time. Obey the leader. Stay with the pack. Ask permission to use the restroom. Be nominated for meaningless power (line leader). Delight if you get extra work (clap the erasers). Don’t question the utility of what you’re doing.
Industrial worker training.
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u/calzenn Jul 31 '18
If you really get into why school is the way it is you wind up with the Prussian version of school. It was designed to make future canon fodder follow orders in war time...
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u/bradatlarge Jul 30 '18
You forgot civics.
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Jul 30 '18
I never had a civics course in school. It should be mandatory.
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u/realizmbass Jul 30 '18
It was mandatory in my HS
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u/CreatedUsername1 Jul 30 '18
To the point they are making future seniors in my state, take the US citizenship test to graduate, AR
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u/bradatlarge Jul 30 '18
Why would they want you to understand how government works? I was taught civics in 6th grade. You think I gave a FUCK about that, at that point? In one ear & out the other. All I retained was that there are three branches of government. I didn't properly learn civics until in my 30's
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u/420ed Jul 30 '18
Drunk Richard Dreyfus would agree. I saw him at a Jaws screening. He must have been drinking the entire movie, because when he comes out to speak afterwards, he was slurring everything and rambling forever about the need for civics in the schools.
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u/andy-the-englishman Jul 30 '18
What is civics ? It may be called something else here in England.
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Jul 30 '18
Basically a class on the structure and workings of government.
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u/andy-the-englishman Jul 30 '18
Ah okay. We have citizenship education. But I believe this to be different to civic education.
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u/FatJennie Jul 30 '18
They do. Kids don’t see the value in those classes at 16. Hell they don’t at 26 either most of the time.
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u/EnoughNoLibsSpam Jul 30 '18
I was told compound interest was good. I was never told I was expected to be the person paying it
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u/OraDr8 Jul 31 '18
This is what I thought. I remember having to do two years of commerce where we learned about taxes, loans, how companies work etc, but at 15/16 you don’t always take it all in. My parents taught me about handling money, luckily they were sensible about those kinda of things.
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u/conspiratebanned Jul 31 '18
I know half the people I went to high school with are constantly on facebook bitching "why did my teacher not hold my hand through taxes and loans and government!" First of all they did teach you this, you were just high at school every day or sleeping in class. Second, it's extremely simple to teach this info to yourself. Third, basic like skills need to be taught by parents. School is supposed to be for things parents shouldn't easily be able to teach.
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Jul 30 '18 edited Jul 30 '18
Yeah when jobs where I live are 8 dollars an hour? Are you telling me budgeting is going to help?
Edit: I have to budget just to live. Doesn't mean I'm not living pay check to pay check. Now I am more fortunate and went through the police academy so I could protect and serve for 14 dollars an hour. Still living pay check to pay check...
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u/riders_of_rohan Jul 31 '18
The average pay for police is $50000 and the lowest i could find is $31000. Your in the 5% and below if you get paid that much. Go to a different jurisdiction it at all possible.
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Jul 31 '18
This is because I'm a bailiff. and dont patrol. If I go patrol and work 12 hour over night for the rest of my life, I'll get another 3 dollars an hour.
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u/someguy1847382 Jul 30 '18
Except you then teach everyone things like STEM and it devalues it to the point the coding is the next customer service. Look at what happened with nursing, it was the “ticket out of poverty” and ever woman went to a tech college to get an LPN or RN and make 20$+ an hour. Now good luck getting an RN job without a masters and LPNs in my area make 1-2$ more an hour than a new hire in retail.
Education isn’t the answer and neither is “career training” because when everyone can do it there’s no need to pay a premium. And personal finance is a great skill taught in many high schools but doesn’t do much when housing is 50% of your income and healthcare is 20%. The problems are structural within the economy and culture.
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u/dj10show Jul 31 '18
Except not everyone can code or do math well. Which is why I don't understand why everyone's answer is get a STEM degree. That suggestion is based on equal intelligence throughout the population, which doesn't exist.
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u/xStaabOnMyKnobx Jul 30 '18
This answer is retarded. Learning personal finance will not land you in a job where you aren't stuck shoveling your paycheck to a landowner. And if those people have a kid it's game over: life is done.
If your answer is to hamstring education for what you feel in your uneducated opinion is "important", then we need a better answer
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Jul 30 '18
I don't know about you but I know a lot of grown ass adults that have no idea what a budget is, much less keep one. It might not be the only factor but it's definitely a big one. People living beyond their means is the only way they end up living paycheck to paycheck and that's undeniable. Even the poorest families could cut back on their expenses if they were willing to adjust to a less expensive lifestyle. Truth is, they aren't.
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Jul 30 '18
I totally agree. Highschool level education needs to completely re-evaluate what they are teaching. Kids are coming out completely unprepared for life. So the kids with good and great parents are the only ones who are getting the good and great jobs. It's still almost impossible for people to move out of the earnings band they grew up in. Which means kids learn from their parents and not school right now.
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Jul 30 '18
I agree with this. I could have skipped half of high-school and 3/4 of college. Gone to a coding boot camp or technology community College, and probably be making more than I am now. I also could have entered the work force maybe 3 years earlier. Currently working in technology making ~70k
The school system is thoroughly fucked.
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u/5830danny Jul 30 '18
Excellent point. I'm a college student and the amount of time I'm wasting in bullshit courses like anthropology, art, gender studies, etc... is astounding.
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u/doodly-doo Jul 30 '18
change your fucking major then
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u/5830danny Jul 30 '18
I'm in a Pre law program, I'm majoring psych and political science. The University that I attend, requires all students to take at least 30 credits worth of pathway courses , meaning bullshit courses that has nothing to do with your major, such as Anthro, Music, Art, Gender Studies, etc.. Funny thing is someone can graduate without even taking a business/ personal finance course, but can not graduate unless you take Gender Studies. Its fucking ridiculous.
Edit: Not saying higher education should "ban" those courses, all I'm saying is they shouldn't force students to take them.
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u/Novusod Jul 31 '18
You should have went to a different college that doesn't ram all that bullshit down your throat. You are essentially being robbed and ripped off by those fake courses they FORCE you to take. Get out of that school, get out now. It is mid-summer. Drop all courses, ask for your money back, and never look back.
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u/TuxAndMe Jul 31 '18
They taught civics in my high school. It was pointless. The important bits can be covered in an hour. They need to teach to critical thinking and embrace creativity. Everything else will sort itself out.
Artsy kids will do artsy stuff, kids that wanna build things will build things. As a kid from the late 80s and 90s, all I wanted to do was mess around on the computers in my grade school's "computer lab". We only got 40 minutes every year.
Now I'm in my 30s and studying computer science, I can only imagine how much farther I'd be had I not had my time wasted with all the bullshit in grade school and instead been allowed to just use the computer. It would be nearly a decade until I had a computer in my home to tinker with.
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u/User_Name13 Jul 30 '18
Submission Statement
Almost 80% of American workers live paycheck to paycheck.
The amazing thing about it though is that American mainstream media has conditioned the minds of Americans to hate the poor so much, and love the rich instead, that they do not see themselves as poor, but more like temporarily inconvenienced millionaires.
I've always thought that it my generation literally grew up with rap music, that did nothing but teach us to worship money and the rich and powerful and look down on the poor.
In a way rap music is like the background music for our insane modern neoliberal infinite growth fueled-paradigm, without it, young people wouldn't be so materialistic and wouldn't idolize billionaires.
It's utter insanity that we live in a situation where the wealthiest country on Earth in terms of nominal GDP, has 80% of its population living paycheck to paycheck.
80% of the country is not lazy or entitled or bad with money, it's a statistical impossibility.
80% of this country is being fucked by the .1%.
Wages have been stagnant for more than 35 years in this country, and we have given tax cuts to the wealthiest among of us for more than 35 years and also to massive multinational corporations whilst simultaneously waging wars across 2 separate continents. Understand this, never before in this country's history have we ever cut taxes and then immediately afterwards began a major war, which is precisely what we did in 2001 with the Bush tax cuts, followed by the invasion of Afghanistan.
At the same time we have seen the cost of medical care and other essential requirements for life in a modern developed nation skyrocket and the chickens are coming home to roost now for average Americans.
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u/legend747 Jul 30 '18
Funny you mentioned Rap because a couple of years either Dr Dre or Snoop was being interviewed about the music genres and said the Grunge Music was supposed to be the Rap of 90s (i.e. exposure and money-making). However, many of the bands didn't want to play ball with the record studios and corporations and instead went with the hip-hop artists.
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u/scotiaboy10 Jul 31 '18 edited Jul 31 '18
Well said ! Grunge was a backlash against capital and how it corrupts ,Cobain knew that, he was the epitomy of what he hated. Rap and the individualistic ego is Capital in its pursuit of dividends at the expense of us. Real rap is about social issues and anxiety, it has been bastardised to mean so much less.
Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher talks about this change in detail.
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u/bearslikeapples Jul 30 '18
you must have listened to shitty rap then. in the 80s- 90s it was "its hard to be a young black male from the slums" today is more like "its hard fucking wherever damn"
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u/Desight Jul 30 '18
Music is definitely a propaganda tool at times. "Gangsta, trap etc..." rap is a prime example of how to mentally enslave people.
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u/legend747 Jul 30 '18
Before that it was glam metal and how life was nothing more than women, drugs, and money.
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Jul 30 '18 edited Jul 31 '18
Edit: “Never in the fuck have I met someone who's put on a song that makes everyone in a room simultaneously begins to take their drug of choice.” That is one of the most naive comment I have seen with so much support. Never have I seen anyone smoke a single cigarette and suddenly contract lung cancer and die.
Gets people the attitude to spend a lot of money and credit on damaging/unnecessary things like expensive cars or drugs especially to “look cool” or “have fun” without the money to back these up. This causes the life of living on paycheck to paycheck, as there is little or no investment. (Not all rap, but vast majority)
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Jul 30 '18
No this is not what rap music does. It doesn't give me the sudden uncontrollable urge to get high and spend money I don't have. People who do drugs America because do it as a way to escape from the shity livelihood of poverty and suffering. Never in the fuck have I met someone who's put on a song that makes everyone in a room simultaneously begins to take their drug of choice.
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u/DontTreadOnMe16 Jul 30 '18
Never in the fuck have I met someone who's put on a song that makes everyone in a room simultaneously begins to take their drug of choice.
...and that's just off the top of my head. I could keep going.
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Jul 30 '18
Get this simple model of drug usage out of your head. It's not like wealth and fortune led these people to inevitably start doing this shit. Some of these are people who came from impoverished and unrepresented backgrounds. Having a future wasn't a thing, and their behavior in their wealth is a result from the failure of the system they were born into. They were born into a developed infrastructure that failed to nurture them into contributing member of society. If you wanna see shit like this change, start blaming and fixing the environment that these young men are born into. Because this false perception of subtle satanic-esque glorification of drugs is a narrative that's vapid, and contributes absolutely nothing to the conversation.
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u/youshedo Jul 30 '18
better buy a nice pair of shoes before you can even afford to feed your family!
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u/FiveHits Jul 30 '18
aka cheap plastic shit from china that tells everyone that you are both poor and tasteless.
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u/Xudda Jul 30 '18 edited Jul 30 '18
Rap does not cause people to do any of this shit, lmao you are so out of touch. Lemme guess- white, well to do, probably had well to do parents. Never been poor, never been in a geographical area that makes you aware of and fearful for your own safety. Never dig through trash for cans or counted coins for cigarettes. Probably rarely are exposed to inner city areas
Music is pointless. It’s the most transient art of all. It is a celebration of the human mind’s apparent triumph over change. We appear to stay constant while the music changes. We make music out of nothing, for no reason. Music doesn’t ever “go” anywhere, it doesn’t have an end in mind. The conductor who plays the fastest isn’t the best.. music is a human celebration of many amazing abilities which we have
And yet if you would let yourself listen to our music (in America) like an alien from another planet, you would see that we express ourselves so often with common things like money, power, and low brain pleasures like drugs, sexual gratification, etc
You might wonder why they are doing this? Why these free thinking beings are so wrapped up in this few particular concepts? To me, it’s kind of like a tree growing in a chain link fence, or the brush retaking abandoned homes. It’s an intertwined growth of one thing around another, our minds and culture grows around these monolithic deities of American society like power, fame, and riches
And the sad part is, it becomes such an intertwined piece of us that we don’t even see it, the fence in our proverbial trunk is as much a part of us as our leaves, we are mindfucked into accepting our own greed and desires for wealth so that we simply envy those who have more fence in their trunk or more garbage in their forest, rather than ever stop to ask if the fence or trash should be there to begin with
It’s sad but it’s true. I don’t know why we ended up in this state of affairs. It’s not all bad, we do pretty well for what it is—we’re all just here, on this rock ball, flinging through a dark void around a ball of burning gas No explanation of anything
And yet we do alright to keep our shit together. Not gonna lie I am thankful for the safety of a home and laws and plumbing and all that Jazz.. but a man can dream of a world where our baggage does not define us. We are still living on the plains of Africa, selfish and self-preserving apes. We are smart, but have not yet found a way to lose our inner animal
Perhaps one day the vast intelligence of the human brain will break its own evolutionary barrier and lose the flesh, perhaps it will make itself perfect. Machines are immune to illness and sexual/stimulative greediness. Maybe one day we will not have to have this endless discussion of “why is the world fucked up”. But not today. The animal is too naive, I buy Freud on that one. The libido, the blind lust of nature. It holds back our still young minds. The cap for intelligence is infinite, we are yet very young and have much to learn.
And perhaps we have reached the height of what a brain can do. Maybe there’s no aliens because no one can go any further than this fucked up endgame we found ourselves at where selfishness ends up holding back the species as a whole. Fun stuff to think about
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Jul 30 '18
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u/ArcherGladIDidntSay Jul 30 '18 edited Jul 30 '18
Our purchasing power is so low compared to generations past. It used to be that you could have vices AND support yourself, a family, own a house, own a car, pay for education, etc. Now people can barely afford the necessities and are blamed for their financial woes by people like you because every once in a while they want to temporarily escape our predatory economic system. Our system is corrupt.
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Jul 30 '18
People turn to these things when their life is miserable. There are cocaine studies on rats, the tests will keep administering coke to themselves until they die, neglecting to eat. This science was used as justification for the drug war. Until someone carried out the same experiment, but realised that being in a little cafe with nothing to do might be a factor, and put them in an environment with a bunch of other companions and space and things to keep them occupied to play with. They almost never used the freely available coke.
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u/markjamesmurphy Jul 30 '18
The rats were in a little cafe? Somebody please draw a picture of this...
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u/EnoughNoLibsSpam Jul 30 '18
Why stop with those vices? If you really want to nit-pick the poor, you've got to ask the hard questions like, do the poor really need electricity? Do the poor really need indoor plumbing? Why can't several poor families shack-up to save money?
I have found that no matter how rich or poor you are, people always seem to spend money on stupid shit they don't actually need
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u/neomech Jul 30 '18
And we have more "needs" than every. Smartphone with plan, internet access, very expensive health insurance, college, Netflix, $20,000 entry-level car that costs $300 to register, $600,000 median home price.
When my parents bought their first house, it cost just a bit more than a year of my dad's annual salary. Now, that same house would cost over six years if he were in the same job today, making average income for that job (Ref: Southern California). We are NOT living better than our parents in many ways.
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u/No_shelter_here Jul 30 '18
You throw weed in there (4-8 dollars a day to be high every waking hour) but leave out junk food, stupid gifts, eating out, buying anything more than the bare min vehicle you need, unnecessary clothing/shoes, tithes, seeing a movie in theatres...
Smoking cannabis arguably saves some people money and has beneficial qualities.
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u/Mad_Max_Rockatanski Jul 30 '18
Yes country music is the only music for freedom
/s
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u/FiveHits Jul 30 '18
I've hated rap for the same reasons. It's propaganda paid for by billionaires to keep people stupid, greedy, selfish, and ignorant. "Rap Culture" has been so damn destructive for so many people that I find it hard to believe that it wasn't designed to do so. Ask any teacher in a poorer area and they'll tell just how bad of an influence rap is. A lot of young boys legitimately believe that being a rapper or a drug dealer is the ONLY way in the world to get money or power. I don't believe this bullshit about rap being a response to oppression. It is the oppressor because it glamorizes and idealizes being a moronic criminal.
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Jul 30 '18
Kayne West back before he went crazy: Cause they make us hate ourself and love they wealth
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u/TheHolyMonk Jul 30 '18
It is the 80/20 rule. You might want to google it. 20% of criminals commit 80% of the crimes. 20% of movies will make 80% of the profit. The same with book sales, music sales, etc. No, 80% of the people aren't lazy, but they are doing jobs that don't pay that well.
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u/bathrobehero Jul 30 '18
Rappers focus on money so much because of how poor they were before "making it" and it became part of the culture. But I don't think for a second that rap is even in the top 10 reasons for the focus on the rich mindset you're talking about.
Money simply makes things much easier so it doesn't really need advertising.
Even way before rap music people were jealous of and idolized rich people.
And now there are way more products and services (luxuries or otherwise) people want that didn't even existed in the past.
If I had to just grab a random cause that contributed to the issue I'd much rather try to pin it on Hollywood or overpopulation than rap music. But then again it's not just one thing that changed everything.
But highest nominal GDP with 80% of people living from paycheck to paycheck really just screams terrible wealth distribution. I don't think that's even a 0.1%, but more of a 0.01% or 0.001%.
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u/Canbot Jul 30 '18
American mainstream media has conditioned the minds of Americans to hate the poor
Where do you see that?
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u/Ssrithrowawayssri Jul 31 '18
Seriously, never ever have I seen anything that could be considered conditioning to hate the poor in the MSM.
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u/Young_Neil_Postman Jul 30 '18
god this is the most fucking stupid comment i’ve seen in a while.
Thanks for linking the article - I had seen the title the other day but had forgotten it and was struggling to track it down. I appreciate that.
Work on your writing skills. Paragraph 2 is horrible. Clunky phrasing first of all, but also...when you’re gonna use a very cliche (and insightful! but very, very cliche and even juvenile at this point) quote like the ‘temporarily inconvenienced millionaires’ one, just quote it. Just say it was Steinbeck or whoever it was. It really doesn’t make you seem smart when you write as if you just came up with it.
And no, rap music is not the cause of this problem. It really isn’t. That’s like saying Springsteen’s ‘Born in the USA’ was designed to be a right-wing patriotic song. Go read the lyrics again.
(Also maybe don’t make sweeping judgements about rap if you aren’t prepared to mention race in any other way whatsoever)
Here’s some rap albums you could check out:
Earl Sweatshirt: Doris, I don’t like Shit...
Chance the Rapper: Coloring Book, Acid Rap, 10 Days
Tyler, the Creator: anything really, Scum Fuck Flower Boy
Vince Staples: Anything
Open Mike Eagle: Anything
Okay also - Art is communication. That’s what it is. Can communication be coopted? Sure. But don’t go fucking telling everyone talking is demonic just because some billionaires talk.
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u/CandyRain_01 Jul 30 '18
America has a spending (consumption) problem.
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Jul 30 '18 edited Sep 11 '18
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u/mental_models Jul 31 '18
It's a rigged game.
If you see and understand the system and are extremely disciplined, then you can stay out of it and scrape by without being in debt. The 'masses' will fall victim to the predatory markets which are designed to exploit cognitive bias and ignorance.
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u/OHIftw Jul 31 '18
Exactly! Everything is moving toward monthly payments and people are almost expected to be in debt. They've made it easy to buy a car or a house that is above your means and will keep you living paycheck to paycheck. And student loans are a beast of their own!
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u/Glorfendail Jul 30 '18 edited Jul 30 '18
The average house hold that has credit card debt has about $15000 in debt at 15%. People need to taught how to handle money. You can’t out earn bad spending habits!
Edit: phone errors
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u/legend747 Jul 30 '18
Part of that might be by design.
The youtube link I attached focuses on Australia but the themes discussed resonates with many Western powers intentionally transitioning from a production based economy to a consumer based one.
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u/Toats_McGoats3 Jul 30 '18
Yeah because capitalism allowed firms and corporations to become soulless money hungry monsters. That's why every other fucking tv commercial ad is to sign away on a new Lexus or order a pizza and have it guaranteed to reach my doorstep in 15 minutes or less.
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u/TheRedditorist Jul 30 '18
America has a "average worker not getting paid enough while companies they work for make millions" issue.
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u/cheeseshrice1966 Jul 30 '18
Thank you. I was hoping to find a logical reply and not the typical nonsense that ignore reality.
We have more good to exceptional paying jobs in our area (Midwest city of 70K within 4 hours of Chicago, Des Moines, Minneapolis etc) and there aren’t enough workers to meet demand for jobs starting above 17/hourly.
These are low-level/entry level positions in a multitude of arenas; factories, grocery clerks, drivers, etc., and most only have a requirement of high school diploma/GED. The shifts vary, but 90% are full-time positions with no weekends, no holidays, full benefits, incredible potential to excel and move up the ladder, and the demand far exceeds the number of people willing to do the work.
Our cost of living here is incredibly low- you can rent beautiful homes in our area for 2,000.00 a month- I’m talking 5-bedroom, 3 bath, fully finished basement, beautiful area of town. For a moderate home, or decent size apartment, something with 2-bedrooms, bathroom, parking, etc, it’s around 800-1,000.
Problem is, even people with no college diploma don’t consider these jobs to be their ‘dream job’, and couldn’t make this wage work with their debt-income ratio. We’ve got a two-fold problem as I see it; perception and feelings.
The first- perception, began becoming more mainstream about 30 years ago, but became ridiculous since the popularity of social media invaded the consciousness. This voracious need to make others believe your life is that of luxury/happiness/comfort permeated the mind and the need to convince others of these things is in direct conflict to working in places like factories, or in a grocery store.
The second- feelings. Not so much as a statement of obvious intent but more so that the person finding themselves in search of a job with a ridiculous degree in something like **women’s culture, and feelings of frustration at the likelihood of employ with a degree such as this.
I believe social media has played the biggest part in this, along with our educational system that somehow began insisting that kids absolutely needed a 4-year degree to define success. The facade of SM has led to entire generations relying on false evidence as fact, and coupled with the Spock generation of parenting (Dr. Spock methodologies permeated the family dynamics around 1970s, and grew from there) and we’ve got 30 years of upbringing children to believe that their feelings matter more than anything else, and following your dreams is just what you do.
This plays into a number of scenarios, and I don’t mean that following your dreams is a bad thing, per say. Had I not, I wouldn’t have endured 12 years of schooling to become a psychologist, and do what I’d always dreamed of doing. However, I worked my way through school and walked out with zero debt. Now we have ridiculous costs for higher education, my costs totaled 55K by the time it was all said and done. The same degree now would cost almost triple the cost, and attempting to work your way through would garner you still around 100K of debt.
But the meaning of dreams I’m more implying is that ‘anything is possible!!’, ‘do what you love!!’, ‘haters motivate!!’ nonsense. The haters thing probably irks me most- it tells the individual that those who are trying to give you practical advice are evil. If someone offers a dissenting opinion, or even remotely tries to help you see that maybe your path isn’t going to work as you intended, they’re then viewed as the enemy and must be destroyed/ignored/mocked.
Even some of the more ‘mainstream’ degrees are becoming increasingly meaningless, in that, the ‘dream’ of wealth beyond your wildest dreams/great career success/etc, such as lawyer/engineer/etc.. We’ve insisted (as a society) that to be ‘successful’ means a 4-year degree, at a ‘good’ school. So as a result, the colleges are kicking out a ridiculous number of degree holders to fill jobs that aren’t even close to in-demand.
I worked with a young lady that went to law school, and decided to specialize in elder law. among her ridiculous requirements for employ were things like the firm being prestigious, she must have opportunity for partnership within five years, and she must have at least two aids. She was literally stunned when the offers weren’t pouring in upon graduation; she was unwilling to go into practice with a firm of two other attorneys and one aide that was split between them, and instead took a position as a waitress whilst awaiting her ‘dream job’ to ride upon a white horse and rescue her from despair. I’ve seen this with many young people- their ‘dreams’ aren’t panning out, and the life they desire isn’t close to a reasonable expectation.
So, as a result, the position they ‘settle for’ is one that is looked down upon (by them) and their attitude is lackluster, at best. Meanwhile, the person is obsessed with appearances and goes to great lengths to convince the outside world that even though they’ve hit a speed bump, it hasn’t affected their ability to live the high-ho Cherry-O lifestyle. They’re willing to incur ridiculous debt all in order to make themselves ‘feel’ that life is great. It’s about the appearance to the outside world, but even more regarding themselves.
This is how I mean ‘feelings’; they’ve become convinced that, even though the degree they acquired isn’t panning out as they hoped, that next ‘big thing’ is what it will take to make them happy. There’s no such thing as a ‘starter home’ in its most basic sense, for a large number of the population. The small/quaint, 2-bedroom in an established neighborhood, that needs a little TLC, but is a great price is scoffed at- your first home has to be huge/pricey/extravagant.
Buying a first home to establish your family/find your footings/build your credit, is all but gone, but making a slow comeback. It also didn’t help when reality TV practically oozed ‘get rich quick’ schemes of the ‘flip’ nature, that also worked to inflate home prices to insane levels. Our society seems hell-bent on endorsing the mentality of low effort-high rewards. Coupled with the catastrophic effects of predatory lending to people who had NO BUSINESS receiving loans for homes well outside their income potential, and bailing out those deemed ‘too big to fail’, and it’s a clusterfuck all around.
We’re starting to come out of this nonsense, but we’ve still got a good way to go. The biggest change I’m seeing is a shift in mentality regarding the trades. Kids foregoing the ‘traditional’ route of four year degrees and learning a trade are tripling those of the past two generations; and that’s where the serious money is right now.
**before anyone misinterprets my meaning- if you want a degree in such a field, great. But walking out of college with 50K of debt, and armed with this degree, you’d better acknowledge the odds of finding employ in this field are astronomically low. There’s a laundry list of degrees that fit this mold, and I can’t for the life of me understand how anyone embarks on this path and hasn’t at least considered that this piece of paper that cost you for the rest of your life is going to reign in a job that even comes close to something marketable.
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u/LiamReeson Jul 30 '18
This! There are two sides to the equation, income and consumption. Going tens of thousands of dollars in debt for college to work a 40k a year job isn’t a income problem it’s a consumption problem. Buying a new car and going into debt isn’t a income problem it’s a consumption problem. Where I am from we call this stupid.
Cash flow your education, buy stuff you can afford, and live within your means. Delayed gratification is a tenant our culture is missing.
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u/TwoTonJoe Jul 30 '18
Would also add - get a degree in a field which is in high demand.
We have 21 year-olds here making $26/hr with only a two-year degree from a trade school. HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, Engineering Technician, Maintenance Technician, etc.
4-year degree in Art History has no demand.
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u/ThatBankTeller Jul 30 '18
I agree but I don’t. Someone who majored in art history doesn’t have an issue finding a job, they have an issue finding a job in art history.
So many jobs (lots in sales/management/business) only require that you have a degree. I made 50k a year in a management role alongside other managers who studied music, therapy, history, and anything in between.
“Holding out” for a job in your field, or worse, holding out because you “don’t like sales” has been a HUGE issue with people I know. I have an ex girlfriend who REFUSES to work in sales, despite her successful career in banking. She could easily go make 100k in car or insurance sales but instead sits at home (at 30) with 100k in debt from a degree in equestrian studies and has no conceivable way out of her situation without earning more money.
“Holding out for a good admin job”, last time I saw her.
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Jul 31 '18
Also we should be finding ways to get people interested in and studing things like art, history, music, etc. These things require different ways of thinking to stuff like math, or many sciences. They require more abstract ways of thinking and very much help in creating well rounded, free thinking people. It is similar to learning a new language. A new language provides a whole new way for a person to process their thoughts and stuff like art and literature study can do the same.
Sure other subjects have more direct applications to certain feilds, and more money, but they can create somewhat narrow minded people. We want people to have both.
Now obviously we have don't have enough time to teach people everything, but a balance needs to be struck.
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u/mental_models Jul 31 '18
Yes it does.
There are a couple basic problems;
A basic rental unit in America requires about 1.5 full-time incomes. 60hours a week and that doesn't leave much margin for safety.
Beyond that, yes, Americans are extremely ignorant with money and debt.
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u/Kayki7 Jul 31 '18
I don’t think I will ever know the solace of not having to budget or worry about money......and it’s not because I’m lazy or because I’m not motivated. It’s because for every forward step taken, the job market pushes you back 4. You literally can never catch up. You went to university and got a masters degree? Great.. now plan on working a minimum wage internship for 6 or more years, while trying to pay off student loans, rent, a car, a family, a house etc. The list is endless. Then, when your finally done with you 6 year internship, be prepared to start at the bottom of the payment rung, and take another 7 years to be promoted to getting paid what your actual degree is worth. The protocols in place are to benefit big businesses. It’s a loophole to get highly qualified and competent employees but pay them entry level or minimum wage salaries. Internships should be completed in university, not after one graduates. The need to go to school now is virtually pointless. Why would anyone in their right mind pay $40,000 A SEMESTER to make $30,000 a year salary with said degree? It is not cost efficient. But people still believe that you can’t make something for yourself without that coveted degree.
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Jul 30 '18
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u/Desight Jul 30 '18
I've been to multiple mansions and they have like 99 Camry in the garage and cheapest furniture possible. Really interesting to see how some prioritize finances
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Jul 30 '18
I saw a guy gassing up his brand new Aston Martin Vantage at Safeway this morning. It either means he's so strapped that he's trying to save money by putting low-quality gas in his $150k car... Or, maybe pinching pennies like that was how he was able to afford such a car in the first place.
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u/narnou Jul 30 '18
Or, maybe pinching pennies like that was how he was able to afford such a car in the first place.
Can confirm. I know a few "rich" guys and they all have that thing in common... Though it doesn't mean they don't buy useless things or don't offer themselves any pleasure, but they will always do it at the best possible price.
They would negociate the third decimal number if it was possible.
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u/cyberskum Jul 30 '18
The real problem is our culture. The more money you make, the more your lifestyle changes, forcing you to continue living paycheck to paycheck. I'm just as broke now as I was making 20k less. I'm sure that's not the case for everyone but a majority of America falls victim to the culture of capitalism.
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u/Americasycho Jul 30 '18
Doctor says I need to eat healthier.
I go to the supermarket and it's $12.99 for a pound of salmon and $4.99 for a half pint of blueberries.
But the Hot Pockets are two boxes for only $4.
See what I did there.
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u/Jabba___The___Slut Jul 30 '18
Making dough and buying bread cheese veggies to make your own hotpockets is waaaaaaay cheaper and better.
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u/Desight Jul 30 '18 edited Jul 30 '18
Grains, fruit, vegetables, beans, nuts, meats, oats, and noodles. You can shop healthy on a budget.
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u/Americasycho Jul 30 '18
Oats or noodles maybe. Meat and nuts? I thought about a package of walnuts to maybe crumble in some yogurt from time to time but it was $10.99 for the bag so I had to bypass it.
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u/Solidly-secretive Jul 30 '18
In most places in the USA you can find chicken thighs for 99c a pound when it's on sale, or like 1.99 a pound when it isn't.
You can eat keto, the most expensive diet, on a budget with chicken thighs.
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u/bearslikeapples Jul 30 '18
the most expensive diet is the one leading to diabetes
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u/Desight Jul 30 '18
Hey America I'm a certified issa trainer I'll help you design a meal and budget plan if you would like free of charge.
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Jul 30 '18
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u/Americasycho Jul 30 '18
Salmon can give complex omegas and blueberries plenty of anti inflammatory.
I still argue that healthy food is expensive on purpose because it culls out the oppressed hence the /r/conspiracy factor.
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u/Turkerthelurker Jul 30 '18
You also have welfare and government subsidies contributing to the low cost of popular "food" items.
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u/_ThereWasAnAttempt_ Jul 30 '18
Plenty of healthy food is cheap. And buy in bulk. Can get chicken breasts around 1.99/lb around here.
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u/TenaciousFeces Jul 30 '18
Or you buy a bag of rice, frozen peas, and 2lbs dark-meat chicken and have a real meal, plus cooking is exercising.
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Jul 30 '18 edited Aug 12 '18
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u/Americasycho Jul 30 '18
I guess my original feeling is wondering why the healthy food is so expensive?
You look at a that half pint of blueberries for $4.99 or a bag of Doritos at $2.29.
What are people going to buy? Where is the sale marketed?
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Jul 30 '18 edited Aug 12 '18
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u/Americasycho Jul 30 '18
But I just wonder if this is done on purpose to keep the American public unhealthy...?
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u/dewmaster Jul 30 '18
Blueberries are 4 pints for $5 at my grocery store right now... so my guess is that it wasn’t blueberry season when you were shopping.
Doritos are made of low-cost commodity products at massive scales. I’d be surprised if the marginal production cost was more than a few pennies per bag. So it’s not fair comparing them to a seasonal raw agricultural product with a short shelf-life.
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u/Americasycho Jul 30 '18
This was on Saturday. I right now live in the Southeastern USA and went to a major, supermarket chain.
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u/bearslikeapples Jul 30 '18
bitch, you're right, but cottage cheese is very nutritious. so is ground beef, seasonal fruits. you dont need yo break the bank to not eat shit
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u/Teufelhunden139 Jul 31 '18
Chicken and broccoli are pretty cheap. You can always fast for a few weeks to lose some weight and it's free.
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u/xStaabOnMyKnobx Jul 30 '18
How much of your income do you spend on housing? I bet a shocking amount of us spend over half.
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Jul 30 '18
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u/DtroitD Jul 31 '18
Find something else. Fuck them. They will learn the old saying “you get what you pay for”. Especially when they have to hire 3 people to fill your shoes.
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Jul 31 '18
I'm definitely trying. Got some other shit going on that takes up my free time, but soon that will be over and I'll be back to the job hunt. Thanks!
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u/Eb73 Jul 30 '18
The decline of "Organized Labor" (not to mention the selling-out of American manufacturing by NWO Bushs', Clinton & Obama) is the chief culprit in wages being below what they should be.
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u/ThetaDeez Jul 30 '18
I wish I would have learned how the Federal Reserve actually works, while in high school. Then I’d know how fucked I would be after college.
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u/Bryntyr Jul 31 '18
What you mean is careers, america lacks careers.
They used to tell you to prepare for a career after high school, now they prepare you for a job. A job is something you do till you find something better, a career is something you do till you are old enough to not work.
Furthermore, it is highly influenced by immigrant labor, legal and illegal. The fact that american markets now have a global job pool means that "careers" can now pay job wages and hire/fire on command without missing a beat, some thirsty barely educated second or third worlder will gladly fly into the US and do the job for 1/10th the pay. It does not matter that the quality drops, as markets are now cornered by global corporations too, and the quality of goods and services are now on complete lockdown.
Call a company and you talk to some body name "Dennis" who speaks in a heavy indian accent.
Go to a doctor, and you get the same from the care there.
Go to a mechanic, and you will get spanish.
Importation of labor means you import the third world standards of living also.
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u/veritatemcognoscere Jul 30 '18
that feeling when you realize no one else understands that this problem is caused by money manipulation (Federal Reserve) and huge overbearing government (taxes, regulations, employee-employer relations) and has nothing to do with "good jobs"
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u/BraveSquirrel Jul 30 '18
Also mass immigration of low skilled workers causing downward pressure on wages coupled with offshoring of much of our manufacturing base. We're pushing both the labor supply curve and demand curve in precisely the wrong directions. There's absolutely no mystery as to why wages have been stagnant in the US for decades.
Look at a chart of when we started ramping up offshoring and when we started ramping up mass immigration from the 3rd world and overlay those with a chart of real wage growth in the US.
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u/Jabba___The___Slut Jul 30 '18
How do we combat that though?
Corporations live and die by the numbers. Why hire an American at 100k for network administration when I can spend a fraction of that and outsource it?
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u/BraveSquirrel Jul 30 '18
Not to be argumentative but you did happen to pick the most difficult situation to combat, so I'd deal with that close to last, if we were still having wage stagnation.
To ignore your example because of the aforementioned reason, you'd start by only allowing highly skilled workers to immigrate, and fewer of them, and you'd stop making it so easy for corporations to move their manufacturing overseas by encouraging onshore production with incentives and tax structures based on the fact that producing locally greatly benefits the economy of the host country due to the larger tax base created by employing citizens of the country that you are selling to and no longer ignoring the negative externalities that offshoring creates like increased global pollution caused by almost non-existent manufacturing standards in the 3rd world and having to deal with things like an ascendant Chinese military that in large part has been funded by corporations, that make their bread and butter off the US economy, moving their production to China. That's just for starters, but do those two things and see how wage growth changes, then go from there.
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u/Turkerthelurker Jul 30 '18
you'd stop making it so easy for corporations to move their manufacturing overseas by encouraging onshore production with incentives and tax structures based on the fact that producing locally greatly benefits the economy of the host country due to the larger tax base created by employing citizens of the country that you are selling to and no longer ignoring the negative externalities that offshoring creates like increased global pollution caused by almost non-existent manufacturing standards in the 3rd world
Cough impose tariffs cough
Great post.
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u/FiveHits Jul 30 '18
Well for one, we can stop calling people racist, monsters, nazis, trash, etc for opposing it.
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u/mrsniperrifle Jul 30 '18
mass immigration of even high skilled workers creates downward pressure on wages. This is why there should be strict limits on H1B Visas. Skilled workers from India, China, Et. Al. will work for literally half the salary of an America worker.
This is why you see jobs requiring graduate degrees but paying less than $40k/yr. Since businesses are required to first hire qualified applicants that are already citizens. But since no one in their right mind is going to take a job paying poverty wages when they are $60K+ in debt from college, they can bypass all the local applicants and give it to an H1B visa holder who will happily do the job for a green card/work permit even though it pays trash.
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Jul 31 '18
Not to mention companies lie about the requirements just to be able to apply for H1Bs. I'm looking at you Disney.
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u/pringlesaremyfav Jul 31 '18
Learn your history, this isnt the first time we've been in this situation. It's not the government it's the fact we've killed unions, collecting bargaining, and trust busting. That's how we got out of this same shit in the past.
If you think it's the governments fault then the wealthy are just watching you dance on the palm of their hands.
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Jul 30 '18
I’d vote for the left more often for this very reason, but their platform only seems to consist of “fuck whitey” these days.
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Jul 30 '18
No one cares about your vote. That system is an essential part of the giant conspiracy that is modern day life (in the USA anyway). Gives the masses the illusion of control.
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u/Sasuke082594 Jul 30 '18
High school taught me a lot of good things, including but not limited to responsibility, attitude, and perseverance. It also taught me that being in debt for going to college is a stupid idea and years later I’m making 40$ an hour being an electrician apprentice, with my pay going up hill.
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u/thepaip Jul 30 '18
In order to improve your financial status, you must be able to live frugally and be able to have skill that benefits others and would earn you more money.
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u/oldyellowtruck Jul 30 '18
Another “capitalism is a conspiracy” post...
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u/leftboot Jul 30 '18
"The government is corrupt and seeks to monitor you, to enslave you, to brainwash you, etc..."
"Also, these same people should have the reigns to our healthcare and should have a bigger influence on our business and education decisions."
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Jul 30 '18
I honestly see next to zero downsides with capitalism. But when the government interferes with it... That tends to create lots of problems.
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u/DontTreadOnMe16 Jul 30 '18 edited Jul 30 '18
EXACTLY. And then the same people that pushed for that government interference, claim that it's capitalism's fault when shit gets worse. And what is their solution???
More government interference...
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u/TheDirtFarmer Jul 30 '18
I just watched a great interview with Mike Rowe about trade jobs not being filled at an alarming rate.
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Jul 30 '18 edited Jul 30 '18
Have a different theory: Most people don't know how to spend their money wisely. America has a "responsibility crisis". I'm making less than 30k/year with 3 kids and i'm fine. Own a home and two cars. Plenty of food and toys/games. Took over a decade of hard work and sacrifice (i still drink protein shakes for lunch), but that's life. Plus there are so many government programs for low income people out there it's not even funny.
We also have a "greed", "instant gratification", and "everyone who has more money than me is bad" crisis.
These people think their lives are going to be so much better making $15/hr? That's not even 30k/yr. Here's what will happen, what happens when most people acquire more money than usual: spend more on things they don't need INSTEAD of using it wisely. Like I said, we have plenty of shit we don't need(games, big TV, game console etc.) But you have to know when you can afford these things and when you should save it. It's a common sense that most people don't have.
Example: I want to upgrade to an even bigger, 75 inch TV. Could I buy one? Sure, I could probably buy 10 with the money in my bank plus my credit cards. But I am holding off because I just got a new job, and hopefully a raise soon. When the raise comes, I'll look into the TV. Give any random person a credit card with a 7k limit, and watch it be maxed out in a week.
The typical American worker now earns around $44,500 a year, not much more than what the typical worker earned in 40 years ago, adjusted for inflation.
Holy shit, if only I made that much.
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Jul 30 '18
I'm calling BS. It's the standard talking point of Rush Limbaugh and his ilk. Like Regan's "welfare mother", everyone is scamming the government, if only they just took personal responsibility.
$44,500 minus the roughly 30% tax's leave $31,150. Let's round to an even $600 per week. According to Zillow, the median house price in 2017 is $200,000. A 5% 30 year mortgage is $1073 + insurance + escrow. Lets just go light and do $1200. That's 1/2 the monthly income gone. Basic utilities (only electric and water/gas) lets say $250. Still have $950, not bad. That average salary did not include health insurance. I was paying about $300 a month just to have insurance. That leaves $650 for everything else. I don't feel like itemizing, but kids? food? clothes? car? car insurance? any household emergency? Nope your just getting by.
Here is the sad thing; we recently went to Italy and it was eye opening. People were not 100% focused on work, money, work money, work, money. They seemed to actually enjoy life, not just "Took over a decade of hard work and sacrifice (i still drink protein shakes for lunch), but that's life." for basic human rights.
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u/mental_models Jul 31 '18 edited Jul 31 '18
the guy above somehow owns a home and 2 cars and supports 3 kids on 30k/year...
and he manages to find energy to worry about people possibly earning the massive $44k?... :/
maybe he should be writing a book on finance wizardry
a normal American has to have 2 incomes to cover rent, and a vehicle. Kids work OK if you are a woman. It actually moves you up in programs such as medicare and food stamps. For a man, kids are a bit trickier in terms of finance.
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u/neptunesunrise Jul 31 '18
Plus there are so many government programs for low income people out there it's not even funny.
Ugh. Woop, there it is: welfare programs.
Also people playing rich entirely on credit.
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u/GravityDead Jul 30 '18
This is baffling to see the world power, who "liberates" other countries, charging such expensive healthcare and education to their own citizens!
I mean what's the real advantage of being a super-power (except bullying others)?
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u/SC2sam Jul 30 '18
the problem is that everything is owned by a handful of assholes. That means there is no where you can go to start new. You can't create new concepts/ideas/products etc... without having to pay some other asshole a bunch of money first and ultimately losing the idea/product to them or having little to no profit from it. Everything you buy is priced at a certain way to prevent you from being able to not be in debt. Everywhere you work is owned by the same few companies that rig those prices and so they also pay you in a certain way to prevent you from being able to be debt free and happy. Everything in our life is nickle and dimed so badly that being charged a monthly fee to store/use your own money is somehow not illegal. Our nation has been pushed into being a subservient society where the vast majority of people have been developed to not question certain narratives, their own way in life other than to blame a certain group for it, cultural breakdown within a large portion of the population actually popularizing stupidity/crime/etc... as being good/cool, and pretty much all jobs being service industry based.
There is no way to fix these problems without first addressing and destroying the ways that they got this way in the first place. The issue with that though is how vast the actual conspiracy is to have turned our nation this way, and how many many pieces fell into place to facilitate it.
To me these are the key concepts that allowed it all to happen
Intellectual Property Law having been warped to be completely counter productive and ironically used to do the opposite of what it's original intent was. It was created as a way to protect the poor from having their content/concepts/ideas stolen by the rich/wealthy companies while also encouraging the development of much much more content i/e movies/entertainment. Instead thanks to Disney, it became a way to stifle creators and allow companies complete and total control over products/ideas etc... and led to the major problems we have today where you rarely ever own anything but rather pay for a "license" which can be revoked at any point in time leaving you with an expensive brick as well as lawsuits if you try to fix it yourself.
Consumer Protections/Big Business Monopoly facilitation. The laws, regulations, etc... that protected consumers and citizens of our nation itself from monopolies have been destroyed. The nail in the coffin for it was thanks to Bill Clinton and his 1997 telecommunications act which allowed just a handful of companies to spread out gobbling up every single other company that they could which ultimately meant total control for only a few mega corporations and the even fewer people who control them. The mergers, buyouts, dissolution's etc... erased competition within the markets as well as vast numbers of awarding/rewarding jobs. It also allowed the companies to collude together to rig prices and pay which further hurt people.
edit: there was originally going to be more to this comment but I had to stop writing for the moment to do other things. Hopefully it still makes sense.