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‘It’s never enough’: young Americans struggle to build financial independence as cost of living spikes
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 31 May 2026
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in like 2010-2012 I was making 68K a year and paying $700 in rent a month for a large 1 bedroom flat. I had more money and space than I knew what to do with. My only bills were rent, phone, and internet. that's it. no debt, no credit card, nothing. so all my monthly bills combined was like $800. Every Tuesday I'd buy pretty much every new game release. all of them. I'd eat out or order in daily, I didn't bother cooking or do grocery shopping. I'd buy dinner for friends, offer to pay the bill, etc. I was never broke. I had friggin 58k in disposable income!
Now if I was making 68k a year in the same city I'd be struggling. my rent for the same place would have more than tripled, probably way more. phone and internet would have gone way up. the fact that it's gotten so much worse so rapidly is incredibly scary. At one point in my life in my early 30s I REALLY wanted kids, I really wanted to get married. now? forget about it. I'm in my 40s now and while I'm comfortable there's no way in hell I'd ever want to expose children to this and the eventual future. I'm not bringing someone into this world to only say "welp, good luck!". So I don't even bother being in a relationship anymore, there's no point. I consciously made the decision a few years ago to stop dating. When I get asked out I politely decline. I've lived with two different women on two separate occasions in my life so I experienced it. I'm good. Now it's just making sure I earn enough to keep a roof over my head, my stomach fed, and my computer functioning until my body decides it's time to go. I don't care about eating healthy (i'm not over weight), I still smoke cigarettes, and I rarely go to the doctor even though I'm in Canada. I'm just making zero effort to prolong my life at this point because...again...what's the point? I've lived it, I'll slip out when the 'ol ticker decides its time. I don't want to keep living this bullshit economy and i'm tired of seeing the younger generations having no choice but to struggle. honestly if I croak before I hit 50 i'll be happy.
This reminds me, I need to make a living will. “Do not take extraordinary efforts to prolong my life, unless either of two situations occur - 1) capitalism collapses during my infirmity, or 2) I somehow receive a windfall of wealth such that any accrued medical debts would be covered by said-wealth.”
In other words, just pull the plug. Even if I wake up from a coma, being forced to spend the rest of my life paying off the debt from however long my hospital stay was would be a fate worse than death. At that point, fuck it all. I’d be done playing this stupid game.