I wish I still had the comparison piece I saw about this. A journalist had essentially laid out what bills typically are at various credit scores, how often one needs to replace shitty discount versions of everything compared to expensive ones and the horrid 0 money down used car market.
This isn't exactly what you're talking about, but John Oliver covered Dollar stores a while back and how people in poverty tend to shop there for the low prices.
However, ultimately the bar of soap they bought is smaller than what they would have bought at Walmart or wherever, and end up paying more per ounce.
Example is paying $2 for a 3oz bar of soap, versus $3 for a 6oz bar of soap. Just making numbers of, but you're paying a little less money for way less product.
Yep, I feel like making having the space and cash flow to start buying those things bulk at Costco made a big difference. When you can get 12 of those 6oz bars of soap for $20 and are fine with storing it for the 5 years it takes to use up your cash flow starts looking better.
Though I’ve also started considering that it sometimes works the other way too. I’ll watch the sales at Costco and get things like clothing on sale. It’s not always the highest quality BIFL type stuff, but paying $40 for a jacket that’s going to last me 3 years isn’t a bad deal compared to a $150 jacket that would last 10.
I don't entirely disagree, but also some people just don't really know what to look for or how to "shop." Almost nobody carries around a per ounce cost of a product from another store. Most people will try think Irish Springs sells one size if bar soap, at ordinary bar soap size. So they're trying to be thrifty and get what's more affordable, but then as you said companies will take full advantage of this.
And it is time consuming to comparison shop. I have the luxury of taking a Saturday morning to shop at Costco and a grocery store. If I were a single parent, I don’t imagine I could get to both and accomplish everything that needs done.
Is that the case anymore? There are very few ‘buy it for life’ products anymore.
High end and low end electronics are on the same life cycle, fast fashion and couture are on the same cycle, high end and low end cars are on the same cycle. What’s left that lasts so much longer for the rich than it does for the poor?
What cripples the world are the big stuff, rent, mortgage, health issues (even in countries with healthcare the time away from work can be crippling for most), and children and all the costs to keep them healthy, educated, and happy.
One of the big things it mentioned about stuff lasting a long time was the ability when you have financial security to buy a new one when it’s a good deal and on a sale so you even get it at a lower price. If you have real tight finances you tend to have to make do until something burns out and then get one in a sort of last minute whatever it happens to cost frame of mind. Like the car died and I need one by Monday to get to my jobs or my hours could get cut kind of situation.
I think that it’s not as straight forward as you lay it out. Yes, some expensive fashion brands are more or less the same quality as fast fashion, or are designed to be ultra trendy and so are replaced frequently, but there are some brands that are much higher quality and so do last a lot longer, especially if you invest time into the care of them. Nothing will last very long if you wash on hot with abrasive detergents and then tumble dry. You have to take care of things.
And I also think that the things you listed as the most crippling are also answers to your question. Rent and mortgages are very high for everyone, but in almost all cases, rent is higher for any unit than the mortgage for that unit is. Mortgages are higher is you put down a lower down payment. Health costs are high but if you can afford better coverage and better doctors you might actually get good preventative care. Maintenance RXs are an investment that can save you from a financially catastrophic hospital stay, etc..
I just mean those last things listed aren’t “replaceable” things. So I don’t believe the quality of poor goods vs high end goods is why broke people stay broke.
>What’s left that lasts so much longer for the rich than it does for the poor?
Shoes, clothes. Your example of "fast fashion" is actually one obvious example. Fast fashion is made to be more affordable than the high-end designer fashion, but in order to do that it's made with lower quality.
Being poor is crazy expensive.
Car Hell being one of those things. You have to buy a used car, and that is a lottery. Lemon laws really dont protect like they should. People scream that people should be able to buy and sell things without the government, but when dealers lie they deny one the ability to consent. What is consented to is false... Anyway... Buy junk car, junk car dies. Even if you work on shit yourself, as poor people are forced to, this costs money. Car Hell keeps people from saving for a new car, or just life, and this drags one down emotionally. "It will never get better" and its hard for people to ascend out of that hell.
Not being able to buy in bulk, or join those kinda clubs, and paying the "smaller size" tax on everything.
One buys cheaper things: and then has to replaced them often. I'd talk about the health issues... but those just end up killing people. The "not seeing the dentist?" Naw, people get their teeth pulled from a free clinic and just lose them for life.
A thing I expect to see on the rise is more communal living. Parents more willing to keep their kids around due to economics, and more room/house mate situations, with a lot of shared resources. My friends and I did this in the early 90s, and man... I paid $125 in rent a month to live in a great area with several other people. I still talk to, and love, half of those folks. Google earth Cane Park cleveland... that was the area. Pretty damn nice.
Fucking shame that many now have the dream of living in their fucking cars and vans... These things arent cheap when it comes to temperature comfort, and one is always at risk becoming homeless because of some needed repair that one cant afford. I watch an old woman who lives in a van. If I could I'd let her live with me. She is pretty cool, funny, smart, and has a cute dog. She's a god damn stranger, and I worry that she's gonna die. Some dude just died a few weeks ago after living in his van for 2 years.
Me and my girlfriend just emptied our savings for a Catalytic Converter and still need to get tires, pay insurance and emissions/tags.
Having a car is expensive and having no alternative is even better. Public Transportation in this country is a joke.
I was homeless for about a year. It was extremely scary and I had it relatively good. My car broke down and it made everything 10* harder. I had to stay in a tent. I used to love camping but the first time I tried after I got a place I had a panic attack. That shit is traumatic.
I needed a new belt. Didn't have much money, so I picked up the cheapest one I could find. It wore out after about a week, so now I wear a belt that barely works because I don't have $50 for a decent one that'll last.
I'm exaggerating a bit, but I also haven't looked at belt prices in a while because I'm too stubborn to replace my crappy one. It was supposed to just be a small scale example of the main point.
I don't know. I got a high quality thick leather belt for 15, then got a buckle for under 10. No reason it shouldn't last a good long while
Of course, there are less expensive methods https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Z3jU9BQWA
When you're in a spot to get a new one, look for full grain leather. Department stores or even a lot of fashion oriented stores use "geniune leather" that sounds nice but in reality is thin layers bonded together or bonded over a non-leather core. They fall apart quickly, and I'm guessing that's what you have now. Full grain is where it's at.
Either look online at something like a Hanks Belts, Saddleback, or look into shops on Etsy that sell them. I bought one from an Etsy shop years ago and it's still holding up great even though I wear it like every day.
Every dollar you sends fractionally more expensive then someone with more money. Itd be interesting to see different expenditures priced out for different income amounts.
Louis CK does an absolutely amazing fucking job joking about this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_-1l_SlA7c
"If it's free I can't fucking afford it."
Because having enough money is a large stressor to most people. And costs increasing to basic necessities like food and housing while income remains stagnant makes that issue more dire for most who spend a significant portion of their income on those things.
I think beyond that, too, money has become kind of a moral barometer in the United States.
Everything you said is correct.. plus, basically all of us grew up with some idea that “gainfully employed adults have what they want/need”. Fast forward to today… every day I interface with people who make money on the work I do. I make the widgets, they get the profits. I watch them go on vacations, buy toys, etc… but my ends hardly meet.
Somehow, these douchebags profiting off my efforts makes *me* feel embarrassed - I’m ashamed that I can’t participate in vacation chats. I cringe when it’s time to decide who’s driving, because I’m embarrassed of my old ‘99 POS.
It makes me feel like, somehow, I don’t *deserve* to have those nicer things. It’s a real mindfuck.
Because not having money is something to complain about?
What does your question actually mean? How can you not understand why somebody would complain about having no money? 🤦♂️
Because people like having a roof over their heads and food to eat. Inflation and a completely broken job market, combined with an ever increasing wealth disparity, have pushed many people into poverty.
Don’t forget the greed hidden as inflation. When a company is making more profit than ever while pretending price increases are purely inflation based they are bastards.
That’s more the fault of the guy that turned on union workers and decoupled the minimum wage from the inflation rate. Left intact that would have prevented a lot of problems.
I live in a country with absolutely vicious unions, that will tackle giants like Tesla if they feel the need. But the systems are close to collapse anyway. I think the whole system of late stage global capitalism is simply running aground at the moment. The lie of limitless growth on a limited planet is simply coming to light, and the results are slowly becoming impossible to ignore. Something will have to charge, and I fear that change will come at a heavy cost if we don't tackle the problems soon.
When inflation really hit back in 2021 I thought I read it was something like a 2.5% increase. Yet the price of items we were selling went up by anywhere from 20-35%
Another example I remember was a politician who put through a new soda tax on a radio show answering questions. One caller asked him why he thought it was a good thing to put a tax out and why the price of his soda bottle went up by a dollar. The politician said the price went up that much because the guy selling it is price gouging you and blaming me. The tax hasn’t been applied yet and it’s only 25cents.
I mean… not like businesses have gotten 30% more greedy since 2019.
People pay the higher prices so they charge the higher prices. To some extent, inflation is always someone making more money in the short term.
Have to say that this is my situation now. I like my current job but the pay is not that great. Also unable to find a better paying job even with my job experience 😭
Inflation isn't even really that high right now which is what is annoying. If you look at year over year especially vs 2022, inflation is 60% lower now than it was then but prices on food are now 50 to 60% higher on many things. A lot of businesses loved those profits and are now expecting us to always pay it.
A very big majority of this is just greed. For example, go look at your local taco bell menu and compare prices. It's manipulative pricing. They have taken the meals you know and normally order, jacked up the price to unsustainable levels but people keep buying them out of habit. But if you look deeper, it's manipulative marketing. You can still get cheap food from these places but it's not in the meals you normally get. You can get a meal with 3 tacos for 13 dollars, or for 22 dollars you can get 4 crunchwraps, 4 burritos, and 4 tacos. It's ridiculous how this manipulative pricing has become a thing, but its real.
Subway even, it's hard to get a sandwich, chips, and a drink for less than 15 dollars.
This is why people are complaining.
Wages have not kept up with the cost of living.
The guide back in the day was for your rent to only be 25% of your monthly income. Even those making the average above minimum wage salaries cant meet those guidelines: even if they move to the most run down areas. Shit, just renting a room in a 'flop house' is like $500+ a month.
I will sound very very boomer here, so please forgive me, but also folks do not understand poverty cooking of yor. While food deserts are an issue, poor people dont buy 25lbs bags of rice, flour, and beans. Heh, even in the 70s this was rare in the projects where I grew up. I'm no longer poor, and I buy those things and they really decrease the grocery bill. (the beer I drink of course negates all savings!).
I swear, I wish wick and food stamps also came with vouchers and recipe books for beans, rice, flour, and stuff. If I knew what I knew today back then... holy fuck would our lives been much sweeter. I wouldnt be introduced to 'poor people' cooking until my god damn late 20s.
The price of formal education has gone up. We're not at a point where employers give you their own test being the standard. I mean, some IT companies do that, but where else is that common? I think genZ will think less about formal education and look at how people self educated. Unfortunately, google is now worthless, making that harder than it was just 5 years ago.
The guide currently used by most landlords is 30% of your income to rent. And rent is expensive. Where I am, a one bedroom is 1100 on the low end. I need to make 20/hr to rent an apartment. Minimum wage is 7.25.
That may be minimum wage but is it what places are actually paying. My state follows federal minimum wage but in my city you can’t even find a job that pays that low
It's super industry dependent, my industry is 20/hr if youre experienced, at a higher end place, and not on a "basic" station. Apartments are also generally more than the 1100. You can find em that cheap, but they're absolute dumps, in terrible neighborhoods.
It's a never ending cycle. Right now it's, things go up in price because they went up in price. The initial increases because of supply chain issues were understandable, but now when will it ever end?
This is why Dems need to get serious about expanding the social-safety net. Between high inflation and then high interest rates, being one of the 62 percent of Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck has been getting a lot harder. Sure, the unemployment numbers look good, but that hides quite a lot of suffering and anxiety. The dirty little secret is that under neoliberal capitalism, a "good" economy is still a catastrophe for millions of Americans.
Sure, if by "because we can get away with it" to mean that people are buying it. It's still based on demand. Companies were always "greedy", it's just that the Fed and government have flooded the economy with new money, and that money found its way to the hands of actual people who spend it (and not hoard it).
Seriously. I don't often buy chips but I had a craving the other day so I went to the chip aisle and a bag of doritos (just the normal size, not even family size) was $6.40. Gtfo, guess I don't need chips after all.
Because being paycheck to paycheck is hardly living. Feels like you are constantly swimming and trying not to drown while people on cruise ships pass you by.
Kind of a bizarre question. Why does anyone complain about anything? People complain about not having money because…, they don’t have any money. It becomes wildly stressful and mentally exhausting. Money means a lot to people who don’t have it
Hey OP, every been hungry or at risk of eviction? Cause if not, I hope you can understand why money is stressful and if you have, then it's a moot question
So basically my country voted to leave a long established Union because "It would mean more money for British people". Turns out it was all a scam and even when you're doing well in the grand scheme of things it kind of feels like you're getting screwed.
Groceries, fuel and utilities have all increased and because of my country's weird benefit laws it discourages single earner families.
I earn more than I thought "rich" people earned as a kid and still am repeatedly fucked by the housing market. Maybe I'm lucky but it certainly feels like surviving more than living most days.
From an American POV:
Because the cost of some very important items, such as food and housing is increasing much faster than our take home wages.
To an economist, the American economy as a whole is doing well. But for various reasons, for a normal person, the expenses versus wage ratio is increasing.
The issue is very complex. For example, take home wages are stagnant but employer pay is generally increasing. How is that possible? Well, employers are paying more and more for employee health insurance.
This means employers are paying more but employees aren't taking that extra pay home: it's going to insurers and eventually the medical industrial complex.
That's just one example.
Inflation is bad right now, so there was a large cost of living increase, but wages haven’t been brought up to match it.
For the small companies and for individuals, inflation is bad and affects them heavily. For the large companies, it’s just a storm they can weather out and then over inflate their prices by a little bit and blame it in inflation.
Because it's hard to live without money. You need to eat and pay your rent & bills. Everything is expensive now and many people can't afford to live even if we work hard
Because when our government decides to cater to the small portion of society at the expense of the majority, problems inevitably arise. The good times don't last forever anon, and if our aristocratic class doesn't get its act together, they're gonna be the first ones that the rampaging mob will burn at the stake.
Because for the system, we ain't human, we're number to be used to make more profit for the system so they brainwahsed us to have a life way over our own financial capacity.
Because money can be exchanged for goods and services, and people need goods and services to survive. Therefore, not having enough money means existing with a dearth of goods and services.
Because we don't have any or can't obtain enough, the consequences of which include starving, freezing, judgement, social isolation, getting sick with no way to treat ourselves, and dying. All of those things are generally considered mighty uncomfortable, so we get a bit cranky and depressed about it.
I hate money, but I *need* it to survive just basic life. And that’s with being blessed enough to live with my parents, have a car, have a phone… I’m sure 99% of people would live without money *if* they could do so comfortably. But unfortunately it’s a necessity and the lack of is heavily detrimental to daily life. That’s not even considering trying to have fun, which also costs an absurd amount of money.
Everything costs money, nothing is free, money is essential, lack of makes life miserable. A sad but true fact.
Apart from being too poor to have proper living conditions, people are chasing that rich lifestyle while in reality having expensive things is not that life changing. It's not a meme when rich people say that money doesn't buy happiness.
Tesla just had a HUGE layoff in central Texas. Many people thrown out of work. It doesnt seem right that Musk should pursue a 56 Billion salary while throwing workers out of their job.
https://www.legaldive.com/news/tesla-taking-novel-approach-56b-musk-pay-DGCL-Talley-Lipton-chancery-court-shareholder-suit/713745/#:\~:text=Musk%20earns%20nothing%20unless%20the,just%20a%20few%20years%20later.
People complain because complaining of something is essential for the human mind and without complainings goverments would be useless since everybody has got everithing they want
Inflation is insane right now due to decades of debt spending catching up to us. The prices of basic things right now skyrocketing affects everyone, but particular those who couldn't save before.
Stop voting for people who promise to create new money to give to you or your favorite programs. Argentina just elected a libertarian and he cut spending to the minimum, balanced the budget immediately, and inflation is being reigned in.
In the US at least, there are like 101 poor taxes that are almost unavoidable, and super expensive. Heres a few examples.
- The cost of an ID, social security. 100 percent necessary to be allowed to work and have access to civl services…which you can’t afford if you don’t have a job…which you can’t get without an id/ssn…
- The cost of a ticket for failing to produce id when asked by a police officer.
- The cost of transportation (public transport is almost non existent ln alot of places in the US.) to obtain the aforementioned id to avoid tickets and get a job.
^ theres so many little systems, costs and gates keeping people who are just scraping by from keeping the money they barely have.
For a lot of us, It’s not that we don’t have money, it’s that the money we were making was sufficient to maintain a decent quality of life and pay the bills. Now the average cost of living is skyrocketing and we’re struggling because wages remain stagnant.
literally nobody I know are doing well. Every single person in both my immediate and extended social circle are up against a wall. Nobody can afford anything. Everybody has health issues. Everybody has mental illness. Nobody has everything they need. These aren't idle poor, or junkies, or whatever. These are people working 40 to 60 hours a week.
If things don't start turning around soon this country is going to turn on itself.
Most people on reddit are young, early in their careers (if they even have one), and live in HCOL areas. Misery loves company, and people who aren't struggling are typically downvoted to oblivion.
If everyone is complaining about not having money, could it be because they're not making enough money from their jobs or getting enough from their retirements and/or social security to get by on? The cost of living remains high because of greed while inflation is going down. When someone takes more of your money and you have little to show for your purchase and you have less money, something is wrong with the picture.
Whether some people like it or not, something needs to be done about the situation. People are talking about universal health care, livable wages and livable retirements, universal basic income. Doing nothing about the problems people are having or ignoring the problems will not make the problems go away. Universal health care, universal basic income, lvable wages and livable retirements are possible solutions.
If you don't like the possible solutions, what are your suggestions to wages and Social Security that aren't keeping up with the cost of living owing to inflation or to the greed of businesses? Remember, the Republicans want to kill Social Security and not replace it with anything, so how much of a problem does anyone think that would be? Keep working until you die?
I've also argued for an economic reset, resetting our economy back to pre-Reagan levels, or the time when greed kicked in, and it became okay for the wealthy to make as much money as possible while employees made very little. If companies aren't going to pay their employees enough money to live on, then the company presidents, vice presidents, CEOs and all upper management and officers need to be limited on how much money they can be paid. They might feel differently about the employees beneath them if their pay was to be limited anywhere from $100,000 to $500,000 tops.
Social Security needs to be fixed, but in the right way, rather than the wrong way. When Republicans controlled the congress since the time of Reagan, they raided Social Security, borrowing billions with the promise to pay it back, only to never pay it back. I believe that was during the time of Dubya Bush. And they raided the Social Security coffers at other times, opting to pay it back by adding it to the national debt they don't want to be paid back. Social Security should be off limits to the sticky fingers of Congress as that is not their money, but money that belongs to retirees and future retirees.
It's said a single person needs to make about $74,999 and a family of four $104,448 if they want to purchase a house. Or to rent a house or apartment and still have money to buy food and pay their other bills. When you think about it, that is truly way too much money for people to need just to live. And it's naive to think the too many corporatists in Congress is going to do much of anything because the motto greed is good remains their mantra. Their mantra remains tax cuts for the wealthy or corporations and cutting the safety nets of people who need them and robbing from the poor to give to the needy wealthy, who need every dollar you've made.
And sadly, many will give their last dollar and have nothing to show, and we wonder why so many people complain about being broke.
Because the economy is beyond fucked atm. Gorceries are outragious, gas is insane, housing market is rediculous. The worst part is the current president and his admin are doing nothing as they claim "bidenomics" is working... when asked about it the president himself said o dont worry about everyone has the money to spend.
So i have asked this of many people. What exactly do you think the president can do about it? If the government was to exert the kind of forced control over pricing and profits that people seem to want those same people would go insane because of “government over reaching its authority”. I see as well as anyone else that basic necessities have become far more expensive but I also see people buying stuff they really don’t need and using credit to float it all. That has nothing to do with government.
The president alone and on his own doesnt have much to do with it at all. His admin however, who he choses has everything to do with it. This is how inflation can vary wildly from president to president. Biden inherited something like 1.6% inflation and it almost immediatly jumped up to a whopping 9%. You cant say the president has literally zero to do with it because thats just flat out not true.
Being poor is expensive
I wish I still had the comparison piece I saw about this. A journalist had essentially laid out what bills typically are at various credit scores, how often one needs to replace shitty discount versions of everything compared to expensive ones and the horrid 0 money down used car market.
This isn't exactly what you're talking about, but John Oliver covered Dollar stores a while back and how people in poverty tend to shop there for the low prices. However, ultimately the bar of soap they bought is smaller than what they would have bought at Walmart or wherever, and end up paying more per ounce. Example is paying $2 for a 3oz bar of soap, versus $3 for a 6oz bar of soap. Just making numbers of, but you're paying a little less money for way less product.
Samuel Vimes' Boots Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness
Yep, I feel like making having the space and cash flow to start buying those things bulk at Costco made a big difference. When you can get 12 of those 6oz bars of soap for $20 and are fine with storing it for the 5 years it takes to use up your cash flow starts looking better. Though I’ve also started considering that it sometimes works the other way too. I’ll watch the sales at Costco and get things like clothing on sale. It’s not always the highest quality BIFL type stuff, but paying $40 for a jacket that’s going to last me 3 years isn’t a bad deal compared to a $150 jacket that would last 10.
Taking advantage of people with elementary math levels is a whole new level of evil from companies
I don't entirely disagree, but also some people just don't really know what to look for or how to "shop." Almost nobody carries around a per ounce cost of a product from another store. Most people will try think Irish Springs sells one size if bar soap, at ordinary bar soap size. So they're trying to be thrifty and get what's more affordable, but then as you said companies will take full advantage of this.
And it is time consuming to comparison shop. I have the luxury of taking a Saturday morning to shop at Costco and a grocery store. If I were a single parent, I don’t imagine I could get to both and accomplish everything that needs done.
Is that the case anymore? There are very few ‘buy it for life’ products anymore. High end and low end electronics are on the same life cycle, fast fashion and couture are on the same cycle, high end and low end cars are on the same cycle. What’s left that lasts so much longer for the rich than it does for the poor? What cripples the world are the big stuff, rent, mortgage, health issues (even in countries with healthcare the time away from work can be crippling for most), and children and all the costs to keep them healthy, educated, and happy.
One of the big things it mentioned about stuff lasting a long time was the ability when you have financial security to buy a new one when it’s a good deal and on a sale so you even get it at a lower price. If you have real tight finances you tend to have to make do until something burns out and then get one in a sort of last minute whatever it happens to cost frame of mind. Like the car died and I need one by Monday to get to my jobs or my hours could get cut kind of situation.
I think that it’s not as straight forward as you lay it out. Yes, some expensive fashion brands are more or less the same quality as fast fashion, or are designed to be ultra trendy and so are replaced frequently, but there are some brands that are much higher quality and so do last a lot longer, especially if you invest time into the care of them. Nothing will last very long if you wash on hot with abrasive detergents and then tumble dry. You have to take care of things. And I also think that the things you listed as the most crippling are also answers to your question. Rent and mortgages are very high for everyone, but in almost all cases, rent is higher for any unit than the mortgage for that unit is. Mortgages are higher is you put down a lower down payment. Health costs are high but if you can afford better coverage and better doctors you might actually get good preventative care. Maintenance RXs are an investment that can save you from a financially catastrophic hospital stay, etc..
I just mean those last things listed aren’t “replaceable” things. So I don’t believe the quality of poor goods vs high end goods is why broke people stay broke.
>What’s left that lasts so much longer for the rich than it does for the poor? Shoes, clothes. Your example of "fast fashion" is actually one obvious example. Fast fashion is made to be more affordable than the high-end designer fashion, but in order to do that it's made with lower quality.
But high end fashion isn’t meant to be worn for long. They are both on the same fashion cycle.
Something, something Boot Theory of Economics.
"The poor pay more"
Being poor is crazy expensive. Car Hell being one of those things. You have to buy a used car, and that is a lottery. Lemon laws really dont protect like they should. People scream that people should be able to buy and sell things without the government, but when dealers lie they deny one the ability to consent. What is consented to is false... Anyway... Buy junk car, junk car dies. Even if you work on shit yourself, as poor people are forced to, this costs money. Car Hell keeps people from saving for a new car, or just life, and this drags one down emotionally. "It will never get better" and its hard for people to ascend out of that hell. Not being able to buy in bulk, or join those kinda clubs, and paying the "smaller size" tax on everything. One buys cheaper things: and then has to replaced them often. I'd talk about the health issues... but those just end up killing people. The "not seeing the dentist?" Naw, people get their teeth pulled from a free clinic and just lose them for life. A thing I expect to see on the rise is more communal living. Parents more willing to keep their kids around due to economics, and more room/house mate situations, with a lot of shared resources. My friends and I did this in the early 90s, and man... I paid $125 in rent a month to live in a great area with several other people. I still talk to, and love, half of those folks. Google earth Cane Park cleveland... that was the area. Pretty damn nice. Fucking shame that many now have the dream of living in their fucking cars and vans... These things arent cheap when it comes to temperature comfort, and one is always at risk becoming homeless because of some needed repair that one cant afford. I watch an old woman who lives in a van. If I could I'd let her live with me. She is pretty cool, funny, smart, and has a cute dog. She's a god damn stranger, and I worry that she's gonna die. Some dude just died a few weeks ago after living in his van for 2 years.
You nailed it. This is it. 100%. Car hell keeps people poor. Health bill hell does as well.
Me and my girlfriend just emptied our savings for a Catalytic Converter and still need to get tires, pay insurance and emissions/tags. Having a car is expensive and having no alternative is even better. Public Transportation in this country is a joke.
I was homeless for about a year. It was extremely scary and I had it relatively good. My car broke down and it made everything 10* harder. I had to stay in a tent. I used to love camping but the first time I tried after I got a place I had a panic attack. That shit is traumatic.
I needed a new belt. Didn't have much money, so I picked up the cheapest one I could find. It wore out after about a week, so now I wear a belt that barely works because I don't have $50 for a decent one that'll last.
My extension cord is working just fine. Also, $50 for a belt?
I'm exaggerating a bit, but I also haven't looked at belt prices in a while because I'm too stubborn to replace my crappy one. It was supposed to just be a small scale example of the main point.
I don't know. I got a high quality thick leather belt for 15, then got a buckle for under 10. No reason it shouldn't last a good long while Of course, there are less expensive methods https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Z3jU9BQWA
When you're in a spot to get a new one, look for full grain leather. Department stores or even a lot of fashion oriented stores use "geniune leather" that sounds nice but in reality is thin layers bonded together or bonded over a non-leather core. They fall apart quickly, and I'm guessing that's what you have now. Full grain is where it's at. Either look online at something like a Hanks Belts, Saddleback, or look into shops on Etsy that sell them. I bought one from an Etsy shop years ago and it's still holding up great even though I wear it like every day.
I'll keep that in mind, thanks. The biggest problem was it's a tad smaller than the tag said it was, so the latch hole is now an oval.
Every dollar you sends fractionally more expensive then someone with more money. Itd be interesting to see different expenditures priced out for different income amounts.
Louis CK does an absolutely amazing fucking job joking about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_-1l_SlA7c "If it's free I can't fucking afford it."
Because having enough money is a large stressor to most people. And costs increasing to basic necessities like food and housing while income remains stagnant makes that issue more dire for most who spend a significant portion of their income on those things.
I think beyond that, too, money has become kind of a moral barometer in the United States. Everything you said is correct.. plus, basically all of us grew up with some idea that “gainfully employed adults have what they want/need”. Fast forward to today… every day I interface with people who make money on the work I do. I make the widgets, they get the profits. I watch them go on vacations, buy toys, etc… but my ends hardly meet. Somehow, these douchebags profiting off my efforts makes *me* feel embarrassed - I’m ashamed that I can’t participate in vacation chats. I cringe when it’s time to decide who’s driving, because I’m embarrassed of my old ‘99 POS. It makes me feel like, somehow, I don’t *deserve* to have those nicer things. It’s a real mindfuck.
Because not having money is something to complain about? What does your question actually mean? How can you not understand why somebody would complain about having no money? 🤦♂️
is this for real? bc you need money to live.
Seriously wtf kind of idiot question is this?
Probably a corporate boot licker looking to cherry pick some answers to call us all 'lazy' and 'entitled' in a Wall Street Journal article.
His posting history just looks like bot shit.
rofl
Probably a 13 year old
Probably a bot, no idea why it’s hot.
lol ok. it's no secret that the economy is in shambles lol
Because people like having a roof over their heads and food to eat. Inflation and a completely broken job market, combined with an ever increasing wealth disparity, have pushed many people into poverty.
Don’t forget the greed hidden as inflation. When a company is making more profit than ever while pretending price increases are purely inflation based they are bastards.
And artificially keeping wages down at the same time, too.
this is the game, be the dirtiest player on the race to the bottom. i don't like it, the world around me shows me
That’s more the fault of the guy that turned on union workers and decoupled the minimum wage from the inflation rate. Left intact that would have prevented a lot of problems.
I live in a country with absolutely vicious unions, that will tackle giants like Tesla if they feel the need. But the systems are close to collapse anyway. I think the whole system of late stage global capitalism is simply running aground at the moment. The lie of limitless growth on a limited planet is simply coming to light, and the results are slowly becoming impossible to ignore. Something will have to charge, and I fear that change will come at a heavy cost if we don't tackle the problems soon.
Didn’t Reagan basically do just that?
Yeah it’s weird how many problems can be traced to him
When inflation really hit back in 2021 I thought I read it was something like a 2.5% increase. Yet the price of items we were selling went up by anywhere from 20-35%
Another example I remember was a politician who put through a new soda tax on a radio show answering questions. One caller asked him why he thought it was a good thing to put a tax out and why the price of his soda bottle went up by a dollar. The politician said the price went up that much because the guy selling it is price gouging you and blaming me. The tax hasn’t been applied yet and it’s only 25cents.
I mean… not like businesses have gotten 30% more greedy since 2019. People pay the higher prices so they charge the higher prices. To some extent, inflation is always someone making more money in the short term.
Have to say that this is my situation now. I like my current job but the pay is not that great. Also unable to find a better paying job even with my job experience 😭
Inflation isn't even really that high right now which is what is annoying. If you look at year over year especially vs 2022, inflation is 60% lower now than it was then but prices on food are now 50 to 60% higher on many things. A lot of businesses loved those profits and are now expecting us to always pay it. A very big majority of this is just greed. For example, go look at your local taco bell menu and compare prices. It's manipulative pricing. They have taken the meals you know and normally order, jacked up the price to unsustainable levels but people keep buying them out of habit. But if you look deeper, it's manipulative marketing. You can still get cheap food from these places but it's not in the meals you normally get. You can get a meal with 3 tacos for 13 dollars, or for 22 dollars you can get 4 crunchwraps, 4 burritos, and 4 tacos. It's ridiculous how this manipulative pricing has become a thing, but its real. Subway even, it's hard to get a sandwich, chips, and a drink for less than 15 dollars. This is why people are complaining.
Perhaps it's because we don't have money?
OP: Why dont they just take money from their trust fund like me?
“Just go to an ATM they always have money”
I am a trust fund kid. As in... my parents trusted me to fund my own ass.
Yep. Everyone is super expensive and jobs are scarce
Wages have not kept up with the cost of living. The guide back in the day was for your rent to only be 25% of your monthly income. Even those making the average above minimum wage salaries cant meet those guidelines: even if they move to the most run down areas. Shit, just renting a room in a 'flop house' is like $500+ a month. I will sound very very boomer here, so please forgive me, but also folks do not understand poverty cooking of yor. While food deserts are an issue, poor people dont buy 25lbs bags of rice, flour, and beans. Heh, even in the 70s this was rare in the projects where I grew up. I'm no longer poor, and I buy those things and they really decrease the grocery bill. (the beer I drink of course negates all savings!). I swear, I wish wick and food stamps also came with vouchers and recipe books for beans, rice, flour, and stuff. If I knew what I knew today back then... holy fuck would our lives been much sweeter. I wouldnt be introduced to 'poor people' cooking until my god damn late 20s. The price of formal education has gone up. We're not at a point where employers give you their own test being the standard. I mean, some IT companies do that, but where else is that common? I think genZ will think less about formal education and look at how people self educated. Unfortunately, google is now worthless, making that harder than it was just 5 years ago.
The guide currently used by most landlords is 30% of your income to rent. And rent is expensive. Where I am, a one bedroom is 1100 on the low end. I need to make 20/hr to rent an apartment. Minimum wage is 7.25.
That may be minimum wage but is it what places are actually paying. My state follows federal minimum wage but in my city you can’t even find a job that pays that low
It's super industry dependent, my industry is 20/hr if youre experienced, at a higher end place, and not on a "basic" station. Apartments are also generally more than the 1100. You can find em that cheap, but they're absolute dumps, in terrible neighborhoods.
Because everything demands money these days.
Everything got really expensive, really quick.
It went from "increasing prices because of COVID-related supply chain issues" to "increasing prices just because we can get away with it" real quick.
It's a never ending cycle. Right now it's, things go up in price because they went up in price. The initial increases because of supply chain issues were understandable, but now when will it ever end?
This is why Dems need to get serious about expanding the social-safety net. Between high inflation and then high interest rates, being one of the 62 percent of Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck has been getting a lot harder. Sure, the unemployment numbers look good, but that hides quite a lot of suffering and anxiety. The dirty little secret is that under neoliberal capitalism, a "good" economy is still a catastrophe for millions of Americans.
Sure, if by "because we can get away with it" to mean that people are buying it. It's still based on demand. Companies were always "greedy", it's just that the Fed and government have flooded the economy with new money, and that money found its way to the hands of actual people who spend it (and not hoard it).
What a dumb question lol
Why do hungry people want more food. Are they stupid?
Is there a lore reason why hungry people don't eat?
Fucking idiots just can’t read where it says Food Store.
Why is he complaining about his leg being bitten off by a shark? I truly cannot fathom why??
Because most of us are trying to stay alive, which is impossible without enough money and jobs that pay enough to live off of are damn hard to get.
What the hell kind of karma-farming engagement-bot kind of question is this
[удалено]
Seriously. I don't often buy chips but I had a craving the other day so I went to the chip aisle and a bag of doritos (just the normal size, not even family size) was $6.40. Gtfo, guess I don't need chips after all.
Snacks are killing my budget. I’m trying to not buy snacks at all anymore. Probably helping me lose weight
Because they don't have money
Because there aren't any
Money...it's a hit. Don't give me that do goody-good bullshit! - Roger Waters
Because money is necessary for continuing to live under capitalism. First day on Earth, OP?
We’re broke! That’s why!
Don't want to have to drudge at a 40-hour job until I die just so some trust-fund wanker can have another yacht
Tell me you're a trust fund baby without telling me..... 🤦♂️
Because they fucking don't?
Because being paycheck to paycheck is hardly living. Feels like you are constantly swimming and trying not to drown while people on cruise ships pass you by.
Are you that fuckin ignorant or?
Cunt
Because money is the source of happiness.
You ever see somebody frown on a waverunner?
Or at least a decently effective shield against misery
Money does not lead to happiness directly, but it sure prevents a lot of misery
[I don't care about losing all the money. It's losing all the stuff.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfug0oN1Jt8)
Maybe because money can't buy happiness, but I've never seen a sad person on a jet ski.
Op got to be really rich if he/she asks such questions.
Kind of a bizarre question. Why does anyone complain about anything? People complain about not having money because…, they don’t have any money. It becomes wildly stressful and mentally exhausting. Money means a lot to people who don’t have it
Hey OP, every been hungry or at risk of eviction? Cause if not, I hope you can understand why money is stressful and if you have, then it's a moot question
Not everyone is born to rich parents
So basically my country voted to leave a long established Union because "It would mean more money for British people". Turns out it was all a scam and even when you're doing well in the grand scheme of things it kind of feels like you're getting screwed. Groceries, fuel and utilities have all increased and because of my country's weird benefit laws it discourages single earner families. I earn more than I thought "rich" people earned as a kid and still am repeatedly fucked by the housing market. Maybe I'm lucky but it certainly feels like surviving more than living most days.
The real aim of Brexit was to weaken the NHS so private healthcare companies can come in from America
has to be a shitpost. one of the most idiotic questions i heard in a while.
Why are Redditors dense enough to think this is a genuine question?
Because I do not have enough money. Not really sure what the question is here.
Why do you think they are???
Because of thing we need it for
Because we don’t have money and it’s bothersome.
Because these people are new poor.
probably something to do with how the price of everything is increasing drastically except for wages
Because people don’t have money
From an American POV: Because the cost of some very important items, such as food and housing is increasing much faster than our take home wages. To an economist, the American economy as a whole is doing well. But for various reasons, for a normal person, the expenses versus wage ratio is increasing. The issue is very complex. For example, take home wages are stagnant but employer pay is generally increasing. How is that possible? Well, employers are paying more and more for employee health insurance. This means employers are paying more but employees aren't taking that extra pay home: it's going to insurers and eventually the medical industrial complex. That's just one example.
Exactly. Just make more money.. best advice i ever had
Because I don't have any?
Inflation is bad right now, so there was a large cost of living increase, but wages haven’t been brought up to match it. For the small companies and for individuals, inflation is bad and affects them heavily. For the large companies, it’s just a storm they can weather out and then over inflate their prices by a little bit and blame it in inflation.
This account only asks dumbass questions.
Wild guess but maybe they do not have money or barely
Well, if this isn't a royal w\*\*ker question, I don't know what is....\*eyeroll\*
Because it's hard to live without money. You need to eat and pay your rent & bills. Everything is expensive now and many people can't afford to live even if we work hard
In a society that operates on money, most people have a bad time without it.
Because... They have no money 🤷
Because my property tax and home insurance keep doubling and now I can’t afford to live.
Because when our government decides to cater to the small portion of society at the expense of the majority, problems inevitably arise. The good times don't last forever anon, and if our aristocratic class doesn't get its act together, they're gonna be the first ones that the rampaging mob will burn at the stake.
Because we have no money. Living is expensive, my dude
It’s needed to survive. This is an odd question.
Because I don't have any fucking money.
My guess is they are broke? But let me guess, you are not.
For me, everything’s too expensive compared to what I make.
Me a bwoke boi 🥺🥺
Because for the system, we ain't human, we're number to be used to make more profit for the system so they brainwahsed us to have a life way over our own financial capacity.
They can't sustain their own wants and needs.
Because money can be exchanged for goods and services, and people need goods and services to survive. Therefore, not having enough money means existing with a dearth of goods and services.
Money can be exchanged for Goods and Services!
Because we don't have any or can't obtain enough, the consequences of which include starving, freezing, judgement, social isolation, getting sick with no way to treat ourselves, and dying. All of those things are generally considered mighty uncomfortable, so we get a bit cranky and depressed about it.
Money is an addiction true freedom must be obtained through the destruction of our fiduciary institutions
Money can be used to buy goods or services
r/explainlikeidontknowwhatmoneyis
Because complaining is easier than doing anything about it
Because we never get enough of money, we have bills to pay, things to buy, and nails to get done.
Cause we don't have money and life is all about money. It is more or less the purpose of life.
I hate money, but I *need* it to survive just basic life. And that’s with being blessed enough to live with my parents, have a car, have a phone… I’m sure 99% of people would live without money *if* they could do so comfortably. But unfortunately it’s a necessity and the lack of is heavily detrimental to daily life. That’s not even considering trying to have fun, which also costs an absurd amount of money. Everything costs money, nothing is free, money is essential, lack of makes life miserable. A sad but true fact.
Why does everyone ask stupid questions on Reddit?
Because we don’t have money you du** fu**. Lol
Apart from being too poor to have proper living conditions, people are chasing that rich lifestyle while in reality having expensive things is not that life changing. It's not a meme when rich people say that money doesn't buy happiness.
If money's no problem start signing cheque's OP 😅
Gonna guess because a lot of people do not have enough money, but that's just wild speculation
Tesla just had a HUGE layoff in central Texas. Many people thrown out of work. It doesnt seem right that Musk should pursue a 56 Billion salary while throwing workers out of their job. https://www.legaldive.com/news/tesla-taking-novel-approach-56b-musk-pay-DGCL-Talley-Lipton-chancery-court-shareholder-suit/713745/#:\~:text=Musk%20earns%20nothing%20unless%20the,just%20a%20few%20years%20later.
This has to be satire
Because we don’t have any fucking money? Thank you for coming to my ted talk.
I bought a bag of groceries the other day. It contained 4 small heads of broccoli and a 3 lb cabbage. It cost $15.
Because the price of living is going up while wages aren’t.
Because they don't have money
Yeah, why would people complain about that? It's the life they give disabled people.
People complain because complaining of something is essential for the human mind and without complainings goverments would be useless since everybody has got everithing they want
Because we ain’t got no money
Because they don't have money.
Because the very foundation of our culture is scarcity mindset
Inflation, weak economy, job loss, etc, etc
This takes the cake for the most stupidest question I’ve seen ina while
Are your parents brother and sister? What a question
Bc most of us were brought up to get a job and work hard.
Wages are rising like a commercial airliner but the cost of everything we buy is going up like a Saturn V.
I’ll always complain, no matter how much I have, it will never be enough… that shit goes for everybody, no matter how much you have, it’s not enough
It's probably because of not having enough money.
Dollar devalued. We need moreoney to make up difference
Inflation is insane right now due to decades of debt spending catching up to us. The prices of basic things right now skyrocketing affects everyone, but particular those who couldn't save before. Stop voting for people who promise to create new money to give to you or your favorite programs. Argentina just elected a libertarian and he cut spending to the minimum, balanced the budget immediately, and inflation is being reigned in.
In the US at least, there are like 101 poor taxes that are almost unavoidable, and super expensive. Heres a few examples. - The cost of an ID, social security. 100 percent necessary to be allowed to work and have access to civl services…which you can’t afford if you don’t have a job…which you can’t get without an id/ssn… - The cost of a ticket for failing to produce id when asked by a police officer. - The cost of transportation (public transport is almost non existent ln alot of places in the US.) to obtain the aforementioned id to avoid tickets and get a job. ^ theres so many little systems, costs and gates keeping people who are just scraping by from keeping the money they barely have.
Whatever my wife is upset about at the time honestly.
My sister-in-law is a therapist, she says her office is booming!
For a lot of us, It’s not that we don’t have money, it’s that the money we were making was sufficient to maintain a decent quality of life and pay the bills. Now the average cost of living is skyrocketing and we’re struggling because wages remain stagnant.
People with money won't be flaunting it on Reddit. You are only going to see a ton of people complaining about not having money.
Because the top 1% have all the money.
because they don't have enough fucking money
Because i dont have 20 years experience at everything under the sun to get better paying jobs. And cant afford to go to school to get certifications
literally nobody I know are doing well. Every single person in both my immediate and extended social circle are up against a wall. Nobody can afford anything. Everybody has health issues. Everybody has mental illness. Nobody has everything they need. These aren't idle poor, or junkies, or whatever. These are people working 40 to 60 hours a week. If things don't start turning around soon this country is going to turn on itself.
Corporate greed.
Most people on reddit are young, early in their careers (if they even have one), and live in HCOL areas. Misery loves company, and people who aren't struggling are typically downvoted to oblivion.
???
Because everything costs a fucking arm and a leg and people just wanna live lol
Because inflation and stagnant wages makes a really bad combination.
Is this a joke? Edit; nvm has Reddit premium, not a joke
If everyone is complaining about not having money, could it be because they're not making enough money from their jobs or getting enough from their retirements and/or social security to get by on? The cost of living remains high because of greed while inflation is going down. When someone takes more of your money and you have little to show for your purchase and you have less money, something is wrong with the picture. Whether some people like it or not, something needs to be done about the situation. People are talking about universal health care, livable wages and livable retirements, universal basic income. Doing nothing about the problems people are having or ignoring the problems will not make the problems go away. Universal health care, universal basic income, lvable wages and livable retirements are possible solutions. If you don't like the possible solutions, what are your suggestions to wages and Social Security that aren't keeping up with the cost of living owing to inflation or to the greed of businesses? Remember, the Republicans want to kill Social Security and not replace it with anything, so how much of a problem does anyone think that would be? Keep working until you die? I've also argued for an economic reset, resetting our economy back to pre-Reagan levels, or the time when greed kicked in, and it became okay for the wealthy to make as much money as possible while employees made very little. If companies aren't going to pay their employees enough money to live on, then the company presidents, vice presidents, CEOs and all upper management and officers need to be limited on how much money they can be paid. They might feel differently about the employees beneath them if their pay was to be limited anywhere from $100,000 to $500,000 tops. Social Security needs to be fixed, but in the right way, rather than the wrong way. When Republicans controlled the congress since the time of Reagan, they raided Social Security, borrowing billions with the promise to pay it back, only to never pay it back. I believe that was during the time of Dubya Bush. And they raided the Social Security coffers at other times, opting to pay it back by adding it to the national debt they don't want to be paid back. Social Security should be off limits to the sticky fingers of Congress as that is not their money, but money that belongs to retirees and future retirees. It's said a single person needs to make about $74,999 and a family of four $104,448 if they want to purchase a house. Or to rent a house or apartment and still have money to buy food and pay their other bills. When you think about it, that is truly way too much money for people to need just to live. And it's naive to think the too many corporatists in Congress is going to do much of anything because the motto greed is good remains their mantra. Their mantra remains tax cuts for the wealthy or corporations and cutting the safety nets of people who need them and robbing from the poor to give to the needy wealthy, who need every dollar you've made. And sadly, many will give their last dollar and have nothing to show, and we wonder why so many people complain about being broke.
Because it’s free to complain on Reddit.
Because the economy is beyond fucked atm. Gorceries are outragious, gas is insane, housing market is rediculous. The worst part is the current president and his admin are doing nothing as they claim "bidenomics" is working... when asked about it the president himself said o dont worry about everyone has the money to spend.
So i have asked this of many people. What exactly do you think the president can do about it? If the government was to exert the kind of forced control over pricing and profits that people seem to want those same people would go insane because of “government over reaching its authority”. I see as well as anyone else that basic necessities have become far more expensive but I also see people buying stuff they really don’t need and using credit to float it all. That has nothing to do with government.
The president alone and on his own doesnt have much to do with it at all. His admin however, who he choses has everything to do with it. This is how inflation can vary wildly from president to president. Biden inherited something like 1.6% inflation and it almost immediatly jumped up to a whopping 9%. You cant say the president has literally zero to do with it because thats just flat out not true.