Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

chewwydraper t1_jef62m4 wrote

Can't speak for the people of Spain, but what I can tell you is here in Canada it's gotten so unaffordable that I've just given up on "the dream".

I make a decent salary, around $70K. It isn't enough to afford a home or to build a comfortable savings after rent + student loans + car insurance, etc. are paid. So now I just simply don't give a fuck. I'm not overly dedicated to my job, because why would I be? It's not building me a life. It doesn't even keep up with inflation. I will 100% put my mental health first at this point, because what else do I have?

375

WileyQuixote42 t1_jefacyj wrote

Yep.

The Dream, American or otherwise, has been shown to be just that: a fantasy. Or more accurately, capitalist propaganda.

But now all I really want is my boring, simple little life. The job gets the minimum, both in effort and hours. Period.

Everything else gets my passion and what’s left of my time.

173

I-tell-you-hwat t1_jefdtia wrote

The “American” dream was real a long time ago. People could buy homes and afford food and amenities on a single parent salary.

Somewhere along the line it was taken away. They kept taking their raises and consolidated businesses down to only a handful of “big” companies while giving nothing in return. Record profits &unemployment numbers all at the same time.

Capitalism takes and takes and takes and offers nothing in return. They lobby OUR voted in politicians. They take over smaller companies. They pat themselves on the back for recod breaking profits while walking their offices “layoffs for you! Layoffs for you. You too!” They scream to come back into offices not to help YOU but to make themselves more important and to not break contracts for the office space. Especially when you could do 100% of you work remotely.

When you look at the way the world is moving, it almost has a quality of “purposeful corruption”.

“Its a Feature not a bug”

82

greensandgrains t1_jefi6vf wrote

The American dream wasn’t ever real for a lot of people. Racialized, a woman, disabled, or queer, for example.

50

Fausterion18 t1_jefpp9c wrote

>The “American” dream was real a long time ago. People could buy homes and afford food and amenities on a single parent salary.

Lmao if by "homes" you mean a 700 sqft shack and "food" you mean spending more money on food than Americans do today(as percentage of income) despite having someone to do cooking full time, sure.

−21

Attarker t1_jegaba1 wrote

This is going to be a thorn in the side of employers until they wake up and realize this. It recently dawned on me that the only way I will acquire any wealth is by means outside of a traditional job since those don’t pay worth a shit anymore. No reason to go the extra mile in any job I have in the future. I‘ll be saving my energy for things that will actually make a difference for me.

14

Theonetheycall1845 t1_jefpovo wrote

Damn I live on one third of this. I don't have student loans though. How much are your SL?

9

chewwydraper t1_jefqix5 wrote

Paying about $360/month. Where I am car insurance is a killer too, that's another $200/month. Then $1500/month rent + utilities.

10

Reyedy t1_jegb64j wrote

That's 2k/month. You make a bit less than 6k before taxes, where does the rest go? Genuinely curious because European. 70k€ here would be very comfortable.

9

chewwydraper t1_jege9rq wrote

>70k€ here would be very comfortable.

In fairness $70K€ would be over $100K in my country (Canada) so yeah that'd be quite a bit more comfortable.

Here in Canada and specifically the province I work for (Quebec) after tax the take-home pay is around $4K/month. There's monthly stuff I didn't list on there such as cell phone bill ($80+) internet ($80+) groceries (skyrocketted this year, can easily hit $150/week or $600/month) gas (currently spend $200/month), utilities ($100-ish/month), and then other odds and ends. It really doesn't leave that much leftover.

12

kingtitusmedethe4th t1_jefyrt4 wrote

I feel that. I have a bachelors and make 40k a year... literally making about 30 bucks under my monthly budget, so I have to do side hussles every month to pay bills. That budget does not include groceries and random expenses either.

4

Mauzolini t1_jefucq9 wrote

You put it perfectly. At the end of the day our mental health is the most important thing to protect. Our society, unfortunately, is currently designed to use us up & spit us out.

It’s up to us, collectively, to do our best to protect our wellbeing. Keep doing what you’re doing. It sounds like you’ve got it figured out.

3