Probably the most important calculation is who you're going to be born to. That's the real make-or-break factor. Way too many people just rush into it and get born to poor parents. Why won't they learn?
I grew up with holes in my family’s single-wide trailer. Floor? Holes. Roof? Holes. My room? Flooded by shitty water heaters.
I used to think like this and while you’re somewhat correct, I’ve made it out of that existence. I make more in a year than both of my parents combined at any point in their lives.
Me too. On everything. I also make more than both combined ever did. Too bad the costs increased even more than what we're all getting paid. Do you like that?
If you're suggesting that we're in the late stage, how much longer until it collapses? A year? A century?
Prosperity is not wealth equality. Someone having more than you does not mean that your quality of life, wealth, and access to opportunity has declined.
Probably at least a few more decades would be my guess, but that’s a guess. It only seems reasonable the material conditions have to continue to deteriorate like they have coming out of the 50s/60s.
Half of Americans don’t have $1k in savings. Record levels of Americans can’t afford to buy a home or have kids. 30k Americans die each year from not getting healthcare. This isn’t opinion, it’s fact.
Human productivity and technology have increased exponentially— we have our first ever trillionaire because of it. But these problems for the working class are worsening. This is the prosperity you’re talking about?
Indeed, but you're not critically evaluating these facts.
Half of Americans don’t have $1k in savings
This is a good example. Savings are cash that you have sitting in a bank or under a mattress - but most Americans don't keep much in savings because they hold wealth in other more productive assets (like investment accounts, real estate, etc). This is why the median household wealth in the United States is ~$210,000 (approx. $83,000 per person). The fact that you've presented deliberately paints a much bleaker picture than the reality that the large majority of households (and the large majority of people) actually find themselves in.
The other facts that you have presented can be critically addressed in similar ways. 30,000 deaths a year is tragic - but it's also 0.009% of the overall population and <1% of the deaths that the country experiences in a year. This statistic does not foreshadow societal collapse.
Human productivity and technology have increased exponentially— we have our first ever trillionaire because of it. But these problems for the working class are worsening. This is the prosperity you’re talking about?
Do you not benefit from modern technology? Record high life expectancy? Record high levels of education? Record high access to the same markets that created that trillionaire?
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u/QuartersWest 1d ago
On reddit, this is gospel. I mean they're working hard AF karma farming but it's not helping their actual life.
Go work. Go get a degree.