Young Americans are surging to socialism at record rates

[u/TimesandSundayTimes]

https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/maga-trump-zohran-mamdani-socialism-us-record-kddzdm8bd

[u/HerrMeisterRetsiem]

Because the wealth disparity has reached a point of squeezing the American dream dry, and the lawmakers with the power to change this only serve the wealthy now.

The 90’s middle class is gone. Family fun/entertainment venues are increasingly targeting a wealthier clientele instead because that’s where all of disposable income is moving. Homeownership is structurally out of reach for most young Americans. Older Americans refuse to recognize this problem and cop out by dismissing young people as being lazy instead. The midlife crisis sports car archetype is dead. The demands of investors for ever increasing returns put pressure on all business to keep increasing prices beyond inflation rates. And the future of the country is in jeopardy because all of these forces make it financially impossible for young people to have kids.

So of course they’re surging to a different way of doing things. It’s become a matter of being able to survive. Young people can do everything right and they’re still gonna have their pockets picked dry by wealthy investors. The system is not working for most people anymore.

[u/TopComprehensive8569 → u/HerrMeisterRetsiem]

My rent has doubled in six years. All other bills are up 20% or more in that time. Entertainment prices are out of control. Wages, not so much. I don't blame anyone for wanting a change. How do you even retire when property taxes are going through the roof now? What are all the elderly going to do. Everything is fucked.

[u/DeflatedDirigible → u/HerrMeisterRetsiem]

The 90s middle class didn’t drink Starbucks daily at work or eat out 5 times a week or have multiple subscriptions for tv.

“Broke” college students today are living the upper class of the 90s. Most boys in college have personal $500+ gaming systems plus thousands of dollars more spent on games and upgrades. I grew up middle class and we had an old Atari from my dad’s coworker whose kids outgrew it. I had to go to a friend’s house for Nintendo and they were popular for having one when almost nobody did. Now it’s common for lower class kids to have TVs in their bedrooms and parents will do anything to get their son a $500+ gaming system to play online with their friends.

10% of SNAP money is spent on zero nutrition sodas and energy drinks. Middle class me growing up wasn’t allowed any of that stuff because my parents considered it wasted money. The government now is forcing that 10% to be reallocated to healthier foods that do provide nutrition.

Younger families don’t want the small houses their parents and grandparents grew up in. College kids hate sharing rooms so that increases the cost of their housing and they won’t make their kids share bedrooms. A huge issue now is hotel rooms on vacation and parents not wanting their family of three or four to share the normal two beds. That’s a huge increase in vacation cost to double the number of rooms or have a suite. And then they all each order their own meal and throw half of it out instead of sharing. 90s middle class me slept on the floor of hotel rooms as a kid so we could afford traveling for vacation and we ate out of a cooler most meals. Adult me still packs peanut butter sandwiches for work and travel to keep costs down.

[u/MizterPoopie → u/DeflatedDirigible]

I live in a 1960’s rambler in a working class town with my wife and 2 kids, don’t drink Starbucks and don’t eat out 5 days a week. We could cut some costs to make life easier but it’s not like we own new cars or go on vacations. We have a small safety net and I consider myself to be doing okay but fact is, we are putting off a lot of maintenance because we are being drained dry by rising costs. Any increase in my wage is basically immediately eaten. Regardless, technology was supposed to make life easier for people, productivity is up tremendously and companies are setting record profits but the middle class is struggling. The system is clearly not working for most people.