I agree that things have been worse in the past, mostly. I’m gonna paraphrase a video from Unlearning Economics I saw a while ago (pretty sure he was quoting someone but I can’t remember who):

Optimists look at the world and think, ‘this is the best it gets’. Pessimists know that we can always do better

<3

How the world seems to be more and more fucked up every single day and how the vast majority of us simply don’t seem to care. Climate change, corporations quickly becoming the new States, politicians who just lie and lie with no consequences, AI being viewed as the magical cure-all for all these problems when really it’ll just make bad decisions easier to justify, and most of all, how people seem to view everyone else around them with more and more suspicion which eliminates even the faint hope we have of working together to solve some of these. Idk, take your pick, they all have the potential to be the death of us

Giving you enough context to actually answer your question without giving up TOO much private info, in order:

Cubicle job where I make just under $20/hour (min. wage for my state is $15)

As for family/friends, I’ve reached out a little bit, yes. But I don’t like doing it too much, regardless of how difficult my life becomes. Maybe it’s pride, maybe it’s empathy, idk. Either way, I just can’t. In short, I’ve gotten SOME help, but I won’t get much more

As for cost of living, I live in the American Midwest and split rent in a decent apartment in a relatively-safe neighborhood with one other person (hopefully 3 total in the next couple months)

And that’s about all I’m willing to give up online

Edit: I copy-pasted from a very similar response, so I had to adjust it to fit YOUR questions

[Copy-pasting my response from a very similar question, I’ll put your specific questions in an ‘edit’ below:

Giving you enough context to actually answer your question without giving up TOO much private info, in order:

Cubicle job where I make just under $20/hour (min. wage for my state is $15)

I don’t have a SET budget, but I really don’t spend that much :/ Rent is roughly half of my current paycheck (currently with 1 additional roommate but hopefully will get another in the next few months); Food is probably my biggest expense. Other than that, I have Spotify, YouTube, Xbox, and Microsoft Office accounts, but that total is about $60/month, which isn’t THAT much and, on the whole, has actually saved me money (so many ‘free’ games on Xbox it’s not even funny).

As for debt, I’ve got an account with a credit union, phone bill, car payments, car insurance, renter’s insurance, student loans, utilities, etc, etc. For a rough estimate (again, without giving too much away), recently I ended a week with ~$35, got my (2-week/80-hour) paycheck, paid all my bills, and ended up with ~$75. So, essentially, I made $.50/hour after bills

Edit: Location, American Midwest. Education, some years of college (a pretty good one, too) but never graduated. Age, early 30s. Aaand that’s about all I’m comfortable giving online

Giving you enough context to actually answer your question without giving up TOO much private info, in order:

Cubicle job where I make just under $20/hour (min. wage for my state is $15)

I don’t have a SET budget, but I really don’t spend that much :/ Rent is roughly half of my current paycheck (currently with 1 additional roommate but hopefully will get another in the next few months); Food is probably my biggest expense. Other than that, I have Spotify, YouTube, Xbox, and Microsoft Office accounts, but that total is about $60/month, which isn’t THAT much and, on the whole, has actually saved me money (so many ‘free’ games on Xbox it’s not even funny).

As for debt, I’ve got an account with a credit union, phone bill, car payments, car insurance, renter’s insurance, student loans, utilities, etc, etc. For a rough estimate (again, without giving too much away), recently I ended a week with ~$35, got my (2-week/80-hour) paycheck, paid all my bills, and ended up with ~$75. So, essentially, I made $.50/hour after bills

Wait what

Watch Snowpiercer

Some of the earliest Roman historians (like way, way back in the early Republic, before they even did any conquering) used to bemoan the laziness and ‘softness’ of the current generation compared to the past. Thinking the previous generations were better is a human tradition older than any other aspect of civilization

In addition to all the other (better) answers on this post, I’ll just add: There is literally nothing stopping someone from buying one of those stickers and slapping it on their car like they would any other sticker. No one’s gonna pull you over because you don’t look like a beginner driver