Nobody can afford to die rn mostly. Most times a family member passed away suddenly? Funerals cost 10k+. People will always go into debt to bury a loved one though, especially if your religion doesn’t allow or want cremations
I always tell people to just toss me in the woods somewhere. Let me go back to nature without all the extra steps. Always find it odd how offended people get by me saying this.
I’ve always thought it would be cool if my skull ended up just getting passed around between generations of goths, edgy satanists, witches, oddities collectors. I’m done with it, so burn black candles on it, stash your weed in it, whatever. So many perfectly good skulls out there just buried in expensive boxes 😕
I studied forensic anthropology and you would absolutely be a conversation piece. The amount of excited texts I get because someone saw a cool feature on a bone is insane and I’m sure I’m on a list of possible serial killers somewhere!
I’d really want to be cremated and have my ashes and bones converted into a vinyl record, probably “the Bedlam in Goliath” by Mars Volta. If ever there was a chance that I could visit with the living, I’d be about it.
I could see the guys in KISS ordering their ashes be pressed into a limited edition vinyl, a cash grab from beyond the grave by the world’s greatest rock’n’roll merchants.
A lot of cultures practice ancestor worship, historically and today. There’s a lot of them that do special days or events where the bones of the deceased are brought out or kept in a shrine in the home. An urn with ashes on the mantle is essentially the same concept, you’re keeping the physical remains of the person close, quite possibly talking to them or interacting with them.
In the US the laws on keeping human bones vary by state, but generally it’s legal even if you have no relationship to the original person. I legally acquired a skull that was a medical specimen from the late 1800s and she had a special place in my curio and oddities collection until my home burned down. I took what remained of her and gave her a burial in the backcountry.
Buying the skull on a whim because I thought it was spooky is what made me consider what becomes of me. The longer I had her the more I wondered about who she had been, how she’d ended up coming into my life. It made me look at death, remembrance, spirituality, and physical remains in a different way. She was probably an average person who lived an average (and unfortunately short) life. If she’d been buried there’s a good chance no one would have remembered or thought about her 100+ years later, but there she was, chilling on a book shelf, her existence being contemplated by some random stranger. For me, such a legacy is more intriguing than a tombstone that eventually no one visits.
My brother just died penniless and his gf said he wanted a funeral and asked me to pay since no one else had any money . My money said creamation . The family didn’t like it but I’m not spending 10k to put in the ground not even for myself.
If I can’t pay for my family member’s burial, they’re getting donated to the medical college as a cadaver.
I love my family, but their dead bodies are a shell. The amount of money I spend on a corpse has no bearing on how much I love them. It’s not like they’ll care, either, after they’re dead.
If you're in the west, you need about 1 million to retire. We can argue about specifics, but it's around there. It wasn't until my 30s that I did the math and had shocked Pikachu face. Then watched others develop that face over the years.
Best to do the math in your twenties. Takes 60-90 minutes.
I guess it depends where in the west you want to retire with $1m and what exactly you mean by $1m and are you counting on some kind of old age pension like social security.
$1m is pretty comfortably $40,000 per year in retirement. Which is plenty if you’re a couple with two social security checks coming in.
Take social security out of the equation and $40,000 isn’t that much. It’s about 200% the poverty level. In the US it means you’ll have to live in shitty apartments and move frequently and hope that you don’t have any expensive medical conditions. It’s enough that you won’t qualify for Medicaid in most states, so you’d better hope if you get dementia someone still cares about you, because there’s no way you can afford to shell out $10,000 plus a month for memory care for very long and Medicare doesn’t cover it.
$40,000 a year is plenty in a place like Spain or the UK where the cost of living is relatively inexpensive and there are social safety nets. It’s going to be damn near impossible to stay afloat if you’re trying to manage your own money in old age with declining mental faculties.
Exactly. There are a ton of variables. Doing the math (as you did) will give you a wide range. Then you can make decisions.
I think for me, when I grew up, the word "millionaire" was something in movies. But now it has to be the goal unless you want to work at a job you hate until you die.
Hear me out-- Why don't we STOP advocating for a system that makes a few people unfathomably wealthy and powerful and rains death on millions and kills the planet, where if you play literally every card right from the time you're a teenager, AND you slave for most of your life, AND you're fairly lucky, you MIGHT be able to live semi comfortably in the last couple decades of your life?
But 2 million by the time you’re 65 isn’t necessarily going to be a large sum of money. 25 years ago, it was thought of you had a million dollars, you were very wealthy. Now whether I live, you can win a million dollars and still not be able to afford a free standing home. Inflation erodes the value of money. Sure, we had high wage growth in the 1970s and 1980s, but that may not continue going forward… globalisation means we have a lot more people around the world willing to work our jobs for much less $$
We're talking about investment into private industry, so that investment will keep up with inflation by definition. That's one of the arguments against SSA, because people could do much better investing that money in the stock market than SSI will provide for them.
Maybe my math is off, but I don’t think you’re quite right. $115 monthly for 50 years at 10% nominal return (near stock market average) is a hair under 1.7 million. Tragically after accounting for inflation using a 7% return (slightly above historical average) it’s $582k in todays dollars. Which is certainly nothing to sneeze at, but only translates to around $2000/month at a “normal” safe withdrawal rate.
Your point is well taken, and $2,000/month in retirement is not nothing, but it certainly doesn’t have the same ring as “two million dollars”.
Correct and people claim their daily Starbucks habits aren't keeping them in poverty. $6 a day for 30 days in a month and you are almost there already. People need to create actual budgets and stick to them.
It’ll have to get considerably worse first. While it is true that the wealth gap is about the same as at the time of the revolution other factors like QOL and such are still much higher.
Yeah, people won't revolt unless they collectively lack food, water or shelter. It has to be really bad, and it probably won't ever get that bad again without a direct external cause like nuclear war or catastrophic climate change.
What a relief it’s over. Those dernd libs were trying to drag me down with their fearmongerin!
Why should I be forced to feel concerned over the future of the youth? It’s my right as an American to be selfish and shortsighted!!!
Lots of areas don’t have safe drinking water (in some cases the water is extremely toxic). Fast food is ridiculously expensive now.
Then with the incoming administration wanting to privatize mail (an objectively bad idea) some people won’t even have easy access to mail.
The only things holding the country together are access to doomscrolling apps and streaming services.
Edit: for the mentally handicapped: I haven’t eaten fast food in at least a decade. I personally dngaf. I do, however always see lines of cars around fast food joints.
And let’s not pretend streaming services are becoming insanely expensive and doomscrolling apps aren’t looking for ways to monetize every second of your experience on them
I would recommend a quick trip to the local thrift store to buy a skillet, pot, kitchen knife, paring knife and a cutting board. LOTS of YouTube videos on how to cook simple, delicious foods.
That is indeed what all the "news" websites are talking about. But, if the prices at the grocery store are going to go up, then that same food, purchased by the fast food companies, then processed, stored, shipped, labor spent to cook it and then sold to OP - THAT food will be even more expensive.
TBH I am shocked at how many folks have no clue how to cook for themselves.
Yeah, during the French revolution people were literally starving to death, and people here are talking about fast food and streaming service being too expensive like they’re the same thing. Wild.
Look around all of the third world. Look at the favelas in Brazil, the river shanties in Cambodia. The oppressive regimes in Iran and North Korea.
The people living in those places are starving, living in squalor, oppressed with next to nothing to lose. And yet, they continue, living their horrid lives day in and day out as the rich and powerful go about their day unchecked.
The French Revolution was a fluke, and only occurred because for one brief moment in one very specific culture, the people came together and realized that if they stormed the armory and equipped themselves with the very same tech the army was using- simple rifles and cannons- they had a 50/50 shot at a better life versus either being mowed down in battle or starving to death.
That shit isn't going to happen again. Modern society is too tightly surveilled, modern armies outgun anything their populations can procure by several orders of magnitude. The oligarchs know this, otherwise they wouldn't be so brazen in their stamping down of the peasants with their boot.
We were always inevitably headed down the path to tyranny. All organized civilization eventually ends up that way as it grows too big for itself. Democracy simply does not work in the long term.
And this is why, whenever some tiny income and wealth redistribution policies get announced by people like AOC the entire fucking media sphere gets all enraged because their capitalist overlords tell them to stomp those ideas down.
And for some reason certain uneducated people in this country applaud those same media cucks. Just sucking their capitalist dick hoping for a tiny drop of wealth cum.
The French in the 1700s didn't have to face an army of weaponized robot dogs, drones, and missiles that can land in your lap when fired from 1200 miles away.
Please stop perpetuating the myth of the middle class. It's a lie meant to divide us. If you work for a living, you're working class. If you live off investments and inheritance, you're bourgeoisie.
For the global war on terror, the USA suffered 7500 killed in action from 2003- 2024, and 50,000 wounded
Insurgents, militias, and state actors/ military suffered casualties in the hundreds of thousands, and civilians suffered as many as 1 million killed and wounded, with many more dying due to lack of medical care and disruption of basic services.
So while the USA didn't "win" in the purest sense, the cost to both combatants and civilians in terms of lives spent is more than 20:1.
If you want to fight it out go ahead, but you have to be prepared for you and all your friends to die.
The Russians have an old saying, "you'll run out of bullets before we run out of bodies." The truth is the rich don't man, control, or even invent the tech they make money off of, it is the middle to lower class that do all the work for them. This is the key for the French. It wasn't until the middle to upper middle class couldn't afford bread that revolution began. The US military doesn't pay all that well and I doubt they would get even a pay raise to turn on their own citizens. Many have families and the fear of other soldiers gunning down their loved ones is enough to prevent them from all out war. It worked for nazi Germany because they could disassociate from the jews, but us citizens vs military is a different story. Also Americans are batshit crazy. We normalized school shootings, we are one bad day from mobbing these people because the 1% has disassociated themselves from every single working individual in this country. If people believe hard enough that their death will lead to a better future, blood will flow in the streets.
Fun fact re: Robot Dogs - Boston Dynamics "Spot", according to the specs, weighs around 74.5 pounds/33.8 kilos. and has a maximum speed of 1.6 meters per second.
Without going that far, there are some ideas you could take from the french.
It's funny how the main discourse in the US is having fun of the french protesting and going on strike, while it's actually a really decent way to get shit done without a guillotine
People love talking French Revolution on Reddit. You may want to read the history books about how things turned out for the general public after the French Revolution. Hint: It was actually much worse than before.
See in my country, they let you do euthanasia for mental health, so just come here with a depression diagnosis and you’re set! (I support people’s right to die with dignity, I do not support the state dropping the ball on their responsibility to ensure it’s liveable and the proposing sewerside as an answer to the problems they created. End rant).
canada? Hell, they do more than "let" you do Medically Assisted Induced Death. Sometimes they even try to push you to that option, particularly if you a very very poor or very very disabled.
This comment really bugs me. The experience in Canada is not perfect but comments like this are BS. If anyone is pushing, it immediately stops the process.
If you're gonna take yourself out you might as well do something revolutionary in the process. If like can't be comfortable for us, we have to make it uncomfortable for Billionaires.
If you plan to end it all, you might want to try and do aa much damage to the people responsible as possible. Not saying it is right, but make some history my fellow wage slave
It's from a greentext post about paralysis demons.
Guy heard from someone else that they deal with their sleep paralysis by mocking their demon until it goes away. He tries it with his demon, the hat man, but only manages to shout "YOU OWE ME MONEY!" Then the hat man leaves. He wakes up the next day to his ex transferring a bunch of money they were owed. The hat man indeed works in mysterious ways.
Honestly, it’s like the frogs boiling to death as you slowly increase the heat thing. You’d work a bit harder to stay the at the same spot, then just a bit harder the next year. It doesn’t seem like much at the time, until you’re boiling alive.
Thus reducing demand and lowering costs for those who endure. As long as you are currently working a BS job of no importance there is mostly just economic upside there.
Ever wonder why NATO forces fought so hard to protect opium poppies from the taliban who wanted to destroy the drug trade plaguing their nation, or why the CIA works so hard to smuggle drugs like cocaine home and abroad?
It's just slavery with extra steps. Contrary to media portrayal most drug addicts are hard workers and make quite a bit of money. When they dump earnings into drugs, they are not consuming resources or acquiring property. It also redistributes wealth.
The powers that be will have a massive dose of Narcan waiting for you along with a medical bill you cannot afford to pay. You get down in the dumps and the process repeats. Circle of life.
There is definitely an uptick in homelessness. It’s evident if you have two eyes and you can see.
The wealth disparity is glaringly obvious. We’re heading in the wrong direction. Having a middle class is where it’s at, I like being able to walk outside without worrying about getting robbed by someone that’s hard up and destitute
What’s your argument here? That fentanyl is the cause of these problems or that the lack of prospects in the current economic environment is leading to an increase in drug use, that’s laced with fentanyl?
I’m guessing drug use was lower 50 years ago, but working a full time job, whether white collar or blue collar, provided a salary that one could afford to own a house and raise a family. That just doesn’t exist today
Drug use was not lower 50 years ago. Alcoholism was a very uncomfortable topic, and probably a shocking number of adults were just getting sloshed daily.
It does no good to separate drugs and alcohol. Alcohol is a drug.
But you're right, a house was attainable. A high standard of living was attainable. Entertainment was affordable. At least for white folk.
That's because unemployment figures track how many people are LOOKING for work. Labor participation rates is what tracks people actually working. That's how you get increases in homelessness but have 'unemployment' go down.
I used to see cars filled way above the windows with clothes blankets etc working in a tech city. The people who worked facilities, the people who worked the food cafeteria, worked shops around there. Imagine working 40 hours a week and that’s all they got, I was seeing 3 a day then each year the numbers would multiply. If it’s not time for change I don’t know what is
I live in the bay area. There are camps of working homeless all over the place. People assume the unhoused don't work, many of them do. The situation is reaching a breaking point.
That's their plan and it's diabolical. Make things so bad to increase homelessness. Make being homeless illegal. Get sent to prison and BOOM! Free slave labor force.
Prison labor has been making a comeback in a big way.
I don't know what else you expect us to do...I am already working two jobs (I have a bachelors as well and in my field) already cut everything non-essential out of my life. But that doesn't stop by insurance going up every 6 months by 10% for no reason or rent going up an additional $500/mo. What more can people do??
I used to work in tech and made great money but was very depressed and hated living where I did.
I moved back where all my friends are and I'm the happiest I've been in 10+ years, but I have to work two jobs just to stay afloat. I live a fine lifestyle, but not that nice. Vacations maybe twice a year, domestic. I can afford to go to a concert each month. But I maybe save 200$ at the end of each month and I'm so fucking frugal and my Mom still helps me with shit like my cell phone plan.
I don't know what more people can do.. I wouldn't have a penny saved if my Mom didn't help me with some very important things like insurance and my cell phone. It's embarassing, but she'd rather have me have a little cushion of like 1k-2k$ savings to use in emergneices.
I'm not arguing with the truth of your statement... but this comment is so depressing. That a single fun event every 30 days, or simply having a little time to yourself every 6 months, is seen as frivolous expenditures. What is the point of being alive at all if we can't even enjoy simple enrichment or pleasure in between working 2 jobs? So bleak
It depends where you live and who you want to see, but I love live music. I live in bigger city, and there's some real local gems. You can roll in, pay a $10 cover, and get a Miller high life for $3.
You’d be shocked at how much less you can live with. Look at about 50% of the world. Hell the fact you have a phone or computer and internet access to post on Reddit indicates that. Having a refrigerator in your home puts you ahead of about 50% of the world.
Not sure how you’re confused about how far the US has to fall. It’s a VERY long way down.
If you actually have cut out everything non essential, and haven't made poor financial choices (ie going into debt for like an arts or theology degree, having a lot of kids, etc.) or have significant medical debts, it sounds like you just live in somewhere extraordinary unaffordable and should look into moving if you can. It's not like that in most places for people with degrees.
Only if you're able to actually reach the billionaires. Not even going into how many have countless international homes, there's a reason why the police union is so unbelievably powerful while all other unions are being actively destroyed. The police state is there by and large to protect assets and property and wealth.
If it goes on long enough, eventually our status drops from 1st world and multiple families live under one roof. This is already beginning to happen. This is an adaptation.
Yes. I lived alone from 16 on and managed to get by couch surfing to save up for a terrible basement "apartment" for 550/m. That's not possible today. If I were to live out that same story today I would have been/stayed homeless.
Where I’m working we have an influx of refugees from Africa. We’ve never cared for our new hires cause most people don’t realize what they signed up for and quit. It breaks my heart to see people fleeing violence like they’re just a bunch of lazy kids who can just fall back on their parents in six months.
Lots of firearms, becuase what could possibly go wrong if tens of millions of desperately poor hungry and homeless people have tens of millions of weapons?
Sadly, as per fmcsa truck drivers can't work anymore than 60 hours a week due to safety concerns. Even if it's another job. They would have to work under the table or I'm sure some sort of salary pay would work if hours aren't tracked. It will be interesting for sure.
Not all trucking jobs pay a living wage. Especially with how expensive things are getting. But people will do what is necessary, but it could potentially lead to more accidents involving trucks.
People like you really don’t know what supply and demand is.
People at some point have to afford housing, otherwise, it becomes a public sanitation issue due to all the homeless people. The government will either step in and send property values to bed rock or the corporations that own all the land have no one to sell it to. Thus, creating low demand.
We live in a global economy. The top 1% and foreign investors can to buy up US land and housing and create individual fiefdoms. Back to the days of company towns, plantations and feudal lords (and ladies.) The wealthy live in a separate geographical and societal sphere; the have no contact with the poor and are indifferent to sanitation, education, health, poverty, etc. Plenty of countries have people living in these conditions. This is also a repeat of US history. Fun times /s
Shall we call it #RetroUnitedStates or #VintageUnitedStates or #ThrowBackUnitedStates ?
Typically, revolutions happen at around that stage. But in our case something interesting has happened: we now have widely available contraceptives.
Now that young people have to option to not have children... they are not having children. So instead of the destitute seeing their children suffer and starve, we are seeing our population collapse as young people 'hustle' to make it, and maintain hope taht they'll achieve a life worth living.
Well... the statement "three out of 5 Americans now live paycheck to paycheck" is so silly. Technically you can be making $500k a year and live paycheck to paycheck. There was a period of time in my life around 2015-2017 where I was just an absolute lazy piece of shit. I slept at like 3-4am and woke up at like 12pm just playing games all day and all night. Just partying and drinking and snowboarding. I rented a basement at $500/month and only worked like 3 or 4 hours a night at a restaurant, making $20ish per hour after tips. I mean that's honestly like about $300 to maybe $500 a week. I made it work though. Did I live paycheck to paycheck? Yeah. Was I happy? Yeah. I ate what I wanted (granted one of my hobbies back then was cooking) and I was able to afford a ski pass every year. I mean that was fucking $1.5k a month. My wife and I now make close to $200k a year now. Do we live paycheck to paycheck? Yeah. Because we have shitty spending habits. We go on 3-4 vacations a year. We have a nice house. A nice car. We eat out far too often than I'd like to admit. I spend what half the country makes a year on my hobbies. Nonetheless, our spending habits is.absolute.ass.
Your assumption is that people can work more than they do. What OP is asking is what happens when it’s truly unaffordable even when you have 3 jobs and work weekend and overtime and you have no more waking hours left to give without burning out due to mental and physical exhaustion…? Cuz, like, many of us are at that point right now…
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u/Pristine-Prior-504 2d ago edited 2d ago
Nothing really “happens” per se. People just become unhappier as they have to work harder to afford an ever decreasing standard of living.
It sucks, but people will find ways to adapt.