Those of us in our mid-50s aren’t exactly happy either right now.
You still at least had the option to buy a house. But yeah I get it.
Checking in with the chorus of over 30s that basically don’t expect good things to happen again.
Yeah I don’t know who these over 30 happy people are. The pres just said he plans to rendition citizens to a foreign prison anytime he reasons they did something to warrant it. My brother with kids is super worried. I don’t have kids but still not likin it.
We’re moving with as many of our adult children as we can convince and logistically manage out of this place. The US is losing two STEM PhD holders, multiple bachelors in engineering, and other bachelors degree holders. Yes, we’re stupidly lucky to have the resources to make the move, but it’s going to basically destroy my retirement resources. It’s worth it if my children have a chance of a better life. We’re racing the clock to get out before the borders are closed.
Fuck the Nazis in charge of this place and the people who voted them into power.
You’re a good parent.
Meanwhile, my (immigrant) partner and I opened up about our fears to my family last Christmas, and my mom told me not to worry because my partner is “one of the good ones.” Ugh.
So yeah, thank you for being rational.
They were lucky enough to have bought houses during the great recession.
Mystery solved.
Yeah that about sums up how I view the rest of my life playing out.
The other day, I did some quick math to figure out what my family of five driving four cars across the country would look like. Several days and probably upwards of $5000 in fuel, if we can find it, and if cash is worth anything. I have a motorcycle that I would sell to fund part of that, and I’ve already decided which of the four cars would be first to sell on the road.
I am fully expecting things to escalate to the point where any time we have to leave the house to get groceries, fuel, medicine, two people will be required. One to do the shopping, the other to be an armed guard.
This chapter in American history is about as fucked up as it’s been in living memory, and we have a very long way to go yet.
Only good thing that happened in awhile was the united healthcare CEO getting what was coming to him.
We need more rich people to suffer the same fate if we ever want things to change. Arguing isn’t going to work because they control the discussion.
Keep in mind, rich people kill poor people every day. Directly, and indirectly. Someone died in a robbery because a poor person was chasing that rich lifestyle? Blame the ruling class. Someone committed suicide because they have no prospects in life other than serving in dead-end jobs? Blame the ruling class. Somebody shot up a school because they have no prospects in life other than serving in dead-end jobs? Blame the ruling class.
Why don’t we have the resources to build and repair communities? Because any excesses we have go to the ruling class, not the people who actually need it.
It’s fucked. I genuinely hope we have mass executions for the ruling class and their children at this point if they do not willingly give over their wealth.
It would be a small price to pay for all the damage they’ve done over generations that will take generations to fix.
Well over 30.
I’m 95% certain our quality of life is going to degrade for the remainder of our lives in this country.
I’m not even going out of my way to be pessimistic. I’ve been alive for a while now and all the signs point to this being our future.
And it was all easily avoidable with even just a little common sense and critical thinking skills from average Americans.
Needless to say, I’m not really a fan of humans anymore. We’re pretty stupid animals.
I often wonder where we would be at if the hanging chads went the other way.
I wonder that, myself, but I am not at all sure how Al Gore would have handled the aftermath of 9/11. (I don’t mean the crisis itself, but rather the blame game that was sure to come afterwards).
While Dubya was a big fat liar, we might have gotten some even worse Republican in 2004, and then Barack Obama would probably never have become President. (But it is possible he would stay in the Senate and be the current Democratic leader).
No, the timeline shift I wonder about is what would have happened if Democrats let Bernie win in 2016, instead of being in the tank for Hillary. If Trump was never President, he would probably be in jail by now.
I don’t think 9/11 would have been successful under him. The Clinton administration was well aware of the danger but the bush administration refused to talk to the outgoing administration. Heck the patriot act was only necessary because the bush administration was not doing its job and bringing together the information it received from various agencies. The patriot act was basically a work around against incompetent presidential administrations.
It doesn’t matter who the president is when the country is actually controlled by wealthy oligarchs. We cannot solve that problem by voting.
Vote with your wallets. Bring back ownership.
Stop subscribing to dumb shit you can be getting for free. Use your brains before your wallets.
And stop saying sigh, Amazon and Bezos suck, but I simply cannot live without throwing my money at them. I tend to hate to be judgy about it, but I think the time has come to pass judgement, for people to put up or shut up. Yes, all corporations are bad. That means we should all be consuming less. But some corporations are definitely worse than others, and every single person who voluntarily gives them money is complicit. They have the power because we give it to them.
I totally agree with what you’re saying.
If we keep rewarding people with social praise every time they contribute to the problem, they’re going to keep contributing to the problem.
This is what I mean by changing as a culture. We need to value different things.
You nailed it with your username.
(I also hate that I agree with everything you said. It’s so hard to be hopeful these days.)
When asked how miserable millennials are, the response was overwhelmingly unchanged, in-fact the generation regards itself as having the shittiest life experience marked by late-stage capitalism, and the adoption of a boring cyberpunk dystopia. US millennials largely see retirement as something impossible, as many cannot afford homes, cars, or healthcare.
See, that’s why they just mention under 30s, because it’s far worse for the rest of us.
I remember a post where people were asking millennials what their retirement plans were.
Vast majority of it was either suicide or hoping work would let them clock out before they dropped dead.
I am in my mid 20s and Gen Z. Most under 30s are Gen Z now.
Yes, I know, thats why in my made up quote I talked about millennials.
We’ve been suffering for a hell of a long time. A lot of us were young children when we watched the planes slam into the world trade center on the morning news before going to school and acting like we didn’t see the most horrific thing in the world.
Right after Columbine of course. And can’t forget about the Oklahoma bombing. It’s… Been rough
At least the 90s were somewhat stable I guess? I was only two when 9/11 happened but I remember Hurricane Katrina and the Recession vividly. America has always been one disaster away from ruining your life. Lately tornados have been happening all around me and there ain’t a damn thing I can do about it.
Not sure where you are, but I grew up in tornado alley. After a while, you just get used to it.
Like, I distinctly remember being in a car dealership (think massive plate glass walls) when a tornado siren went off, and most of the sales drones were basically nose on the glass looking out at the green sky. I was very amused when the manager walked out and gave the professional equivalent of ‘dudes, what the actual fuck are you doing?’
It’s one of those things you learned the danger of. If it was raining hard, you didn’t fuck around.
The siren always goes off once the rotation is detected by radar. You got a little bit of time to dick around because unless it’s EF3 or above it’s unlikely to start damage that quickly.
Plus if it’s an EF3, you’ll find out pretty quick. EF4s you’re gonna need luck on your side and EF5s? Well. Just hope it isn’t an EF5.
Sorry guys, I know in my 20s I was still trying to figure out who I wanted to be and figuring out how I aligned with some suit in government was not how I was going to spend my Friday night. Just skip all the media bullshit and start reading about who is voting for what. That will get you to the side you’re on. Theres a lot more to figure out but at the very least do this so you can go vote every chance you get.
The older generations, we aren’t looking out for you, at least enmasse. You’re going to have to form your alliances and hope they keep their end of the deal. Right now the only ones getting anything are billionaires and their subordinates. That just might never change. Maybe you want it that way. I don’t. So good luck.
Vote? There’s no voting. There will be no elections. Nothing to figure out.
Got me there but I did say, “every chance you get.”
I certainly hope the younger generation Americans examine Denmark and copy their system.
Seeing alot of (for good reason) depressed folks here. I think we need to build community, in real life or online if there’s no other way.
Or we can just emigrate to a better country. I’m going back to Korea after I save some more money at $job
If you have the means to, sure go for it. In the end I think you’ll need some form of community as well in any new country you go to.
I think one thing we’re all going to have to remember, is that living in unprecedented times means we’re going to have to start holding ourselves to unprecedented standards. We should all be very angry and demanding better as a society, but it’s important to give ourselves grace as individuals, remember it’s up to us to try and avoid the things that make us unhappy as much as we can, and be proud of ourselves when we do manage to find glimmers of happiness while living in a dystopian society.
I say that to remind myself as much as to give advice to anyone else. I remember dreading 30 as it approached, and feeling like I was nowhere near where I was supposed to be. It felt like I had done everything I was supposed to do, but just never saw the payout for doing it. I had gotten a college degree, then a graduate degree. This allowed me to get a 9-5 job that I dreaded going to everyday. I was under a mountain of college loan debt. I barely made enough to cover my rent, let alone ever consider buying a house. I felt like I was going nowhere fast, and when I looked at social media, it felt like I was way behind all of my peers.
That was also around the time I decided that if I couldn’t obtain the material things that were supposed to make me feel happy and successful, I would focus on maximizing the activities and relationships that made me happy while slowly (and sometimes painfully) cutting out the things that only made me more miserable.
Flashforward a decade as I begin to approach 40, and I wish I could tell you that the material things eventually all worked themselves out, but pretty sure you already know they didn’t.
Financially I’m in basically the same situation I was then, except now I have a child to take care of, so obviously that means less money. Even with cost of living and merit based raises over the years, with inflation and an even worse housing market, it just never seemed to work out to making much of a difference. I’m still buried under the mountain of student debt and barely make rent each month. I also found out this past week that I’m losing my job soon, and as a federally funded researcher, the prospects of me finding one to replace it aren’t great to say the least.
However, even though the stakes are more dire than ever, and hard times are only forecast to get harder, I don’t feel quite as pessimistic as I did when I was approaching 30. I actually feel a bit of comradery with the majority of Americans, because I think most of us are in a pretty similar boat. As far as my personal relationships and family, I’m happier than I’ve ever been.
Maybe it’s just a part of mellowing out with age, but I feel it’s also in part due to being very happy with my personal relationships, and the people that are in my life now vs a decade ago. I’ve gotten involved in community work in my free time, and as of 2025 I feel a drive to embrace that kind of work more than ever. In a lot of ways starting from scratch at almost 40 is scary, but in some ways it’s actually somewhat of a relief. The last of a mirage that was keeping me in my stable career has been destroyed, and it would feel a bit more delusional for me to jump ship to a similar job knowing it will eventually just meet the same fate.
Again, I want to stress I don’t say this as a way to get people to be docile and just accept what’s happening, but to channel your anger and frustration into something that gives you a sense of accomplishment. If anyone in your life is making you think that being unhappy with the current situation is strictly a you problem, and not a reflection of reality, that’s a good sign you should probably lessen your ties to them for now. If they want to do some self reflection and try to come back later, that’s always an option.
Finding others in your community that feel the same way, and working together locally to keep people informed and prepared for policy changes before they happen, is one of the easiest ways you can improve your immediate surroundings and feel some power in a situation where we’re all pretty powerless.
Most of the senators and representatives we’ve elected to look out for our interests are failing hard. It’s important to keep in mind that everything happening at a federal level is going to start happening at state levels. In many red states it has already begun. DOGE inspired taskforces are popping up all over the country. I’ve been keeping a list of them, but even since my most recent update a few weeks ago, more have been announced.
Here is the list so far if anyone is interested: https://pimento-mori.ghost.io/state-level-doge-inspired-task-forces-pop-up-across-u-s-promoted-by-republican-governors-love-of-small-government/
Regardless of where they’re located, all of these DOGE task forces have a common goal. Make up a dollar amount to show how much they’re saving tax payers, find excuses to cut money for social programs (and in some cases even cuts to government safety programs that help prepare for natural disasters like hurricanes and tornadoes) in order to make that dollars saves number a reality. Citizens suffer, their lives are made worse, and governors and their wealthy friends become even wealthier, all in the name of trimming wasteful spending and getting rid of bureaucracy.
It’s easy to get stuck in a mindset where you let the reality of yesterday influence the way you view your present, but it’s a mental trap. I haven’t used any form of social media that isn’t anonymous in almost a decade. No Facebook or Instagram. I don’t scroll by pictures of a lifestyle that never even came close to matching my reality. I think it’s no coincidence that I no longer feel left out among my peers, when I’m not acknowledging false public images people attempt to shape for themselves online. Instead, I feel more connected to a bigger chunk of America than ever before, and it’s helped me to realize how much we all have in common regardless of political identity.
Thank you for the perspective and positivity.
No shit, we’re being taken over by literal nazis. This place sucks.
To be fair, a non-insignificant amount of the men under thirty think things are so bad because the Nazis aren’t taking over fast enough.
Yeah, ladies under 30, please adopt a never-fuck mindset toward any conservative. Those things tanked the country and deserve 0 pussy.
Edit: Should blanket just be any Trump voter. Knowing who you’re fucking is as important as using STD and pregnancy protection.
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That’s funny about you because you assume if they don’t say they’re a woman they must be a man
Please don’t let that reddit mindset take off here.
To clarify Im talking about assuming everyone is a man if not stated otherwise.
Honestly I’m surprised anyone would even want to sleep with a trumper. Like, what’s the appeal? It’s not like they treat women (or anyone, really) well
Usually religious brainwash
As do a significant amount of the women. Like yeah, there’s a slight gender gap in trump voters, but it’s not nearly as big as you’d think or hope.
Democrats need to stop being controlled opposition to nazis.
They need to start being the good guys. We need to stop voting for people like hillary clinton and joe biden in primaries.\
Shame everyone who has supported either candidate in the primary.
Daaaaaamn 😔
I’m 41 and I’ve been miserable since elementary school.
“but look how much technology you’ve gotten to see as it evolved every 3 years.”
Tech can fuck off. All these technological advances have served some Capitalist at the expense of imploding the middle class, or distracting the masses with some shiny bauble while shareholders extort more flesh each quarter.
If tech advances don’t create a rising tide, they’re just a tool for exploitation.
anyone paying attention in the US should be
this country has been fucked since at least 9/11 and citizens united
so starting collegish for you but all the younger generations
Definitely, I remember being a senior in high school the day 9/11 happened and even then I felt that the world was going to change and not change for the better.
Are you me?
They’re me too. Hello, us!
Could be, we’re are these voices coming from?
Its me, hi, im the problem it’s me
I think you should identify as a problem instead of identifying as the problem if possible. The former attitude has more ‘spunk’ as the yanks say.
I’m over 30 and still unhappy
What was it your rapist conman pedo president said? Shithole country, that’s it.
I’m 50 and miserable. Everyone who isn’t well off is miserable, and that’s like 75% of the country.
Not just under 30. My husband is disabled and if ACA or VA benefits get cut he will die. Horribly but slowly, in our house where I will have to take care of him until the end. And pray we still have enough of a functioning society to bury him when the time comes. How I am supposed to feel anything other than horror and dread for the future!?
I’m sorry. I wish I could continue paying to keep your husband alive. It’s what a fellow countrymen would do. But half of our electorate is filled with sociopaths.
Fuck this place.
We view the late 40s through the 70s as a golden age for the American middle class. People raising families off a single income. Yearly vacations. Affordable higher education.
Know why?
We taxed the ever-loving fuck out of the wealthy back then.
Then the wealthy bought the politicians and stopped that from happening.
And now we’re all sad.
DO. NOT. VOTE. FOR. ANYONE. THAT. DOESN’T. RUN. ON. TAXING. THE. WEALTHY. MORE.
DO. NOT. VOTE. FOR. ANYONE. THAT. DOESN’T. RUN. ON. TAXING. THE. WEALTHY. MORE.
Another liberal telling us to vote for Kamala just because her tax plan looks nice. Disgusting.
Uhh, Kamala didn’t run on a platform of taxing the wealthy either, that would break the contract she has with her corporate sponsors.
https://apps.urban.org/features/2024-candidates-tax-policy/
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party nominee, has proposed several policies that build on President Joe Biden’s recent budget plans. These include higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations and more generous tax breaks for lower-income workers, families, and small businesses.
https://itep.org/a-distributional-analysis-of-kamala-harris-tax-plan/
Taken together, the tax changes proposed by Vice President Kamala Harris would raise taxes on the richest 1 percent of Americans while cutting taxes on all other income groups.
If these proposals were in effect in 2026, the richest 1 percent of Americans would receive an average tax increase equal to 4.1 percent of their income. Other income groups would receive tax cuts, including an average tax cut equal to 2.7 percent of income for the middle fifth of Americans and an average tax cut equal to 7 percent of income for the poorest fifth of Americans.
Regardless of all of this data, Kamala is still a filthy liberal and you shouldn’t vote for her.
Sir that ship sailed months ago, what are you talking about?
Comrade, the present situation ain’t bringing us closer to socialism.
Hello dumb shit or rich person. STFU
Don’t vote for anyone, got it
It gets my vote!
Is absurd that we essentially have a regressive income tax. I also wouldn’t ignore the global environment during that period.
During those decades, the US was effectively the only industrialized nation in the world. Everyone else either never had factories to begin with, or had smoldering piles of rubble where their factories used to be.
Sales tax as well as VAT are also, by design, regressive taxes.
We turned the planet into a human labour farm.
I found it astonishing that there isn’t even a 0% tax bracket anymore federally. It starts at 10% when you make your first fucking dollar. We’ve gone batshit backwards in this country to the point where we’re trying to get every last dime from poor people so we can almost afford to have buy-borrow-die oligarchs that never pay a penny in federal taxes.
Technically the standard deduction is the zero tax bracket.
Yep understood but there’s a reason they made the switch and that reason is so they can keep the shit they took out of checks of those who don’t file.
I’m sure they did the math on it, they’re sneaky assholes through and through.
The pay gap between CEO and ordinary worker was the smallest back there, not because the taxes, there were less taxes back then, but because those CEO were decent people, not predatory like right now. Todays C-Suite are predatory people, they’re not humans, they’re money machines that need every penny. There should be law that don’t allow pay gap between CEO and ordinary worker to be greater than 100k USD or any other currency in other countries. Those who pursue luxury would say that’s very low. Yes it’s very low because everyone who works in successfull company deserve success. Not only small group on top. That is main difference between companies from 40s and 70s and companies right now.
Nah
This is also why (white) Boomers struggle to understand how it got so bad. They literally lived in a period where you could often count on and trust your boss.
DO. NOT. VOTE. FOR. ANYONE. THAT. DOESN’T. RUN. ON. TAXING. THE. WEALTHY. MORE.
👏
Fuck everyone who voted for hillary clinton in the 2016 primary.
We need to point many fingers at them and give them the blame they so rightfully deserve.
It’s their fault, and they need to be reminded of it constantly.
There’s plenty of Kamala supporters that don’t see her as just a Hillary 2.0, democrats and MAGA both agree not to go after the rich people robbing them blind.
