America is just completely broken

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree OP. It feels like everything is falling apart and there's very little we can do to fix it. It took everyone too long to realize what was happening. I'm struggling not to resent the older generations around me who let it get this bad. I'm grieving the children I will never have because I cannot afford it and because it feels morally wrong to bring a child into this just so I can experience motherhood.

I mean this kindly:
Get a grip. Read history. Look at all of the wars, famine, disease. There is nothing new under the sun. If you want to have a kid, have one. It is no worse now than 99% of human history. It is not objectively worse to have kids now than at any other time in history except maybe the 50s but would you really want to be a woman back in the 50s?

And also with the “I can’t afford kids”. Stop being brainwashed into thinking you have to have all of your financials figured out and perfect before you have a kid. Believe me, DCUM would have judged me quite harshly for having a kid when our HHI was 45k back in 2007, with no house, a crappy old car, and not being able to afford daycare. We did it anyway, and had two. Now they are in HS. I figured out my career once the kids were school aged. We were able to buy a house and sending DC1 to college next year. It hasn’t all been perfect - they didn’t do all the fancy activities, didn’t get the fancy Disney vacations or lots of expensive toys, but I would absolutely do it again, even if it meant using welfare and food stamps and living in a tiny apartment. There is really nothing else that gives life purpose as much as having kids.

I'm probably older than you, PP, and I agree with the first PP. Daycare and college costs have exploded, and wages have not kept up with those costs.

I have one DC about to graduate undergad and one about to go to college.

We have made six figures for a while, but we lived way below our means. And it was still expensive to send the kids to daycare and save for college. We don't drive expensive cars; we don't own name brand anything. My only expensive jewelry is my engagement ring, and a not that expensive necklace/earring set DH has bought me throughout our 20 years of marriage.

I don't blame women now a days for not wanting kids one bit.

It sounds like you have the same tunnel vision then, unable to see different possibilities and ways of doing things. Neither daycare nor college are/were the norm for 99% of human existence. But few people are willing to think outside of the box or go against the grain, which is also how we got here in the first place.

I stand by my point that if you want to be a parent, stop making excuses and don’t worry about doing it the “proper” way with a SFH, daycare, college, and expensive “family” car. Don’t let other people tell you what’s important. It sucks that there isn’t really a road map for this, but it’s doable.

Eh, yes and no. As a mom to two kids who lived much of my younger years in a sh*t 90 year old fixer upper with roaches and mice (thanks hoarding neighbor!), with a one percent down payment, in a crime ridden neighborhood where I learned to tell the difference between gunshots and fireworks....

This really ignores the issue of SUBSTANTIAL.wage suppression, explosion of housing costs making living on a single income plus a kid very difficult even in a one bedroom. Oh and at least I did have a college education that afforded me the ability to pull myself to a much higher income! In today's housing market, couldn't have done it again.

All of you are missing the point. Unless you are a 1 percenter, life is tough. Always has been. The challenges we face in 2026 are tough, but they are not uniquely awful. Most of humanity throughout history has been poor, has had to make difficult choices, has not had everything ideal. All of you seem to be under this spell where you think that there was this time in recent history where everything was great, and now it’s 100 percent horrible and will never be good again.

It may be that I think the way I do is because for me personally, even with the current events, things are still a thousand times better than when I was growing up, at least materially speaking. I went from a childhood of relative poverty to an adulthood where I worked upwards and have a great standard of living now. I can understand how downwardly mobile people might see the current situation as the worst, but they are objectively wrong.

I mean of course YOU feel fine since you just described your life trajectory and material success but why can’t you bother to see what the rest of us are trying to show you?

Do you live in/near DC?
It’s good to get outside sometimes, or talk to people in other places. It is not Armageddon everywhere.

We are dealing with a major layoff, inability to get a new job, depleting our life savings, and needing to sell our home, uprooting our kids' lives. Eff off with telling me I just need to meet someone outside of the beltway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Enshitification of everything

This, but I feel more and more that the answer is to unplug. If we go back to paper books, reading news magazines instead of twitter, play board games find some hobbies and stop with as much useless technology as we can. Sure you need some internet, but not social media or all of the streaming apps.

[Anonymous]

Yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Imagine the possibilities if we cut Israel from our teet.

It's not just Israel. There is a global right wing authoritarian takeover happening. They all have their various scapegoats they are using to convince the ignorant masses to give them more power.

Use your brains. More hate is not and has never been a solution to anything. Immigrants are not your enemy. Muslims are not your enemy. Jews are not your enemy. Trans people are not your enemy. Our collective enemies are the ones trying to collect everything of value for themselves, leaving the rest of us to fight for scraps, while they knowingly destroy what remains of the planet.

I do t worship the cult of cheap labour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree OP. It feels like everything is falling apart and there's very little we can do to fix it. It took everyone too long to realize what was happening. I'm struggling not to resent the older generations around me who let it get this bad. I'm grieving the children I will never have because I cannot afford it and because it feels morally wrong to bring a child into this just so I can experience motherhood.

I mean this kindly:
Get a grip. Read history. Look at all of the wars, famine, disease. There is nothing new under the sun. If you want to have a kid, have one. It is no worse now than 99% of human history. It is not objectively worse to have kids now than at any other time in history except maybe the 50s but would you really want to be a woman back in the 50s?

And also with the “I can’t afford kids”. Stop being brainwashed into thinking you have to have all of your financials figured out and perfect before you have a kid. Believe me, DCUM would have judged me quite harshly for having a kid when our HHI was 45k back in 2007, with no house, a crappy old car, and not being able to afford daycare. We did it anyway, and had two. Now they are in HS. I figured out my career once the kids were school aged. We were able to buy a house and sending DC1 to college next year. It hasn’t all been perfect - they didn’t do all the fancy activities, didn’t get the fancy Disney vacations or lots of expensive toys, but I would absolutely do it again, even if it meant using welfare and food stamps and living in a tiny apartment. There is really nothing else that gives life purpose as much as having kids.

OMG, we are SO lucky we aren't dying of bubonic plague. Isn't life so much better now???

Read the news, genius. It is hilarious you mention infectious diseases. The US DID have measles eliminated, yet nowadays because everything is crumbling and going to hell we have brought back disease like mumps, whooping cough and measles and are well on our way to brining back hepatitis B. If YOU actually read history, we are now actually worse off than we were 20 years ago. Easily.

US has rapidly declined into dumpsville.

Ok, so 20 years ago was better, maybe? When else was better? For everyone? For every measure of betterness?

Life was better before Trump. He was sent to destroy our country and he is succeeding.

Well that is true. But the stage was set for him long before he got here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree OP. It feels like everything is falling apart and there's very little we can do to fix it. It took everyone too long to realize what was happening. I'm struggling not to resent the older generations around me who let it get this bad. I'm grieving the children I will never have because I cannot afford it and because it feels morally wrong to bring a child into this just so I can experience motherhood.

I mean this kindly:
Get a grip. Read history. Look at all of the wars, famine, disease. There is nothing new under the sun. If you want to have a kid, have one. It is no worse now than 99% of human history. It is not objectively worse to have kids now than at any other time in history except maybe the 50s but would you really want to be a woman back in the 50s?

And also with the “I can’t afford kids”. Stop being brainwashed into thinking you have to have all of your financials figured out and perfect before you have a kid. Believe me, DCUM would have judged me quite harshly for having a kid when our HHI was 45k back in 2007, with no house, a crappy old car, and not being able to afford daycare. We did it anyway, and had two. Now they are in HS. I figured out my career once the kids were school aged. We were able to buy a house and sending DC1 to college next year. It hasn’t all been perfect - they didn’t do all the fancy activities, didn’t get the fancy Disney vacations or lots of expensive toys, but I would absolutely do it again, even if it meant using welfare and food stamps and living in a tiny apartment. There is really nothing else that gives life purpose as much as having kids.

I'm probably older than you, PP, and I agree with the first PP. Daycare and college costs have exploded, and wages have not kept up with those costs.

I have one DC about to graduate undergad and one about to go to college.

We have made six figures for a while, but we lived way below our means. And it was still expensive to send the kids to daycare and save for college. We don't drive expensive cars; we don't own name brand anything. My only expensive jewelry is my engagement ring, and a not that expensive necklace/earring set DH has bought me throughout our 20 years of marriage.

I don't blame women now a days for not wanting kids one bit.

It sounds like you have the same tunnel vision then, unable to see different possibilities and ways of doing things. Neither daycare nor college are/were the norm for 99% of human existence. But few people are willing to think outside of the box or go against the grain, which is also how we got here in the first place.

I stand by my point that if you want to be a parent, stop making excuses and don’t worry about doing it the “proper” way with a SFH, daycare, college, and expensive “family” car. Don’t let other people tell you what’s important. It sucks that there isn’t really a road map for this, but it’s doable.

Eh, yes and no. As a mom to two kids who lived much of my younger years in a sh*t 90 year old fixer upper with roaches and mice (thanks hoarding neighbor!), with a one percent down payment, in a crime ridden neighborhood where I learned to tell the difference between gunshots and fireworks....

This really ignores the issue of SUBSTANTIAL.wage suppression, explosion of housing costs making living on a single income plus a kid very difficult even in a one bedroom. Oh and at least I did have a college education that afforded me the ability to pull myself to a much higher income! In today's housing market, couldn't have done it again.

All of you are missing the point. Unless you are a 1 percenter, life is tough. Always has been. The challenges we face in 2026 are tough, but they are not uniquely awful. Most of humanity throughout history has been poor, has had to make difficult choices, has not had everything ideal. All of you seem to be under this spell where you think that there was this time in recent history where everything was great, and now it’s 100 percent horrible and will never be good again.

It may be that I think the way I do is because for me personally, even with the current events, things are still a thousand times better than when I was growing up, at least materially speaking. I went from a childhood of relative poverty to an adulthood where I worked upwards and have a great standard of living now. I can understand how downwardly mobile people might see the current situation as the worst, but they are objectively wrong.

I mean of course YOU feel fine since you just described your life trajectory and material success but why can’t you bother to see what the rest of us are trying to show you?

Look, I get it. If you grew up UMC and you see that is now harder, I get it. I just think you would all benefit from putting things in perspective. Some people here are acting like spoiled entitled brats.

Why does someone else's choice, based on the realities around us, upset you so much to the point of name calling?

Anyone with half a brain can read the writing on the wall. The next couple of decades are going to get ugly for so many reasons. I can barely take care of myself. There's no way in hell I would bring a kid into this, force them to try to survive what is coming, so I can feel good about my own life and so fools like you don't think I'm a brat for making a different choice than you did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree OP. It feels like everything is falling apart and there's very little we can do to fix it. It took everyone too long to realize what was happening. I'm struggling not to resent the older generations around me who let it get this bad. I'm grieving the children I will never have because I cannot afford it and because it feels morally wrong to bring a child into this just so I can experience motherhood.

I mean this kindly:
Get a grip. Read history. Look at all of the wars, famine, disease. There is nothing new under the sun. If you want to have a kid, have one. It is no worse now than 99% of human history. It is not objectively worse to have kids now than at any other time in history except maybe the 50s but would you really want to be a woman back in the 50s?

And also with the “I can’t afford kids”. Stop being brainwashed into thinking you have to have all of your financials figured out and perfect before you have a kid. Believe me, DCUM would have judged me quite harshly for having a kid when our HHI was 45k back in 2007, with no house, a crappy old car, and not being able to afford daycare. We did it anyway, and had two. Now they are in HS. I figured out my career once the kids were school aged. We were able to buy a house and sending DC1 to college next year. It hasn’t all been perfect - they didn’t do all the fancy activities, didn’t get the fancy Disney vacations or lots of expensive toys, but I would absolutely do it again, even if it meant using welfare and food stamps and living in a tiny apartment. There is really nothing else that gives life purpose as much as having kids.

I'm probably older than you, PP, and I agree with the first PP. Daycare and college costs have exploded, and wages have not kept up with those costs.

I have one DC about to graduate undergad and one about to go to college.

We have made six figures for a while, but we lived way below our means. And it was still expensive to send the kids to daycare and save for college. We don't drive expensive cars; we don't own name brand anything. My only expensive jewelry is my engagement ring, and a not that expensive necklace/earring set DH has bought me throughout our 20 years of marriage.

I don't blame women now a days for not wanting kids one bit.

It sounds like you have the same tunnel vision then, unable to see different possibilities and ways of doing things. Neither daycare nor college are/were the norm for 99% of human existence. But few people are willing to think outside of the box or go against the grain, which is also how we got here in the first place.

I stand by my point that if you want to be a parent, stop making excuses and don’t worry about doing it the “proper” way with a SFH, daycare, college, and expensive “family” car. Don’t let other people tell you what’s important. It sucks that there isn’t really a road map for this, but it’s doable.

Eh, yes and no. As a mom to two kids who lived much of my younger years in a sh*t 90 year old fixer upper with roaches and mice (thanks hoarding neighbor!), with a one percent down payment, in a crime ridden neighborhood where I learned to tell the difference between gunshots and fireworks....

This really ignores the issue of SUBSTANTIAL.wage suppression, explosion of housing costs making living on a single income plus a kid very difficult even in a one bedroom. Oh and at least I did have a college education that afforded me the ability to pull myself to a much higher income! In today's housing market, couldn't have done it again.

All of you are missing the point. Unless you are a 1 percenter, life is tough. Always has been. The challenges we face in 2026 are tough, but they are not uniquely awful. Most of humanity throughout history has been poor, has had to make difficult choices, has not had everything ideal. All of you seem to be under this spell where you think that there was this time in recent history where everything was great, and now it’s 100 percent horrible and will never be good again.

It may be that I think the way I do is because for me personally, even with the current events, things are still a thousand times better than when I was growing up, at least materially speaking. I went from a childhood of relative poverty to an adulthood where I worked upwards and have a great standard of living now. I can understand how downwardly mobile people might see the current situation as the worst, but they are objectively wrong.

I mean of course YOU feel fine since you just described your life trajectory and material success but why can’t you bother to see what the rest of us are trying to show you?

Do you live in/near DC?
It’s good to get outside sometimes, or talk to people in other places. It is not Armageddon everywhere.

We are dealing with a major layoff, inability to get a new job, depleting our life savings, and needing to sell our home, uprooting our kids' lives. Eff off with telling me I just need to meet someone outside of the beltway.

A lot of people still haven't been touched by the massive changes happening around us. They won't get it until it does. Until some super storm takes their house or threatens their life, until they lose their job and it takes YEARS to get a new one, until they start cutting more and more out of their diet because they can't afford it anymore, until the water in the town they live becomes unsafe to drink or literally runs out, etc. It's all abstract to them right now, so they can't empathize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enshitification of everything

This, but I feel more and more that the answer is to unplug. If we go back to paper books, reading news magazines instead of twitter, play board games find some hobbies and stop with as much useless technology as we can. Sure you need some internet, but not social media or all of the streaming apps.

Do you drive to the library to get a book while subscribing to your car's heater for $29.99/mo?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree. Europe has some problems, but quality of life there is heaps ahead of here. Though Trump is doing his best to break them too.

Not really. I travel to Europe monthly and have 25 downline in various parts of Europe. They are seeing a major decline as well; a lot of it has to do with their open-border immigration. I also have some in Canada, same issue there as well. I would rather not live outside of the US. Also, AI is decimating other offshore areas as we don't need them as much anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. Europe has some problems, but quality of life there is heaps ahead of here. Though Trump is doing his best to break them too.

Not really. I travel to Europe monthly and have 25 downline in various parts of Europe. They are seeing a major decline as well; a lot of it has to do with their open-border immigration. I also have some in Canada, same issue there as well. I would rather not live outside of the US. Also, AI is decimating other offshore areas as we don't need them as much anymore.

A ton of migration to Europe US caused though, because of wars in thr Middle East that destabilized entire regions and left lower vacuums that allowed terrorists to take over.

[Anonymous]

Is it because America puts Israel first, not Americans? It seems we are losing money and gaining enemies because of our infatuation with Israel and their obsession of rearranging this world to their liking? Almost like an old wealthy man who marries a toxic gold digger who drains his finances and alienates him from his kids and friends.

[Anonymous]

To many immigrants that have failed to assimilate. Responsible for the dissolution of the work ethic and values that made America great up until the mid 1980s. The rapid decline started in 2000 and continues until today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone feel this way? I am struggling really hard to identify ways in which my life has gotten better in the US over the last 25 years. Everything just feels like it has gotten infinitely worse in my lifetime.

Healthcare is an absolute joke and trash in the US. Premiums skyrocket while the quality of sevice seems to constantly circle the proverbial toilet. Trying to find a PCP is a maddening experience. Then dealing with insurance companies trying to weasel out of paying for a procedure or who incessantly refuse to pay for drugs prescribed....totally exhausting.

Roads, tunnels, bridges, and infrastructure falling apart everywhere. We are supposed to be first world country, yet it takes months to fix a simple pothole, and people in Flint Michigan don't even have potable water.

Constant and oppressive gun violence. It is so bad mass shootings barely crack the national media these days, because they're just routine life in America.

Insurance rates for everything else exploding. Astronomical housing costs. Out of control food prices. Unaffordable education and childcare. $52,000 "family cars". Just absurd.

Meanwhile, US is embroiled in yet another forever war costing $3B/day. We don't have money to help our citizens afford healthcare premiums yet we have infinite dollars for shooting drones down 8000 miles away. Now out country's reputation on the world stage is utter trash and in the dumpster. We are the bad guys in billions of peoples' eyes. And we continue to blow up our national debt that's going to be so bad soon that the costs to simply service our debt will eat huge amounts of our budget for future generations. Oh, and social security? Ha, good luck expecting to benefit from it in the future. They're gonna make us work until 79 before we are allowed to tap benefits.

And finally, everything seems to be ensh*ttified (ES) or on its way to being ES. Our corporate overlords now tell us we aren't allowed to own anything. Oh, you want to use the heat in your car? Pay a subscription. Oh, you want to buy a phone? Sign all of your privacy away. Buy a fridge, dryer, or washer? ES now. Can't access their features unless ypu connect it to the internet and agree to have your home streamed with infinite ads on the main screen.

Jobs? So unstable these days. Oh you want a new job? That'll take 879 applications to get an interview. Every app requiring the use of AI to get around AI screeners. Every app asking for a resume but then asking on the next screen questions that are answerable with information from your resume and they want you to type it out all over again.

Ughh, the US is just broken. Has anyone's life gotten better over the last two decades? I'm just exhausted and done. The entire country feels like a gigantic scam and hustle that benefits the few while those of us simply wanting to live a simple life are destroyed.

End rant.

And all that time, Washington DC got bigger and wanted more power.

You're living the horror of central planning and a command economy. I'm not sure how old you are, but you probably didn't learn in school about market signals from the individual consumer and why they're so important. It looks great on paper, but not in real life.

Enjoy it. This is the nirvana we were sold. No competition and govt ruling by edict and fiat. It only gets worse from here and as they say, it's always darkest before it goes black.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. Europe has some problems, but quality of life there is heaps ahead of here. Though Trump is doing his best to break them too.

Not really. I travel to Europe monthly and have 25 downline in various parts of Europe. They are seeing a major decline as well; a lot of it has to do with their open-border immigration. I also have some in Canada, same issue there as well. I would rather not live outside of the US. Also, AI is decimating other offshore areas as we don't need them as much anymore.

Lots of expat Americans in Europe these days. We are thinking of moving there temporarily there, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To many immigrants that have failed to assimilate. Responsible for the dissolution of the work ethic and values that made America great up until the mid 1980s. The rapid decline started in 2000 and continues until today.

wut? Immigrants have great work ethic. It's the young Americans who don't. They don't show up for work; they can't pass the drug test; they don't want the menial jobs.