America is just completely broken

[Anonymous]

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.[/quote
This is objectively untrue. Those with control are creating an imminent future where the majority of the population will be replaced at work without any social supports. We have lived in a surveillance state for decades and the efficiency of the tracking increases literally daily with the purchase of Ring cameras and similar.

The one-two punches of technology and having the autism spectrum technocrats manipulating this late stage of capitalism is a living nightmare for literally everyone but them, those in the 1%, and their purchased politicos. There is zero precedent for this so shut up and go to another site.

[Anonymous]

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.[/quote
This is objectively untrue. Those with control are creating an imminent future where the majority of the population will be replaced at work without any social supports. We have lived in a surveillance state for decades and the efficiency of the tracking increases literally daily with the purchase of Ring cameras and similar.

The one-two punches of technology and having the autism spectrum technocrats manipulating this late stage of capitalism is a living nightmare for literally everyone but them, those in the 1%, and their purchased politicos. There is zero precedent for this so shut up and go to another site.

Zero precedent for concentration of wealth, greed, corruption, and industrialization causing massive economic shifts? Those things are new?

“It’s different this time!”
lol.

[Anonymous]

The US began it's decline once it began fighting endless wars in the middle east on behalf of Israel. More than 20 trillion wasted and millions of lives destroyed. And if you're not naive, then you should understand how and why this happened in the first place.

[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.

Our political system is broken and therefore our Federal Government isn't functioning adequately. The influence of money in politics is the culprit. Reducing that influence is the fix.

[Anonymous]

Imho its not immigration or right-left divide, its interest groups (local and foreign) rigging politics, media and social platforms to manipulate everyone and pit them against each other, which leads to anxiety, distrust and division.

[Anonymous]

Capitalism, giant corporations, billionaires and corrupt politicians.

[Anonymous]

America is such a wildly violent country with more guns than people, I am honestly surprised that there haven't been attempts on the lives of billionaires and leaders. The levels of anger and despair seem so ripe for it. Do billionaires genuinely want to live in a world that they make increasingly dangerous, unstable, and miserable through their greed and exploitation? I'm not a billionaire megalomaniac so maybe I don't get it, but I imagine at some point I'd think "I don't need more money. I can't take it with me. I want to live in a peaceful world with happy people, so I'm going to help with that." Why purposely lead a life that damages people and puts a target on your back?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Imho its not immigration or right-left divide, its interest groups (local and foreign) rigging politics, media and social platforms to manipulate everyone and pit them against each other, which leads to anxiety, distrust and division.

We’re an easy to manipulate population. Has it always been this way?

[Anonymous]

In America, you can't even have a kid these days and get bent over the barrel when they want to play a sport because private equity keeps getting more and more involved and is buying up fields, courts, arenas and leagues. Fees constantly go up, because this wouldn't be America unless you couldn't privatize and profit as much as you can off youth sports and activities as a PE firm. Parents who can barely afford to keep things together vecause wages never rise now have to stop signing their kids up to play sports since it is unaffordable. But yeah, let's blame those illegals.

US has declined into a cyberpunk dystopian hellscape because of greed, pure and simple.

[Anonymous]

The Biden administration and its open borders policy destroyed so much of this country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Biden administration and its open borders policy destroyed so much of this country.

In what way?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Biden administration and its open borders policy destroyed so much of this country.

Wrong. It all started with Reagan and his trickle down economics and gutting of unions/ the middle class and demonizing the poor and putting all of our budget towards military spending. If you look at many indicators, all go downhill starting in the early to mid 1980s.

[Anonymous]

So many things have gotten so much worse. Shrinkflation and skimpflation. Customer service being replaced by AI that sends you in endless loops and never solves the problem. Endless subscriptions and paywalls. Climate change, global instability, and constant supply chain disruptions causing shortages. Younger people increasingly accept that it’s normal to pay the same price and receive less and less, because they don’t remember what things were like before.

Regardless of the fact that our living standards are still better than a 14th century peasant (for now, until the billionaires have their way), we’ve lost something very vital: optimism. People used to look forward to the future. For a moment after WWII, it seemed like things were possible. Rights were expanding, schools were desegregating, opportunities were opening up for more and more people, and the moral arc of the universe was bending (slowly) in the right direction. The middle class was expanding. Flying cars were just around the corner. Families could get by comfortably on one income. A college education unlocked doors. Kids could just be kids without having to grind year round at sports just to make the high school team. Minority groups started to see themselves represented on TV and in the movies. Workers could get together and demand better conditions. Journalists did their job and reported instead of fawning. We weren’t being constantly surveilled by smart technology.

Greedy rich people, religious leaders, and racists all concluded that this was a bad thing, joined forces, and now here we are, being driven off the cliff by people who very much do not have your best interests at heart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many things have gotten so much worse. Shrinkflation and skimpflation. Customer service being replaced by AI that sends you in endless loops and never solves the problem. Endless subscriptions and paywalls. Climate change, global instability, and constant supply chain disruptions causing shortages. Younger people increasingly accept that it’s normal to pay the same price and receive less and less, because they don’t remember what things were like before.

Regardless of the fact that our living standards are still better than a 14th century peasant (for now, until the billionaires have their way), we’ve lost something very vital: optimism. People used to look forward to the future. For a moment after WWII, it seemed like things were possible. Rights were expanding, schools were desegregating, opportunities were opening up for more and more people, and the moral arc of the universe was bending (slowly) in the right direction. The middle class was expanding. Flying cars were just around the corner. Families could get by comfortably on one income. A college education unlocked doors. Kids could just be kids without having to grind year round at sports just to make the high school team. Minority groups started to see themselves represented on TV and in the movies. Workers could get together and demand better conditions. Journalists did their job and reported instead of fawning. We weren’t being constantly surveilled by smart technology.

Greedy rich people, religious leaders, and racists all concluded that this was a bad thing, joined forces, and now here we are, being driven off the cliff by people who very much do not have your best interests at heart.

+1000! And I do wonder if all these posters saying things are better now than the Middle Ages or whatever are trolls trying to convince the rest of us that what’s happening is not of concern. Wake up, folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Capitalism, giant corporations, billionaires and corrupt politicians.

This. Capitalism must be humanized by regulations. Pure capitalism is brutal.