The "American Dream" costs far more than most people will earn over their lifetime

Lee Duna@lemmy.nz to News@lemmy.world – 664 points –
The "American Dream" costs far more than most people will earn over their lifetime
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Considering the Earth is dying and society will probably collapse in the next 20 years, there's no "retirement plan". You either die in your work boots at 90, get shot in the water wars, or starve to death once agricultural zones turn to sand.

Buy the game you want. Tell that hot person you're into them. See as much as the world right now as you can.

Sure, there's a COL crisis right now in North American, but in 20 years we'll look back at right now as "the good times".

You've forgotten the fourth category: the rich who barricade themselves into a paradise of hoarded resources while everyone else dies.

Oh we're coming for them first.

Or afterwards. One cannot live in a bunker without help. Why would the support staff not turn on the rich owner when the pay is worthless because there's no world outside in which to spend it?

Oh fun story they already are trying to plan for that.

Some of that answers the rich have come up with are:

Shock collars for their security team that can't be taken off.
Implants that allow for remote killing of their security team.
Biometric scanner that locks all food and water so I only the bunker owner can distribute it.
AI systems that are self running.

You know, literally comic book villain shit that when you try to point it out to them they seem truly confused as to your point. Reminder that the rich are already building their doomsday bunkers and have been just waiting for us to all die off for a while now.

Anything to avoid kindness and cooperation.

All about showing you have the most control over everyone and everything

It's funny that the ruling class is banking on this outcome, without the understanding that to have a functioning society where people don't just randomly die of disease or infection, you have to have a few thousand people that all live relatively close to each other. Bunker living is just delaying the inevitable death by starvation.

Man my kid is going to have such a leg up over all the people who think like this. I hope your hilarious pessimism spreads honestly.

Please keep believing this. I have no interest in talking you out of your life choices.

I don't care about you. I do care about my kids. It benefits my kids for more people to think like you and give up on their lives. I hope your beliefs become widespread so my kids have life on easy mode.

That’s not selfish at all. /s

Allowing you to make your own choices is not selfish. Being excited about your bad choices, that you make without my input and that I firmly believe are silly, is not selfish.

Being happy my kids will have an easy life is not selfish, by definition.

Selfish:

: concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself : seeking or concentrating on one's own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others.

By definition.

My daughter is not me. Your beliefs do not affect me at all. I'm already doing great, and you and i are most assuredly not competing for anything.

You want her to have an easy life. That’s natural. At the expense of others. That’s selfish.

I didn't cost the other people anything. I'm just happy they're independently making dumb choices they'd hate me for trying to talk them out of.

There's no way to spin this so that you're right.

I selfishly want you to continue thinking this way so that it accelerates the demise of capitalism.

Cool. I don't have an issue with that

You're still acting like a bitch. I hope you're not like this to your neighbors because they might shoot you AND your kids if shit hits the fan (but you have nothing to worry about... Right?).

Might be a bit contentious to say, but you're really bad at protecting your young's survival chances right now. Your selfishness actively endangers them even though this vector has no consequences right now. I hope you learn not to be an asshole to random people. It might impact more than just yourself. Granted I'm sure you're only like this because you're behind a keyboard, but if you said this to people in real life, I doubt you would have many reliable friends left.

I hope you’re not like this to your neighbors because they might shoot you AND your kids

I find this extremely unlikely.

Your selfishness actively endangers them even though this vector has no consequences right now

I'm not selfish. We discussed this. You're free to make your own choices. I'm free to enjoy that they're bad ones.

Granted I’m sure you’re only like this because you’re behind a keyboard, but if you said this to people in real life,

I've told my daughters friends this too. Swing and a miss, again.

Can I see some research corroborating your certainty on this?

My certainty that my kids can outcompetes someone who gives up on life?

This is honestly one of the most pathetic things I have heard in awhile. How shitty of a parent are you that you bank on this kind of stuff?

Sucks that your kids aren’t going to be given a good head start on learning empathy.

My kids are quite empathetic, as am I.

If this person would rather travel the world and not plan for the future, that's their right.

Just a guess, but I think your kids are going to be assholes. For their sake, I hope the apple rolls down a hill, far from the tree.

My kids are saints lol. As am I. Disagreeing with people with crazy views doesn't make you an asshole.

Your kids are going to have shitty lives if everyone around them has given up on life because the world sucks. Life on easy mode is being born rich.

A small percentage of one generation is not "everyone around them." This is not a large community and opinions expressed here are not widespread.

For all of our sakes, I hope you're right. But with the amount of crop failures occuring in North America, I'm probably the one who is correct.

Your kids deserve better than the mess you brought them into.

We don't get to pick when we exist, just play the hands wre dealt. Im happy they're born into the safest, healthiest, most prosperous time in all of human history, worldwide.

Let me guess, you're one of those "climate change is natural and the Earth has changed climate before a bunch of times periodically!" types of people?

Turns out, pumping trillions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere for 150 years is bad for interconnected ecosystems. Notice how it doesn't really snow anymore in North America, or if it does, it's a "once in a lifetime" snowpocalypse? Notice how the hurricanes in the south don't really ever stop now? Notice how Europe floods like a motherfucker now? Notice how many people are dying of heat stroke every year? How every single year is the hottest year in history? Remember when the North Pole existed?

Also, how do you figure your kid is going to have an easy time? Statistically speaking, you make around $35k a year. Given the housing market and wage stagnation, your kid is most likely going to be in the working class who scrapes a living together with 5 roommates.

Let me guess, you’re one of those “climate change is natural and the Earth has changed climate before a bunch of times periodically!” types of people?

I'm literally a climate lobbyist for Citizens Climate Lobby. You should join! We always need more passionate people.

https://citizensclimatelobby.org/

Statistically speaking, you make around $35k a year.

I make slightly more than triple that, plus my wife's income. It's trivially easy to clear $35k right now, if you're willing to work some difficult, boring hours. I've dedicated my life to a role where I help frontline, unskilled laborers, and my last 2 jobs require 0 skills for our bottom-tier worker and will pay you well over 35k per year.

My daughter is in college for psychiatric nursing. I'm not worried about her. Entry level salary is about what I make now.

Also, slight correction - the north pole still exists. It's just ice free more often. The north pole is a magnetic feature of the planet