Asklemmy

Every time your life gets harder, some rich persons life gets easier. Welcome to capitalism.

Yes it is, we are being squeezed! We have less ways out. I'm far better than I ever was, actually have better health, and fitness. Yet, it is hopeless.

Thirty-something Norwegian here. I am born into a rich, relatively functioning social democracy with a good welfare state. Buying my own home was a real struggle, even with a good salary. Many of my peers will never own, my younger friends will struggle to ever own, or never.

Unfortunately the welfare state is eroding, prices for everything is increasing heavily, and the private sector is a growing leech on the state.

They broke the social contract. The thing that a polite, cooperative society is built on. So now we see what that means as more everyday folk realize it over time.

It's definitely getting worse, you're not imagining it.

Bills went up, pay did not keep up.

Yeah, i mean we make more stuff than ever before per capita and all that, and yet we still have to fight harder and harder to survive. How so? We'll these fucking billionaires are also richer than ever before. Crassus' wealth is estimated at like $2B in today's dollars. Rockefeller is estimated at like $300-400B. Musk is more than double that. It's very clear what's happening, the rich use the capitalist surplus as a weapon to extract more wealth from the poor.

yeah it's intentional.

oligarchs are hoarding the resources and getting people to distract themselves by pointing at each other while they stockpile their bunkers.

You could post this exact question at literally any time in history and get a whole host of agreeing answers. That's a basic sanity test you should use to determine that this is a question incorrectly put.

tbh a large part of it probably has to do with you getting older and looking back in the good old days in rose tinted glasses

some parts of the world got better now compared to few decades ago, while others have gotten much worse

There's a whole lot of awful going on.

My dad used to rant about how government should be run like a business, no, no dad, it really, really should not. Businesses do not care about people, businesses don't want anything but money, your money, and they will twist, turn, manipulate, lobby, and flat out steal or harm people to get it.

So the next time you call 311, the non emergency police line, or God forbid 911 remember, your call is very important to us, a representative will be with you shortly. If you'd like to take a brief survey after the call just stay on the line. If you'd like to talk to our chat bot Sally just say, hey Sally!

I think you are slow on the uptake. It has been this way for a while.

I was born in the 60's and feel ya. Funny that there's a lot of people who never knew life before internet like we never knew life without television. My take on it is we are bombarded. We see everything that happens all over the planet as soon as it happens. Yet our ability to affect things is still the same. That I feel makes us feel small. Spend less time looking at screens

OP, it’s also going to sound like a cliche, but touch grass. The cancer-like tech companies want to replace your sense of community so that they have more power over you. F them, join a local group, and find yourself feeling more powerful when you have a real community behind you.

Yeah it's sucks. I feel like everthing I do or will do need to be optimazed instead of done for sake of doing.

im putting groceries on credit. i had a great credit score till this year, i havent even tried making payments on certain things including ER bills. only a matter of time before im bankrupt, and i am also disabled. i have given up on having a future and I'm only 32.

Sounds like things have been good for you in the past. I am happy for you, and wish you a return to the good times.

They say happiness is all about expectations, but I haven't expected anything good and I am still disappointed.

Wealth divide is worse. We are also in a time of change geopolitically. Also in a time where powerful actors benefit from creating controversy including media, social medial, political, and geopolitical. We live in interesting times.

No, you are not alone. I have the same feeling.

It's really hard to tell what was just younger kids not being exposed to the world vs. things actually getting worse. I was a kid during '08, and things didn't really change for me at home cuz my family was always very frugal, especially my dad.

Climate change has empirically gotten worse tho. Inflation, enshitification, food quality, all of it SEEMS worse but it's hard to quantify it you know?

I think about it this way.

In 1995 I could leave the house with nothing in my pocket except $10.00 and have a great day. Ride the bus with cash, get food with cash, buy stuff with cash. If I needed a ride there were free phones to car services in most stores.

Today, if I go out the door I need cash, a credit card, and a phone.

yes, join your local communist party

Life isn't that bad yet but owning things is starting to become impossible. You used to buy and own things now you are more and more only allowed to rent them. Be it movies, video games or your house.

Yes, but not in the imprecise terms you'll find tossed around in mainstream sources of information.

Key Lemmy-grade terms:

1. Surveillance Capitalism ---> Technofeudalism
2. Personalized pricing
3. Bureaucratic Friction & sludge (customer service best practice)
4. Administrative Burden (government, business adm & customer service)
5. LexisNexis Risk Solutions, RealPage
6. Rent-seeking behavior; economic rent
7. Whiteness theory

All of the things that were supposed to help us by making our lives easier really helped them and now our lives are harder. I don't see an end to that.