#and we still can barely afford to rent a one-bedroom apartment

[ardri-na-bpiteog]

I feel like it really shouldn't be unreasonable for 2 professional workers in their late twenties to feel like they should be able to afford a 2-bedroom apartment

[robertreich]

The Biggest Economic Lies We’re Told

In America, it’s expensive just to be alive.

And with inflation being driven by price gouging corporations, it’s only getting more expensive for regular Americans who don’t have any more money to spend.

Just look at how Big Oil is raking it in while you pay through the nose at the pump.

That’s on top of the average price of a new non-luxury car — which is now over $44,000. Even accounting for inflation, this is way higher than the average cost when I bought my first car — it’s probably in a museum by now.

Even worse, the median price for a house is now over $440,000. Compare that to 1972, when it was under $200,000.

Work a full-time minimum wage job? You won’t be able to afford rent on a one-bedroom apartment just about anywhere in the U.S.

And when you get back after a long day of work, you’ll likely be met with bills up the wazoo for doctor visits, student loans, and utilities.

So what’s left of a paycheck after basic living expenses? Not much.

You can only reduce spending on food, housing, and other basic necessities so much. Want to try covering the rest of your monthly costs with a credit card? Well now that’s more expensive too, with the Fed continuing to hike interest rates.

All of this comes back to how we measure a successful economy.

What good are more jobs if those jobs barely pay enough to live on?

Over one-third of full time jobs don’t pay enough to cover a basic family budget.

And what good are lots of jobs if they cause so much stress and take up so much time that our lives are miserable?

And don’t tell me a good economy is measured by a roaring stock market if the richest 10 percent of Americans own more than 80 percent of it.

And what good is a large Gross Domestic Product if more and more of the total economy is going to the richest one-tenth of one percent?  

What good is economic growth if the way we grow depends on fossil fuels that cause a climate crisis?

These standard measures – jobs, the stock market, the GDP – don’t show how our economy is really doing, who is doing well, or the quality of our lives.

People who sit at their kitchen tables at night wondering how they’re going to pay the bills don’t say to themselves

“Well, at least corporate profits are at record levels.”

In fact, corporations have record profits and CEOs are paid so much because they’re squeezing more output from workers but paying lower wages. Over the past 40 years, productivity has grown 3.5x as fast as hourly pay.

At the same time, corporations are driving up the costs of everyday items people need.

Because corporations are monopolizing their markets, they don’t have to worry about competitors. A few giant corporations can easily coordinate price hikes and enjoy bigger profits.

Just four firms control 85% of all beef, 66% of all pork, and 54% of all poultry production.

Firms like Tyson have seen their profit margins skyrocket as they jack up prices higher than their costs — forcing consumers who are already stretched thin to pay even more.

It’s not just meat. Weak antitrust enforcement has allowed companies to become powerful enough to raise their prices across the entire food industry.

It’s the same story with household goods. Giant companies like Procter & Gamble blame their price hikes on increased costs – but their profit margins have soared to 25%. Hello? They care more about their bottom line than your bottom, that’s for sure.

Meanwhile, parents – and even grandparents like me – are STILL struggling to feed their babies because of a national formula shortage. Why? Largely because the three companies who control the entire formula industry would rather pump money into stock buybacks than quality control at their factories.

Traditionally, our economy’s health is measured by the unemployment rate. Job growth. The stock market. Overall economic growth. But these don’t reflect the everyday, “kitchen table economics” that affect our lives the most.

These measures don’t show the real economy.

Instead of looking just at the number of jobs, we need to look at the income earned from those jobs. And not the average income.

People at the top always bring up the average.

If Jeff Bezos walked into a bar with 140 other people, the average wealth of each person would be over a billion dollars.

No, look at the median income – half above, half below.

And make sure it accounts for inflation – real purchasing power.

Over the last few decades, the real median income has barely budged. This isn’t economic success.

It's economic failure, with a capital F.

And instead of looking at the stock market or the GDP we need to look at who owns what – where the wealth really is.

Over the last forty years, wealth has concentrated more and more at the very top. Look at this;

This is a problem, folks. Because with wealth comes political power.

Forget trickle-down economics. It’s trickle on.

And instead of looking just at economic growth, we also need to look at what that growth is costing us – subtract the costs of the climate crisis, the costs of bad health, the costs of no paid leave, and all the stresses on our lives that economic growth is demanding.

We need to look at the quality of our lives – all our lives. How many of us are adequately housed and clothed and fed. How many of our kids are getting a good education. How many of us live in safety – or in fear.

You want to measure economic success? Go to the kitchen tables of America.

[heavenlyakin]

Ken Ryuguji x Reader

Minors DNI

barely edited so be nice to me. here’s some short vignettes of some draken content (angst) that’s been in my head but I can’t manage to put together a whole fic. It’s inspired by “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman.

cw: unrequited love, implied emotional cheating, implied family issues.

——

His first touch felt like warm water rushing over your skin, spreading and soaking you to your core. It was everything you ever needed to feel with someone else. His arm heavy around your shoulders, his grin mesmerizing. The wind blowing your hair everywhere seemed to disappear as you looked into his eyes and felt safe for the first time in years.

“Where do you want to go?” He asked, his voice as beautiful as the song on the radio.

“Anywhere,” you answered truly meaning it. You’d follow him to the ends of the earth.

—

The apartment was nothing to brag about but it was yours and his. Finally a home to calm your own and with the one you loved. It’d been talked about for a little over a year, something you both wanted. You’re saved every penny you could to afford the deposit and first months rent, now you just prayed you’d be able to keep it.

“What’s wrong, love?” Ken asks, picking up immediately on the stress you’re putting on yourself.

“Oh nothing, just wondering how we’ll afford this place.” You laugh, rolling your shoulders back to loosen the tightness that has built up over the last hour or so of worrying.

“We’ll manage it,” he kisses the top of your head, his fingers tangling in yours and pulling you closer. “We always do.”

—

“Just fix it, please! We need you!” Your sisters voice, cracking as she talks, continues to beg you.

“I just don’t understand what I can do from here, I’m so sorry.” You hang up before the guilt eats you alive.

“——-,” your name from Ken’s lips drags your attention away from your cell phone. Fuck, it’s 3 a.m.

You wipe your eyes and sniffle before turning to look at him. “I’m sorry I woke you up, it’s just… my sister. She called again. I’m scared for her,” you tell him.

He sits up, pulling you to his chest. “Shhh, it’s okay. You can’t save everyone, baby.”

—

Your eyes itch as you start to unlock the door to your apartment. You hear laughing as it opens and notice a group of guys and one blonde girl sitting on your couch. Your eyes narrow to see who everyone is but you give up. After picking up a double at work, you really can’t be bothered to scold him for having people over before asking you if it would be okay.

“Hey!” Mikey’s familiar voice greets you as you make int through the kitchen and into the living room.

“Hi,” softly you answer. “Ken, can I chat with you for a second?”

—

Not much has changed. Your sister is still calling you even though you’re halfway around the world and Ken can’t keep a job. You’ve been promoted at least and can take care of everything but it’s wearing on you.

As you’re thinking about him, he stumbles in the apartment, laughing as he picks his keys off the floor. You don’t react, just turning your tv show’s volume up a few notches. He ignores you, going straight to your bedroom and you turn the volume back down.

Your eyes well up, the smell of alcohol and perfume wafting in the apartment now. You don’t have the energy to ask where he’s been, honestly some small part of you is beginning to not care. You just can’t find it in you to ask him to leave yet.

[cynophagia]

hey lol so like if u were wondering what happened to me....

i got absolutely fucked over by my landlord after a year+ of living in incredibly unsafe conditions but being unable to afford anything else and trying to stick it thru for my job and my partner. most of my time renting this place i squatted next door in my partner's super fucking tiny bedroom. between the stress of 40-50hr work weeks in a veterinary ER with my crazy erratic schedule (and only being paid 12/hr), getting sick all the time due to mold, tension with my roommate, heavy dietary restriction, developing seriously unhealthy relationships with substances, being on/off my meds due to difficulty with access, and ultimately having to defer out of my dream continuing education program because my living situation was too unsafe for my partner dog to live with me, i was finally like omg fuck this i can't do it any more.

in november i broke my lease, had to leave my clinic, and i dipped. while trying to find a new apartment, i have been living out of my car, my partners car, and motels, all while trying to help support my partner who's been in and out of hospitals due to issues with his own health catalyzed by my previous living situation.

after breaking my lease, landing places to stay had been cartoonishly difficult including a homophobic attack driving us out of one unit in the middle of the night with the maintenance guy as a bodyguard (and if ur of a mind I have video proof of the incident lol) and my car being jacked. mid december the stress + genetic predisposition culminated in experiencing a 3 day long psychotic episode, my first time experiencing that kind of crisis in myself (although in hindsight probably a long time coming as my behavior had grown increasingly erratic over the past ~2 months), and i was incredibly lucky to have my partner whose got a lot of personal experience to support me otherwise i would have been entirely helpless and probably ivc'd.

thanks to the help of his family who have been incredibly gracious to us we finally have an apartment and had a safe place to crash over the holidays. we aren't moved into the apartment yet but finally have the keys and are working on the logistics of getting all my stuff back together and all his transported. otherwise just trying to survive and figure it out one day at a time. i'm by no means stable enough to return to my field of work though.

that's the most bare bones summary i could get down and it's still multiple paragraphs lol.

i've been reaching out to everywhere i can think of for help and taking advantage of what resources i can in the aftermath. i know all my mutuals are going thru it but if anyone has the desire and the means to help out any and all support is deeply deeply deeply appreciated. $pudelhund if you're of a mind :')

[tiredofthebull]

I live in Waltham Housing, and I have lived here for 11 years, I used to live in Allston in HUD housing. Now if rent was affordable, I would have a house of my own now. But how can I when housing takes what 30% of my income and our government takes their share, what is left to save? Absolutely NOTHING! Food costs more, electricity costs more. I can barely buy food if I can at all. Housing is supposed to be a steppingstone, but it is instead a big bolder chained to your leg to keep you down.

I am so tired of not getting ahead, I work full time and if my job asks me to work longer or more I can't, because what I would be doing is making more for housing to take and more for our government to take so the politicians can get a raise and so their secretaries can have a secretary.

I try to look for apartments outside of housing and all I can say is to those you are renting apartments for 3 to 4 thousand dollars for a 3-bedroom apartment a 1 bath, and they are not the greatest looking apartments and some in very questionable areas, YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF!!!!!

My two sons live with me and they are both adults , one is 39 and the other 24, they both work full time and of course their income is counted and still we can’t save anything to get out cause they just charge more, most people are happy when they get a raise, not me because I know the rent will go up and once again the government takes more.

This is why there are so many homeless people, why there are hungry children, why the elderly don't eat because they must pay out of pocket for some of their prescriptions because insurance doesn't cover all of it.

We are living in the richest country, yet most of us are poor and hungry, we have to make life decisions at the grocery store and forget about buying healthy, who can afford healthy?!

And yes, there are food pantries, that's if you can get to them during the time they are giving away things. I work so I can’t, And the times I was able to go when they had on the weekends, well, the fruit and vegetables were already starting to rot. I also make too much for food stamps, but I don't have enough money left over after taxes are taken out and after I pay rent.

Housing counts what you make gross, OK, so I don't get back a lot at the end of the year, and if I don't get back anything? Where is that money you counted that I make, that gets counted towards my rent, that I never see????

So, to the government, when are you going to do something for your citizens? We all deserve the same luxuries as you. You’re not better than any of us poor people, you just have more, more breaks in taxes, more money that you get tax breaks on because you are at a higher income bracket. You just make more.

I am tired, tired of not making enough, I tired of working and having nothing to show for it,

I tired of people say the economy is better, tired of people saying there is no recession, of course the people in government don't feel it, but we the people who work our asses off for you doing jobs that you would never do, because you don't want to get your hands dirty, unless it is in politics.

Don't lie to the hardworking people of this country, we live in the real world, while you live in your fabricated world of fairy tales.

[occult-roommates]

I’m pregnant

Akva stared at the little white and blue stick, in pure disbelief. No no no no, this can’t be happening to her. There’s a more logical explanation, it’s stress! Yeah, it’s just stress, it can causes nausea and headaches and late period, and she gained weight cause she’s stress eating. It all makes sense. But she wouldn’t have done a test if she didn’t suspect she might be pregnant in the first place, wouldn’t she...

Akva: Fuck, I can’t have a baby...I’m only 19 years old. Sure, by the time the baby will be born, I’ll be 20, and that’s the age my mom had me, but still. I am 100% not at the same stage of my life as my mom was. She conceived me on her honeymoon, I broke up with Jay a few weeks ago. And we used protection! I know no birth control is perfect, but still, why me? Charlie: Is everything ok in there? Akva: N-No.

The young mermaid let her friend enter the bathroom. Charlie is to her like the big sister she always wanted to have. After having a big cry on her shoulder, Akva asked to go to the living room. Feeling dizzy, she just wanted to lay on the couch a little bit. Kind of a mistake, as Kino and Daniele were eating their breakfast in the kitchen less than six feet away from there, but they’re her friends too, she trust them in such a critical moment of her life.

Akva: I did the math, at the latest I’m 6 weeks pregnant, at the earliest I’m 4 weeks pregnant. So at least I still got plenty of time to make a decision.  Charlie: I could adopt the baby if you want! Akva: I am not becoming your surrogate mother, Charlie! Kino: My home planet has many cultures, but the one I was born in, children are raised communally. Usually we are aware of who birthed us, and who helped conceive us, as our relationship norm is serial monogamy, but they are not our sole caregivers. Which is great for people like me, who were orphaned at birth. Akva: Please don’t reveal this to me so suddenly at like 8 AM, I’m super hormonal and I will cry. Daniele: Yeah, and how exactly will you afford a baby, my dear Charlie? We’re like, six people in a two bedroom apartment, just barely making rent. We can’t afford to have a kid, even if we raise it all together like Kino kind of suggested.

Charlie and Daniele began to argue about their living situation, for like, the sixth time this week, causing Rudi to wake up. At the same time, Dawud was getting ready to go to work. Was he thrilled to spend his Saturday cleaning up garbage at the airport? Of course not, but at least he wasn’t cursed by the unwanted pregnancy fairy...Would have been kinda weird actually.

Rudi: What’s going on? Charlie: Akva’s pregnant. Rudi: Mazel Tov! Akva: No...Not Mazel Tov, more like...Molotov...I feel like I got thrown a Molotov cocktail right in the face. Daniele: You’re Jewish? Cool. Rudi: Uh...Kind of, my dad was. Daniele: Was? Rudi: Yeah, he’s dead now. Dawud: Wow, same!

And this is what caused Akva to finally start crying. Like, for the love of all, two of her friends have lost their dad, this is awful how can she not react to that. Though, Rudi then realized a more pressing issue...Wasn’t Akva a lesbian?

Well, yes, she is. Which is why she broke up with her ex in the first place. They were having sex one night, and she realized she could no longer lie to herself anymore. To be honest, her boyfriend kinda suspected it, so he wasn’t mad over this reveal. Not sure if he’ll take that well the idea of becoming a father though. Also, what about her family? They, however, were still in shock to find out she is gay, and now she’s also pregnant?? Like girl, pick a struggle.

Charlie: Look Akva, whatever you decide to do, know we support you in your decision. Daniele: Yeah, 100%. Akva: Th-Thank you everyone.

Kino, Charlie, and Daniele all sat next to her and gave her a big hug, while Dawud and Rudi looked over them. 

Rudi: Now I want a hug too. Dawud: Sure, I’ll give you one real quick, don’t wanna be late.  Rudi: Aw, thanks. We’ll bound over our dead dads after work then. Dawud: My little Shaggy Rogers.

In that very moment, while her life felt like a bit of a nightmare, at least Akva knew that no matter what, nobody in the apartment would ever let her down. They’re all in this together.

Prev - Next

[spideronsilk]

I fucking hate how public transportation isn't more normalized in the US.

Like I'm about to be 25 and don't have a license. I get laughed at or looked down upon because if that but why??

There are places that have all these trains and subways and trams and its all apart of peoples normal, every day life. But here, at least where I live you HAVE TO have a car.

Sure they have a bus system. But where i live it never dips below 100° in the summer and our bus stations are outside with a shade covering SOMETIMES. Sometimes its just a pole with the bus symbol. And people are fucking frowned upon for having to take the bus. Oh you don't have a car? Why?

BECAUSE IM FUCKING POOR. because me and my boyfriend make well above minimum wage but can still barely survive. We have ZERO savings. We have maybe 100 bucks each at the start of each month after rent. Why am I paying $1550 for a two bedroom one bathroom apartment that's literally falling apart. Where our ac was POURING water for over a year that they claimed they couldn't fix. Where our doors look like they were kicked in and then shittily patched up after the old tenant left. But ohh its a LUXURY apartment. We have a stainless steal fridge THATS why its so expensive?!

Oh well that's just how all apartments are now a days.

LITERALLY WHY?

they want money i literally don't have. They're trying to force me to buy a car I can't afford. Drive somewhere that's purposely put on the opposite side of residential areas. All for what?

I have no money to give.

I shouldn't have to sell my fucking soul to be above the poverty line. I shouldn't have to feel guilty for not being able to buy a car. To have safe, affordable living.

Like fuck eveything

[i-cant-read-the-room]

I spent more time in foster care than any other place in my childhood. Starting when I was 12 I moved into this foster home where I ended up staying until I aged out. My foster parents are definitely not perfect. The dad was emotionally unavailable to everyone including his wife, and the mom was showing strong symptoms of NPD or bipolar.

For example wants me and my little sister snuck into their bedroom to the cat because the cat was not allowed out of their bedroom. They weren't home at the time. Our foster mom came home early and caught us in her room in the act of petting the cat. She asked why we were down there, and we said because we wanted to put the cat. Obviously we apologized and said we wouldn't do it again. She grounded us. Then when our foster dad got home we could hear them talking, and he asked why we were in their room, and she said "because they wanted to ". She was twisting our words, and she started crying to him, literally sobbing that she felt like her personal space was violated. Then she came to our room and laughed in our faces, literally smirked and Shit like that at us while we apologized. She told us our foster dad was very angry with us, and that we would likely not see the outside of our room for a very long time.

There was a lot of emotional abuse, and manipulation going on in the house. But I will tell you it was by far better than my childhood home. It felt like a paradise because I didn't have to live in fear of being drowned or suffocated. I just had to walk on my toes around peoples feelings. And act like I was always being watched because truthfully I was. I couldn't even pick my nose without getting grounded.

What sucks is my foster dad has an aneurysm, yet he repeatedly flies to St. Croix every Christmas for his and his wife's anniversary. And his wife is in the last stage of Alzheimer's or dementia whichever one it is. Him being the type to not recognize mental illnesses as real illnesses, he constantly scolds her for forgetting things, or completely misunderstanding the topic of a conversation. when she repeats her self he yells at her that she already said that. Recently she's taken to wearing her bathing suit constantly, it's the middle of winter if you are reading this a long time from now. She also wanders outside a lot, and a few days ago she was found wandering the opposite side of our development with no clue who she was or where she lived. Our neighbors threatened to have our foster dad arrested for elder abuse. He knows of her diagnosis, and yet he doesn't think it's real. He said "she just has some trouble remembering things". After he was threatened with legal action, she went outside again and he yelled at her to "get her ass back inside" And he told her she's never allowed to leave the house again. I hope he gets arrested.

I did move out when I was 18 but I ran into some financial struggles after getting pregnant four months after leaving lol. So he let me move back in so long as I pay rent. So I'm worried about reporting him because I can't afford actual apartments. The rent here is really cheap, and I can barely afford it. But I feel like both of them are going to die soon, and that means I will have to find somewhere else to live.

I also just want to say, I hated them both my whole childhood, but seeing my foster mom in the state she is in makes me cry. I would never wish this upon my worst enemy, and my worst enemy is currently going through it. I wish I could talk to her one more time, the way she was before the disease. I wish I had videos of her talking, anything. Before she lost her mind She may have been mean but she was still a human being. Now she is just a human body on auto pilot, and her mind has long since moved on. I am grieving somebody who is still alive and it haunts me. Every time she talks to me I can't do anything except try and leave the situation as quickly as possible because it makes me depressed. is it terrible to say I hope she dies soon? I don't want her to suffer any longer, and our foster dad refuses to put her in a nursing home because it's the "easy way out". 

[impetusofadream]

Do you ever look at your life and just think "How the fuck did we get here?" Like this was NOT the plan, by any stretch of the imagination and even though you lived through every moment of it, you can't really pin point how you got from Point A to Point So Far Off the Rails We're Not Even on the Map Anymore.

I am 37 years old and I'm still living in the house my parents own. I pay them rent but I'm definitely not proud of this fact. I just somehow ended up as another idiot with a completely useless BFA in a town where I can't even afford a studio apartment on my slightly above local minimum wage income. (And our minimum wage is like $15. This is also not taking into account the fact my anxiety requires a door that locks to my bedroom).

I'm not sure I was ever capable of imagining my life past 30 as a teenager (I was too desperate to get away from how miserable the here and now was making me at the time.) But I always thought I'd be... more?

I definitely didn't picture myself alone, with barely a half dozen people I've dated over the last 20 years and none of them ever developing into an actual relationship. (To be fair to my younger self, she hadn't realized she was ace-spec yet.) Which yeah finding someone willing to accommodate potentially never having sex again... is exceeding difficult and emotionally draining. And honestly more often than not ends up feeling kind of degrading. Esp when your dating ocean is more like a small pond.

That gnawing loneliness that underlined honestly 90% of my life past about age 6, I didn't expect that well of pain to keep overflowing instead of finally being capped. Unexpected, but unsurprisingly it just get worse when all your friends start getting married and having kids and you realize that everyone else has at least one person who outrages you on thier priority list. The universe suddenly materializes as this massive cunt for not having the grace to make you aro on top of ace so you could at least wrinkle your nose at the entire concept of nonplatonic relationships.

But no, that bitch made you a MASSIVE sap, which when compounded with your deeply touch starved upbringing means you DESPERATELY crave intimacy... but you live in a world where a large percentage of society believes that kind of intimacy only comes from romantic/sexual relationships past a certain age.

So you find your 37 year old self awake at 2 in the morning in the same room that she used to sob into a Minnie Mouse pillow to about being bullied by the popular kids, now quietly crying into a capybara squishmallow because it's the only thing that doesn't complain about 5 seconds in your life about being held onto; Wondering to yourself, "how did I get here?"

.

.

.

and wondering if maybe you really are broken and deficient in some way everyone else can perceive except you.

[pankowkisses]

Silent whispers

CHAPTER TWO ( the response )

𝑀𝒶𝒸𝓀𝑒𝓃𝓏𝒾𝑒'𝓈 𝒫.𝒪.𝒱

The unanswered questions I have race around my head , will I ever get the answers I desperately need , the answers I deserve, will my biological family even want me probably not nobody ever wants me , as a child all I wanted to do was to be held and told how much I'm loved yet I never got any of that I got pushed and shoved and told how worthless I was , the pain and harshness I went through in those foster homes was something that no one could ever imagine, the only time I felt safe is when I was living with Mrs Watson she was the only type of parental figure I've ever had in my entire life , these twenty three years seem pointless, what's the actual point In my life, when I'm just disposable , no one's ever gonna want me

I'm a twenty three year old girl living in a two bedroom apartment that I share with my best friend , I don't have a job I can barely afford the rent on this place let alone anything luxurious not that I need anything like that anyways

A ping from my phone breaks me out of my thoughts just as haven looks at me

"Is it her" she asks which I nod in response while staring down at my phone with shaky hands I click the notification I see that she has replied I open instagram

【Ｔｈｅ　Ｄｍ】

@𝓀𝑒𝓃𝒹𝓏𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓀𝑒𝓈

𝐻𝒾 𝐼'𝓂 𝑀𝒶𝒸𝓀𝑒𝓃𝓏𝒾𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓀𝑒𝓈

𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓂𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒷𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝓂𝑜𝓂?

@𝒿𝑒𝓃𝓃𝒾𝒻𝑒𝓇𝒸𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝟦

𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒾𝓈𝓃'𝓉 𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓈𝒾𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓁𝒶𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒

𝐼 𝑔𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒷𝒾𝓇𝓉𝒽 𝓉𝑜 𝒶 𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓁𝒹 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝟤𝟥 𝓎𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓈 𝒶𝑔𝑜

@𝓀𝑒𝓃𝒹𝓏𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓀𝑒𝓈

𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓉'𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝐼'𝓂 𝟤𝟥 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑜𝓇𝓅𝒽𝒶𝓃𝒶𝑔𝑒

𝓉𝑜𝓁𝒹 𝓂𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓂𝓎 𝒷𝒾𝓇𝓉𝒽 𝓂𝑜𝓂

@𝒿𝑒𝓃𝓃𝒾𝒻𝑒𝓇𝒸𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝟦

𝒪𝓀𝒶𝓎 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝑒 𝒾𝓉'𝓈 𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓈𝒾𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝑒

𝒾𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒 , 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓆𝓊𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝒻𝓇𝒶𝓃𝓀𝓁𝓎 𝓂𝓎 𝓈𝑜𝓃

𝒹𝑜𝑒𝓈𝓃'𝓉 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊.

@𝓀𝑒𝓃𝒹𝓏𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓀𝑒𝓈

𝐼 𝒹𝒾𝒹 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊.

𝓌𝒶𝒾𝓉 𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒶 𝒷𝓇𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝒽𝓎 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉

𝒽𝑒 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓂𝑒, 𝐼'𝒹 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝑒𝑒𝓉 𝒽𝒾𝓂

@𝒿𝑒𝓃𝓃𝒾𝒻𝑒𝓇𝒸𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝟦

𝒲𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝑒 𝓃𝑜𝓌

𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓂𝑒𝑒𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒽𝒾𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝓂𝑒

𝒮𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝒷𝓎 @𝓀𝑒𝓃𝒹𝓏𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓀𝑒𝓈

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Well there we go the truth is out I officially know that I have a brother the issue is my  my birth mom won't let me even contact him so it looks like I'll have to do some investigating myself.

"So what'd she say" haven asks looking at me curiously

"It's official I have a brother but my birth mom said that I can't meet or contact him and she doesn't want any contact with me" I say sighing with tears in my eyes

"Aww babes we'll find your brother and you don't need her anymore she's shown her true colours now and I can guarantee that your brother doesn't know you, and if he did then he's an asshole"  she says hugging me as I nod

"Okay grab that laptop or phone and screenshot that photo we'll put it on google images" she says and that's exactly what we do I find out that my brother is an actor who stars in a Netflix show that has three seasons currently, that pushes my chances of sending him a dm on instagram cause it will go straight to his requested messages so this is seriously impossible

"Haves the isn't anyway possible that I'll be able to meet him or contact him" I say sighing I throw my head back on the back of the couch,

"Yes the will be a way but  let's go forget about that now and go to the old mil and see if they're still hiring" she says throwing me my shoes and coat as it's winter in Maryland Florida we've had rain so I'm currently in some ripped jeans and a cropped jumper my hairs in a pony tail , I throw on my coat and shoes which is a pair of Nike air forces

Once me and haven are both ready to go we grab our phones

"Right let's go" I say locking the front door

"Let's go get you a job girl! Haven practically screams as we walk down the street towards the old mil which is literally two doors down from our apartment

We open the door a soon as the door flies open I see a group of 8 people in the corner of the room in one of the booths ok think nothing of it until a guy with brown hair turns around in his seat I see that it's the guy from my biological mom's instagram feed , my brother he's here my actual brother the one who I never knew existed is stood in the same place as I am I feel my heart start racing what's gonna happen , does he even know about me , do I go over to him and tell him I quite staring and walk over to where haven is I pull her to the side

"Haves" I ask her

"Yeah what's up" she says looking confused

"You know that group of people over there" I say hinting over to them subtly

"Yeah" she says even more confused

" my brothers over they're what do I do? he might not even know about me" i say freaking out

"What do you mean "what do you do" you go over there and meet your brother" haven says like it's obvious

"I can't I'm scared haves" I say quietly

"Your Mackenzie stokes your fearless now you go and meet your brother Kenz" haven says pushing me towards the group

Here goes nothing I guess it's now or never, I'm either gonna find out he never knew I existed like I never knew he existed or he knew about me but never cared enough to find me , I feel my nerves and anxiety build up I'm not usually a nervous person but this is my brother

I get to the group I stand behind my brother and tap him On his shoulder he turns around oh my god it's too late now...

˜"*°•.˜"*°• ____________________•°*"˜.•°*"˜

Ａｕｔｈｏｒ ｎｏｔｅ

Hiii here’s chapter two of silent whispers I hope you enjoy this chapter and if you do please go check out this book and my other two on Wattpad @pouges4life_ I’d really appreciate it 🫶🏻

[the-kipsabian]

im just gonna complain idk

but like. i applied for payment helps last week. i got a message back today that apparently between receiving my application and working on it to make decisions, some law changes happened and now they are enforcing the preset cost of living limit harder than before when applying for these things before they make decisions on whether or not you qualify for this kind of help or not

this thing is already incredibly difficult to apply for properly and to get in sums that actually help much of anything. previously if your living costs were above the limit, they just shrugged it off depending on the sum and just deducted that from the amount they paid to you. this has never been an issue for me before, ive been applying for this every few months while being unemployed for years

with this new change, however. my living costs are 27.65 euros above the limit. twenty. fucking. seven. and they are making an issue out of that. and by making an issue out of it, it not only delays them making decisions on my application (and me getting money which at this point and around this time of year is not only fucking irritating but also affects like everything else going on rn), but with the new law it apparently comes with a requirement for me to either offer reasoning why im living in an apartment "above my affordable living costs" OR they are gonna cut my benefits and force me to look for a cheaper apartment for a few months until i can prove its impossible (this is literally one of the cheapest one bedroom apartments in this entire city. what in the fuck. we looked around with friends this morning when i broke the news and the only places that are under the 498€ cost limit this city has for some fucking reason are in places that no unemployed carless person - that i am - will be able to live in. but nooooo i have to keep looking)

im just. this whole thing makes no sense. its so fucking stressful. they keep the preset limit the same throughout the years but dont count in the fact that not only are small, cheap apartments more and more difficult to find every fucking year, but that the actual cost of living and rent and shit keeps going up all the time. im literally only applying for this payment help cause im out of everything else. the rent is not the fucking issue here, its literally everything else. me having to suddenly try to find a new apartment and move (which, ofc, they wouldnt help me with at all. cause obviously) is not going to fucking help, cause all they are gonna do with that is cut my pre-existing rent help to match that rent price and im still out of fucking money

im stressed out, im exhausted, i woke up to this fucking mess after barely sleeping for a few hours, im in both mental and physical pain rn and im just. im so ready to give up if they dont accept my explanation on how i need this place and these payments in full cause theres literally no other feasible options in this city for me without it making me physically and socially separated from everything and everyone which will be disastrous for my mental and physical wellbeing. im so fucking tired

merry christmas to me or whatever i have never wanted to kill myself more than i do right now sorry

[thebigshotman]

Listen, I know this is a "all about SpamTONG" situation. But some of us are rather curious about his Addisons during that time. How do they favor his fame, do they even have contact with him still at this point?

*I’m back~ I got us all Darkburgers and fries for dinner, everyone!

*…

*It was the most amount of food for the least amount of money, hehe…

No one else is laughing. The apartment is small, a two bedroom with a tiny kitchen that they can barely afford to pay the rent of each month by cobbling all of their sales together.

*You better not have-

*No! No, of course I didn’t! I got it from a client of mine that owns a restaurant down the road!

*Really? Darkburger restaurants that aren’t owned by him still exist?

*Get off her back, Clem.

Saffron’s sharp words cut through the air and silence the bitter Clementine. She huffs aggressively and lights up a cigarette then and there.

*Goddammit…can’t even go to the Cyber Grill like we used to anymore…

*W-Well…Spam did offer to send us some money every week…

Three pairs of eyes all lock onto Navy.

*B-But obviously, we threw that away…W-What he did was unforgivable, after all!

*We do not say that name around here anymore, Navy. Not after what he did.

Clem clenches her cigarette so tightly you think the insides will start spilling out before she aggressively stuffs it into her mouth.

*All he had to do was apologize to us…I don’t understand why he couldn’t-

*Please don’t start crying, Coral, we’ve been over this…

*[$&@!] thinks money’s gonna win us back. We’re done with him; we don’t need his pity! So stop it, all of you! We’ll figure something out to make more money and get out of this hole we’re in.

Saffron takes the bag from the now-sobbing Coral and begins to empty out everyone’s orders. Meanwhile, Navy is in the corner, mumbling to himself frantically.

*I don’t understand it at all, White…Who told you to say those awful things about us and not apologize? Why are things like this…

He turns his chair to the window, to the dazzling skyline featuring no one else but his smallest and former best friend so no one else will see him cry.

THE PATH TO SUCCESS CAME AT A HEAVY PRICE, I’M SORRY TO SAY.

[krissiedeathy]

Heard about the Rich Richard from Australia who sells homes talking about how unemployment needs to be higher to make employees feel grateful they have a job.

Like dude? The fuck?

It's not that we don't want to work. It's just it provides too little benefit. Like what's the point working here making 15$/hr for 40 hours a week and still not being able to afford even a one bedroom apartment within a 30 minute drive of my job.

I was taught that to be financially secure you only want to spend one weeks worth of a paycheck on your rent. One weeks for bills like electric, water, etc. One weeks for other expenses like gas, groceries. And the last week for savings, emergency funds, and fun treat yourself money.

I'm lucky in Georgia, making 16.40$/hr. But I get paid twice a month. And the total take home is barely even a month's rent apartments around here because guess what, the apartments I. This area are around 1300$ a month at cheapest. Plus I have a cat, so that is an extra 300 or so dollars they'll charge.

My savings are around 300$ and that will be taken by Doctor's appointments, a random chaos like a flat tire, or another bs thing the HOA of my mobile home community wants us to do randomly out of the blue like we can no longer have vertical siding on our trailers and they need to be horizontal. A thing I know they're doing to other trailers in the area.

So yeah. I hope that rich Richard burns in hell. Let him lose all his money and have to start all over and see if he can "pull himself up by his boot straps".

[yourmoonmomma]

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSLpE624Q/ i didn't watch til the end but is it true? It's heartbreaking

Absolutely that is the case right now. The majority of us cannot afford to live right now. Jayson & I got this apartment via a lease takeover, so they couldn't raise the rent as much as I imagine they would have liked to. Currently, our rent (which includes heat & water & a parking spot), is $1350. For a very, very small one bedroom. They rent out these same apartments now for $1600-$1800+. We still pay for hydro (which hydro took a leap too, despite saving on electricity as much as we can, we pay $200/month for it). Plus renters insurance, which is mandatory, which is $30/month. Plus internet, which admittedly we do pay a bit more for good internet, so I can upload videos and stream, but our internet & Jayson's phone bill combined I think are like $200 or $250? Plus my phone, $80/month. Plus car payments, about $500/month. Plus, for a while, car insurance, which was another like $250/month. However, Jayson paid a few times late, as he doesn't have a job, so our car insurance got cancelled and we now have to somehow find $2600 to pay upfront for a year of insurance, or have the car repossessed or whatever they do when you can't get it insured lol. Like, in bills alone, we pay probably easily over $2000/month, just for housing with electricity and internet, and a car because we don't live in a world with easily accessible public transport.

That estimate does NOT include the cost of groceries. We used to be able to feed the two of us on at MOST $350 or $400 a month. Now, those same groceries, we pay easily $800+ on groceries every month. Plus the cost for the cats, plus the cost of gas (which is probably another $150+ every week), plus an sort of emergency savings.

Truth be told, I have no idea how Jayson & I are staying afloat. I have good credit, for now, so I'm getting as many credit cards as I can, because I know we don't have any active income flowing to us currently. Is that a smart decision? Probably not. But there's nothing else we can do. Jobs here do not pay enough for you to live alone, and if you live with someone, and you both work, then you likely make enough to have your bare essentials covered. Meaning most people are a couple bad pays away from being homeless. It's really, really scary right now.

[truck-fump]

The Biggest Economic Lies We’re ToldIn America, it’s expensive...

New Post has been published on https://robertreich.org/post/710162153749004288

The Biggest Economic Lies We’re ToldIn America, it’s expensive...

The Biggest Economic Lies We’re Told

In America, it’s expensive just to be alive.

And with inflation being driven by price gouging corporations, it’s only getting more expensive for regular Americans who don’t have any more money to spend.

Just look at how Big Oil is raking it in while you pay through the nose at the pump.

That’s on top of the average price of a new non-luxury car — which is now over $44,000. Even accounting for inflation, this is way higher than the average cost when I bought my first car — it’s probably in a museum by now.

Even worse, the median price for a house is now over $440,000. Compare that to 1972, when it was under $200,000.

Work a full-time minimum wage job? You won’t be able to afford rent on a one-bedroom apartment just about anywhere in the U.S.

And when you get back after a long day of work, you’ll likely be met with bills up the wazoo for doctor visits, student loans, and utilities.

So what’s left of a paycheck after basic living expenses? Not much.

You can only reduce spending on food, housing, and other basic necessities so much. Want to try covering the rest of your monthly costs with a credit card? Well now that’s more expensive too, with the Fed continuing to hike interest rates.

All of this comes back to how we measure a successful economy.

What good are more jobs if those jobs barely pay enough to live on?

Over one-third of full time jobs don’t pay enough to cover a basic family budget.

And what good are lots of jobs if they cause so much stress and take up so much time that our lives are miserable?

And don’t tell me a good economy is measured by a roaring stock market if the richest 10 percent of Americans own more than 80 percent of it.

And what good is a large Gross Domestic Product if more and more of the total economy is going to the richest one-tenth of one percent?  

What good is economic growth if the way we grow depends on fossil fuels that cause a climate crisis?

These standard measures – jobs, the stock market, the GDP – don’t show how our economy is really doing, who is doing well, or the quality of our lives.

People who sit at their kitchen tables at night wondering how they’re going to pay the bills don’t say to themselves

“Well, at least corporate profits are at record levels.”

In fact, corporations have record profits and CEOs are paid so much because they’re squeezing more output from workers but paying lower wages. Over the past 40 years, productivity has grown 3.5x as fast as hourly pay.

At the same time, corporations are driving up the costs of everyday items people need.

Because corporations are monopolizing their markets, they don’t have to worry about competitors. A few giant corporations can easily coordinate price hikes and enjoy bigger profits.

Just four firms control 85% of all beef, 66% of all pork, and 54% of all poultry production.

Firms like Tyson have seen their profit margins skyrocket as they jack up prices higher than their costs — forcing consumers who are already stretched thin to pay even more.

It’s not just meat. Weak antitrust enforcement has allowed companies to become powerful enough to raise their prices across the entire food industry.

It’s the same story with household goods. Giant companies like Procter & Gamble blame their price hikes on increased costs – but their profit margins have soared to 25%. Hello?

They care more about their bottom line than your bottom, that’s for sure.

Meanwhile, parents – and even grandparents like me – are STILL struggling to feed their babies because of a national formula shortage. Why? Largely because the three companies who control the entire formula industry would rather pump money into stock buybacks than quality control at their factories.

Traditionally, our economy’s health is measured by the unemployment rate. Job growth. The stock market. Overall economic growth. But these don’t reflect the everyday, “kitchen table economics” that affect our lives the most.

These measures don’t show the real economy.

Instead of looking just at the number of jobs, we need to look at the income earned from those jobs. And not the average income.

People at the top always bring up the average.

If Jeff Bezos walked into a bar with 140 other people, the average wealth of each person would be over a billion dollars.

No, look at the median income – half above, half below.

And make sure it accounts for inflation – real purchasing power.

Over the last few decades, the real median income has barely budged. This isn’t economic success.

It’s economic failure, with a capital F.

And instead of looking at the stock market or the GDP we need to look at who owns what – where the wealth really is.

Over the last forty years, wealth has concentrated more and more at the very top. Look at this;

This is a problem, folks. Because with wealth comes political power.

Forget trickle-down economics. It’s trickle on.

And instead of looking just at economic growth, we also need to look at what that growth is costing us – subtract the costs of the climate crisis, the costs of bad health, the costs of no paid leave, and all the stresses on our lives that economic growth is demanding.

We need to look at the quality of our lives – all our lives. How many of us are adequately housed and clothed and fed. How many of our kids are getting a good education. How many of us live in safety – or in fear.

You want to measure economic success? Go to the kitchen tables of America.

[voidsuckers]

talking about Stressful Life Things under the cut

CW: college, housing crisis, money issues, depression

---

so i scheduled an appointment with the Careers Office tomorrow because I'm seriously thinking of dropping out of my college course. i really, really, really loved being online and in lockdown. i have tried and tried to keep up with people in person but i just can't seem to. it's impossible for me to get any work done when i get home and i can't focus in class because of a combination of sensory issues and social anxiety.

the disability support office said they can't do anything about the delivery of my course and did not seem to offer any alternatives. there's not really much they can do about someone who starts to shut down when they hear Too Many Noises. i've tried wearing ear plugs but I can still hear through them and, worse, i hear my own body's sounds in addition to the muffled background.

i do not have any optimism for my future. i have hated living in ireland almost my entire life. it is too small and small-minded and whatever the most efficient way of doing something is, we do the opposite. but i still feel mentally scarred from working full-time and i'm on Disability Allowance right now. i do not think i ever want to marry and i definitely am not fit to be a parent. as such, there is nothing to supplement my €11,440 income from Disability (that's next year's figures - in 2022 my total income is €10,816).

i have always hated living with my parents. their space is too cluttered. but i am aware that i am also difficult to live with. i would love a small little studio to myself but those don't really exist in ireland. i looked up rents in my county right now (not just the city) and one bedrooms are going for the same price as two bedrooms. If my monthly income from January will be €880 per month how could I ever afford €1500 a month in rent? Yes, that's right. The cheapest one bedroom apartment in my entire county right now is €1500. The list for social housing is at least six years long and counting. I should have signed up years ago but it seemed too complicated and I was too stressed.

If I leave college now I will never be able to afford it again. In Ireland tuition is covered by the State unless you repeat. So if I started a new course it would be more expensive the first year - I can barely afford the €3k a year in student contribution as it is. I do not qualify for grants because I live with my parents so even though I'm on social welfare they means test my parents instead of me because they class me as a "mature dependent." Online classes are more expensive. The Open University costs over £19,000 for a Bachelors.

I have no hope for my future. None at all. I cannot truly work from home because I hate my home. I cannot go out to work every day because it exhausts me.

I feel like an utter failure. Nothing has changed since I was 16. There isn't a single aspect of my life that I'm happy with. i am alone, unskilled, unmotivated, fat, disorganised, incompetent. I thought i'd moved past this. turns out i just thrive in pandemic conditions and when society is operating as usual i'm just utterly useless.