My wife and I were both raised by relatively well off conservative parents. For years we slaved away like good little capitalist robots for extremely low wages and kept getting deeper in debt while just trying to stay alive. I've always considered myself a free thinker but the conservative BS was deep in my soul and hard to get rid of.
We finally both have slightly better paying jobs and make six figures between the two of us, but we also have a kid who spent a month in the NICU (doing fine now). It feels like we're worse off than ever even though we make more money than ever.
I finally woke up and realize how the entire system is designed for us to work as hard as possible and never “make it”. Her parents do have quite a bit of money and are the epitomy of the boomer/gen x response of “your dad and I were poor when we were your age too!”
They lived in dexter Missouri and could buy a house for a bag of potatoes but ok… exactly the same.
My wife and I may be ok in another few years, but this system is not going to work for the rest of the county. I feel hopeless. I don't know what we can do.