Spyke

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Hasn't happened yet

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I think a lot of it shook out of the hippie movement, where some people were just self serving narcissists that wanted to do drugs, have sex, and didn't want fight in a war. Then when they got families and jobs they didn't want government "stealing" their money to help other people, and so they "became" conservatives.

So they just assume narcissistic motivation applies to everyone.

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The sneaking suspicion that I'm being robbed

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I get that boycotts don't work, but who the fuck is still paying double/triple instead of picking it up themselves on their way home or just driving out to get it - I haven't ordered third party delivery since the pandemic since there's no way I can justify the stupid high cost.

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'An economic divide that is widening': Almost one third of Americans earning $150,000 a year or more say they're living paycheck to paycheck and many rely on credit cards to close the gap

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My family is very similar. We aren't quite paycheck to paycheck, but things feel a lot tighter than they did before - we make 190 ish combined, which ends up being about 9k a month. We have one paid off car.

Mortgage - $2500 Utilities - $800 (electric, water, plain Internet and mnvo cell phone plan) Daughter's school - $1200/mo (obv this is a "non essential", but it's pretty cheap for a year round private school) Prescriptions - $1200/mo with insurance (although this usually comes in a single lump in January. Insurance also refuses to cover a few essentials which we pay out of pocket for, about $100/mo) Student loans - $800/mo

Which leaves us with around $2500/mo for entertainment, car/house repair (it's 40 years old and needs new things like a roof or hot water heater from time to time), groceries, any vacations, etc. My wife and I both have chronic conditions which are exhausting to deal with so we get house cleaning for $300/mo as well.

We are doing fine, but it seems like an exhausting cycle to try and build savings, and if we ever had to buy another car I don't know how we would swing an extra $500 payment every month, with what it seems vehicles cost these days.

All this to say, while we are ok, I have no idea how families making under 100k get by.

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'An economic divide that is widening': Almost one third of Americans earning $150,000 a year or more say they're living paycheck to paycheck and many rely on credit cards to close the gap

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Sure, for school age kids like my daughter that is true, but I will push back that toddler and infant childcare is, on average, extremely expensive.

If you don't have a grandparent or other relative to watch your kid, in a state like North Carolina you will be forking out around $800-900 a month per kid on average.

Which is why publicly funded options for preschool would be life-changing for so many people, especially single mothers and fathers.

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