Working-class Americans face an economic crisis where rising costs of housing, groceries, utilities, and healthcare outpace wage growth, creating a situation where even responsible financial management cannot prevent financial hardship, as systemic factors like wealth concentration and lack of job creation contribute to the problem.
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Americans Are Broke and Exhausted in 2026 The streets are not safe COST OF LIVING 4Added:
things. One, two, shampoo and razor heads, if you don't [ __ ] believe me.
Guess how much I [ __ ] spent.
Actually, everybody take a [ __ ] guess. I'm listening. Tell me why this [ __ ] was 30 [ __ ] dollars. What do they want me to do? Not wash my [ __ ] hair, not shave my [ __ ] body? That's [ __ ] disgusting. I don't know anything about like inflation. Honestly, couldn't even define the word for you. I basically failed out of my [ __ ] high school economics class. I'm angry about something else, too. Gas is like in Arizona, in Tempe, is like over $5 right now. I don't know if you guys can tell cuz you only ever see the interior of my car in these videos, but I drive a [ __ ] piece of [ __ ] This car is so [ __ ] tiny. I've had it since I was 16 years old, so 4 years. I have never paid more than $40 for a full tank of gas. All of a sudden, I'm dropping a [ __ ] band to keep this [ __ ] up and running. [ __ ] this [ __ ] I want to move to like Canada. I don't know.
>> home and this note was taped to my door, and I'm kind of scared to open it because it says rent notice, which probably means my rent is about to increase. And not to sound dramatic, but the inside of this note is about to determine the fate of my future because if they keep my rent the same, I would highly consider staying in West Palm Beach for another year. But if they raise it by over $100, I'm 100% moving to either Miami or New York. My current rent is $4,200 a month, so if they raise it to more than 4,300 a month, I'm 100% out of here. But let's see.
Congratulations on your upcoming anniversary with us, and thank you for being a valued resident in our community. As a valued resident, we'd like to show our appreciation by offering you an early renewal discount.
If I'm so valued, why the [ __ ] would you raise my rent? My current rent is $4,190. If I renew with an early special, they are raising it to $4,602.
And if I don't sign within the month, they're raising it to $4,732 a month. Bro, that is [ __ ] crazy. I was thinking maybe two to $300. That That would typically be in line with inflation, right? 3 to 4%.
$4,600 from 42 is a 10% increase. Okay, since my landlord wants to play games, we're going to play a little game called move out. The apartment hunt is back on in full swing, and I know I showed you guys Fort Lauderdale a little bit the last couple weeks, but I don't think that's on the table anymore. I'm really thinking about Miami or New York, so I'm going to go to both destinations, set up a couple tours, and bring you guys along with me. And we're going to find a new place, baby. If anyone out there is wondering how Americans are doing, poorly. We are doing poorly. Yesterday, I woke up to an email from my landlord saying, "Hey, I'm raising your rent."
Why? No [ __ ] reason. We already pay all of the utilities ourselves. That is not included in the rent. So, we pay for electricity, and we pay for water, and we pay for natural gas to heat our home, and that bill in particular has [ __ ] skyrocketed this year. Every single month this winter, it was over $600.
And we do not turn the heat on. We just turn it so that we can [ __ ] survive.
We do not turn it above like 60. So, we're [ __ ] freezing in the house all [ __ ] winter. Oh, and also, I woke up this morning to an email from my health insurance being like, "Thanks for your payment." It was deducted automatically, except this time the payment was $400 more than it was last month. Sorry?
What's going on? So, I called the health insurance company, and I was like, "Why did this happen?" And they said, "Oh, well, the tax premium expired." And I said, "Tell me why that happened. Is that because of federal budget cuts? Is that because of the New York state budget? What did that Where did that come from?" And they said, "We don't know. You have to call the New York State Department of Health." And so, I called the New York State Department of Health, and it was just a whole [ __ ] rigmarole because they intentionally make it so opaque that you just have to spend all of your [ __ ] time and energy just navigating this fuck-ass bureaucracy and trying not to get [ __ ] more than they're already [ __ ] you. I got my new IUD yesterday, so I've been [ __ ] hugging this heating pad all day and eating Advil like it's breakfast cereal. Meanwhile, I don't even know how much that bill is going to be for. I don't know how much that procedure cost because I tried to find out before I got it. I called my health insurance company, and I was like, "How much is it's going to be?" And they were like, "We don't know. You have to call the doctor." And so, I called the doctor, and I was like, "How much is it's going to be?" And they were like, "We don't know. You have to call your insurance."
And so, nobody could give me an answer.
And I I like, "Well, I need the [ __ ] IUD because I cannot afford to have children. Obviously, meanwhile the [ __ ] psychos over at CPAC are like, hey you dumb [ __ ] leave the workforce. Better yet, never join the workforce and shack up with the first chud you meet in high school and start popping out babies that we know that you cannot afford because they're all [ __ ] psycho Christian nationalists.
The experience of being a working class American is to just be squeezed for every single dollar that you have at every turn and you're like just wave your arm and you just run into another fee that you were supposed to pay. And where does that money go? Straight to the [ __ ] top. Straight to the [ __ ] billionaires who do not create jobs. In fact, they keep slashing jobs just to invest in [ __ ] AI data centers.
I don't understand how we're not out in the streets all the time.
to get my bachelor's and then I went for an extra two years to get my [ __ ] master's. Do you know how much school that is? It's a lot. And the worst part is, maybe it's the best part actually.
America, the government probably thinks it's the best part, huh? I'm 120 [ __ ] thousand dollars in debt. Yeah. Yeah, cuz society wants to tell you to go to school, go to college, get your degree, Timmy. Oh my god, job security. Shut up.
Please stop spreading that because now I'm screwed and I have no idea what to do. I have applied to over 300 companies. I've gotten responses back from 11 of them.
Why the [ __ ] do you think I'm applying to Walmart to be a cashier?
Cuz no one is hiring. Why do we even post a job offering to not get an hire anyone or respond?
What are people doing for work? I need to figure something out because if I wasn't doing UGC for brands that I found on SideShift, my ass would be homeless.
I would be [ __ ] homeless. Bro, I'm not going to [ __ ] make it in this [ __ ] world because like, tell me why I just went to [ __ ] Kroger's and got groceries. I just got paid today, my last [ __ ] paycheck.
And I spent 73 [ __ ] dollars on popcorn, crackers, Cheez-Its, milk, ranch dressing, tomatoes, just basic [ __ ] man. Like a box of [ __ ] Cheez-Its and a box of [ __ ] crackers was $5 a [ __ ] piece.
The ranch dressing was [ __ ] $5. The tomatoes was were $4. Like the milk is $7 a gallon and my kid drinks 3 gallons a week. That's 20 [ __ ] dollars. Like How the [ __ ] did I barely get any goddamn food and it's 73 [ __ ] dollars? Like what the [ __ ] am I going to do?
This is [ __ ] insane.
$7 for 10 slices of cheese?
I need to get the [ __ ] out of the US. I went to Target for two People are charging a thousand dollars a month to rent rooms in their home.
A thousand dollars a month to rent a room.
Bro, what the [ __ ] we going to do? The cost of living has gotten out of hand.
And y'all buy a house, buy a house. Man, everybody that I know that owns a house tells me don't buy no [ __ ] house.
They hate that [ __ ] Between property taxes going to [ __ ] up, insurance going to [ __ ] up, [ __ ] having to fix roofs and roofs, is that what it is? Having to fix their roof and [ __ ] Everybody I know that got a goddamn house tell me don't buy no goddamn house.
They say at least you call the maintenance man.
But deadass, what the [ __ ] we going to do about the rising cost of living?
Because what you mean you charging people a thousand dollars? You got three rooms in your house, you're charging them a thousand dollars for somebody to come live there.
This [ __ ] is sad. Like my son going to be an adult in the next couple of years, going to graduate from high school and be an adult. And this is the world he has to live in? The [ __ ] I guess I need to I don't understand how people aren't talking about it. We don't make enough money. Collectively, we do not make enough money. The price of things are not keeping up with how much we're getting paid. And it's infuriating to me for people to say that people just need to work harder, people need to get different specialized degrees, people need to start their own businesses.
That's not the answer.
The answer is that billionaires are hoarding wealth.
And this system is set up to fail.
And I'm just infuriated by it. I can't get ahead. Every month I try to get ahead and I can't get ahead.
And I don't know how to cope with that. I don't know how to cope with that. Everything is so expensive, especially in the last like 6 months.
Um I can barely get by.
So, I don't know how I'm supposed to retain hope.
How am Am I supposed to get a doctorate so that I can afford a studio apartment?
Like is that where we're getting to at this point? Like I don't know what the answer is to this, but it's so [ __ ] bad. And I just wanted to get on here and tell you if you are experiencing the same thing, you're so so so not alone.
Everything is so expensive and it's infuriating to me.
For 2 years, I finally got an interview after a ridiculous number of applications.
And I found out today that they put the job on hold for budgetary reasons.
Meanwhile, I'm broke.
And rent is due.
Like I've got nothing.
I applied for assistance from the state.
And I have to show that being bipolar will hinder me from working to get $292 a month.
Yeah.
I'm self-employed.
And I'm making no money.
No one is buying any of my merchandise on my Patreon shop.
No one attends my lectures.
And I'm I'm shadowbanned on TikTok.
So And the house just passed the most atrocious spending bill seen probably since Reaganomics.
I'm just venting because I know it's tough all the way around.
>> [snorts] >> But I've done everything I'm supposed to do.
Everything they tell you to do when you're an adult, I've done it.
And I can't seem to make any headway.
So I'm not sure what else I'm supposed to do?
I don't know what else to do because I keep ending up here.
They tell you to work.
I'm trying to find work.
And when I can't find work, I make work for myself that brings in nothing.
>> [snorts] >> What do you do in these situations?
Tell me.
What?
I've done everything I'm supposed to do.
And nothing is working.
I always end up Crazy how it's basically normalized at this point to literally just do your job, pay your bills, and barely be able to save at the end of the month. Like it's just so normalized to go to a grocery store and literally panic every time you go grocery shopping because everything's just so [ __ ] expensive and every time you go to the shop, everything's just like doubled in price. I was having a conversation with my sister and I was just saying like I'm so [ __ ] upset that I can't spend the money that I want to spend on my family for Christmas because everything like just surviving is so [ __ ] expensive.
Like yes, like I am not as poor as some people that I know some people are literally struggling to even like exist.
I'm I'm getting by paycheck to paycheck and it's it's insane how normalized it has become that we spend most of our lives working and all we are doing is surviving. We're not we're not doing anything. We're just literally surviving. Like most of us can't even afford to buy a [ __ ] shitty flat for [ __ ] sake.
Every year, electric goes up, everything goes up, everything but the salary. And I'm just like it's so [ __ ] normalized. And it's literally
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