There’s a point where low-wage full-time work becomes an economic trap.If you’re making under ~$20/hr in much of America, you can end up working 40 hours a week just to afford the costs created by working: rent near the job, a reliable car, gas, insurance, work clothes, convenience food, healthcare premiums, deductibles, taxes, and childcare.Meanwhile, someone who keeps income low, crashes with family or friends, minimizes expenses, and qualifies for Medicaid/SNAP can sometimes have less cash but a comparable material standard of living—and 2,000+ hours of their year back.That matters.Sleep has value. Stress has a cost. Commuting has a cost. Car depreciation has a cost. Losing control over 5 days of every week has a cost.If working full-time only leaves you a few hundred dollars a month better off after all of that, you aren’t really selling your labor for $18–20/hour.You’re selling thousands of hours of freedom for the marginal difference between two lifestyles.The question shouldn’t be “Do you have a job?”It should be: “What is your actual return on an hour of your life?”
Welcome to the neet party.
>>541081272That’s anti Semitic
>>541081272>With total per-pupil spending (federal, state, and local) now exceeding $25,000 annually, the state invests roughly $325,000 per graduate by the time they finish high school.>The Outcome: A March 2026 study by the California Policy Lab confirms that this investment is largely subsidizing other states.>The Exodus: Young adults and families leaving California see their monthly housing costs drop by an average of $670. Within seven years of leaving, they are 48% more likely to own a home than if they had stayed. >The Beneficiaries: States like Texas, Florida, and Arizona are effectively receiving a $300,000+ educational subsidy for every young professional who migrates, without having paid a dime for their K-12 schooling.
>>541081272Exactly.Corporations are not people. If everyone knew that, and put people before profit we would all be better off. Time is priceless. Don’t like it? Pay more. The alternative? I’ll be fine. Will you?
>>541081272quit working for fast food and retail shitholes and look for something just a little more skilledI live in a relatively low cost area and utility locators get started at $20/h here a dayI do them where I work and usually it takes less than half the day, although sometimes it can be moreI've had several coworkers leave and start at other places and assuming you have a decent work ethic / evidence you can be trusted to accomplish tasks a lot of places will train new people>read the ticket (instructions)>look at your company's map>go out and mark utilities in the areajust that easy. not much different than going on a walk desuobviously not going to get rich but, it pays the bills
Under 30 bucks? Just live with your parents. Live with your parents until you're 45 and they die of old age. There is no point in moving to DA BIG CITY for some shit-tier entry level wage that goes up 2% a year.
>>541081272You're absolutely right.One thing I would add is men have been expected to provide wealth, sweat, blood, and loyalty to everyone but themselves in the name of respect and fatherhood. Since these two rewards are no longer available, the transaction becomes pure extraction. The complementary phenomena is the liberation of women, who already rejected their gender role for entrance into the workforce, the money it provides, and the freedom of old social relations. While women needed money for freedom, men needed time, primarily solitary time away from everyone else who wants something for nothing. The result is an informal, organic "gender revolution" for men, in which they responded to the lopsided deals of society by rejecting the strenuous elements of dustbin masculinities.
>>541081272Median individual income for full-time workers in the US is $63k.If you make 20 or less an hour as a full time worker you're in the bottom 20%.If you're a 20th percentile worker married to another 20th percentile worker, at current interest rates you can qualify for about a $250,000 mortgage which can actually get you a decent starter home in housing markets that haven't been fucked by local Democrats.Quit being a faggy emo doomer and stop being poor lol
>>541082834I have more money than you. I have a house.I have land. You are wrong and your line of thinking warrants execution.
>>541082967I make $25/h and put about half my paycheck into stocks, I'm just over 200k saved after 5 years and a few good picksI also live 20m from a decent beach which provides a high quality of weekend timeyou probably do have more money / house+land than that poster but I think you miss the point2 married people making 15-20$ each, getting 30-40/h both working full time is plenty of money in most of the us/pol/ needs to move past loser circle jerking and doomer posting. shits really not bad unless you live in a major city
