It feels like no matter where I turn some septuagenarian, or older, is making life miserable for myself and others. Usually these are older white Christian conservatives, obsessed with a delusional sense of reality that no longer has a basis in fact, or perhaps never did.
There is a disproportionate amount of wealth concentrated in the older generation and those who will inherit it will probably be even worse with that money than the last generation. Certainly we see evidence of that already, anyone in their 30’s who has parents who help them out VS those who don’t have that have radically different outcomes. For some reason those lucky enough to come from good families ascribe laziness and bad attitude to those who don’t have the family support, as if they are somehow enjoying “self made success” while mummy does their laundry for them.
No generation previous needed this kind of assistance well into adulthood, but this infantilisation of working adults has happened because of the hoarding of wealth, refusing to pass on the torch in workplaces and just blocking change for the sake of stoking petty politics. Most of us will never own our own home but all the politicians want to talk about is whether it’s OK to dehumanise trans people or not.
I’m 36 this year. For most of my teens I thought there’d be some kind of tipping point where the conservative boomers would fuck off or at least let the next generation step in, but that hasn’t happened. Back in the 1990’s you could be a girl and wear jeans and be empowered, now this is considered some kind of woke statement. As if we recently invented this idea of women and men being equal.
The faces of my two dogs, my cat and my husband are all that keep me going. Knowing they need me gives me just enough to get out of bed in the morning and start moving… but I’m struggling to do even that without having a breakdown. My husband and I have medical expenses we can’t afford and are borrowing money to survive right now. I run my own business and just feel this immense pressure on my shoulders, that again is compounded by how unfair the world is right now.
Anyone got any advice for coping with this late stage capitalist hellscape?
Learn skills.
Money is worthless when you have to spend 4 hours to work to hire somebody to do in 1h what you yourself can do in 2. At this point the prizes of skilled labour rise as there is a huge shortage of skilled personel. Somehow society decided ther theoretical knowledge is more valuable then practical knowledge, but to me managers and the likes are overhead.
As example, in '10, when I was 38, my house needed painting for the 1st time. I got a quote of €4k (more then a month’s wage) and it would be done in 2-3 days. I decided to paint the house myself and it took me a week, cost me €400, gave me the chance to repair the windows and I learned some skills.
Same goes for car repairs, plumbing and I (male) even made our curtains with a sewing machine I bought. The only tasks I’m forced to hire people for now is medical, for me, my wife and our pets. When I hire somebody for other tasks, it’s because I don’t want to do the work. It’s a choice.
As it always has been, knowledge is power, which includes the knowledge/skills to be self supporting. Refuse to run the rat race, although in the US that’s a lot harder then over here in Europe.
€4k was really cheap, I’ll risk.
You just stated what we should internalize more than ever: we can do something, even if if takes longer.
I’m in Europe too and dealing with shady/unwilling professionals forced me to wake up and start learning.
And never forget the skills we acquire for ourselves may one day prove of value to others. But just the sense of personal worth from getting something done or fixed is precious.
Sorry that was 14 years ago. A penny saved isn’t earned, when it’s already owed elsewhere or you’re just not making enough pennies. If you don’t want to sound tone deaf, you’ll need to internalize that your 15 years on us, was enough to get ahead of this stage of collapse.
When I don’t have the cash for a paintjob, I shouldn’t have bought the house (Yep, home owner here). I make way enough cash to have somebody paint my house. However, when I hire somebody to paint the house, I can’t spend the cash on hobbies I like to do or improve the house the way I want to.
At the moment however, finding somebody that is willing to paint a house is a huge challenge. You just can’t find the personel anymore to paint. Everybody want to be overhead and manage, nobody want to work. There is a hude shortage of skilled labour at the moment, so I’m very glad I can do it myself, inclouing the needed wood repair. (buying new window sills will cost about 25% of the current value of the house and they are ugly as all you can get is plastic)
At least change your own oil. If you don’t have tools I know a few part stores will let you borrow them.