That is a very complicated question, but it comes down to many factors. First is high inflation combined with stagnant wages, as wages have been basically stuck and barely increased in the last 30-40 years while inflation continued to increase, so that’s why most people make around $35,000 salary and spend most of that money on essentials. Minimum wage federally is $7.25/hour, which means 1 hour of work doesn’t even earn enough money to buy a meal at McDonalds anymore. This is why most people these days have 2 jobs.
Then you also have landlords continually jacking up rent prices and working as literal cartels (several landlords were recently brought up on charges due to using apps to coordinate rent increases across entire cities and states so that all housing would increase in price at the same rate, ensuring no competitive pricing would occur) meaning rent continues to rise faster than inflation or wages.
Alongside that is student loan debts, as companies more and more only hire people with degrees and colleges keep increasing tuition to pay for essential things like yatchs. Yes, yatchs, as the government does not cap the amount private colleges can charge the government or students for basically anything, so they will just put down anything they want as “General Overhead” charges. Again, multiple private universities have been recently in legal trouble for this, with basically no consequences. So, tuition goes up to pay for unneeded things purely due to the fact the government even provides student loans, and student loan debt basically doesn’t go away Ever because the government said, like 50 years ago, that they’d be the guarantor of all student loans, meaning colleges could go “Oh, great, so I make money regardless of whether a student can or can’t afford to be here, and whether or not said student graduates and can pay off the loan.” Then, once students started defaulting on loans they couldn’t pay off, government started changing the rules on the debt to ensure you can’t get rid of it.
There is a whole lot more to get into with why Americans are so fucked economically, but I’m nowhere near qualified to explain everything.
How are you on such high salaries and yet so poor?
That is a very complicated question, but it comes down to many factors. First is high inflation combined with stagnant wages, as wages have been basically stuck and barely increased in the last 30-40 years while inflation continued to increase, so that’s why most people make around $35,000 salary and spend most of that money on essentials. Minimum wage federally is $7.25/hour, which means 1 hour of work doesn’t even earn enough money to buy a meal at McDonalds anymore. This is why most people these days have 2 jobs.
Then you also have landlords continually jacking up rent prices and working as literal cartels (several landlords were recently brought up on charges due to using apps to coordinate rent increases across entire cities and states so that all housing would increase in price at the same rate, ensuring no competitive pricing would occur) meaning rent continues to rise faster than inflation or wages.
Alongside that is student loan debts, as companies more and more only hire people with degrees and colleges keep increasing tuition to pay for essential things like yatchs. Yes, yatchs, as the government does not cap the amount private colleges can charge the government or students for basically anything, so they will just put down anything they want as “General Overhead” charges. Again, multiple private universities have been recently in legal trouble for this, with basically no consequences. So, tuition goes up to pay for unneeded things purely due to the fact the government even provides student loans, and student loan debt basically doesn’t go away Ever because the government said, like 50 years ago, that they’d be the guarantor of all student loans, meaning colleges could go “Oh, great, so I make money regardless of whether a student can or can’t afford to be here, and whether or not said student graduates and can pay off the loan.” Then, once students started defaulting on loans they couldn’t pay off, government started changing the rules on the debt to ensure you can’t get rid of it.
There is a whole lot more to get into with why Americans are so fucked economically, but I’m nowhere near qualified to explain everything.