" wouldn't it be better if the 300 million plus people in the United States DIDN'T need to sacrifice?"

I'm not sure, but I think this song was written *JUST* for you...

One evening as the sun went down
And the jungle fire was burning
Down the track came a hobo hikin'
And he said, "Boys, I'm not turning
I'm headed for a land that's far away
Beside the crystal fountains
So come with me, we'll go and see
The Big Rock Candy Mountains

"In The Big Rock Candy Mountains
There's a land that's fair and bright
Where the handouts grow on bushes
And you sleep out every night
Where the boxcars all are empty
And the sun shines every day
On the birds and the bees and the cigarette trees
The lemonade springs where the bluebird sings
In The Big Rock Candy Mountains

"In The Big Rock Candy Mountains
All the cops have wooden legs
And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth
And the hens lay soft-boiled eggs
The farmers' trees are full of fruit
And the barns are full of hay
Oh I'm bound to go where there ain't no snow
Where the rain don't fall, the wind don't blow
In The Big Rock Candy Mountains

"In The Big Rock Candy Mountains
You never change your socks
And the little streams of alcohol
Come a-trickling down the rocks
The brakemen have to tip their hats
And the railroad bulls are blind
There's a lake of stew and of whiskey, too
You can paddle all around 'em in a big canoe
In The Big Rock Candy Mountains

"In The Big Rock Candy Mountains
The jails are made of tin
And you can walk right out again
As soon as you are in
There ain't no short-handle shovels
No axes, saws or picks
I'm a-goin' to stay where you sleep all day
Where they hung the jerk that invented work
In The Big Rock Candy Mountains

"I'll see you all this comin' fall
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains"

= = = = = =

"The boomers and gen x are hoarding 80% of the wealth..."

Btw, "wealth" isnt a zero sum game it grows and is continuously created -- and I fall in to the gen x category. What I'm "hording" is what I've earned in ~40 years of work. You didn't lift a finger helping me with that work, why do you think you (or anyone else) are entitled to it? It was already taxed -- and the property I bought with that already taxed money is also taxed yearly, itself. If you don't like the level of services the government provides you just ask for an audit. Good luck getting one in California. They will, however provide a lovely "blue ribbon" commission to investigate how moneys were spent and why it costs ~1 million dollars to build a single unit of homeless housing or countless other money-pits that never answer the question of "where did all the money go". You'll get the similar run-around on the federal level. Vote better. Vote for people who actually represent the people who voted for them -- and not some ambiguous "party" that claims the other 'tribe' is evil.

BTW, I'm not a Republican or Democrat. My votes go to I feel is best qualified. I want a representative who will represent me/our community over what ever party they represent. Neither party does that well.

"There simply aren't as many resources and there are more people competing for them."

It's choices. The stats show that choices and an inability to delay every single gratification leads to much higher risk of poverty. Want to avoid being in poverty? Do the following:

Graduate High School.
Don't have a kid while in High school.
Don't have a kid before marriage
Share responsibility raising your kids.

If you go to college, follow the same rules about marriage and having kids.

THAT is the toolset you need to access "resources" in life for you and your family, and pass that 'culture' on to your kids. That way, your kids will have a much higher likelihood of avoiding poverty -- and if they do experience it, minimize it's duration. A good life isn't guaranteed -- but you can stack the odds in your favor -- dramatically -- without a trust-fund.

"average age for first time home purchase across the population is over 40 buying a starter home not a young family doing the same"

I was 30 years old when I got married. We bought our home when I was 38. My son was 5 years old and my daughter was 2. I was still driving my paid off 1988 toyota pick up. Which I still have. And the stats I read place the average first home buyer age across the US at 38 as of 2024 -- but CA is certainly in the mid 40s now. We got our home about 20 years ago -- so yeah, it took us a bit longer than average back then. Our family was still "young". One of the reasons for the age creep on home-ownership that everyone ignores is that a huge chunk of the US (about 10%-15%) now have substantial student loan debt. Again -- choices -- and a failure for both school and parents to instill the need to consider what they might MAKE after graduating and how long it would take to pay those loans back.

And the cost of housing? Much of it is due to over regulation by local and state governments in building new housing and an almost religious belief that home-ownership is a sin.

"How do you stop subscribing to things when everything is now a subscription?"

Lower your standards. Pluto TV is free and has a wealth of programming.

" When you have to keep saving for and buying the same goods over and over instead of being able to save for something else after buying something."

Stop treating buying something as permanent. If you buy a $1000 phone that you KNOW will be obsolete in 5 years -- the BEST you are doing is you are "renting" the phone for a bit more than $16/mo unless it breaks in a way it's more expensive to fix after the warranty expires. Maybe buy a $200 phone that lasts 3 years? That's only ~$5. And you get a new phone every three years.

"It's all well and good to suggest that everyone should be frugile, eat ramen, and suffer but if a significant number of people actually did it the result would just be that the economy would crash."

To be clear, are you advocating people just not consider saving money? That being frugal is the equivalent to "suffering"? Sorry, but it's not a human right to have a $1000 phone, have 10+ subscription services costing more than two premiere cable services combined, eating quality steak 3+ times a week or driving a new car every 2 or 3 years.

  "The American dream needs to be achievable for the average man not just the exceptional."

I'm not exceptional and I started below average on the economic ladder. I'm the first in my family to go to high school, never mind college. My family didn't give a rip about school. My entire family were substance abusers. My sister got me high for the first time when I was 7 (she's 13 years older than me) because she thought it would be funny.

Today, I'm a home owner, I have two 10+ year old cars (paid off), two adult kids (one in the middle of college with zero debt so far and the other starting medical school next year). My son (going to medical school) has $70k in his bank from money he's earned while going to college and currently making $75/hour tutoring students for the MCAT (doing about 20-25 hours a while) taking an gap year. Daughter has 11k saved up after 3 years -- also zero debt.

The only advantages my wife and I provided were rent-free promise and paying tuition if they go locally. Both went to community college -- which, btw, was free -- just books). We only had to pay tuition once for our son as he refused our money when he got a paying job at UCLA as part of a research group.

Hell, my wife came to the US when she was 19 with her entire family back in the late 80s (she's the eldest child of kids -- and her parents). They had nothing, too. Yet each one of their kids got out of school with zero dept, all post grad degrees and are doing well in their chosen fields.

You have very low expectations of people. I think it's those low expectations that cause far more of the suffering you attribute to being "frugal" than eating Raman a few times a week.

"It's much easier to lifestyle adjust your way into feeling comfortable on $70k (median household) vs $40k (30th percentile)."

I came from nothing. Almost literally. I was raised in a family full of substance abusers. I got high for the first time when I was 7 because my sister (13 years older than me) thought it would be funny. Nobody cared about school in my family.

I am the first in my family to finish high school, never mind go to collage (did that, too). I rejected that life entirely and the moment I bolt, I was out of it and never looked back. There were a few times I needed to make choices such pay for food, pay for rent or pay for books, for example -- but could only afford two of those. I lived in a cheap studio apartment with a mini fridge that was a dumpster dive find and got by on Raman and $0.25 burritos from Taco Bell's $0.25 cent Tuesdays for a year straight. I did this while working in data entry (brain dead typing).

My wife is an immigrant -- came from Syria in the late 1980s. with her entire family -- she was 19 years old. They also had nothing, but were a much better example of a family that I came from. She was the eldest of 4 -- all have post grad degrees and are successful in their respective fields -- and all in the state of California which does *NOT* make it easy.

I'm sorry, the problem isn't the "evils of capitalisms" but far more the poor choices people make with the resources they have. The only benefits my kids have received is not having to pay for college (other than books). Not that we could realistically afford to pay anything but local tuition -- they both made due by working and saving. Free rent (in our home) and both took advantage of the local community college free tuition -- that knocked two years of college out of the way with zero expense. Son transferred to the local state college and managed to split time between that and UCLA (both very local to home). He's disciplined and only spends the interest he earns (that's his spending money) -- all he makes from work goes in to the kitty. He breaks his cash in to 4 piles -- each one goes in to CD in such a way that he has money back from other CDs every three months (4 times a year). He'll be taking his first and only school loans for medical school next year.

Again, it all comes down to what you do with the resources you have. Our kids are taking advantage of what we CAN offer and not selling their future on unrealistic expectations of employment paying back all their loans for the "college experience".

Blame the students, blame the state for not teaching the important of RoI when planning for college or even how to manage money, blame the parents for not teaching this and blame everyone who tries to brush it off as "exploitation of the workers". It's a load of fly shit.

MAKE BETTER CHOICES. And yes, not everyone starts their life with their glass half full or more, but it's REALLY not that hard to to survive and build yourself up if you make choices that match the resources you have available.

" Assuming they can avoid excessive exploitation of their labor by the ones who own nearly everything"

I keep seeing this -- but I don't really see anyone mentioning how many of those "exploited" have new cars, school debt and/or $1000 phones -- which strongly suggests they aren't very smart with excessive spending.

I own a home. My phone is over 5 years old and works flawlessly. I own a 1988 Toyota pickup and a 2011 Honda CRV (both paid for long, long ago). With the exception of some "luxuries" I allow myself and my wife allows herself (for me, it's the occasional vanity collectable like a movie poster or lobby card -- and maybe a game now and then) we don't keep buying new things. Hell, I picked up a great copy of Axis and Allies for $10 at a local garage sale and finally retired my 30 year old set that was falling apart.

The closest I've come to buying a new car was that 1988 Pickup I got in 1989 -- with 170ish miles on it. It was selling as used for about $3,000 cheaper than it's brother sitting right next to it with 27 miles on it.

Lets see -- we've managed to buy a house (about 80% paid off), have a son ready to start medical school with about $50k in his bank (he's making $75/hour being being an MCAT tutor and made money as a paid research assistant at UCLA) and a daughter half way through college with zero debt and about $11k in her account.

I'm one of the "exploited" masses, yet somehow I don't feel "exploited" -- other than by an over-reaching state government (I live in CA).

"Someone please explain the demand here, because all I see is a feature scheme targeting hypochondriacs."

My lungs are damaged. I can get hypoxic around 5000 ft of elevation. Airlines fly around pressurized to around 8000 ft of elevation.

Being able to monitor my o2 both while I sleep as well as during times at high altitude is quite the handy thing to have. Most people would like to know when their o2 hits the low 80s. Luckily, I can somewhat control it with some concentration and breathing exercises. A finger sensor isn't practical and also sticks out like a sore thumb vs. a watch which looks natural and unobtrusive. Plus a watch gives me about a full day of random monitoring to alert me if I have any issues -- most finger monitors die after a few hours.

"13. Global thermonuclear war."

Would you like to play a nice game of Chess?

" exactly like the people voted for!"

The people didn't vote FOR anything, IMO. Way too many voted against something.

People didn't like Biden *OR* Harris. They held their nose and voted AGAINST Trump. Unsuccessfully

Many Trump voters likewise didn't like Trump, but voted AGAINST Harris.

Both parties are providing crap candidates.

"Yep, so much Californian money goes to supporting the inefficient red states. It's little wonder."

Seriously? That's your "go to"?

Just... wow.

CA is exhausted as being the 5th largest economy in the world if it were it's own country, yet we have the highest taxes in virtually every single catagory, among the highest unemployment, poverty, homelessness, lowest ranked student performance (most high schools in CA are opting out of the federal standard tests now) -- virtually every category such a "wealthy" state should do well.

Shall we talk about how CA went from bragging about surpluses to huge deficits at the drop of a hat? While bringing in record breaking state revenue? All these problems are NOT due to federal taxes but California's poor management and apathetic electorate. And, "oh". Federal taxes are collected from the people of CA -- not what CA deigns to provide to the fed.

BTW, I'm not a republican -- and I'm a "never trumper" (proud to have had the opportunity to *NOT* vote for him 6 times (3 primaries and 3 national elections).

Jeez...

One of the only areas our elected officials do excel.

That's been going on for ages. Used to be able to hit some of the sketchy parks and buy $100 worth of food stamps for $40. Buyer gets a huge savings on this weeks groceries and the addict gets another 2ish weeks of feeding their addiction.

EBT ATM cards kind of killed that market. Now they get full value on wasting their benefits.

Here's your citation:

https://slashdot.org/comments....

I'm an authority.

"The federal government is the least efficient method for dispersing the funds."

California is far more inefficient in dispersing funds.

No, it's not. It is legal to go to a port of entry and request asylum, not to enter the country without permission.

"It is legal and correct to enter the country and then apply for asylum."

There is a "clause" that allows someone who did enter the country illegally to request asylum after an illegal entry -- providing they requested the asylum in a timely manner -- then they would get no penalty for the illegal crossing. It most certainly isn't "legal and correct" in the sense you imply.

The "streamlining" that was done by the previous administrator clearly overwhelmed the system. I would argue that it was by designed to do that by the sheer volume streaming across the boarder and the administration's protests that everything was fine and dandy. Another clue that the policy was piss-poor is to look at how many asylum seekers were granted asylum -- often well below half over the last 10 years (fluctuates between less than 20% to less than half).

Lets look at the numbers:

4 years before Trump, there were something like 8 million border encounters (mostly on the southern border). About 5 million were "paroled" for entry to apply for asylum. Of those, only about 1 million have applied. Of that 1 million, anywhere between 20% and less than half will be granted. And, that doesn't account for "got aways", which are around 1-2 million. And these are conservative estimates.

So, of just the numbers of encounters during those 4 years, only 1 million submitted paperwork for asylum. Remember that "timely manner" bit?

Allowing a flood of humans in to our country is a horrible practice that no other country allows to the extent that the US does. We're 3x (per capita) the number of illegal/undocumented immigrants than Europe BEFORE Biden.

"Tom and his ICE are deporting only about twice as many people as his predecessors -"

They and this administration have also turned down the flood of illegal border crossings that the previous administration refused to acknowledge for 3 years. And then the only "solution" that came out of that administration and it's congress' was to try make what they were doing legal and demanded the opposition accept it.

Note: I'm a never Trumper. I'm proud to say I didn't vote for Trump in 6 elections (3 primaries and 3 national elections), but he's right on immigration and border crossings. Implementation has had problems that need correcting, but we need to enforce our laws with regards to immigration and work permissions. I also married someone who came to the US legally at age 19 with her family from Syria. She became a citizen in her mid 20s. It can be done legally.

Trying to paint this as some racist/facist action that's only targeting "brown people" is just an outright lie. Most people in the US without status are Hispanic and a great plurality are from Mexico.

"In exchange for this you will get access to substantially more money than if you didn't go to college."

No you don't. You have a CHANCE to access that.

The problem is there are much more college graduates than jobs that warrant that "substantially more money".

The hardest hit are those with certain arts or humanities jobs -- at least as far as pay. a BA/BS just isn't going to win you that 6-figure pay to allow someone to pay off their student loans unless you planned your major very well.

To be fair, some of the blame goes to employers. They want experience and real world skills -- which virtually NOBODY has right out of college. Its like they are hunting unicorns instead of training horses.