@FloridaMike
I apologize and I don't want that to seem snippy. The sad truth is that you guys were the last generation of "working towards a goal let's you reach the goal"
Sink or swim isn't a matter of work ethic or skills in my generation, it's a matter of luck. Straight up. I'm better off as I sit right now then any of my friends with diplomas, the very thing they were told was the green light to a future turned out to be the thing that took it away from them, and most of us for whatever reason don't fall under the realms of student loan forgiveness. That's only for the generation that came after us lol.
Niche skill sets only matter in open markets and no one ever told any of us that until we were in a closed market with niche skill sets that we were scammed into obtaining for ourselves.
Shit you got to make 60-plus Grand a year to live on your own without government assistance in the poorest parts of the country now, unless you're lucky enough to be grandfathered in by a fixed rate mortgage or landlord that's cool. And our corporations act like they don't understand that 60 Grand a year, even full time, isn't like 20 plus dollars an hour. Because it is.
It's not even legal for my generation to work enough hours to support themselves on their own in poor areas. We have to lump like four or five people per two or three bedroom house/apartment and lie to our landlords about it. Every time I go to the grocery store for a week of food for two people it's like $220. I'm coming up on $1,000 a month just to feed myself and one other person. Rent in crap areas is 15 grand a year. (Seriously, wtf?!?) Utilities are 5-8grand a year in most places for newly registered tenants . Don't even get me started on cars and transportation/maintenance costs with modern garbage vehicles we can afford to insure.
You can work full-time at minimum age right now in TN and not even make 10 grand a year. You can make double minimum wage right now and you can't even afford to live on your own in the poorest areas of the state because everyone is moving here from Cali because it used to be affordable like a decade ago lmao