[ben_jones]

I'm looking at a $400 bill after insurance for a 15 minute doctor's visit. Nothing fancy he took my blood pressure and listened to my lungs and sent me on my way. I'm fortunate that I can easily pay this, but what if I was living paycheck to paycheck? It would crush me. When wealth is so fleeting as to be taken away by such a minuscule stroke of bad luck, why would people bother chasing it?

I'm literally going to have to "shop around" for my next appointment should I need one.

[lordnacho]

I think what you're getting at, and several others, is that every opportunity has been squeezed out.

- Go to college? Get massive debt, insecure about losing whatever job you get after. Lots of other people have paper too. Oh and they also want to live near where degree jobs are, just like you.

- Start in the mail room? They don't promote from the mail room anymore.

- Work minimum wage? Everything costs what it needs to cost for you to have zero saving or extra time.

- Buy a house? Houses already cost a lot. In fact every investment asset costs a lot.

- Start a business? Even starting a restaurant is different from a couple of decades ago.

- Learn a trade? This one sounds reasonable to me actually. All that "you must get a degree" has left a hole that plumbers and electricians can fill. But you have to get used to being looked down on. Plus many people use prestige as an indicator of income, so they might not discover there's a reasonable living to be made. Still requires you to apprentice for a bit though.

[woodpanel]

-> Learn a trade? ... you have to get used to being looked down on.

What is even more striking about that is that among many economists and policy makers trade-schools are seen as a good recipe, last and maybe only hope to counter the effects of graduate-inflation. But yet, what parents make that bold move and tell their kids to cancel their Ivy League dreams and instead become a welder?

It is one of those moments that lay bare what prohibits us from progress: The solution is already there, is affordable and doable for most individuals. Plus approved by all the smartest people. Yet nobody seems willing to go that way, including all of the smartest people.

[dorchadas]

Maybe it's different because I live in a rural area, but a lot of my students want to go into welding or mechanics, etc. They know they can make a good living, and some of the more ambitious want to do underwater welding or work on airplanes (and one even has an "in" through his father, who does that) and retire early, or just live large.

But, overall, I do agree with your points. What I mostly see in high school here is kids who don't have a fucking clue what they want to do. To be honest, I'm 26 and I'm not sure if I know what I want to do either. I think a lot of the issue is that we force kids to make decisions impacting the rest of their lives before they've ever had a chance to really find their passions and such.

I hate our culture.

[lawn]

There surely is a middle ground here between living paycheck to paycheck and not making work the most important thing in your life.

[geezerjay]

For those that don't have the luxury of having an education combined with training in a relevant skill, that middle ground is just wishful thinking.

[ravenstine]

Or minimalism, which is becoming a trendy topic on places like YouTube for that reason.

[geezerjay]

> Or minimalism

No, not really. Economic constrains are the real issue. It makes no difference if a person decides to live spending less if he is never constrained by what he can afford. On the other hand, if someone needs something (say medical care) but can't afford it then there's a problem.

[sli]

Minimalism doesn't really buy you a whole lot when just rent is already half of your paycheck, anyway. There likely just isn't much left to cut. The things I already own don't add to my cost of living, I already own them.

[forgottenpass]

Conceptually possible, but in practice what market forces ensure that such a group exists?

I know a non-zero number of people that both work paycheck to paycheck and also make work the most important part of their lives. That's not to say it's mutually exclusive with 'neither' group, but I don't think it's impossible for the 'neither' group to shrivel into non-existence.