It feels all but certain that I won’t be able to enjoy a prosperous life or get to retire. All of the wealth is going straight to the top. All of the opportunities to move up in the world are being rug-pulled. All of the federal agencies that help keep us safe and healthy are gone. The social safety net is getting flushed down the toilet. We will live in disease and squalor, and the most vulnerable of us will die.

Because I dared to not be a sociopath, I and anyone else who voted for sanity will be deemed enemies of the state and hunted down - which won’t be hard, because it would be trivial to build the most robust surveillance state in human history if it doesn’t exist already.

I myself have disabilities (which I don’t think qualify for benefits) that make it hard, but not impossible, to find a job. The problem is that I just can’t bring myself to do it because I don’t get what the fucking point is anymore. I have to work so hard to get out of this rut just for some fascist fuck to kill me or toss me into a torture facility before I can even experience life on my own.

Have you been in a similar headspace and were able to escape it? If so, what snapped you out of it?

        • meowMix2525@lemm.ee
          0·
          1 month ago

          After telling a generation of kids to get stem degrees or they’ll be doomed to flip burgers, I feel I have the responsibility to say this is no longer the case. The jobs still pay well but; between ghost job listings, recent layoffs, and every entry level job wanting like 4 years of hyper specific experience; I have observed it being nearly impossible to enter the job market or move around it right now, and the whole thing feels very oversaturated.

          Unless you’re willing to build bombs. Don’t know much about that end of it cause I’m not interested in developing things intended to kill people. but that’s where the money is if that’s what you’re about.

          • someacnt_@lemmy.world
            0·
            1 month ago

            Even the stock market is veering towards the military industry. Damn, things are looking very grim tbh.

                • meowMix2525@lemm.ee
                  0·
                  1 month ago

                  I mean yeah between Ukraine/Russia and Lebanon/Palestine/Israel It’s not hard to see why a bunch of capitalists would be bullish on defense right now. Don’t really need to look at the stock market to know that.

                  The learning lesson there is just how much money is invested in seeing war break out and creating need for more weapons. Anyone pushing for war very likely has a vested interest in seeing it happen, especially those with the means to shelter themselves from the consequences of war. Add in the fact that capitalists are very good at getting what they want from the US government, and even better at sheltering themselves from consequences.

                  So, is the war just “likely”, breaking out on its own out of nowhere, and capitalists just have a 6th sense for it, or is it being pushed and funded by capitalists who want the public to feel like war is inevitable so they will consent to escalating military intervention without much resistance?

                  • someacnt_@lemmy.world
                    0·
                    1 month ago

                    Yeah, I mean that’s why a big war is likely - also there is nothing I can do to stop it. Honestly I am worried of a world war…

          • arrakark@10291998.xyzEnglish
            0·
            1 month ago

            No, bombs and the defence industry was not was I was on about. I see your point. Yes there’s been some downturn recently, but the tech industry has always been cyclical. It’s difficult to get hired today, and there’s certainly favoritism towards senior employees.

            My point was simply about economics; supply and demand. In my university, about half of all degrees issued are in the arts. If employers want someone with that kind of training, then they have all of the selection in the world. Compare this to a tech company. If a tech company wants to expand their business and they need to implement a technology to do that, depending on what technology it is, there might be like, 1k… maybe 100k, maybe 1M people on the planet that have that specialty? Employers are going to pay a lot more for a person with that kind of training.

            • meowMix2525@lemm.ee
              0·
              1 month ago

              I wasn’t implying you were talking about defense, I was just saying that if you’re only about money then you can make a lot of it developing weapons for the government.

              Different universities specialize in different things. I went to an engineering university that issued mostly engineering degrees, plus a few business degrees. Both of my state’s public universities also have fairly large colleges of engineering with quite a few engineering programs run by them. You’re also not only competing locally, but with remote, outsource and H1B visa workers. There is plenty of supply.

              God forbid you have to train an employee in the specialization you’re looking for once in a while.

    • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
      0·
      1 month ago

      As someone that spent half their life very poor, I always take offense with the “just move” answer. Many people, if not most, in the US cannot afford to emigrate. It is also very likely that OP or someone else in their situation, cannot afford to get a STEM degree.

        • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
          0·
          1 month ago

          Of course, but first you need to figure out what your true definition of “better off” is. What would bring you true quality of life. Also, what would you trade off in order to achieve that quality of life? The answers to those questions are very individual.