When asked to detail what would make a better life in three to five years, 60% of US adults said greater financial security
Americans may seem increasingly divided on beliefs and values, but in a new survey of more than 30,000 adults from across the country spanning generations and economic classes, a majority of Americans agree there’s a significant barrier to achieving a better life: the rising cost of living.
When asked to describe what a better life in three to five years would look like, 60% of Americans said they wanted greater financial security, according to a survey that was conducted by the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility and the WK Kellogg Foundation in mid-April.
In interviews that accompanied the survey, respondents often defined financial security as being able to afford basic necessities without worry.
No, they are saying that this is #1 barrier for their happiness. So, not stopping the state-sponsored genocide, or getting rid of masked thugs that erode their basic freedoms, or having a healthcare safety net. They just wished they could afford more stuff.
What a gross and cynical mischaracterization. When people are constantly struggling to afford food and shelter they do not have the luxury of concerning themselves with things that don’t address their immediate needs. That’s the whole point of the heirarchy of needs.
So look, real cool that you’re secure enough in your life to spend time and energy caring about others. That is a good thing. But that also means that you’re living a life of privilege in comparison to so many others. Not saying your life is perfect and without strife… but if you have the time, energy and security to pursue causes outside of meeting your basic needs… that’s privilege.
And you’re using that privilege to punch down at poor people. To cynically mock them for not doing what you think they should be doing; the things that you can afford to do. Instead, you’re misrepresenting them as selfish, gluttonous and greedy.
inshort, plz fuck off with your tankieass “america bad” hottake.
Thank you for phrasing this particular way.
This is what pissed me off about people who abstained from voting, or worse, voted Trump or 3rd party, because of Harris and Israel.
Like, sure, okay, Harris’s position wasn’t perfect. And a genocide on the other side of the world is absolutely a terrible thing. But friends and family are starving and homeless here. They are targeted for assault here. They are dieing of preventable and treatable conditions, here. The air is unfit to breathe and the water is unfit to drink here.
All of this, in a way, is a form of economic/class genocide, which is a totally bigger conversation.
And now, because of them, we are building concentration camps here, for people that are living here.
I get what they feel, and I don’t want to be dismissive of it…but for real, they need to check their privilege.
If we can’t even discuss, let alone fix, these problems locally, seriously, wtf is any politician going to do about fucking Israel?
You say that as if voting for Harris wasn’t the objectively least-bad option for Gaza single-issue voters too.
There is not even a single person who claimed to oppose Harris because of Gaza who wasn’t either a MAGA concern troll or an absolute fucking moron.
I think those are all the reasons WHY people voted for Trump.
The whole “America First” thing purports itself to address all of those issues. It was a lie, obviously. Anyone who knew the history and politics of the republicans knew it was a lie. It’s literally the strategy of using populism to further fascism. Easy to see for people who know.
But that’s the problem, right? You have to know.
Remember that the majority of people do not engage in politics at all, half don’t even vote. Going back to hierarchy of needs, it’s hard to care about national politics get involved with activism when you have to pay bills and afford food. The people that can afford to do so, already are living with some manner of privilege.
The remaining privileged minority are, mostly, only casually involved. That is to say, they consume mainstream news, kinda keep up with the times, but they’re not really digging into root causes and systems. Then you mix in echo chambers, bubbles and misinformation, and it’s not good.
People see “America First” and think, “yea, that’s the thing I’m concerned about”. That’s probably the extent of their knowledge about the cause. People hungry and chasing shelter don’t have time to research if they’re being lied to. They have simple problems and then need simple to understand solutions.
OH, and there’s one last category of privileged people. The so privileged they don’t even care about politics. These are the “why does everything have to be political?” types. “Both-sides are the same” type. The most insufferable of people.
And their choice didn’t even help Gaza. It very likely made it worse for them.
Harris might have been giving political non-answers to the topic, but Trump straight up said he wanted to glass (nuke) them.
Bullshit. 60% of americans responded they want more money. But the reality is a good portion of them voted themselves into this situation and would do it again. And all the disruption and money spent on those other issues are EXACTLY why they are in this mess.
Their basic needs are fucked because THEY CHOSE THIS situation. We are not looking at an individuals situation, we are looking at the big picture. You want to solve this, they have to look at the actual problem. There is nothing wrong with saying that.
So fuck off, America is pretty bad right now.
No it isnt about caring about others, its about how all those bad things hurting others are also hurting themselves.
Edit: And by the way, this is nothing new. It is about the same percentage that say this every time for over a decade. Very unique to Americans, and maybe they should make a change, they are the majority after all. But they don’t. They don’t see the value in caring about others, so they continue to push money to the top, give businesses person hood, hand over thier retirement as a vehicle to fund corporations (401K anyone?), etc.
OP laid out a “think of the people struggling!” argument. But its been the same for a long time, through boom and bust. Maybe something else needs to change.
The reason why everything is so expensive is because of all of that bullshit.
Gonna let you in on a big secret, nobody likes to starve. It’s definitely the number 1 thing that every human wants to avoid
Eh. There are those monks that self embalm.
I don’t think we should strive for society to widely adopt that kind of religious fanaticism. I feel like that would make things worse.
But if we could get it to take off within the evangelical crowd, just imagine.
not sounding better. I imagine you think that they’d be taking themselves out as some sort of problem that corrects itself… but we’ve seen that kind of suicidal religious extremism before, and it’s not good for everyone else.
More so that they’d be still and quiet, spending their days napping and drinking tea. Not inflitrating the government with an agenda to kick off the rapture. But I will behave now.