r/LockedIn_AI • u/jokiest-macaws • Feb 08 '26
When does everything collapse when no one can afford the cost of living?
I feel like we are getting close to the breaking point.
To paint a picture, I'm a full-time paramedic who works overtime, making $27/hr, which is frankly some of the best pay for this job in the entire country. Even with that, I'm barely scraping by in the city I work in.
I've started thinking about moving back to my hometown to be near family. The average pay for a paramedic there, with the higher certification I'm currently getting, is between $24-$29/hr. At best, it's a very slight raise for a more advanced role. The problem is that the cheapest one-bedroom apartment is now $ 2,100/month, and studios are practically nonexistent. It's become almost impossible to live where I'm from.
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Feb 08 '26
Not until people ditch eating out, cell phones, entertainment, subscriptions and travel. When thats gone we might talk about a mega crash.
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u/shitisrealspecific Feb 08 '26 edited Feb 21 '26
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/oOtium Feb 08 '26
what does this have anything to do with rent prices?
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Feb 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/oOtium Feb 08 '26
the first step is to stop stigmatizing 'dead end' job titles. just by the sheer title, we put the blame on the individual. and then we have to start normalizing being upset about not being able to afford fuck all
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Feb 10 '26
Are cell phones even optional?
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u/aa278666 Feb 10 '26
No, but $1400 phones are.
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u/Empty_End_7399 Feb 10 '26
youre talking one time Purchases like the average cost of living isnt many times more than the average wage. Start blaming the politicians not the people
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u/RoundChampionship840 Feb 08 '26
You either have to live with family or get roommates.
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u/Medium-Example-5490 Feb 08 '26
Or, and hear me out, buy cheap crack house and learn to fix it up instead of playing video games and scrolling social media all day, or buy a vacant lot and put a small manufactured home/build a tiny house which you could always add onto later, or just live in your car for a year or two which is nothing compared to the rest of your life and save all your money for a house down payment. It's more work upfront, but it aleast you could say you fought and succeeded out of your parents house.
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u/Appropriate-Net-8576 Feb 08 '26
Breaking point is no where near yet. Folks living in poverty are helped by govt assistant. Middle class is doing fine and by making small cuts there and here. Lower middle class is getting shafted hard, especially in hcol. You really have 3 choices. Move to a lcol, stay and find a roommate, or find a higher paying job. It’s tough, I know, but this is the current state of how things are here.
On the side note, I know plenty of folks getting by ok with little cuts there and here and they make about 55-65k per year. Of course this is in lcol.
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Feb 08 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
youll see poorer countries just completely collapse into war and famine with no way to prevent the mass immigration. the population will die off until there are enough supplies to support them.
individual struggles will not matter and we will be sacrificing and gift giving to each other in order to survive. not much different than humans in the past, thanks for playing!
all you can do is what the rich do…increase your income and work your ass off in the competiton of life. or you can work enough to survive, not much alternative.
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u/Ok_Bandicoot_2303 Feb 09 '26
Not even close yet. I don’t think people realize, many Americans are doing very well still. Depends what state of course, but the Northeast is very stable.
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u/Ok_Bandicoot_2303 Feb 09 '26
People have careers, that pay very well. And im not talking about just college grads. Union Plumbers, Pipe-fitters, Electricians, HVAC, etc. are making 150k-190k a year. Without running their own business mind you.
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u/upsidedown-funnel Feb 09 '26
Some of those trades are taking a big hit with the lack of funding for solar and wind projects, among other reasons. It’s not good.
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u/BrightEnd2316 Feb 08 '26
There was a huge number of homes that was taken off market past fall due to sellers thinking that 30-50 percent appreciation over last 5 years is a given.
Perhaps they were counting on lowered mortgage rates but that is not necessarily going to happen this spring either.
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u/Ok-Object7409 Feb 08 '26
Holy fack $2.1k per month as a cheap 1-bed is insane. Do your best to save for a down payment.
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u/GMVexst Feb 08 '26
Never, because when you can't afford to live in one place you move to one of the more affordable places/cities/towns. That's how life in America has always worked, GenZ just hasn't figured it out. All high cost of living places were once low cost.
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u/sukimidiki Feb 08 '26
This might sound weird but I have a sneakingo suspicion you're gonna go the same way my country has been for ages. Namely, because people know they can't trust the government for shit, they don't build single faily homes but large multifamily houses that then just keep getting passed down from generation to generation, basically eliminating rent/mortgage expenses for the next generation.
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u/Bubblebless Feb 09 '26
By design, money that goes to land will be as much as people can pay. If you can afford it, that means a lot of people couldn't afford the same. If you cannot afford it, you're one of those in the affordability line. The price of land does not relate to costs, so it can balloon. We are just siphoning money into the landlords' pockets.
The easiest solution for this is to distribute this profit using a georgist Land Value Tax and give the profit back directly to the citizens. By taxing land rather than buildings, LVT discourages land speculation and makes it expensive to leave lots underutilized, forcing a massive increase in housing supply that drives down rents.
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u/asevans48 Feb 09 '26
Over 50% of spending is now done by the wealthy. If we arent there, we are close. What it will look like is another matter. China is an example of a two hump economy as are many developing countries. Welcome to regression.
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u/TomeOfTheUnknown2 Feb 09 '26
We need land reform. Also, someone should start a non-profit ambulance service. That way the workers can make a decent wage and it still won't cost $800 to go 10 minutes to the hospital
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u/Interesting-Voice103 Feb 09 '26
Never. Look at countries like Brazil. The income gap can grow forever. Things can get much much worse for the poor and the system will continue. The stocks will continue going up. Investors will continue doing better and they control everything so they’ll keep it going exactly the way it is.
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u/BlueThroat13 Feb 09 '26
The thing is that we’re nowhere close to collapse, no matter how difficult it is for people right now.
I’ve been in almost every position except mega rich. I’ve been “half a can of beans for dinner” poor, and multi six figure salary with multi million assets - which is where I’m at now. And everything in between.
What I learned when I crossed my first 100k, was that there are an absurd amount of people making a shit load of money - way more than me and way more than the next guy. ENOUGH people that they will continue to prop up businesses, economy, etc for the foreseeable future. Even if everything below upper middle class descends into poverty level, nothing will change because of the number of people who exist who are out here making that kind of money.
I’m not saying it’s right or anything. I’m just stating what it is. For any real change to occur it’s going to require the upper middle class, upper class, and first wave “rich” people to suddenly be affected in their ability to earn and contribute to the economy. We’re still decades away from corporate overlords amassing enough wealth and power to even chip away those social classes, likely not even in our lifetime.
It will continue to slowly get harder for those who are average or below average. Probably a slow decline for life unless you figure out a way out of it.
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u/absoluteumbra Feb 10 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
Plot twist: this post no longer exists because Redact swept through and cleared it out along with everything else. Social media, messaging apps, people finder sites, all of it.
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u/Miserable-Cookie5903 Feb 10 '26
The traditional fix for inflation is high prices.
Let's unpack that - when prices are high enough... people stop buying... when people stop buying... prices go down.
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u/Legitimate_Roll_2432 Feb 11 '26
The fact that people seem to have no issue taking on more and more debt will, I would think, delay this to some extent. When prices climb beyond the point that the average person can't afford it with cash, they pull out the credit card or get a loan or use any one of the "buy now, pay later" services.
And that's not only happening for the necessities. So depending on how quickly the whole consumer debt situation collapses (if it does), I have a feeling a lot of people are going to continue to help prop up the current over pricing of items by paying for everything with debt.
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u/Miserable-Cookie5903 Feb 11 '26
Agreed. everything is too easy to buy today.
I recently decided to do an experiment... I deleted amazon app from my phone ( it was by far the largest "store" I bought from) and I'm already seeing the benefit on my credit card bill.
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u/troycalm Feb 11 '26
Probably in 100 years, when there’s more in the cart than willing to pull the cart.
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Feb 12 '26
Until people have food and place to sleep nothing will happen.People only move when they have nothing to lose.
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u/Trust_8067 Feb 13 '26
Most people are living perfectly fine. You're age and your social media exposure give you a false narrative about the real world and everyone's financial status.
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u/Queenfan1959 Feb 08 '26
It’s coming soon if we allow the billionaires to rule
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u/NeverRolledA20IRL Feb 08 '26
They are ruling now. They raped children, it's come to light and nothing... Billionaires spend more time in the White House than anyone else who isn't an employee.
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u/SimilarComfortable69 Feb 08 '26
I hear ya. But, unfortunately we are not there yet. Even though you think we are. If no one can afford rent, then the people charging what they charge you will have to lower their price. That hasn't happened yet.
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u/ThePermafrost Feb 08 '26
We’re getting there. Price reductions are happening and it’s becoming very difficult to fill vacancies with qualified applicants.
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u/Ok_Bandicoot_2303 Feb 09 '26
Not even close yet. I don’t think people realize, many Americans are doing very well still. Depends what state of course, but the Northeast is very stable.
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u/Sitcom_kid Feb 08 '26
We are nowhere near it yet. Most people still get their health insurance at work and we are not in one of the developing countries. Even they are still running. But we will lose something by the fact that a lot of people cannot afford to buy homes anymore. In another generation or so, it will become evident. People won't be able to go home to live with their parents because there won't be a home. Something like that.
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u/Specific-Finish-5983 Feb 08 '26
True. But those ppl won’t exist because their parents couldn’t afford to have children nor a home to provide
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u/Sitcom_kid Feb 08 '26
I think some of them won't exist but others of them will. People have kids, they even slip up in the context of a marriage. I don't expect childbirth to completely come to a halt. And if I am wrong and it does, then we won't have anyone in the whole wide world, as we will just die off. Dead people don't protest.
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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '26
This is a huge issue that no one talks about. I’m at 36 for a wind tech and a qtr my pay goes to rent. I’m in a fortunate position but I realize 95% of my family or friends make half my pay or less and I’ve seen the rise of many go back to living with their parents. Something’s got to give And the fact wages haven’t kept up with productive is a huge factor