one of the major things that's gone wrong (or... perhaps gone right depending on the goal) is our perception of the prosperity hierarchy and one's place within it. you talk about the cost of living as if it's a near-universal struggle that we're all tackling together. could it be that your perceptions are continually manipulated by the media, social media, politicians from both sides of the aisle, and even the language itself? you perhaps believe yourself to be 'middle-class', and thus, moderately prosperous comparative to others. are you really though? let's imagine the goal was to create a society in which poor people didn't rock the boat or cause too much fuss. one way to placate the plebs would be to convince them there are masses of poor people beneath them in the prosperity hierarchy. all things considered, they're really quite lucky! the most common reaction to the below stats is disbelief: -1 in 5 brits has household net wealth greater than 1 million. -1 in 3 live in a home which is owned outright (would you be struggling so much if you didn't have a mortgage?). -half of us have greater than 350k household net wealth. -there are nearly 3 million residential landlords in the uk, and likely more when you factor in owners of commercial real estate. -there's easily enough land in the uk for every man, woman, child, oap and newborn baby to own a square mile each. what would you do with your square mile? the brutal reality is that you're likely poorer comparative to others than you realise. perhaps contemplate that next time you're in the sofa shop - strolling past all those 5k sofas meant for lord knows who - to the little pleb section at the back with the 400 ones.
United Kingdom