Too much risk starting a business. There is no guarantee you will get a job as good as you left if the business fails. You can lose the opportunity cost on investments so you can retire or cover a major expense. Health insurance is usually provided by jobs, so you risk access to medical care.
Health insurance is provided by employers. Changing job carries risk of getting insurance that will screw you over or have more out of pocket costs than any raise can make up for.
Housing costs are so high moving is risky. Buying a place to live at these levels could land you underwater if the market crashes.
Transportation almost requires a car, which are money pits even if you get a reliable car that is efficient and you DIY maintenance. You still need parts, insurance, registration, taxes, and fuel. Driving in the United States of Asphalt sucks because traffic jams are frequent in many areas. Since it is practically mandatory, you get to share the road with high people, irresponsible people, people driving cars that are unsafe to even look at, sleep deprived people, and people that for whatever reason can’t drive well.
Child care. We get so little parental leave that isn’t even paid leave and pay out the ass for early childhood care. If you have more than 2 small children, it is probably cheaper to hire a private nanny.
Shitty shit. Shitty toys. Shitty furniture. Shitty appliances. Shitty clothes. Shitty shingles. Shitty carpet. There is a lot of shitty shit out there that should never have been made that is long term more expensive than good shit. All that shitty shit filling our shitty houses that we drive home in shitty canyoneros took energy and materials provided by or extracted using fossil fuels. Then it was shipped using fossil fuels. Then when a fire/tornado/hurricane/whatever wrecks our shitty shit we have to pay a shitty insurance deductible and a higher shitty premium.
Lots of things are holding us back.
Too much risk starting a business. There is no guarantee you will get a job as good as you left if the business fails. You can lose the opportunity cost on investments so you can retire or cover a major expense. Health insurance is usually provided by jobs, so you risk access to medical care.
Health insurance is provided by employers. Changing job carries risk of getting insurance that will screw you over or have more out of pocket costs than any raise can make up for.
Housing costs are so high moving is risky. Buying a place to live at these levels could land you underwater if the market crashes.
Transportation almost requires a car, which are money pits even if you get a reliable car that is efficient and you DIY maintenance. You still need parts, insurance, registration, taxes, and fuel. Driving in the United States of Asphalt sucks because traffic jams are frequent in many areas. Since it is practically mandatory, you get to share the road with high people, irresponsible people, people driving cars that are unsafe to even look at, sleep deprived people, and people that for whatever reason can’t drive well.
Child care. We get so little parental leave that isn’t even paid leave and pay out the ass for early childhood care. If you have more than 2 small children, it is probably cheaper to hire a private nanny.
Shitty shit. Shitty toys. Shitty furniture. Shitty appliances. Shitty clothes. Shitty shingles. Shitty carpet. There is a lot of shitty shit out there that should never have been made that is long term more expensive than good shit. All that shitty shit filling our shitty houses that we drive home in shitty canyoneros took energy and materials provided by or extracted using fossil fuels. Then it was shipped using fossil fuels. Then when a fire/tornado/hurricane/whatever wrecks our shitty shit we have to pay a shitty insurance deductible and a higher shitty premium.