America Is Surviving, Not Living, and It’s Breaking Us |
Life in America doesn’t feel like life right now. It feels like triage.
People get up, commute, grind through work, juggle kids and side hustles, scroll through their phones in bed until their eyes burn, then do it again tomorrow. They are surviving, but they are not living.
The numbers explain why.
The average American now carries around $100,000 in total consumer debt, once you add mortgages, credit cards, auto loans, and student loans, according to recent Experian data.
Total household debt has reached a record $18.6 trillion, up more than $4 trillion since just before the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the same time, new surveys suggest roughly seven in 10 Americans feel they are living paycheck to paycheck, up sharply from just a few years ago. When that many people are one layoff, one medical bill or one blown transmission away from disaster, you don’t get a peaceful society.
You get a country permanently clenched.
A 2024 national study found 84% of Americans experience financial stress, driven above all by the cost of food and housing, and the lack of savings.
Another survey from Empower shows people now spend close to four hours a day thinking about money—for younger adults, that number is even........