Pete Roberts

The South Dakota stat man...I stat high school and college athletic events throughout the Mount Rushmore State.

[middleclassparty @middle_class_us]

The hardest place to live financially might be the middle.

You make money.

Just not enough.

You have a job.

Maybe two.

You don't qualify for much help.

You don't have enough wealth to ignore prices.

Every raise removes a benefit.

Every expense comes out of your pocket.

Every emergency is yours.

Rich enough to pay full price.

Poor enough to feel every dollar of it.

[No filter Skin @NoFilterSkin]

A hill I will die on: The majority of the mental health crisis is caused by jobs, poverty and working conditions.

[Pete Roberts @605stat]

@605Jandy @Amikk46 maybe farther back than what you wanted but Chase van tol from tea area hit a 51-yarder back in 2021 against West Central. tea area's all-time record was set by cooper Hansen back in 2010 with a 55-yarder

[Rob Moore @robprogressive]

No one wants to hear this but many 'mental health’ problems disappear when you have money

No worrying about bills or living costs. No drowning in debt. Feeling stressed?

Take some days off or go on holiday because you can afford to

And if you do get really ill, you have money to fix that too. Why does no one want to acknowledge this?

[middleclassparty @middle_class_us]

“Have you tried budgeting?”

Yes. The budget has been budgeted.

The subscriptions are canceled.

The vacations aren't happening.

The car is used.

The apartment is small.

The groceries are generic.

The restaurants are gone.

The clothes aren't new.

And there's still nothing left at the end of the month.

At some point, telling people to budget harder is like telling someone on a sinking ship to organize the deck chairs.

There isn't another expense to cut.

There's a hole in the boat.

[middleclassparty @middle_class_us]

“I make good money, but I don’t have money” is the new income bracket in America.

You’re not poor or missing meals.

You can pay the mortgage and make the car payment.

You can keep the lights on.

But the check engine light comes on and suddenly you need two paychecks to deal with it.

A medical bill arrives and you’re asking about payment plans.

A full tank of gas becomes something you think about.

You make more money than you ever thought you would.

And somehow you’re still broke.

Just a much more convenient version of broke.

[Chris Wick | Independent News @ChrisWickNews]

Something is seriously wrong with the world when people are working, paying their bills, cutting back, and still falling deeper into debt.

Today, U.S. credit-card debt has climbed to $1.26 TRILLION.

And here's the part that should bother everyone:
People aren't drowning because they suddenly forgot how to manage money.

They're drowning because the cost of simply existing keeps climbing.

Housing.
Food.
Insurance.
Utilities.
Interest.

Meanwhile, the system keeps telling ordinary people to “budget better.”
At some point, you have to stop blaming the people trapped inside the machine and start asking who built it this way.

How much more can ordinary people take before something finally breaks?

[ً @artfuIchaos]

can’t believe it’s already August. time flies when you live life on survival mode and work everyday of your fucking life.

[Pete Roberts @605stat]

You're up next @pierre_football. Last 11AA team with a grass field.

[Matt Kerney @MattKerney]

Checked out the new turf at Woodle Field. It looks great @SturgisSDFB!

#SDPreps

[middleclassparty @middle_class_us]

It's not you. The bill went up. The portion went down.

The package got smaller. The quality dropped.

The cheap brands got expensive.

The expensive brands got unaffordable.

The store brand became the only option.

And then the store brand went up too.

Every trick that existed to make the grocery bill manageable.

Has been systematically closed off.

One by one. Quarter by quarter.

While wages grew 3.8% and grocery prices grew faster.

[middleclassparty @middle_class_us]

Even upper income households are now shopping around for grocery deals.

People who never compared prices before.

Never clipped a coupon.

Never chose a store based on a weekly flyer.

Are doing all of it now.

When the people who can afford not to care about price.

Start caring about price.

The signal is unmistakable.

This is not a low income problem anymore.

It never really was.

But now the data from every income bracket is telling the same story.

[FΛME @famexbt]

They tell you the solution is simple:

“Spend less. Budget better. Make smarter choices.”

So you try.

You cook every meal at home, but groceries keep getting more expensive faster than your paycheck.

You settle for a smaller apartment, only to find rent climbing year after year anyway.

You skip buying a new car, but public transportation is so unreliable that getting to work becomes another daily struggle.

You cut subscriptions.
You stop eating out.
You delay vacations.
You sacrifice the things that actually make life enjoyable.

Yet somehow, your bank account barely moves.

Maybe the problem isn’t that people refuse to make sacrifices.

Maybe it’s that the cost of simply existing keeps rising, while wages struggle to keep up.

When food, housing, transportation, and other essentials consume most of your income, building wealth becomes less about discipline and more about having room to breathe.

You can’t save your way out of an economy that keeps making survival more expensive.

[middleclassparty @middle_class_us]

The advice for the housing crisis is get roommates.

The advice for grocery costs is cook at home.

The advice for the commute is move closer to work.

The advice for debt is cut spending.

The advice for burnout is find balance.

None of these are solutions.

They are instructions for how to be poor more quietly.

[Jenni @hashjenni]

I think depression & anxiety could be partly cured by financial stability

[middleclassparty @middle_class_us]

It used to be easy to get a job in America.

Now job hunting has become more exhausting than working.

You fake optimism for employers.

You drown in rejection.

You watch your savings vanish.

It’s psychological torture, not a career search.

[middleclassparty @middle_class_us]

Stop telling us to "budget better."

Personal finance hacks are marginal against macro gouging.

You can budget like a monk, and one insurance letter can still nuke the plan.

[middleclassparty @middle_class_us]

Americans don't need CEOs with record pay.

We need kids who aren’t hungry.

Parents who can afford rent.

Jobs that pay a living wage.

[middleclassparty @middle_class_us]

The cruelest part of the economy?

It’s not just that we’re broke.

It’s that the struggle feels permanent now.

Like exhaustion is the baseline.

Like survival is the dream.

And everyone keeps saying, “that’s just adulting.”

No.

It’s decline.