...nearly 20 years into my career, I barely have any more buying power than when I was fresh out of college. I am certainly no big wig CEO, but I make a decent salary these days and have a small amount of side income, as well. My wife also works full time. We try to live responsibly and contribute to our retirement savings each month (though not nearly enough), put some money away for our daughter's education (also not enough), and pay for life insurance in case of something tragic. We live in a 50 year old ranch home and have 4 vehicles whose combined age is 67 years. I do most of my own vehicle maintenance, I repair our appliances when they break, and I do all of our home repair/renovation projects myself. We could probably live more frugally if we really did a deep analysis of our spending, but by and large, we don't live extravagantly at all. We never, ever travel. We don't go to movies, shows, or concerts. And, up until 4-5 years ago, I felt like we were in a slow, but steady path towards some financial breathing room. But over the past 5 years, we have gotten crushed by inflation, to the point that we are barely breaking even most months, or even being in the red some months. This last month has been a rough one with multiple vehicle issues (the downside of driving older vehicles). I feel fortunate to have a significant amount of money saved up by living frugally, but I seriously do not know how ANYONE in the middle or lower class is surviving right now without a "rainy day fund". I suspect credit card debt is skyrocketing right now, and I have a very, very bad feeling about how this will play out long-term. Lots of people seem to have their heads in the sand about this, either because they are somewhat insulated by being wealthy, or because they choose to turn a blind eye to avoid being confronted with the consequences of policies they support. But I think we are in for a rough ride ahead.