Ask HN: What is really wrong with the US economy, really?

> It honestly feels like the goalposts keep moving

That's a really great quote and I'm happy to see the honesty. This gets to the heart of the matter.

You're stuck playing "keep up with the Jones'", which by very definition you can not win.

You need to define your own goalposts, then they won't move, and you can actually get there.

What makes you happy? How do you want to spend your limited time on this earth? What do you want to contribute to the world?

Make those things your "goalposts", not money, and you'll be much, much happier and better off.

I think if you list cell phones and the internet before you list housing, your sense of scale is completely off.

Even if somebody's spending $200/mo on telephone and internet connectivity, that still pales in comparison to the cost of rent in pretty much any part of the country. A fairly small studio apartment in the area where I live is approaching $2000/mo, minimum - to pay less than that I'd probably have to move 30+ miles away, which then increases my commuting costs dramatically and might force me to drive instead of take public transit. (And no, I'm not living in some posh downtown area with high demand, I'm living next to the low-income workers and big families, in an apartment complex built in the 70s or 80s.)

Then let's look at health and dental costs, which combined together probably are double/triple what you pay combined for reasonable cell phone/internet service. (Personally, I pay $30/mo for cell phone voice and data. Internet is expensive because yay, monopolies - very little choice there.) Going without phone/internet connectivity in this modern society is utterly ridiculous as a working professional; you simply can't get away with it unless you decide you're gonna cut yourself off from the world and live in a cabin somewhere.

To answer your specific question, let's say he spends $200/mo on internet+cell phone. If he cuts those out entirely, that's $2400/yr, or barely a month's rent in many localities.

Don't be ridiculous. Stop focusing on tiny things when the real problems are right in front of you: Housing costs, health costs, transit costs...

The problem is the rich are getting richer, and the middle class is shrinking. Actual inflation-adjusted pay for most people hasn't risen in 30 years, while for the top of the top it's skyrocketed. Meanwhile, everything is more expensive, and unemployment is high thanks to the apparent political impossibility of introducing stimulus spending in a time of lowered demand and zero interest rate (cutting interest rates is the usually the easiest way to stimulate the economy, but you can't do that when you're at zero already). The money moved into finance, distorted everything thanks to deregulation, and screwed up the country, and the world to a certain extent. Europe in the meantime is addicted to debilitating austerity measures; the populations haven't exploded yet only because most of them have excellent social safety nets.

Things really were better in the 60's and 70's from the point of view of how everyone was doing, what they could afford and with how much effort spent to afford it.

Also, if you're a tech guy living in a tech area, cost of living is probably higher than average. And the US has expensive health care, thanks to, until recently, stubbornly refused all attempts to socialize it.

Seattle, mid-to-late thirties = near-constantly increasing rents and increasing health expenses.

If he's actually in proper Seattle and not the surrounding area, the nearest affordable housing might be dozens of miles away from where he works, increasing his transit costs considerably.

Health insurance keeps getting more expensive, and if his plan isn't great he might be shelling out thousands of dollars a year to hit his deductibles, especially if he's not in great health.

'Sounds like a budgeting problem' is missing the point, which is that the set of unavoidable expenses - things you have to pay - keeps getting bigger and bigger, but incomes for a big chunk of the US don't grow quite as fast as that.

He's not asking for pity or for you to explain why he feels pressured; he was asking about whether things are this way for everyone, and why things are this way. Your post completely ignores this and takes the opportunity to condescend to him.