I’m over 30 and I’m pretty fuckin’ miserable, too!
But I guess I was actually paying attention to how fucked things have been politically since I was able to start voting pushing nearly 30 years ago now.
In regards to the actual article:
The researchers say they were able to pick up on the distrust by asking whether or not people believed someone would return a lost wallet. Compared to the Nordic countries, people in the U.S. were more likely to underestimate the kindness of others.
“It requires that strangers are to be trusted, that they will go beyond the call of duty and be kind and try and get it back to the rightful owner, or drop it with the police, which means you need to trust the police,” De Neve says. “That single item of the wallet drop is very powerful.”
There’s literally, literally a flip side to this “lost wallet” equation in the US as well. Have you ever been the person who was kind enough to return a lost wallet? Have you also ever been the person who was accused by the person you returned it to of stealing a bunch of things (like cash) out of the wallet? It’s actually a fairly common occurence in the the US. So not only is there distrust in whether or not others will return a wallet, there is a valid distrust by people who find lost wallets that the wallet owner won’t lie about the original contents of the wallet and accuse them of theft anyway. At what point does it just become pointless to bother with returning a wallet at all if you’re going to be accused of a crime because you did the right thing?
Apologies for (slight retch) a reddit link:
https://old.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1j1yqt9/found_a_wallet_with_200_and_i_returned_it_to_its/Bottom line: The US is filled with selfish untrustworthy fucking maniacs.
And the part with dropping a found wallet with the police. We all know they’re going to do fuck all to find the owner.
On that topic, Japan is 100% reliable for returning a dropped wallet.
The only time I found a wallet I returned it to the owner. The owner was suspicious as fuck towards me and treated me like I had stolen it even though everything was still in it. I literally picked it up off the ground, looked at the drivers license, and headed inside the store to see if they could page him and ran into him on the way in. The people I told about it were all pissed towards me for actually returning it and not just stealing the money… It was basically unanimous that I was wrong for doing this and some of these people were friends I thought were good people up until that point. It really fucked up my faith in other people. Next time I’ll just leave it be.
When I find a wallet with no money in it, I put $20 in and give it back. Fuck em.
This lack of trust is literally the main goal of mass media, especially right wing media. When everyone else is your enemy, you won’t work together with them for your own benefit. Instead, you’ll trust the strongman to keep you safe from all the fake danger.
Social media accelerated this by an incredible amount. Today’s America feels like a completely different society from the one I grew up in the 90s.
There was a time when I was a student that I spent a lot of time near a particular coffee shop, and more than you would typically expect for just studying and the like, since it turned into the place where my friend group basically hung out most of the time.
In any case, it was a decently high traffic area and since I was there a lot I found two wallets and a cellphone over the time I was there a lot.One wallet had an emergency contact I was able to call, think it was their mother, and that I’d be at the coffee shop for a bit. They brought me cookies, and I was thrilled.
Next person just had their phone number, and they acted like I was a creep for saying I had their wallet and would like to give it back to them, so I told them I was leaving it with the cashier and left it at that and was a bit sad, since being told off for trying to be nice is a bummer.
Cellphone was the worst. I called their most recent number and told them what was up (this was clearly before ubiquitous lock screens). Owner called me back in the same number and threatened to call the cops on me so I hung up, powered off the phone and put it back where I found it. Felt sad.Given how it seems like everyone has lost their minds now, I’m not sure I would risk letting someone know I found their stuff. I’d still try to return it because that’s the right thing to do, but I’m not sure if I’d be willing to use my own phone number or anything.
If people will shoot you for using their driveway to turn around I can only imagine what they’d do for a bus pass, student ID and a loyalty punch card for a bakery.Wow, how dumb and shitty can people be? Crazy.
You seem like a good person and I’m sorry those assholes treated you like that.
Have you ever been the person who was kind enough to return a lost wallet? Have you also ever been the person who was accused by the person you returned it to of stealing a bunch of things (like cash) out of the wallet?
You’re saying something. I’ve heard first hand stories about angry wallet owners “shooting the messanger” so to speak. I’m from Germany but the saying “No good deed goes unpunished” rings true in most parts of the world, I think. That’s why you throw a lost wallet into the next letter box and don’t bother any further. At least that’s what you’re supposed to do where I’m from and I doubt any of those wallets ever arrived with their full content but that’s not my problem.
Some years back i was leaving the gym (I live in the US by the by) and I found a debit card. Now the only identifying info on it was the bank associated and the name and such. I wasnt going to take it home and try and track down the person who owned it. So I took it to the associated bank, grabbed a deposit slip and wrote a note on it and dropped in the deposit box. I assume it was returned, but I honestly don’t know. Felt this was the best approach given the circumstances.
Those of us in our mid-50s aren’t exactly happy either right now.
We view the late 40s through the 70s as a golden age for the American middle class. People raising families off a single income. Yearly vacations. Affordable higher education.
Know why?
We taxed the ever-loving fuck out of the wealthy back then.
Then the wealthy bought the politicians and stopped that from happening.
And now we’re all sad.
DO. NOT. VOTE. FOR. ANYONE. THAT. DOESN’T. RUN. ON. TAXING. THE. WEALTHY. MORE.
Don’t vote for anyone, got it
It gets my vote!
DO. NOT. VOTE. FOR. ANYONE. THAT. DOESN’T. RUN. ON. TAXING. THE. WEALTHY. MORE.
Another liberal telling us to vote for Kamala just because her tax plan looks nice. Disgusting.
Is absurd that we essentially have a regressive income tax. I also wouldn’t ignore the global environment during that period.
During those decades, the US was effectively the only industrialized nation in the world. Everyone else either never had factories to begin with, or had smoldering piles of rubble where their factories used to be.
Sales tax as well as VAT are also, by design, regressive taxes.
We turned the planet into a human labour farm.
I found it astonishing that there isn’t even a 0% tax bracket anymore federally. It starts at 10% when you make your first fucking dollar. We’ve gone batshit backwards in this country to the point where we’re trying to get every last dime from poor people so we can almost afford to have buy-borrow-die oligarchs that never pay a penny in federal taxes.
Technically the standard deduction is the zero tax bracket.
Gee can’t see why. We should probably tax them more and deregulate billionaires more
/s
Here you go. You forgot this.
Sorry guys, I know in my 20s I was still trying to figure out who I wanted to be and figuring out how I aligned with some suit in government was not how I was going to spend my Friday night. Just skip all the media bullshit and start reading about who is voting for what. That will get you to the side you’re on. Theres a lot more to figure out but at the very least do this so you can go vote every chance you get.
The older generations, we aren’t looking out for you, at least enmasse. You’re going to have to form your alliances and hope they keep their end of the deal. Right now the only ones getting anything are billionaires and their subordinates. That just might never change. Maybe you want it that way. I don’t. So good luck.
Vote? There’s no voting. There will be no elections. Nothing to figure out.
Got me there but I did say, “every chance you get.”
Oh and it isn’t like Americans over 30 are any happier?
I’m here to assure you that we’re not. The only ones who are happy are boomers who lucked into an impossibly good economy that will never return. They amassed wealth and think it’s because they worked hard while in conditions that only existed because multiple economies were destroyed by war while USA was untouched. And now they continue to hoard power in government and refuse to let younger generations have a seat at the table. Fuck them.
TIL I’m under 30
38 and not doing great.
Boomers maybe?
Most boomers are miserable even if their purported political desires have dominated elections for forty years mostly uninterrupted.
How sad, so much winning and not happy.
I’m European, and I get miserable reading about the USA.
It’s also quite telling that I see so many American expats here nowadays. It used to be quite rare, usually if you met an American living here they would be either working for an American company, or have a relationship with a local.
Now, I’m just meeting a lot of super talented and smart Americans who took a major paycut just to not live in the US anymore.
I’ll be real, it really bugs the shit out of me that the affluent would rather just bail to Europe and leave the most vulnerable of us behind. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
As long as they personally can escape somewhere safer, they don’t give one single fucking shit about what happens to their less fortunate fellow countrymen. Not all poors are Trumpers. Some of us got fucked by *checks notes… cancer drugs that cost $18k a month. Ask me how I know.
I sneer and look down on every single one of those “talented and smart Americans” who leave their talented, smart, empathetic, and fucked by the economic system of the US brethren behind to rot.
Why should they go down with the ship?
Put your energy here.
Why should I go down with the ship? What did I do to deserve it?
That’s some soulless selfish bullshit you’re peddling.
I guess sticking around to try to improve things, or hell, working to have improved it before it got this bad, are just too much to ask.
America is not fixable right now. The majority of voters supported a Nazi. The population has to age out before any change can come and that could take 50 years.
Gotcha, fuck the poor, they can die under Nazis. Thanks for your valuable input.
I would like to point out that all the people with halfway decent politics leaving is only going to accelerate how bad things are in the US. You get that, right?
How did things work out for the people that stayed in Nazi Germany? I think people can see where things are going and if they can they are getting out. Life is not fair but you have to do what is best for you and your family.
I feel you. I’ve been thinking a lot about my options lately (as I’m sure we all are.) As appealing as the idea to leave the country is, there’s some part of me that’s screaming, “No. Our place is here. These is our home. These are our neighbors. This is our fight.”
I hope those most vulnerable can find a way to stay safe… But as for myself, this system has kept me too poor to afford having kids, let alone owning a house, or any other assets, without hope of affording retirement, trapped in a system where I’m basically a slave running in a hamster wheel… So what have I got to fear? I’m going to stay here and organize.
If you don’t feel like you have any power to influence anything it’s normal to bail.
Clearly the US wants to be fucked up. I’ve been trying to stop that for decades. When should I admit that this is what the country wants and that it’s foolish to think otherwise.
People put their own oxygen masks on first for a reason. If I could leave I’d be gone, too.
Feel free to sneer at me, though. People are all terrible and I’m one of them.
“We’ll defend those who are less fortunate than us!”
[Loses one (1) election]
“Welp I’m gonna leave the country, and not do anything to help anyone on my way out. I never actually liked any of you, you were just useful tokens for an election.”
They want the poor, disabled, queer, BIPOC, and anyone who is stuck in this hellhole to burn alive. They don’t actually care. If they cared they’d try to help, not leave the country and pretend it’s for our own good. Anyone who can leave the country right now is in a better place than 90% of the people they “care about”.
One election?
Yeah they lose every election unless its handed to them on a platter like Biden v Trump.
Love how I’m getting downvoted for pointing out how the well of liberals are leaving the country while acting like its for the good of the poors they browbeated into supporting their bad candidates.
Dude, I understand your frustration.
But these people just want to be safe and raise their kids without worrying that some neo-nazis are going to harm them or their kids for having the wrong race or creed.
They aren’t necessarily affluent, though not poor either. Just middle-class progressive people that need to have both parents working to afford a house, car, groceries.
Yes, I am sorry you got f-d by the medical costs. I really wish it were different.
just want to be safe and raise their kids
If they really cared about that, maybe they could have tried harder to prevent this from happening in their home country, yeah?
That’s such a cop out. “I just want to raise my family in peace” but not enough to work to create a peaceful society for them. Americans are so god damned selfish and thoughtless about anyone’s future but their own.
Why didn’t you try harder to stop this from happening if that’s all it takes?
You have no idea what they did or did not do.
You have no idea what they went through in the USA.
Look, I get you. I come from a family that actively resisted the Nazi occupation with guns, smuggling and at great risk.
And if it ever came to it, I would stay to fight. That’s just my nature.
But it’s not for everyone.
Look. I get you. But, it it were up to me, I’d have been gone during the Bush II years and I’m still stuck here.
This place has fucked me up enough already. Despite doing “everything right” in my studies, my first career, in scientific research, died before it began, thanks to the ultra-wealthy causing a global recession. Every day I wonder if it’s going to be the day that I hear that my trans sibling has been taken or died a death of despair. I lost a cousin to cancer because she couldn’t get treatment due to the nazi’s handling of COVID. I’m in therapy because of serious childhood trauma. I’m childless, despite wanting to have children my whole life (have never been in a position to afford them and my spouse is disabled, so, I’ll likely never have the energy to parent anyway). I know that, no matter how much I put into a 401k, it’s never going to be enough for me to retire. The current head of the CDC has suggested putting people like me in forced labor camps.
I spent decades being politically active and trying to get others active, voting, and engaging with reps only to have tankies and centrists actively sabotage any attempt to realistically pull the country Left without the massive amount of death and suffering (especially experienced by vulnerable people) that tankies circlejerk about trying to cause.
Nothing that I do here has any ability to change things in the country for the better within my lifetime, which is likely to be cut short due to living in this country during the ongoing fascist coup that everyone around me is still in denial about. Sure, I help out neighbors and the like as they need it and I’m able. If we meet and you need help, I’ll absolutely help you if I can.
I’m not going to Luigi someone or join the Maquis - I am needed too much by my family. Nor am I going to opt-out - I’m too filled with spite over what was stolen to make things any easier for them. And I’m sorry but, if I can get my family out, I will.
I’m 41 and I’ve been miserable since elementary school.
dude…americans OVER 30 are miserable too
It is normal for older people to be jaded. Having the young, idealistic age start out life jaded and miserable really drags the average down.
I was miserable when I was younger too, I’m just really good at it now.
It is normal for older people to be jaded
google “is ought”
Why?
What’s “is ought” bro? You can’t just say random stuff and expect us to finish your thought, elucidate.
In just 3 months the US became a developing country. That must be a record.
We moved up to developing!?
Developing? Is it?
Undeveloping? Regressing? Devolving?
Regressive sounds right, the opposite of progress is regress. The republican party is the regressive party.
Not just under 30. My husband is disabled and if ACA or VA benefits get cut he will die. Horribly but slowly, in our house where I will have to take care of him until the end. And pray we still have enough of a functioning society to bury him when the time comes. How I am supposed to feel anything other than horror and dread for the future!?
It pisses me off so much because the goddamn problem is RIGHT IN FRONT of everyone’s eyes and yet so much energy is spent on bullshitting the masses…I want off this ride
How else make line go up?
Checking in with the chorus of over 30s that basically don’t expect good things to happen again.
The other day, I did some quick math to figure out what my family of five driving four cars across the country would look like. Several days and probably upwards of $5000 in fuel, if we can find it, and if cash is worth anything. I have a motorcycle that I would sell to fund part of that, and I’ve already decided which of the four cars would be first to sell on the road.
I am fully expecting things to escalate to the point where any time we have to leave the house to get groceries, fuel, medicine, two people will be required. One to do the shopping, the other to be an armed guard.
This chapter in American history is about as fucked up as it’s been in living memory, and we have a very long way to go yet.
Well over 30.
I’m 95% certain our quality of life is going to degrade for the remainder of our lives in this country.
I’m not even going out of my way to be pessimistic. I’ve been alive for a while now and all the signs point to this being our future.
And it was all easily avoidable with even just a little common sense and critical thinking skills from average Americans.
Needless to say, I’m not really a fan of humans anymore. We’re pretty stupid animals.
You nailed it with your username.
(I also hate that I agree with everything you said. It’s so hard to be hopeful these days.)
I often wonder where we would be at if the hanging chads went the other way.
I wonder that, myself, but I am not at all sure how Al Gore would have handled the aftermath of 9/11. (I don’t mean the crisis itself, but rather the blame game that was sure to come afterwards).
While Dubya was a big fat liar, we might have gotten some even worse Republican in 2004, and then Barack Obama would probably never have become President. (But it is possible he would stay in the Senate and be the current Democratic leader).
No, the timeline shift I wonder about is what would have happened if Democrats let Bernie win in 2016, instead of being in the tank for Hillary. If Trump was never President, he would probably be in jail by now.
Yeah I don’t know who these over 30 happy people are. The pres just said he plans to rendition citizens to a foreign prison anytime he reasons they did something to warrant it. My brother with kids is super worried. I don’t have kids but still not likin it.
We’re moving with as many of our adult children as we can convince and logistically manage out of this place. The US is losing two STEM PhD holders, multiple bachelors in engineering, and other bachelors degree holders. Yes, we’re stupidly lucky to have the resources to make the move, but it’s going to basically destroy my retirement resources. It’s worth it if my children have a chance of a better life. We’re racing the clock to get out before the borders are closed.
Fuck the Nazis in charge of this place and the people who voted them into power.
You’re a good parent.
Meanwhile, my (immigrant) partner and I opened up about our fears to my family last Christmas, and my mom told me not to worry because my partner is “one of the good ones.” Ugh.
So yeah, thank you for being rational.
They were lucky enough to have bought houses during the great recession.
Mystery solved.
Yeah that about sums up how I view the rest of my life playing out.
Slightly related perhaps, at least if you’re an HBS grad.
Portion of job-seeking Harvard Business School students who were unemployed three months after graduation
- in 2022 : 1/10
- In 2024 : 1/4
From Harper’s Index 4/2025
Harvard business bros is how we got into this mess in the first place. Quarterly targets are a scourge on humanity.
Maybe having money hungry dads who were in their 20s in the 80s when Regan was creaming his pleats over deregulating banks and Wall Street who then went on to send their wet socks to business schools was a scam all along.
No shit, we’re being taken over by literal nazis. This place sucks.
To be fair, a non-insignificant amount of the men under thirty think things are so bad because the Nazis aren’t taking over fast enough.
Yeah, ladies under 30, please adopt a never-fuck mindset toward any conservative. Those things tanked the country and deserve 0 pussy.
Edit: Should blanket just be any Trump voter. Knowing who you’re fucking is as important as using STD and pregnancy protection.
Honestly I’m surprised anyone would even want to sleep with a trumper. Like, what’s the appeal? It’s not like they treat women (or anyone, really) well
Usually religious brainwash
As do a significant amount of the women. Like yeah, there’s a slight gender gap in trump voters, but it’s not nearly as big as you’d think or hope.
