“The American dream is dead,” complained one worker, who is struggling to make ends meet while working multiple jobs and earning three times the minimum wage.
Nick Sumners took to TikTok last month to rant about the way he lives his life, calling out everyone who thinks his way of life is normal.
“Can someone please explain to me in crayon-eating terms why I make more than three times the federal minimum wage and still can’t afford to live?” Summers mentioned in the video posted April 2.
“And I don’t want to hear, ‘Pick up from your struggles and work 90 hours a week.’ That’s not the goal, that’s not, that shouldn’t be our standard.”
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, or about $15,080 a year if you work 40 hours a week.
Sumners did not say where she works in the video, but said she makes about $22 an hour, or about $45,760 a year.
The average national salary in 2024 is $59,428 per year, and the average hourly wage is $28.34. According to Forbes magazine.
The TikTokker went on to criticize the role of Republicans and Democrats in creating the current system in which he suffers.
“I’m really tired of people being happy with this unity party. They’re both making fun of us,” Sumners said.
“When my parents were my age, they made less than half of my income and lived alone,” Sumners claimed in a video that has been viewed more than 11.1 million times. “I can’t afford to live anywhere by myself.”
“A one-bedroom apartment costs $1,800, a two-bedroom apartment costs $2,200. Who can afford that? I’m embarrassed to say that life is hard right now, but so many people are struggling. I know what you’re doing.
“And don’t talk about what my grandparents did. They had a $3,000 house.”
The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the U.S. is $1,515 per month, an increase of 0.6% from April of last year. A report from Apartments.com showed.
“Yes, I understand the whole inflation and bulls thing, that they have been working with the Fed,” Sumners said. “Why would we allow that?”
Sumner then criticized the federal government’s habitual policy of sending money to countries at war, such as Ukraine and Israel, while Americans are “struggling.”
“I’m tired after my shift and I have to go home and check the news. Another $60 billion goes to a country that no one can point out on a map.
President Biden last month signed into law a $95 billion aid bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan that was passed by Congress after weeks of negotiations.
The bipartisan bill passed in both chambers, with Republican opposition to the $60.8 billion for Ukraine and some Democratic opposition to the $17 billion for Israel.
Mr Sumners wondered what had become of the country and whether people had run out of things to actually do.
“What are we doing? Where has the conspiracy gone? Folks, we’ve lost it,” he added. “The American Dream is dead, it’s over. Gone and forgotten.”
It turns out that the American Dream costs a whopping $3,455,305. This was revealed in a survey conducted by Investopedia.
A 2023 study found that the average American at every level of education earns only about $2.3 million.
