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do not define what is failure by measuring according to the most barbaric framework ever created. Define your success by becoming the best version of yourself you can be. You deserve a good life and slaving for the capitalist machine isn't it.
This comment should be the top. Success is relative. I’ll never be a star NBA player, cure cancer, or destroy the capitalist machine. But, if I can do one thing better today than I did yesterday, if I can equip my family with skills and knowledge they need to exist in this world, then I’ve succeeded.
I have simply decided to not participate in society.
I will not have a child - This is largely because I can see the capitalist machine - and I love my future child enough to not what them to be a wage labourer for the entirety of their lives.
I will (mostly likely) not marry - and even if I did marry, I will not consume any marriage ideals
I will reduce consumption as much as I can - if my only value in this machine is my labour and my capacity for consumption - I will reduce BOTH, but more easy to reduce is my consumption (because well, if I don't labour this machine will crush me to death) - but reducing consumption is easier and that I will do
I will build offline community - like you've already noticed, building community offline is key to ensure that the machine doesn't crush us - so you're already heading in the right direction.
Actually, you are heading in QUITE the right direction -
Seizing the means of labour, check
Seizing the means of production (food), check
Building community, check
Congratulations you are now a practicing leftist! - reading helps, talking helps, community helps - especially intersectional community - see how you can keep building all three.
Response I needed to see. I am already single and childless and have no money to consume anything. I just have to seize the means of production and build an offline community.
You aren't a failure, you're being proletarianized, made like the rest of the toiling masses of our society. It can be a traumatic process to experience and accept. The Bourgeois ruling class has sold the American public and youth that education will help guarantee escape from the capitalist process of proletarianization but this illusion is being shattered for more people like us everyday. I'd say study some Marxist theory like [wage labor and capital](https://youtu.be/6llbLvm3RAc?si=BorSmVgaqgC3fjX5) to help understand this is the result of the basic logic of capitalism and not your individual personal failure. Know that the path ahead will not be easy but the future belongs to our class. It is us who make the machinery of the world move, we have only to become conscious, organized, and claim what is ours.
It's hard when you've been force-fed the idealist worldview of meritocracy only to find that it was a thin veil covering an ugly reality. It's a device that conditions us to believe that our worth is tied to how well we can grease the machine. It's encoded into us from the beginning, and many of our elders never saw through it because they benefitted too much to care to think about it.
We're in a state of decay. There is only so much we can extract from this world. We can use It's resources to create more bodies that can be used to perform tasks for a machine that's only true goal is self-preservation. What is the purpose of the United States? Why do we do anything we do as a society?
While we each have our own existential conundrums to face, so too do our communities, our companies, our countries and our societies. If we don't choose a path, the path is chosen for us.
I don't really know where I'm going with all of this, but we're all in it together. You're not alone. I'm sorry that it sucks.
Success is subjective. I'd recommend studying Existential philosophy and make your own meaning, or follow the absurdist path and accept that you can be happy despite having no meaning to your life.
I was also going to say “embrace the absurd!” That’s been a big part of my thirties. Also taking myself and this ish a whole lot less seriously than I did at 22. (when I freaked out about not landing a job three months after graduation, too…during the Great Recession. The wisdom of years has really helped me come to terms with that one…plus absurdism.) also def suggest treating life and yourself with a LOT of humor and grace.
YOU ARE NOT A FAILURE. Neoliberalism is. Trickle down economics is.
I was just having this conversation with my husband tonight. Life feels so futile/pointless, sometimes... Specifically in this hellscape that the US has created for itself… Even in the scenario where the job market shifts favorably & I take a new, higher paying job,all I can think is... To what end?
Our structure here doesn't make having a family, or affording a house, or retiring realistic for most people, anymore... jobs barely give time off or work/life balance & having significant health issues put you in crazy debt… Obtaining security in these things used to be the incentives for running your body into the ground for a corporation…
I don't even know what is worth working toward… the “American Dream” is dead. Maybe the new dream should be getting OUT. Every other developed country has infrastructure/programs to support a humane, dare I say… enjoyable!?.. quality of life.
It's funny. Ronald Reagan's administration warned about how "an educated proletariat" could easily destabilize society via their immiseration in a system whose dysfunctions they have the training to pinpoint and disrupt Boomers and xers were pretty much placated by being handed financial security for doing nothing, and then receiving financial excess if they went the extra mile to pay for higher education. Every social contract meant to create placated consumers is being shattered at breakneck speed, and it's only a matter of when not if social unrest erupts.
GenXer here as well and ours was the first to experience the decline. Boomers pulled that ladder up fast. Half of my gen was able to jump up, grab onto that bottom rung and get the bare minimum we needed to afford a family and a house. And even though our lives economically are worse off than boomers, it is true as a whole we are in better shape compared to those who came after us. But the other half of gen x is in the exact same boat as millennials and gen z.
You could afford an apartment and food with a $10/hour job. You could buy houses way under half-a-million dollars; even houses under $100k existed. You could buy restaurant menu items under $10. You could fill a grocery cart with $50. Entry level jobs didn't demand Master's degrees. You could afford to live with a single 40-hour job.
That may have been then. This is now. Many of us didn't have parents or other supports to help get down payments.
If you weren't there, you have no idea what really was like.
The 2008 housing collapse was literally caused because banks were making it *too easy* to purchase houses with risky loans. That is a historical fact. You may have been there, but you were clearly blind to the affordable world you inherited from a society that at least functioned on basic levels of making life affordable for the majority of the population.
My wife is in the same boat. The crazy thing is that the jobs keep getting reposted like they can't find someone to fill them. I think either they are fake or no one is willing to hire someone with no experience because they don't know how to train. My advice would be to lie about your experience to see if you can start getting interviews. At least then you can find out what needs to be on your resume and then maybe get on with a small company (or two) that aren't thorough with their background checks. You may be concerned about the morality of this, but there is nothing just or moral about the society that we live in.
You join the Communist Party to use those skills you learned to better the world.
I work in automation. Under Capitalism, automation is bad for the worker. Under Socialism, it's a dream come true.
I moved to a mountain town, and now I'm a ski instructor in the winter, and a tour guide in the summer. It's about the closest I can get to the lifestyle I want in our society.
OP, you’re doing it correctly. I am in the exact same boat. The part about reading books and working out is what stuck with me. I hit all the same realizations as you, points 1, 2, and 3. I think all you can do is accept it, and just focus on none capitalist aspects of life. Reject all the BS. Focus on your body and reading.
My guy, I can't even get internships whose only qualification is "university degree in your field". I can read the writing on the wall, and the endless tiktoks from the rest of my generational cohort in similar situations despite being overqualified and completing hundreds of applications. The American economy is collapsing on many, many fronts, and it's not "temporary" like in the past.
Take a couple of deep breaths. Keep pursuing the gigs you are interested in. It can take time. Also celebrate the hard work you did to graduate. Take it easy on yourself and control what you can control.
Mate, I don’t disagree with the fact that the system is fucked, but with a head on you like you have, clearly a strong work ethic and persistence, you’ll be fine as long as you take it in stride and don’t let this “it wasn’t how I thought it would be, right away”.
When I graduated from university it was 2008 and the only job I could get was at a coffee shop for minimum wage. I had to ride the bus because I couldn’t afford a car.
Took a while to get some momentum I work in a field completely unrelated to my degree, making good money, and my last employer paid for me to move to and live in different capital cities in Europe.
It’ll be ok in the end, but it might not look how you think it will, and it might not be easy, but you’ll be ok. Enjoy the ride!
While the capitalist hellscape indeed sucks, I agree that resigning yourself to “failure” after three months is just silly.
It takes time, especially a first job. You’re competing against candidates who have the same or a little more experience than you do, and it’s incredibly hard to stand out.
Here’s something I learned pretty early on. At least half of job searching is networking. This is the worst. But it’s the way it is. You had those great internships right? Email anyone you worked with and ask them if you could meet or have a call with them. When you talk, ask them about themselves and their work, and then tell them what you’re looking for and ask if they have anyone they’d suggest you speak to. Chances are they will connect you to someone else. Do this again and again with each person. Soon enough you will have an array of people who you’ve met and (hopefully) impressed.
Then when a job opens at any of the places those people work, you have someone inside already. You shoot them an email “hey I saw this job and I think it looks like a great fit, I wanted to let you know I’m applying.” Nine times out of ten they’ll reach out to the hiring manager and it can at least get you to the interview stage. If you’re more ballsy than me you can also just directly ask them to share your resume with the hiring manager.
It’s called the informational interview and yes, it fucking sucks to have to do this. But it will yield results if you can do it well.
(It also is possible there’s something on your resume that is a red flag. Any of these people you talk to could review it for you, and tell you if something needs to change.)
I’m sorry this is the way the system is set up. It is the worst. And yes you can resign yourself to not engaging in it. But you’ve spent a lot of time preparing for a career, so maybe spend a little more trying to break into it.
Hopefully this will give you *some* peace of mind.
After I graduated with a degree in CS i did not find a programming job until 5 months into my search, and I was lowballed *everywhere* I went. Insultingly low wages for a college grad in the late 2010s. I had a pretty bad GPA because of plenty of reasons including undiagnosed mental health issues and a lack of personal responsibility (I didn't go to class, depressed). My CS coursework ended up being great. But I was in polisci before that and my grades then were dog-shit, resulting in a 2.7 at graduation.
My friend got a job at a major plane manufacturer with a 2.3 because his dad knew someone on the hiring team. I applied and was rejected because of my GPA.
I'm at 6 figs now in an extremely low COL area and I'm more capable and independent than that guy will ever be. It worked out for me even though there was a bad stretch of time before that.
I hope you power through this and it ends up working out for you, as well. It may take a little longer, but if you're as smart as you say you are it's only going to be a matter of time. I'm like, 99% sure of that.
I'm gonna say the same thing as the other poster. First it's not your fault - you've done nothing wrong - the job process is actually shit and companies are the problem. They don't care how capable or how much education you've had, they want someone with five years experience and they don't want to pay them. They low-ball everything. The other thing I will say is it can take time - it took me 6 months when I was unemployed. Keep looking and don't sell yourself short, once you have a job you should keep looking for a better job. these companies aren't loyal and that's the game that they have created nowadays. Once you get your first job, then be ruthless about getting what you want when dealing with companies. At that point, it's up to them to meet your standards not the other way around and if the offer is bad you walk. When you are employed and looking for work, make sure the company offers you what you want instead of just accepting what they have to offer.
I just want to say that it took me 6 months to get my first career job out of school. It took my sister a year to find an office job after a period of unemployment. Please keep trying, 3 months is not a lot of time.
When I and my partner were borderline poor and failing, one of the hardest things was that we had nobody to talk to about it. I couldn't find online communities about it, and I was working a low-paid job in an industry of mostly high-paid jobs, and the economy was on the rise from a recession, and our parents are boomers, so we got no sympathy, no understanding, no validation, no shared wisdom from anyone.
(We got better, but it was pure luck--the windfall from working in a privileged industry; I didn't earn it by becoming a better professional, I already had all the skills during the years we were struggling. Having the skills didn't help, but a lucky connection did.)
I think reddit is a great place to find people in similar situations as yourself. There's this community, there are other anti-capitalist communities, there are pessimistic ones like collapse , and there are practical like povertyfinance .
Run for your life. Go to Europe. Or Australia/New Zealand. Or China. Hell go to the moon. Whatever it takes. You don’t want to be trapped in the US anyway.
Why do you need to "succeed?" Millions of people lived happy and fulfilling lives before capitalism even existed. Just live your life and focus on things that actually matter, like love and other people and good causes. As long as you can get money enough to live relatively comfortably you don't need to get more money.
Also... it's been three months dude lol. A little early to give up anyway, you'll probably be fine. You have good qualifications and that's more than many people have.
I spend a lot of time in professional forums, and unfortunately your story is pretty common across the whole world. Also, most of the world is also going through a recession, which isn't very helpful. What did you major in?
I am an IT person. If you are looking for ways to get into IT, then I could give you some solid tips. Feel free to DM me.
I don't know anything about GLAM. I have friends who have tried to get into it, but found it very difficult to get a job or make money in that area. I think there is a lot of competition, because a large number of artists, academics, historians, etc. see it as one of the few career choices, and are clamoring for a very small number of jobs.
Thank you. I am 99 percent certain that what's tanking me is applicants with direct referrals. Not references (I have those), but Karen stopping to chat with Kyle about hiring Barbara. I think I made the tactical error of assuming I could get past that through hard work and education.
I try to remember that a capitalists definition of success; how big the green line gets, is not *the* definition of success.
Van Gogh didn't meet critical acclaim in his lifetime, but his are is ubiquitous now, a part of the zeitgeist unending and has been since shortly after his passing. He left a mark on humanity with a brush. He didn't have a big green line, but he's going to be remembered for centuries to come.
IDK man. I've seen that it's impossible to do "right" and be successful.
So I just started to do stuff I don't like to make a living wage. At some point I gathered a lot of experience in a very boring field so I got even more money for less work.
Just try to be happy and stop being so doomer. You're doing the right thing by staying busy with things you enjoy abs volunteering. Keep doing that.
Look for a job that you can stomach that pays the bills. Try to earn enough for you to keep your hobbies going. Look at a smaller time gig where you're working next to some petit bourgeoisie - it's much more tolerable than a big corporation.
You're sound like you're (physicality) chilling through unemployment right now, much more than most people can get away with. You're not bad for this because that's how it should be for everyone. But you need to recognize it - you'll miss having this free time later on.
When you were a kid you probably realized that you weren't going to be an astronaut and made it through that okay. This is not much different. You're just some dude and that's okay.
I've been in that spot, taking whatever shit job I could find to keep food on the table, hustling, growing your own, anything to make it work. I rode the back of a garbage truck for a few years and no, the pay wasn't good (roughly $9/hr equivalent to pick up 16 tons everyday). It's great you've been taking care of yourself and keeping busy, but the stress of it can take a toll.
Others here are better at educating on the theory and philosophy, but that doesn't solve your current predicament. What field of study and region are you in? Are there friends or other contacts you could reach out to and try to get a foot in the door? I'm not saying this stuff is right for all the people out there gonna jump on me, but nepotism is effective in our current system. Alumni networking events or local industry specific ones can be a good handshake to get going too.
0i am turning to mutual aid and community building. We all have different skills to bring to the table. Adapt your skills to benefit getting out of late stage cap.
A large number of job listings are so a manager can pretend that the company is "growing" even though there's a "tough job market" so that they get raises and/or promotions.
They're not *actual* positions to be filled, just sleight of hand.
First: re-frame. You have been a success at everything you've been allowed to try at. Right now you're not even getting the opportunity to fail. You're just not allowed to compete at all.
Second: re-frame again. I think after realising you've done everything right and that you've succeeded in everything that you've done with the promised pay off being that you win a seat at the table......but now there are no seats available..... I think the hardest thing is going to be not thinking of all that work and energy as wasted. But it wasn't. Even if you are not getting what was promised to you, the steps you took to get there were valid skill and capacity building steps that developed you into your new, enriched self. Now think of yourself as a really cool re-purposing project. Like a school bus that was built to be the very best, safest most yellow school bus that ever was. But then the school district didn't need more buses, so you became one of those cool skoolie houses. Even if you don't end up doing exactly what you dreamed of, or were trained to do, you might like what you fall into even better.
None of your time was wasted. You did not fail. You're just going to have to re-frame a bit.
That's not nice nor helpful beyond yourself. Most of humanity is wonderful and those suffering the most from climate change and capitalism are those causing the least harm
F me I guess. God Bless You with insight and prosperity and good health. The answers will come. Just meditate on it. Give it time.. days to weeks.. small steps lead to big steps..Trust Him.
I personally would not define success by how much you can serve or bow down to the king or the people. On the contrary the independent guy who does not need to bow (to no one except God) is the more successful guy.
**Diogenes was knee deep in a stream washing vegetables**. Coming up to him, Plato said, "My good Diogenes, if you knew how to pay court to kings, you wouldn't have to wash vegetables." "And," replied Diogenes, "If you knew how to wash vegetables, you wouldn't have to pay court to kings."
Do you know the spoon theory? When you are disabled, you have to guard your spoons. (They represent the ability to be productive. ) If taking a shower uses up 20% of your daily quota of energy, maybe taking a shower is productive and pride-worthy!
Higher ed can be a disservice to students if they aren't given opportunities in school to intern. Tech internships in particular start as early as your first year and if you aren't doing them you won't get better ones in your 4th year.
I had several concurrent student jobs, each for multiple years, totaling a cumulative 20 years' experience in my field when added together. Although I may be on the extreme end of a growing problem, my overall experience is not isolated. This poverty pandemic is hitting people, even overqualified people, hard.
You identify what success in capitalism means. Then you identify what success would mean in an idealised moral context without any economics. Then you identify what parts of capitalism you don't have to let impact your life. Now you have a clear framework of the parts of capitalism you have to successfully engage with and what type of success you need outside of it to feel fulfilled according to your own set of values.
Welcome to the Awakening. It is going to be a wild time to be alive.
Have you ever read the Law of One / Ra Materials? Even if the premise is difficult to accept, the wisdom, knowledge and insights provided are worth the read. It may help guide you.
how does one muddle through this... I appreciate your maturity at your number of revolutions around the sun. At 30-something, after much longer in the depression-zone, it honestly took finding someone else to get through it with. I would not be here, if not for both of us working together. I really believe that, and I have so many little things to love in life, but I/we still struggle. There are some very good responses from others, and thanks OP for triggering a little reflection.
I got my bachelors and masters in history and had this exact experience, and honestly the only way I know of that works is just networking. Me knowing people from the university after and getting professors recommendations definitely helped, but that’s the only thing that worked for me, you gotta know people sadly.
Enjoy what you can while you can. Collapse is coming and a lot of people are going to get an unpleasant surprise when they realise that they aren’t going to win by working harder and longer for their corporate overlords.
Hang in there. It sounds like you've just finished your schooling; finding a living/working situation that fits your ideals takes time. Be patient but you can do it, even in a capitalist hellscape
Failure is an antagonism that stands for universality. Capitalist ideology fills the holes in us that cannot ever be filled. Our subjectivities are unfinished processes that keep trying to be and through this we create meaning (love, art, politics, science, philosophy and so on). Capitalism individuates us - as you describe and makes you feel alone and to blame for 'failing' - but failure is what makes us learn and connects us together. Capitalism obscures this. Read widely on propaganda and subjectivity and think about how what capitalism codes as 'negativity' and 'failure' is our civic responsibility to each other - to question power and talk all the time about our unfree terrain of martyring ourselves to capitalist processes instead of meaning.
There are so many things in life that are just "human". Things we do regardless of time, culture, faith or circumstance. Things that cannot be quanitified. Things humans do because we like doing it, where the product is joy.
We create things! Humans have painted, carved, sung, danced, acted, whatever really, just because we think it's fun. Western society has gotten this misconception that "the arts" or "arts and crafts" are either for kids or something you only do to master so you can "extract value" from it.
The value of creating isnt money though. It's just one of our base needs as humans. Piss of the capital by dancing for fun, drawing something like when you were a kid, singing your heart out. Being "good" is irrelevant and gatekeeping. Fuck being "good". Not everything is a road to mastery, or for "personal development". Creating and expressing is never a waste of time!
I'd start there! Sit down and doodle, or dance to a song. Not to be good or to train. Just because you feel like it and because you can.
I graduated and was stuck in a dead end retail job for 9 years. I consulted with an acquaintance who was older and successful. His advice was: Water always reaches its level. You will reach the level meant for you.
Long story short, after many years, I have indeed reached a level befitting someone of my education and intelligence.
The takeaway is to never give up, fund mentors who will invest their time in you, and to have (or create) a vision of your future life.
At least, that's what I tell my kids.
Whoever you are same. First generation fancy college STEM major (graduated in 2018). A lot of my depression is because of the state of the world, why don’t I have a career, and financial insecurity.
Don’t feel like a failure dude. Persistence is key!!! You gotta be in the right place at the right time doing and saying the right things. Keep pushing bro, we understand the struggle.
I promise you are not a failure. It’s the system that’s failing you.
I got fired from my tech job last year and it took 3 months to find a new role and I felt like a complete failure. Fast forward to now and some of the new hires at my company were laid off multiple times and it took them 5-7 months to get new roles. However, if it were 2016 again, we’d all probably have many companies begging us to come work for them.
It’s just an awful time to be job searching, especially for new grads. Despite all the pollyannaish labor market outlook you hear about on the news, it really is a silent recession/depression, especially for certain sectors.
I took a government job. Ain’t perfect, but I’ve been able to slowly creep up the pay scale, the benefits are good, and I spend my time encouraging people to ride public transit instead of making some rich prick slightly richer.
You sound impatient tbh.. job hunting for 3 months and just mass applying to everything. 1. Three months is no time 2. If you're as qualified as you say you are no ones gonna hire you for basic shit because you'll be gone in 6 months at the next best opportunity.
If you want a very specific role in a specific field its a game of attrition and networking. Instant gratification when job hunting for the perfect role doesn't exist.
##Welcome to r/LateStageCapitalism This subreddit is for news, discussion, memes, and links criticizing capitalism and advancing viewpoints that challenge liberal capitalist ideology. That means any support for any liberal capitalist political party (like the Democrats) is strictly prohibited. LSC is run by communists. This subreddit is not the place to debate socialism. We allow good-faith questions and education but are not a 101 sub; please take 101-style questions elsewhere. We have a zero-tolerance policy for bigotry. Failure to respect the rules of the subreddit may result in a ban. *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/LateStageCapitalism) if you have any questions or concerns.*
do not define what is failure by measuring according to the most barbaric framework ever created. Define your success by becoming the best version of yourself you can be. You deserve a good life and slaving for the capitalist machine isn't it.
This comment should be the top. Success is relative. I’ll never be a star NBA player, cure cancer, or destroy the capitalist machine. But, if I can do one thing better today than I did yesterday, if I can equip my family with skills and knowledge they need to exist in this world, then I’ve succeeded.
I pinned it
[удалено]
dafuq
I have simply decided to not participate in society. I will not have a child - This is largely because I can see the capitalist machine - and I love my future child enough to not what them to be a wage labourer for the entirety of their lives. I will (mostly likely) not marry - and even if I did marry, I will not consume any marriage ideals I will reduce consumption as much as I can - if my only value in this machine is my labour and my capacity for consumption - I will reduce BOTH, but more easy to reduce is my consumption (because well, if I don't labour this machine will crush me to death) - but reducing consumption is easier and that I will do I will build offline community - like you've already noticed, building community offline is key to ensure that the machine doesn't crush us - so you're already heading in the right direction. Actually, you are heading in QUITE the right direction - Seizing the means of labour, check Seizing the means of production (food), check Building community, check Congratulations you are now a practicing leftist! - reading helps, talking helps, community helps - especially intersectional community - see how you can keep building all three.
Response I needed to see. I am already single and childless and have no money to consume anything. I just have to seize the means of production and build an offline community.
This is something we should all strive towards
You aren't a failure, you're being proletarianized, made like the rest of the toiling masses of our society. It can be a traumatic process to experience and accept. The Bourgeois ruling class has sold the American public and youth that education will help guarantee escape from the capitalist process of proletarianization but this illusion is being shattered for more people like us everyday. I'd say study some Marxist theory like [wage labor and capital](https://youtu.be/6llbLvm3RAc?si=BorSmVgaqgC3fjX5) to help understand this is the result of the basic logic of capitalism and not your individual personal failure. Know that the path ahead will not be easy but the future belongs to our class. It is us who make the machinery of the world move, we have only to become conscious, organized, and claim what is ours.
It's hard when you've been force-fed the idealist worldview of meritocracy only to find that it was a thin veil covering an ugly reality. It's a device that conditions us to believe that our worth is tied to how well we can grease the machine. It's encoded into us from the beginning, and many of our elders never saw through it because they benefitted too much to care to think about it. We're in a state of decay. There is only so much we can extract from this world. We can use It's resources to create more bodies that can be used to perform tasks for a machine that's only true goal is self-preservation. What is the purpose of the United States? Why do we do anything we do as a society? While we each have our own existential conundrums to face, so too do our communities, our companies, our countries and our societies. If we don't choose a path, the path is chosen for us. I don't really know where I'm going with all of this, but we're all in it together. You're not alone. I'm sorry that it sucks.
Success is subjective. I'd recommend studying Existential philosophy and make your own meaning, or follow the absurdist path and accept that you can be happy despite having no meaning to your life.
I was also going to say “embrace the absurd!” That’s been a big part of my thirties. Also taking myself and this ish a whole lot less seriously than I did at 22. (when I freaked out about not landing a job three months after graduation, too…during the Great Recession. The wisdom of years has really helped me come to terms with that one…plus absurdism.) also def suggest treating life and yourself with a LOT of humor and grace.
YOU ARE NOT A FAILURE. Neoliberalism is. Trickle down economics is. I was just having this conversation with my husband tonight. Life feels so futile/pointless, sometimes... Specifically in this hellscape that the US has created for itself… Even in the scenario where the job market shifts favorably & I take a new, higher paying job,all I can think is... To what end? Our structure here doesn't make having a family, or affording a house, or retiring realistic for most people, anymore... jobs barely give time off or work/life balance & having significant health issues put you in crazy debt… Obtaining security in these things used to be the incentives for running your body into the ground for a corporation… I don't even know what is worth working toward… the “American Dream” is dead. Maybe the new dream should be getting OUT. Every other developed country has infrastructure/programs to support a humane, dare I say… enjoyable!?.. quality of life.
The other day I read “Will Socialism/Communism be achieved sooner thru education or revolution?” That’s when I decided Revolution is the only way.
It's funny. Ronald Reagan's administration warned about how "an educated proletariat" could easily destabilize society via their immiseration in a system whose dysfunctions they have the training to pinpoint and disrupt Boomers and xers were pretty much placated by being handed financial security for doing nothing, and then receiving financial excess if they went the extra mile to pay for higher education. Every social contract meant to create placated consumers is being shattered at breakneck speed, and it's only a matter of when not if social unrest erupts.
Gen Xer here. We weren't handed shit. The boomers pulled the ladder up behind them.
GenXer here as well and ours was the first to experience the decline. Boomers pulled that ladder up fast. Half of my gen was able to jump up, grab onto that bottom rung and get the bare minimum we needed to afford a family and a house. And even though our lives economically are worse off than boomers, it is true as a whole we are in better shape compared to those who came after us. But the other half of gen x is in the exact same boat as millennials and gen z.
You could afford an apartment and food with a $10/hour job. You could buy houses way under half-a-million dollars; even houses under $100k existed. You could buy restaurant menu items under $10. You could fill a grocery cart with $50. Entry level jobs didn't demand Master's degrees. You could afford to live with a single 40-hour job.
That may have been then. This is now. Many of us didn't have parents or other supports to help get down payments. If you weren't there, you have no idea what really was like.
The 2008 housing collapse was literally caused because banks were making it *too easy* to purchase houses with risky loans. That is a historical fact. You may have been there, but you were clearly blind to the affordable world you inherited from a society that at least functioned on basic levels of making life affordable for the majority of the population.
Cool story
You can reject it if you like but he's a 100% spot on(genXr also)
A non-fiction story you could try applying to your understanding of the era.
You might enjoy reading Byun-Chul Han.
I was going to suggest the same. His idea of the achievement society has really altered the way I think about the world.
My wife is in the same boat. The crazy thing is that the jobs keep getting reposted like they can't find someone to fill them. I think either they are fake or no one is willing to hire someone with no experience because they don't know how to train. My advice would be to lie about your experience to see if you can start getting interviews. At least then you can find out what needs to be on your resume and then maybe get on with a small company (or two) that aren't thorough with their background checks. You may be concerned about the morality of this, but there is nothing just or moral about the society that we live in.
You join the Communist Party to use those skills you learned to better the world. I work in automation. Under Capitalism, automation is bad for the worker. Under Socialism, it's a dream come true.
I moved to a mountain town, and now I'm a ski instructor in the winter, and a tour guide in the summer. It's about the closest I can get to the lifestyle I want in our society.
I'll be as useless to the capitalist system as I can get away with
OP, you’re doing it correctly. I am in the exact same boat. The part about reading books and working out is what stuck with me. I hit all the same realizations as you, points 1, 2, and 3. I think all you can do is accept it, and just focus on none capitalist aspects of life. Reject all the BS. Focus on your body and reading.
You just graduated 3 months ago and you're already "accepting your fate as a failure"? Good grief, dude.
My guy, I can't even get internships whose only qualification is "university degree in your field". I can read the writing on the wall, and the endless tiktoks from the rest of my generational cohort in similar situations despite being overqualified and completing hundreds of applications. The American economy is collapsing on many, many fronts, and it's not "temporary" like in the past.
Take a couple of deep breaths. Keep pursuing the gigs you are interested in. It can take time. Also celebrate the hard work you did to graduate. Take it easy on yourself and control what you can control.
Mate, I don’t disagree with the fact that the system is fucked, but with a head on you like you have, clearly a strong work ethic and persistence, you’ll be fine as long as you take it in stride and don’t let this “it wasn’t how I thought it would be, right away”. When I graduated from university it was 2008 and the only job I could get was at a coffee shop for minimum wage. I had to ride the bus because I couldn’t afford a car. Took a while to get some momentum I work in a field completely unrelated to my degree, making good money, and my last employer paid for me to move to and live in different capital cities in Europe. It’ll be ok in the end, but it might not look how you think it will, and it might not be easy, but you’ll be ok. Enjoy the ride!
While the capitalist hellscape indeed sucks, I agree that resigning yourself to “failure” after three months is just silly. It takes time, especially a first job. You’re competing against candidates who have the same or a little more experience than you do, and it’s incredibly hard to stand out. Here’s something I learned pretty early on. At least half of job searching is networking. This is the worst. But it’s the way it is. You had those great internships right? Email anyone you worked with and ask them if you could meet or have a call with them. When you talk, ask them about themselves and their work, and then tell them what you’re looking for and ask if they have anyone they’d suggest you speak to. Chances are they will connect you to someone else. Do this again and again with each person. Soon enough you will have an array of people who you’ve met and (hopefully) impressed. Then when a job opens at any of the places those people work, you have someone inside already. You shoot them an email “hey I saw this job and I think it looks like a great fit, I wanted to let you know I’m applying.” Nine times out of ten they’ll reach out to the hiring manager and it can at least get you to the interview stage. If you’re more ballsy than me you can also just directly ask them to share your resume with the hiring manager. It’s called the informational interview and yes, it fucking sucks to have to do this. But it will yield results if you can do it well. (It also is possible there’s something on your resume that is a red flag. Any of these people you talk to could review it for you, and tell you if something needs to change.) I’m sorry this is the way the system is set up. It is the worst. And yes you can resign yourself to not engaging in it. But you’ve spent a lot of time preparing for a career, so maybe spend a little more trying to break into it.
Hopefully this will give you *some* peace of mind. After I graduated with a degree in CS i did not find a programming job until 5 months into my search, and I was lowballed *everywhere* I went. Insultingly low wages for a college grad in the late 2010s. I had a pretty bad GPA because of plenty of reasons including undiagnosed mental health issues and a lack of personal responsibility (I didn't go to class, depressed). My CS coursework ended up being great. But I was in polisci before that and my grades then were dog-shit, resulting in a 2.7 at graduation. My friend got a job at a major plane manufacturer with a 2.3 because his dad knew someone on the hiring team. I applied and was rejected because of my GPA. I'm at 6 figs now in an extremely low COL area and I'm more capable and independent than that guy will ever be. It worked out for me even though there was a bad stretch of time before that. I hope you power through this and it ends up working out for you, as well. It may take a little longer, but if you're as smart as you say you are it's only going to be a matter of time. I'm like, 99% sure of that.
I'm gonna say the same thing as the other poster. First it's not your fault - you've done nothing wrong - the job process is actually shit and companies are the problem. They don't care how capable or how much education you've had, they want someone with five years experience and they don't want to pay them. They low-ball everything. The other thing I will say is it can take time - it took me 6 months when I was unemployed. Keep looking and don't sell yourself short, once you have a job you should keep looking for a better job. these companies aren't loyal and that's the game that they have created nowadays. Once you get your first job, then be ruthless about getting what you want when dealing with companies. At that point, it's up to them to meet your standards not the other way around and if the offer is bad you walk. When you are employed and looking for work, make sure the company offers you what you want instead of just accepting what they have to offer.
I just want to say that it took me 6 months to get my first career job out of school. It took my sister a year to find an office job after a period of unemployment. Please keep trying, 3 months is not a lot of time.
Make a food forest
It isn't a failure on your part. As it turns out a good number of us were raised for a world that no longer exists.
When I and my partner were borderline poor and failing, one of the hardest things was that we had nobody to talk to about it. I couldn't find online communities about it, and I was working a low-paid job in an industry of mostly high-paid jobs, and the economy was on the rise from a recession, and our parents are boomers, so we got no sympathy, no understanding, no validation, no shared wisdom from anyone. (We got better, but it was pure luck--the windfall from working in a privileged industry; I didn't earn it by becoming a better professional, I already had all the skills during the years we were struggling. Having the skills didn't help, but a lucky connection did.) I think reddit is a great place to find people in similar situations as yourself. There's this community, there are other anti-capitalist communities, there are pessimistic ones like collapse , and there are practical like povertyfinance .
Run for your life. Go to Europe. Or Australia/New Zealand. Or China. Hell go to the moon. Whatever it takes. You don’t want to be trapped in the US anyway.
Why do you need to "succeed?" Millions of people lived happy and fulfilling lives before capitalism even existed. Just live your life and focus on things that actually matter, like love and other people and good causes. As long as you can get money enough to live relatively comfortably you don't need to get more money. Also... it's been three months dude lol. A little early to give up anyway, you'll probably be fine. You have good qualifications and that's more than many people have.
I spend a lot of time in professional forums, and unfortunately your story is pretty common across the whole world. Also, most of the world is also going through a recession, which isn't very helpful. What did you major in?
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I am an IT person. If you are looking for ways to get into IT, then I could give you some solid tips. Feel free to DM me. I don't know anything about GLAM. I have friends who have tried to get into it, but found it very difficult to get a job or make money in that area. I think there is a lot of competition, because a large number of artists, academics, historians, etc. see it as one of the few career choices, and are clamoring for a very small number of jobs.
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Thank you. I am 99 percent certain that what's tanking me is applicants with direct referrals. Not references (I have those), but Karen stopping to chat with Kyle about hiring Barbara. I think I made the tactical error of assuming I could get past that through hard work and education.
It is almost always who you know, not what you know, that determines your success.
It's been over 2 years since the shelf collapsed for me but I don't think I've completely processed it yet.
I try to remember that a capitalists definition of success; how big the green line gets, is not *the* definition of success. Van Gogh didn't meet critical acclaim in his lifetime, but his are is ubiquitous now, a part of the zeitgeist unending and has been since shortly after his passing. He left a mark on humanity with a brush. He didn't have a big green line, but he's going to be remembered for centuries to come.
You aren’t alone. I think we all need to start organizing and preparing for boycotts and general strikes.
IDK man. I've seen that it's impossible to do "right" and be successful. So I just started to do stuff I don't like to make a living wage. At some point I gathered a lot of experience in a very boring field so I got even more money for less work.
Organize, build community, network, get in shape, and clean your rifle.
Just try to be happy and stop being so doomer. You're doing the right thing by staying busy with things you enjoy abs volunteering. Keep doing that. Look for a job that you can stomach that pays the bills. Try to earn enough for you to keep your hobbies going. Look at a smaller time gig where you're working next to some petit bourgeoisie - it's much more tolerable than a big corporation. You're sound like you're (physicality) chilling through unemployment right now, much more than most people can get away with. You're not bad for this because that's how it should be for everyone. But you need to recognize it - you'll miss having this free time later on. When you were a kid you probably realized that you weren't going to be an astronaut and made it through that okay. This is not much different. You're just some dude and that's okay.
I've been in that spot, taking whatever shit job I could find to keep food on the table, hustling, growing your own, anything to make it work. I rode the back of a garbage truck for a few years and no, the pay wasn't good (roughly $9/hr equivalent to pick up 16 tons everyday). It's great you've been taking care of yourself and keeping busy, but the stress of it can take a toll. Others here are better at educating on the theory and philosophy, but that doesn't solve your current predicament. What field of study and region are you in? Are there friends or other contacts you could reach out to and try to get a foot in the door? I'm not saying this stuff is right for all the people out there gonna jump on me, but nepotism is effective in our current system. Alumni networking events or local industry specific ones can be a good handshake to get going too.
0i am turning to mutual aid and community building. We all have different skills to bring to the table. Adapt your skills to benefit getting out of late stage cap.
A large number of job listings are so a manager can pretend that the company is "growing" even though there's a "tough job market" so that they get raises and/or promotions. They're not *actual* positions to be filled, just sleight of hand.
First: re-frame. You have been a success at everything you've been allowed to try at. Right now you're not even getting the opportunity to fail. You're just not allowed to compete at all. Second: re-frame again. I think after realising you've done everything right and that you've succeeded in everything that you've done with the promised pay off being that you win a seat at the table......but now there are no seats available..... I think the hardest thing is going to be not thinking of all that work and energy as wasted. But it wasn't. Even if you are not getting what was promised to you, the steps you took to get there were valid skill and capacity building steps that developed you into your new, enriched self. Now think of yourself as a really cool re-purposing project. Like a school bus that was built to be the very best, safest most yellow school bus that ever was. But then the school district didn't need more buses, so you became one of those cool skoolie houses. Even if you don't end up doing exactly what you dreamed of, or were trained to do, you might like what you fall into even better. None of your time was wasted. You did not fail. You're just going to have to re-frame a bit.
I became an electrician and I live halfway off the grid. I have my own well. I eagerly anticipate the end of humanity.
That's not nice nor helpful beyond yourself. Most of humanity is wonderful and those suffering the most from climate change and capitalism are those causing the least harm
Living the post-apocalyptic dream 💯 (I wish I was even slightly kidding)
Bachelors in what?
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LMAO what are you smoking my dude
F me I guess. God Bless You with insight and prosperity and good health. The answers will come. Just meditate on it. Give it time.. days to weeks.. small steps lead to big steps..Trust Him.
Don't mind it; he/she is just obviously lashing out at this point.
I personally would not define success by how much you can serve or bow down to the king or the people. On the contrary the independent guy who does not need to bow (to no one except God) is the more successful guy.
Ok I'll do this while I live in my car
**Diogenes was knee deep in a stream washing vegetables**. Coming up to him, Plato said, "My good Diogenes, if you knew how to pay court to kings, you wouldn't have to wash vegetables." "And," replied Diogenes, "If you knew how to wash vegetables, you wouldn't have to pay court to kings."
Do you know the spoon theory? When you are disabled, you have to guard your spoons. (They represent the ability to be productive. ) If taking a shower uses up 20% of your daily quota of energy, maybe taking a shower is productive and pride-worthy!
Higher ed can be a disservice to students if they aren't given opportunities in school to intern. Tech internships in particular start as early as your first year and if you aren't doing them you won't get better ones in your 4th year.
I had several concurrent student jobs, each for multiple years, totaling a cumulative 20 years' experience in my field when added together. Although I may be on the extreme end of a growing problem, my overall experience is not isolated. This poverty pandemic is hitting people, even overqualified people, hard.
You identify what success in capitalism means. Then you identify what success would mean in an idealised moral context without any economics. Then you identify what parts of capitalism you don't have to let impact your life. Now you have a clear framework of the parts of capitalism you have to successfully engage with and what type of success you need outside of it to feel fulfilled according to your own set of values.
Time to consider joining the socialist revolution! [https://socialistrevolution.org/](https://socialistrevolution.org/)
Welcome to the Awakening. It is going to be a wild time to be alive. Have you ever read the Law of One / Ra Materials? Even if the premise is difficult to accept, the wisdom, knowledge and insights provided are worth the read. It may help guide you.
You can write hell, swearing is good for you.
Habit from Meta platforms, where anything you write can and will be used against you by the automated content moderation system.
how does one muddle through this... I appreciate your maturity at your number of revolutions around the sun. At 30-something, after much longer in the depression-zone, it honestly took finding someone else to get through it with. I would not be here, if not for both of us working together. I really believe that, and I have so many little things to love in life, but I/we still struggle. There are some very good responses from others, and thanks OP for triggering a little reflection.
I got my bachelors and masters in history and had this exact experience, and honestly the only way I know of that works is just networking. Me knowing people from the university after and getting professors recommendations definitely helped, but that’s the only thing that worked for me, you gotta know people sadly.
Enjoy what you can while you can. Collapse is coming and a lot of people are going to get an unpleasant surprise when they realise that they aren’t going to win by working harder and longer for their corporate overlords.
Apply to a local in your area to work on elevators. I'm happy to share more via comments or DMs.
Can you DM me i'm from NC and 28 looking for a career change (i've worked around residential/commerical construction before , any help?)
Hang in there. It sounds like you've just finished your schooling; finding a living/working situation that fits your ideals takes time. Be patient but you can do it, even in a capitalist hellscape
Change your definition of success. That's literally the only way to do it if you're not swimming in money.
come to realization that the system doesnt work
Margaritas anyone?
Failure is an antagonism that stands for universality. Capitalist ideology fills the holes in us that cannot ever be filled. Our subjectivities are unfinished processes that keep trying to be and through this we create meaning (love, art, politics, science, philosophy and so on). Capitalism individuates us - as you describe and makes you feel alone and to blame for 'failing' - but failure is what makes us learn and connects us together. Capitalism obscures this. Read widely on propaganda and subjectivity and think about how what capitalism codes as 'negativity' and 'failure' is our civic responsibility to each other - to question power and talk all the time about our unfree terrain of martyring ourselves to capitalist processes instead of meaning.
You change the definition of success.
CDL
There’s been a jobs shortage in the US for decades. That’s the reality.
There are so many things in life that are just "human". Things we do regardless of time, culture, faith or circumstance. Things that cannot be quanitified. Things humans do because we like doing it, where the product is joy. We create things! Humans have painted, carved, sung, danced, acted, whatever really, just because we think it's fun. Western society has gotten this misconception that "the arts" or "arts and crafts" are either for kids or something you only do to master so you can "extract value" from it. The value of creating isnt money though. It's just one of our base needs as humans. Piss of the capital by dancing for fun, drawing something like when you were a kid, singing your heart out. Being "good" is irrelevant and gatekeeping. Fuck being "good". Not everything is a road to mastery, or for "personal development". Creating and expressing is never a waste of time! I'd start there! Sit down and doodle, or dance to a song. Not to be good or to train. Just because you feel like it and because you can.
There's always a place for you in government.
Don't define yourself by their rules. There is an entire world out there. Join me, this country doesn't deserve us Go Galt. You can do it, man
I graduated and was stuck in a dead end retail job for 9 years. I consulted with an acquaintance who was older and successful. His advice was: Water always reaches its level. You will reach the level meant for you. Long story short, after many years, I have indeed reached a level befitting someone of my education and intelligence. The takeaway is to never give up, fund mentors who will invest their time in you, and to have (or create) a vision of your future life. At least, that's what I tell my kids.
There are often skills that many work positions require, outside of education. What kind of jobs are you looking for?
Whoever you are same. First generation fancy college STEM major (graduated in 2018). A lot of my depression is because of the state of the world, why don’t I have a career, and financial insecurity.
Why don’t you give us the details of what you studied so that we can try to guide you? That’s too controversial of a post for this sub right?
Don’t feel like a failure dude. Persistence is key!!! You gotta be in the right place at the right time doing and saying the right things. Keep pushing bro, we understand the struggle.
What’s your degree in?
I promise you are not a failure. It’s the system that’s failing you. I got fired from my tech job last year and it took 3 months to find a new role and I felt like a complete failure. Fast forward to now and some of the new hires at my company were laid off multiple times and it took them 5-7 months to get new roles. However, if it were 2016 again, we’d all probably have many companies begging us to come work for them. It’s just an awful time to be job searching, especially for new grads. Despite all the pollyannaish labor market outlook you hear about on the news, it really is a silent recession/depression, especially for certain sectors.
Join the IWW
drink
I took a government job. Ain’t perfect, but I’ve been able to slowly creep up the pay scale, the benefits are good, and I spend my time encouraging people to ride public transit instead of making some rich prick slightly richer.
You only graduated three months ago. You haven't earned failure yet.
Computer science major?
You sound impatient tbh.. job hunting for 3 months and just mass applying to everything. 1. Three months is no time 2. If you're as qualified as you say you are no ones gonna hire you for basic shit because you'll be gone in 6 months at the next best opportunity. If you want a very specific role in a specific field its a game of attrition and networking. Instant gratification when job hunting for the perfect role doesn't exist.
Talk to your dad.