The only reason I’m not in a shelter or sleeping rough right now is straight up generational wealth on my mom’s side. That’s it. No grindset fairy tale. No bootstrap mythology. Just grandparents and a mother who worked, saved, and didn’t get rinsed by the system before it fully went mask-off. Because of them, my housing is affordable, my poverty is quieter, and my struggle is easier to hide. I’m grateful. Deeply. But I’m not confused about what’s actually keeping me afloat.

We’ve been sold this lie for decades that education plus hard work equals security, equals stability, equals a future you can breathe in. That deal is dead. It didn’t expire loudly — it just stopped working one day while everyone was still repeating the slogan.

The labour of the many got quietly redirected into shareholder value for the few, and now we’re all standing here pretending this is normal. How fair can an economy be when “fair” only applies to a shrinking handful of people with stock options and personal accountants?

Call me stubborn, washed, whatever — I’m not lining up to be exploited just to upgrade from unemployed poverty to employed poverty. Miss me with that. I’m not interested in breaking my body and brain for the honour of barely surviving. The only reason I can even refuse that deal is because I’ve got a generational cushion to land on. I know that. I respect that. And I see very clearly how many people don’t have that option and are being forced to eat shit with a smile because rent is due and groceries are a joke.

The capitalism pitch has fully jumped the shark. Same way Manifest Destiny eventually ran out of land, this system has run out of room to pretend it’s working for everyone. The gap between workers and executives isn’t just wide — it’s disrespectful. Climate collapse gets shrugged off because it messes with quarterly profits. Education and healthcare get hollowed out because taxing wealth is suddenly “too extreme.” Public services get handed to for-profit vultures and we’re told efficiency will save us. Save who, fam?

Everything stacks upward now. Every policy, every cut, every loophole feeds the one percent until the math stops making sense for everyone else. And people noticed. Not because they’re radical, but because the decline is no longer subtle. That slow, steady promise of “things will get a little better over time” has eroded completely. The incline is gone. The script flipped. Now it’s a gentle, grinding slide downward for most of us, and the system has the audacity to act surprised that people are angry, exhausted, and checking out.

This isn’t bitterness. It’s pattern recognition.