[nish__]

I'd blame technology altogether. People are losing their purpose.

[bojan]

I'd blame the ever decreasing ratio between salaries and the cost of living.

And the fact that salaries don't really grow for years now, while the productivity, and so the generated wealth, does.

[PassingClouds]

I have said for a long time that if housing was cheaper, that is a good start to getting other thing under control. It gives folks a target to hit for stability. Once a bit more stable, it frees up opportunities to address other issues.

I say this as a home owner, let the market crash, I dont care what my house is valued as it is an asset not an investment.

[daseiner1]

meaningfully, this is equivalent to the parent commenter. "technology"

I loathe the "pop critique" employment of the phrase, but this is definitionally late-stage capitalism.

obviously capitalism is named as such because it is founded upon the concept of (private) capital. capital serves to lower margins and increase profitability. it has been remarkably successful and has immensely raised QoL for virtually the planet's entire population. we are now reckoning with its inevitable consequences. manpower is unreliable. it gets sick. it has children. it has eccentricities. it is fundamentally unpredictable. Capital seeks efficiency and reliability. What percentage of the population is capable of building data centers? Of engineering massive scale LLMs?

What happens when Capital no longer needs labor?