US cost of living viral question has everyone making the same point

The cost of living in the US is incredibly high at the moment and some feel as though it's higher than ever. House prices and rent are sky high, healthcare is as expensive as it has ever been and the cost of food is astronomical.

On X / Twitter, Leisha, who describes themself in the bio as a "former congressional staffer and campaign manager turned dog rescuer", posted a question about it on the social media platform.

Leisha said: "Just one lifetime ago in the United States, our grandfathers could buy a home, buy a car, have three-to-four children, keep their wives at home, take annual vacations and then retire... All on one middle-class salary. What happened?"

And those that have responded all seem to be fairly unanimous in their answers.

One user said: "Corporations happened. Offshoring manufacturing due to laws required maximum shareholder holder value. Which came at the expense of workers and also an endless supply of blue collar labour coming over the border suppressing wages."

"The greatest generation and the boomers got greedy and stole America's future by buying everything on debt and inflating away the dollars value to weaken the impact of interest debt interest payments," another commented.

"Tax on all income over $200k was 90 per cent within my lifetime," a third added. "What the wealthy used to pay for, the working poor and middle class pay for now."

"Unrestricted capitalism happened," a fourth commented.

A fifth said: "The explosion of credit, debt and usury paired with a dollar that went flat and was taken off the gold standard."

However offering a different perspective, one said: "A majority of the population lives an exceedingly high standard of living than our grandparents did."

Elsewhere from indy100:

• Viral post sparks debate on solo cost of living: 'No one talks about how expensive being single is'
• Woman 'shamed' for waiting for her change at restaurant

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