Housing, wages, healthcare, food, every corner of life in this country is tilted against the people actually trying to live it. This isn’t just about big-picture corruption or policies we only hear about on the news. It’s in our day-to-day reality, and for most of us, it means constantly fighting just to keep our heads above water.

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Housing: A Dream Slipping Away

Basically my whole life, the housing market has been in turmoil. Back in my early 20s, in the late 90s and early 2000s, I actually thought owning a house was doable. It even seemed smarter than renting. But I was moving around a lot back then, so renting made more sense. By the time I hit my 30s, housing prices and interest rates had gone through the roof. Buying became impossible.

It hasn’t gotten any better since. Today, the dream of homeownership feels like a bad joke. For many of us, renting isn’t just the better option, it’s the only option. And rent keeps climbing until the question isn’t “Can I buy a house?” but “Can I even afford to live anywhere?”

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Wages That Never Catch Up

I’ve never been ahead financially. It’s always been paycheck to paycheck. Now, with kidney failure limiting my ability to work full time, I’m slipping further behind. Wages simply do not meet the cost of living, if they did, “paycheck to paycheck” wouldn’t even be a phrase. The system is designed to keep us just barely afloat, never thriving.

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Healthcare: A Pay-to-Play System

Medical bills? Straight into the trash. I can’t pay them when I can barely cover food and utilities. Sure, anyone can technically get healthcare, but if you’re not wealthy, you don’t go see a doctor preemptively. You wait until it’s bad enough to land you in the ER. Then the system either drowns you in bills or signs you up for Medicaid so the hospital can get paid.

If healthcare weren’t so expensive, people could get the help they need early, stay healthier, and work more. That benefits everyone. But politicians would rather protect the profits of the healthcare industry than the well-being of their citizens. Kickbacks are more profitable than a healthier workforce.

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Food: A Manufactured Struggle

Food prices are ridiculous, climbing higher under the excuse of “inflation”, another man-made concept we’re forced to accept. For the average family, it’s unsustainable.

My son and I rely on SNAP, and even then, it doesn’t always get us through the month. If it weren’t for my job’s paycheck advance option, we’d be living off Ramen noodles half the time. And politicians, instead of fixing wages, argue about what poor families “should” be allowed to buy with food stamps. Meanwhile, they sit in their mansions, eating filet mignon one night and lobster the next.

If living wages or even Universal Basic Income existed, no one would need SNAP. But again, it’s more profitable to keep the poor down.

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Education: A Rigged Opportunity

When I was younger, education wasn’t about “changing the system.” It was about following passion. I wanted to be a rockstar. I already played guitar, so I went to CRAS to study audio engineering. It wasn’t about dollar signs, it was about riffs, recording, and a dream.

But that dream didn’t come with financial security. And for kids growing up in poverty, education doesn’t magically “level the playing field.” Imagine if billionaires funded underprivileged schools at the same level as elite private academies. Those kids would have the same chance to succeed. But they don’t. Because opportunity is rationed, just like everything else.

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Coping in a Rigged System

I’ve seen the scam up close. When I was younger, my mom went to a church for financial help and was turned away, while the pastor drove a shiny Jaguar bought with donation money. Churches don’t pay taxes, but they’re often wealthier than the communities they claim to serve.

Coping? Fighting back? It’s all band-aids on a gushing hemorrhage. Nothing I do is a permanent solution. The only way out feels like winning the lottery or stumbling into a massive windfall. That’s the truth for millions of people. The system isn’t broken. It’s working exactly as designed – and it was never designed for us.

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Why This Matters

Everyday inequality isn’t some abstract policy debate. It’s where we live, how we eat, whether we can see a doctor, and whether our kids get a real chance. The system keeps us busy surviving so we never have the luxury to fight back.

That’s why I’m writing these posts. To lay it bare. To make it impossible to ignore. And hopefully, to remind people they’re not alone in this.

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👉 If this hit home for you, share it. Talk about it. Comment below. The only way to fight a rigged system is to stop pretending it isn’t rigged.