When I got divorced in 1997, I was making $1000 every two weeks. I lost $280 in taxes, leaving me $720 every two weeks. Following the state law formula, the court ordered that I pay $348 to my ex wife, nominally for child support, leaving me with $720 per month to live on ($372 every two weeks). The support was taken from my check before I even saw it so I wouldn’t be a ‘deadbeat dad.’ The rent on my apartment was $600 for a small one bedroom, making my rent more than 80 percent of my take home pay. I was soon homeless and without a car, moving from couch to couch at the homes of friends.
I understand feeling down when this happens:
American Citizen breaks down in tears as his most recent rent increase means 90% of his income now goes just to paying rent
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) March 17, 2025
1 bedroom apartments in some states now average $2,200 to as high as $3,900
We have a cost to rent crisis in America, we are crippling our own citizens pic.twitter.com/0Zi4uMqSY7
The difference is that I didn’t stand in my kitchen, filming myself crying before posting it to social media. Instead, I did what a man does- I figured out a way to deal with it. In this guy’s case, he set up the camera, set the scene, then cried on cue. This isn’t genuine emotion, this is a man child looking for someone else to come and take care of his problems.
I got a second job, picking up garbage after the Shamu show at Sea World. I walked, rode a bike, and took the bus. I wouldn’t eat for several days at a time. I lost 30 pounds that summer. Two months later, I bought a car at a “buy here, pay here” place. I wound up living in that car for another few months. I was eventually able to get an apartment by moving in with several roommates.
There are different ways to deal with disappointment. You can sit around and cry about it while asking daddy government to come and fix it, or you can fix it yourself. It’s OK to bitch and complain a bit, but at the end of the day, your problems are yours to fix.
Most of us were poor at some point. Get roommates. Get a second job. Get a cheaper apartment.
