this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2026
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It's free, but I probably have to pay more taxes than you do. Nearly half my income goes towards taxes and then we have 24% VAT for most things, including groceries.
It's free for most people, but that just means it doesn't qualify a good enough income anymore. I earn about a fifth of what I could in the US, while our minimum wage is not much lower than the US, for an example. And a master's degree doesn't qualify you a job at McDonald's either, we've over-educated our population. Result is that you need plenty of experience for your first job in whatever industry you studied for.
Well, they already exist? There's unemployment, which doesn't cover shit because we don't pay enough taxes yet, as well as homeless shelters if you're sober you can go to and even social housing if you're destitute enough and trying to get out of it, but obviously there are waiting lines for those.
Minimum wage rises annually.
But it's only fair given that children are legally mandated to take care of their parents in old age.
My ex is not going to leave either of her kids a single euro. She will probably cost them tens of thousands in end of life care because she opted out of pension payments and took out the funds at the age of 22 or 23. She'll have free healthcare, sure, but old people's homes cost more than the national pension. It's 1500€ a month currently near me and if you rely on the national pension alone, that's well under 1000€ for most.
Trouble for me is when I'm eventually too old to work or AI takes my job for real, I'll need to have something I don't have to pay exorbitant rent for. If that's not a concern for you, you're incredibly privileged, being able to piss away thousands or tens of thousands of euros a year for the rest of your life. As a software engineer, I can already tell you that this ladder's been pulled up and nobody hires entry-level engineers anymore. Same for a lot of other knowledge work. Things aren't going to be getting any better. Most people would rather have a home they don't have to pay every month for when that happens.
Who's waiting for the parents to die? I'm just speaking about generational wealth being a necessity in this world, because all the millionaires and billionaires are doing it, but the poor are just selling off their already small assets to the aforementioned millionaires and billionaires so they can rent them out to their kids and grandkids.
I can tell you from looking at my friends: Those whose parents gave them money to make a down payment on a first apartment started buying them in the mid-20s. Those who didn't, were lucky to get their foot in the door at 30, some still haven't. 20 years from now, those who can't get a down payment from their parents, will not be able to buy ANY home unless incredibly lucky. Parents who don't want to royally screw over their kids and also don't want to leave their homes as inheritance, should just prepare the funds to get their kids a foot on the ladder when the kids reach their 20s. That's what I'm trying to do, anyway. My parents didn't, but they never had the ability and at least I have a house I can come back to when things go to shit (so can my mom, it's not like I'd ever kick her out, she's just living with her boyfriend right now). Estonia is one of those countries where people have to work for a living and when you're unemployed for a long period, rent becomes kinda hard to afford.
And let's go back to this for a moment.
Who do you think voted against those people in the OP? The kid who didn't get a house, or the boomer parents who sold the house and wanted its value to be as high as possible? The same people selling their homes instead of leaving them to their children are the same people voting against anything that could reduce real estate prices. Because they'd be out of money then. If you're looking to sell your home for retirement, it makes sense to vote for people who block new developments so housing is less affordable for future generations. Otherwise you're profiting less.
Things are only just starting to go to shit. They will get a lot worse. And in most of Europe, most of us don't really have guns either to Luigi the people who are guilty. Which is why I think anyone who's having children in 2026 without a plan for how those children are going to be afford normal life, is selfish as fuck.