From Newsgroup: soc.culture.bulgaria

AmericarCOs cost-of-living crisis is entering its most brutal phase

by John Mac Ghlionn, opinion contributor - 03/01/26 12:00 PM ET

Americans feel crushed. Basic survival has replaced aspiration. That shift crept in quietly, bill by bill, renewal by renewal, until the future felt
less like a horizon and more like a choke point. Half of Americans now struggle to pay basic bills on time. Tax refunds, once earmarked for trips
or treats, now determine whether the lights stay on. Nearly four in ten
people have been displaced from their homes by rising costs. For Gen Z, it
is worse. Roughly half have moved not for adventure or opportunity, but because staying put became impossible.

rCa

In recent weeks, advances in AI erased hundreds of billions of dollars in software valuations, not on hype, but performance. Tools that once
assisted now replace. Systems that once supported now substitute. Entire workflows are being absorbed by algorithms that donrCOt sleep, negotiate, or need raises. Even the people who built these systems admit to feeling
uneasy about watching their own work automated. Engineers speak openly of communities dissolving as human collaboration gives way to silent
computation.

The immediate damage has already arrived. But the deeper danger lies
ahead. Investors are no longer pricing AI as a tool that helps workers.
They are pricing it as a replacement for them. For graduates with fancy degrees entering a market where starter jobs are vanishing, the timing couldnrCOt be worse. The roles that once absorbed educated workers are the first to be erased.

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/5759860-cost-of-living-crisis-deepens/
--
-2oL# tEa *-o tof oL? tec o+e tUa o#A uOe rCo Earth is born in the Bull's hour-+
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2