The System is Designed to Keep Gen Z Poor (here’s proof)

There's this idea in America that poor

people are poor because they're lazy.

That if they just work harder they'd be

fine. But that's just not the truth. And

I'm going to prove it to you with actual

data. Because here's the reality. Being

poor is expensive. And being rich just

makes you more rich. Poor people pay

more for the same thing. They work

harder for less. And the system is

designed to keep them down while making

it easier for wealthy people to build

more wealth. This isn't some conspiracy

theory. This is documented reality. And

today I'm going to walk you through a

typical day in the life of a poor person

versus a rich person and show you

exactly how the system punishes poverty

and rewards the wealthy. Let's start

with just waking up. If you work a cushy

white collar 9 to 5 work from home job,

you can wake up at 8:55, get your 8

hours of sleep, probably even more, roll

out of bed, go straight to your desk,

zero commute time. But if you work at a

restaurant, retail store, or any service

job, you have to physically go there.

And these jobs are often located in city

centers where rent is extremely

expensive. But the thing is, you're

poor, so you probably live on the

outskirts, which means you spend more

time commuting. The average lowincome

worker in the US spends 42 minutes

commuting to work. And yes, that 42

minutes is each way. So that's an hour

and 24 minutes per day. In total, that's

7 hours a week, 30 hours a month, and

360 hours a year. That's 15 full days of

your life spent sitting in traffic or on

a bus. time you could be spending making

money, learning a new skill, or just

resting. And here's the funny thing, you

actually have to pay to commute, which

just exacerbates you even being in that

worst situation. So, if you're poor, you

probably need a car because you can't

afford a nice new reliable vehicle. So,

you buy an older used car, which seems

cheaper up front, but it's actually way

more expensive in the long run. Older

cars break down more often. The average

annual repair cost for a car older than

10 years is $1,200 to $1,500 per year.

And the average total annual cost of car

ownership is actually over $1,000 a

month now. And some additional things

that could impact that cost even further

is insurance, fuel, and also maintenance

depending on your vehicle cuz some cars

are more expensive than others. Older

cars also have worse gas mileage. A

15-year-old car average about 20 m per

gallon when a new car is easily over 30

m per gallon. So, in effect, you're

actually paying over $700 more per year

just in gas because you can't afford the

more efficient, newer car. you're paying

more money in transportation just

because you're poor. And then you could

just be like, well, take the bus or

public transportation. And we can easily

talk about more public transportation

because it is extremely underfunded in

most American cities. The US spends

about $82 per person per year on public

transportation. Compare that to Germany,

France, and the UK, which Germanyy's at

385, France is at $368 per year, and the

UK is at 241. And because public transit

in America is seen as for poor people

quote unquote, it doesn't get political

support. It's super slow. It's

unreliable and often extremely late.

Taking the bus to work can easily double

your commute time. That 42minute commute

can actually turn into a 2hour eachway

bus ride. So you're spending thousands

of dollars per year on an unreliable car

compared to getting a newer car. And

you're also spending 3 to four hours per

day commuting on slow, unreliable public

transportation. Either way, it's a

lose-lose scenario. And this

inadvertently affects the poor person

compared to the rich person who can

afford those luxuries. Okay, so you

finally get to work. You get there

pretty late because your car broke down

or the bus was delayed, which is a very

common thing in America. And now you're

at the mercy of your boss who knows

you're in a bad spot, who knows you

can't easily quit to find another job.

And you're a low wage worker. You

essentially have zero bargaining power.

And if your boss asks you to stay late,

it's harder to refuse. If you ask for

time off, it's more likely to be denied.

by the Economic Policy Institute, 61% of

low-wage workers report having no

control over their work schedules. So,

in effect, you actually get lastm minute

shift changes. You can't plan out your

week ahead. You can't take a second job

or go to night classes because your

schedule is so unpredictable. And if you

try to object, your risk of getting

fired is increased, and you can't afford

to get fired because you live paycheck

to paycheck. In reality, 78% of

Americans actually say they live

paycheck to paycheck. And over 42% of

young Americans, so Gen Z, millennials,

report having no spare savings after

covering their basic life expenses.

Meanwhile, wealthy people with stable

salaries, they can negotiate. They can

say no. They could demand better

conditions and they have leverage. All

right, so now it's lunchtime. What are

you going to eat? If you're working a

white collar full-time job, you can meal

prep and cook at home because you

probably work remote or have some remote

days or at least more flexibility. You

can cook healthy meals in your nice

kitchen with your nice dishwasher and

your full-size fridge. But if you're

working a low-wage job with

unpredictable hours and long commutes,

when do you have time to meal prep? So,

you buy food. And here's where it gets

really expensive. Healthy food is more

expensive than unhealthy food in

America. According to Harvard School of

Public Health Research, healthier diets

cost more than $500 per year. Now, this

is just a national average. Obviously,

in other locations, it could cost even

more depending on imports, what location

you're in, where the nearest healthy

food things are. And in neighborhoods of

lower income, there actually aren't that

many healthy food options. It's usually

plagued with fast food franchises. So,

in result, when you're more poor, you

eat cheaper, unhealthier, fast food,

more processed foods, and which in

effect leads to health problems. In the

poorest US counties, obesity rates are

145% higher than in wealthy counties.

And those health problems are expensive,

especially in America where we don't

have universal health care or even just

widely accessible healthcare. So, you

get cheap food because you can't afford

healthy food. The cheap food makes you

sick and then you can't afford the

medical bills that are being caused by

your unhealthy living habits and

situation. All right, so your workday is

done. You're heading back home on your

40 plus minute commute. Now, let's talk

about where you live. If you're poor,

you can't afford to live in a new,

well-maintained building with good

insulation. You live in an older

building, often in a worse neighborhood

with higher crime rate, and you pay more

for utilities because the building isn't

well insulated, or it isn't as efficient

as the newer buildings. According to the

Department of Energy, low-income

households have an average energy burden

of 6% of their income, which is three

times higher than high income

households, and they only spend about

2%. And it's not that these households

are actually even using more energy.

They're actually even using less energy

but are paying more in costs. And also

the lowest income households with the

highest energy burden, they actually

spend 15% of their income on energy

costs. This isn't based on consumption,

but it is based on where you live, the

efficiency of your building or unit

because you are chances are in a lower

efficiency rated place or more port

insulated, which heating and cooling are

massive contributors to this. And not

only that, your unit definitely doesn't

have the greatest amenities like in-unit

laundry for example in New York is a

very big luxury. A dishwasher is also

even a luxury in the city. So, you spend

more time doing those chores, time that

you could be working or resting or

making a healthier meal, but instead you

have to pay to use the laundry mat. If

you do laundry, let's say once a week

even, it could be $3 to $5 per load. If

you support anybody else, you're

probably doing laundry either twice a

week or just doing more loads once a

week, which can easily save you over

$500 per year just to wash your clothes.

Meanwhile, wealthy people have washers

and dryers in their houses or units.

Zero extra cost, zero extra time. And

where are all these additional costs

even coming from? Well, it's coming from

your bank account. We can even talk

about banking between a low-income

individual and a high-income individual.

Because even your bank account punishes

you for being poor. According to recent

data, the average overdraft fees at

large financial institutions is around

27 to $35 per transaction. 23 million

Americans pay overdraft fees in a given

year. If you're living paycheck to

paycheck, overdrafting is very easy. You

could have rent on autopay or your auto

insurance or any utility, your phone

bill, something is probably on autopay.

If you're a paycheck or you have an

unexpected cost coming up, boom, that's

a 30 to $35 fee right there. Banks

collectively make over $12 billion in

overdraft fees in 2024. And to a poor

person, this could be over $250 a year

because poor people usually pay hundreds

per year in fees. Rich people actually

earn interest on their savings and they

actually make more money, separating

that divide even more. And this isn't

something that's like self-inflicted.

This is just living and necessities. I'm

not saying they're buying something

completely out of the ordinary. I'm

covering an average lowincome individual

versus a average highinccome individual.

And here's where it can get really

really bad. If you're poor and you need

to borrow money, you pay a way higher

interest rate. Even the Consumer

Financial Protection Bureau, average

credit card APRs have reached record

highs. As of 2024, the average APR for

credit cards were about 22.8%. And

that's the highest level of this data

point since 1994. And if you can't even

get a credit card, some of them go to

payday lenders, which is even worse

because they can be up to $15 per $100,

or it could be up to a 400% APR. For

example, if you borrow $500, you're

going to have to pay back over $2,000

over time. And that's a completely legal

thing in America. Some states even allow

600% APR on these things, which is

disgusting. Now, we can even talk about

how rich people get richer. If you have

money, you invest it. Stocks, real

estate, index funds. The average annual

return is 7 to 10%. But if you're poor,

you don't have money to invest. You're

spending everything you earn just to

survive. According to the Federal

Reserve data, stock ownership is

extremely concentrated among the wealth.

The top 10% of Americans own 93% of all

stock market wealth. Meanwhile, 58% of

Americans own stocks in some form, but

only the 10% have truly valuable

holdings. And if you do manage to save

and invest, you're investing small

amounts. Your returns are also going to

be small amounts. Meanwhile, wealthy

people invest large amounts and watch

their wealth compound. Here's a very

simple example. Person A, who is poor,

invests $100 per month for 30 years at

8%. That's only $140,000. Meanwhile,

person B invests $1,000 a month. For 30

years at 8%, that's $1.4 million due to

compound interest. Person B ends up with

10 times more wealth, not because

they're smarter, not because they worked

harder, but because they had more money

to start with. Now, let's talk about the

final trap, the bear trap that really

catches you and actually is the number

one cause of bankruptcy. If you're poor,

you probably don't have good health

insurance. Actually, 27 million people

in America are completely uninsured. And

if you have insurance, you probably have

a high deductible, especially if you're

lower income. According to 2019 study

published in the American Journal of

Public Health, medical problems

contribute to 66.5%

of all bankruptcies. That's about

530,000 families per year filing for

bankruptcies due to medical illness. My

family personally was actually affected

by this back in 2008 or so when I was

first diagnosed with Crohn's disease.

That was because my family could not

afford the massive medical bills we were

receiving. There was even a portion of

time where I actually didn't even have

health insurance, but I still needed the

medication to just stay alive. So, what

were we going to do? Were you just going

to let me die, which obviously is not

even a feasible thing to do, or are we

going to go into debt and file for

bankruptcy just so I can get my

medicine? And filing for bankruptcy is

no cheap and easy option either. It can

take years to even just accomplish this.

And that stays on your credit report for

over 7 years. And these are numbers

after the Affordable Care Act, which the

Affordable Cares Act didn't actually

even fix the problem. And now we're

actually even pulling back the

Affordables Care Act to make it so now

people are even more uninsured. So this

problem is probably just going to

exacerbate to be honest. All meanwhile,

wealthy people have premium insurance

with low deductibles or they just pay

cash for medical care because they're

either healthier and they don't have to

worry about being in constant medical

needs or they are just so wealthy where

they actually don't even need to have

health insurance and they can actually

afford to have cash to travel to lowcost

countries to get procedures done. We see

celebrities do this all the time. I

think the most prime example is like

Turkey with hair transplants now so they

stay healthier which in effect saves

them money long term. All of these

struggles are invisible to most people.

When rich people work hard and succeed,

it's celebrated. Look at the self-made

billionaire. They worked 80our weeks.

But when poor people work hard and still

struggle, they're called lazy. Why don't

you just get a better job? Why don't you

just save more money? They are working

hard, probably harder than most rich

people even. They're commuting 3 hours a

day. They're working unpredictable

schedules. They're paying extra for

everything: transportation, food,

housing, banking, debt, even. They're

getting up at 5:00 a.m. to catch the

bus, working a full shift, coming home

at 8:00 p.m. doing laundry by hand,

meanwhile, prepping with no time or

energy, and then doing it all again the

next day. That's hard work. That's

exhausting. It's the daily hassle and

struggle, but it's completely invisible

to most because it doesn't result in

wealth. So, society assumes it doesn't

exist. This isn't a series of

unfortunate coincidences. This is all by

design. The system is designed to

extract money from the poor people and

transfer it to the wealth people. That

is capitalism. Banks collected over $12

billion in overdraft fees in 2024 from

people who can't afford them. Payday

lenders charge over 400% in interest to

people who have no other options.

Corporations lobby after tax loopholes

that save them billions while cutting

social programs to help the poorest of

people. And every time someone proposes

raising the minimum wage or expanding

healthcare or funding public transport,

which is one of the massive things that

I am so advocating for because oh my

god, it's underfunded in America. I hate

that we designed the car economy. I hate

that we praise the car economy. But

overall, we can afford $757 billion on

defense. We can afford trillions in tax

cuts for the wealthy. Yes, trillions in

tax cuts for the wealthy. It's all about

priorities. And the priority right now

is protecting the wealthy, not reducing

poverty or making a widescale change in

everybody's daily life. Why aren't we

making life easier and happier for our

citizens? it's because they genuinely

don't care. Now, this is not one of your

average doomer videos. I'm actually

going to give you practical solutions to

reduce this burden, or what I like to

call it, the poverty tax. So, the first

thing I would want to advocate for is

switching to a no fee or a low fee bank

that doesn't charge overdraft fees at

all. Capital 1 is one, Ali Bank, I know

Chime has it, and there's many credit

unions that have eliminated overdraft

fees entirely. You can set up low

balance alerts on your phones. Most

banks let you get text notification when

your balance drops below a significant

amount. This can help you avoid

overdraft fees before they even happen.

If you have an account with overdraft

fees, call your bank and ask them to

wave the most recent fee. Seriously, if

it's your first time or if you have a

decent relationship with your bank or

like you're a long-standing customer,

they'll often reverse it if you just

ask. Or you can even open a separate

checking account just for bills.

Transfer the exact amount you need for

rent, utilities, etc., and keep the rest

in a different location. This prevents

auto payments from overdrafting your

main account. If you are buying a used

car, make sure you are getting a highly

reliable vehicle. Make sure it's not

completely out of budget. And honestly,

do not lease a car. Leasing a car is one

of the worst financial things you could

probably do for yourself. What I like to

do is looking for pre-owned or certified

pre-owned vehicles from dealerships.

They cost a bit more than the regular

used cars, but they come with warranties

that cover most major repairs for the

first few years. You can even join a

credit union before and get a

pre-approval before you go to the

dealership, which often have lower

interest rates on auto loans. There's a

ton of red threads out there that

actually save you probably thousands of

dollars over your lifetime of the loan

and tens of thousands over your life in

just interest because people literally

have thought everything through for you.

And these requirements are not crazy.

It's probably like $10 to open an

account at a credit union. Okay, just

write that $10 as a loss. And then you

get a lower interest rate for the life

of the loan. Make sure you were also

getting quality gas for the car that you

were using. A lot of gas stations, which

actually in my area this happened a lot

and this is actually there's articles

about it all over the place. They were

actually filling up their gas or kind of

cutting their gas with cheaper, lowerc

cost liquids or materials. So your car

would be filled up more quote unquote,

but it would actually damage your

engine. And they got sued for it and a

lot of them closed. So, I like to go to

kind of verifiable brands like your

Exxons or your Shells or your mobile or

mobile. I don't even know what it's

called. Gas stations. Those secondhand

gas stations that have like no name to

it and it's just like a some local thing

owned by some random dude. Even though

they might be a nice person, it might be

a cheaper spot. Chances are it's

probably not the cleanest source of gas

or it's cut with something to make it

that much cheaper. If public transit is

an option, do the math. If it takes you

longer to get there, calculate how much

you're spending on car payments,

insurance, gas, parking, and

maintenance, because sometimes the bus

is actually cheaper when you account for

all those costs, including your time.

For example, I used to own a car when I

lived in New Jersey. I still own that

car, but I gave it to another family

member, but now I just rely off public

transportation because I moved to the

city, so I take the MTA, I take the

Metro North, or I take NJ Transit if I

do need to go back to Jersey for

something. Public transportation is a

great option and honestly is very cheap,

but I know not a lot of cities in

America actually fund this. Like we said

earlier, it's very underfunded here.

There's actually probably no other

walkable city other than New York in the

United States where you actually don't

have to own a car. But if that option is

available for you, look into it and see

how that will work. For food, you can

try meal prep on your days off. Cook

larger batches of rice, beans, chicken,

or whatever you can afford in bulk. Even

just two to three hours on a Sunday can

give you meals for the entire week. You

can make simple taco bowls that are

literally chicken, rice, beans, or you

can even use reffried beans to give it

more flavor and a little bit of pre-made

seasoning. You don't even have to learn

how to season. There are pre-made

seasonings out there that taste amazing

for meal prepping. Look for sales when

you can. Digital coupons. Buy frozen

vegetables instead of fresh. They're

just as nutritious. They're cheaper and

don't go bad as fast. If you qualify,

try using local food assistance

programs. There might be food stamps

available for you or even local food

banks. Especially around the holidays,

there are so many programs that give out

free turkeys and they don't even ask for

proof of income. If you really can't

afford a turkey on the holidays, get one

from one of these free programs. If you

are a renter, make sure the energy

efficient grading of the building is

something you keep in mind. or in order

to just make your unit specifically

better if it is charged per unit. Some

are building wide, some are charged per

unit, whatever, install weather

stripping or a better installation that

you can actually control. Or if you

actually even own your unit, get more

efficient appliances or go to the

hardware store and get installation kits

for the winter. There's even weather

stripping that will actually keep the

cooling or heating more inside your

place. There's also programs out there

for your state that have weight lists

for subsidized housing. Even if you

don't need it yet, the wait list can be

years long. So, it's better to be on the

list. Like, for example, I'm on that

list for my home state. Do I qualify for

it? No. But at least I'm on the list.

So, just in case I do experience job

loss or income loss, I can actually be

on that weight list or be qualified

faster than somebody who's joining on

that weight list who's qualified. Now,

something I did was look for roommate

situations. Instead of just cheaper

rent, look for a roommate. Try splitting

it two or three ways depending on your

situation and needs. And if you have

credit card debt, call your credit card

company and ask for a lower interest

rate. Tell them you've been offered

lower rates elsewhere. They'll often

reduce it just to keep your business.

You can even look into balance transfer

credit cards with 0% intro APR. You can

transfer high interest debt and have

around 18 months to pay it off without

interest. This buys you time while

you're trying to get into a better

situation. Just make sure you actually

pay it off before the promotion period

ends. Or you can even use another

balance transfer promotion and buy

yourself even more time. So you can buy

36 months in total. If you're using

payday loans, just stop it. I know it's

hard, but try to find payday alternative

loans that are actually capped at like

28% instead of 400%, which 28% is still

extremely high. I would just consider

stop trying to use that altogether.

There's also nonprofit credit

counseling. There's organizations out

there that offer free debt consulting

that can actually help you negotiate

with creditors. This is something very

more niche and I know it's harder and

has a lot more friction to start, but

it's just another option out there. Now,

if you are in the situation to actually

even start building wealth, if your

employer offers a 401k match, contribute

at least enough to get that full match.

It's literally free money, even if it's

just 3 to 5% of your paycheck. And also,

make sure you have a high yield savings

account. This is a bare minimum account

that I think everybody should own. First

of all, a lot of the balance options are

starting at 0. For example, Capital 1

offers a completely free savings

account. And also at during high

interest rate times, we they actually

give you four to 5% in interest. Now,

it's down to like 3 and 1/2 or 3.3 right

now, but a traditional bank gives you

0.01%.

And if you do have even more money

additional on top of that, start

microinvesting with apps like Acorn or

Robin Hood or Fidelity or Vanguard. Even

$5 to $10 per week adds up over time

with compound interest. If you get a tax

refund, instead of spending it, put it

straight into savings or investments. Or

adjust your withholdings so you get more

money in each paycheck instead of a lump

sum at tax time. For health insurance,

if you don't have insurance, look into

Medicaid. The income limits are higher

than you think, especially if you have

kids. You can use community health care

centers for primary care. They charge on

a sliding scale based on income. And if

you have medical debt, call the hospital

billing department and ask about

financial assistant programs. You can

also even negotiate these bills down. If

you ask for an itemized bill, they will

often just lower the amount without you

even directly asking for a lower amount.

Also, many hospitals have charity care

or financial assistance programs. They

will reduce or eliminate bills for

low-income patients altogether if you

just ask. Also, for prescription

discounts, there are many out there. I

know Good RX is like the main one. I

know Amazon also has a pharmacy thing

now. And there's also the Mark Cuban

pharmacy. If you just search that up,

you'll find it. um that gives you

cheaper prices than your insurance co-ay

usually. Obviously, that depends on your

insurance and the quality of your

insurance. So, look into that and

compare the cost. And I just want to get

this out there, too. The most important

thing is that none of this is actually

your fault. The system is designed this

way. They don't teach it in schools.

Parents don't teach it to their

children. And I think obviously a lot of

people are waking up to this that I'm

hoping that's why you found this video

or that's why you're watching this video

is to prevent being in such a bad

situation or to just be more aware of

what's going on out there. But you

cannot wait on the system to change

because it's probably not going to. You

have to survive in it while we work to

fix it. And these strategies won't make

you rich. They're not going to make you

the ultra wealthy, but they can reduce

the poverty tax you're paying. They can

give you a little bit more breathing

room or a little bit more time until you

figure something else out. And sometimes

the breathing room is a difference

between surviving and drowning. So yes,

being poor is expensive and being rich

just makes you richer. This isn't about

laziness. This is about the system that

punishes poverty and rewards the

wealthy. Poor people work harder, pay

more, and get less. Rich people work

less, pay less, and get more. And until

we acknowledge that, until we stop

pretending that poverty is a moral

failing, nothing is going to change. I'm

not saying rich people didn't work hard.

Some did. Some absolutely do not. But

the hard work they do is recognized and

rewarded. The hard work poor people do

is invisible and actually even punished.

And that's the difference. And if you

found this video valuable, let me know

in the comments what you found valuable

specifically. And if you have your own

experiences with the poverty tax, share

them because these conversations matter

and it can help somebody in a similar

position or who was in a similar

position than you just years ago. I like

to frame it as talking to my younger

self. That's how I want you to frame

your comment. Talk to your younger self.

give tips and insights that will help

save somebody else from a bad situation.

And that's exactly the community I'm

trying to build on my Discord. We have

over 2300 members in the Discord working

to better their everyday lives. And

that's what I'm trying to build right

now is a community of builders instead

of complainers because the internet and

YouTube and Tik Tok and Instagram, the

algorithms are filled with these

doomers. Let's build a system and a

community of people trying to build

better lives instead of just complaining

about it. And if you want to support the

channel even further, if you're in the

situation to support the channel

further, there's a buy me a coffee link

in the description down below, which I

do accept memberships or donations. And

obviously, those are completely

optional. But if you have the means to

do so, you can go and check that out

there. But overall, if you just enjoyed

this video and you made it this far,

click the like button and subscribe.

That is all you need to do. And that is

all I'm going to ask from you today. And

that will be it. We will talk again

soon. And I hope you genuinely enjoyed

this video. Peace.