Life in America doesn't feel like life right now. It feels like triage.

People get up, commute, grind through work, juggle kids and side hustles, scroll through their phones in bed until their eyes burn, then do it again tomorrow. They are surviving, but they are not living.

The numbers explain why. The average American now carries around $100,000 in total consumer debt once you add mortgages, credit cards, auto loans and student loans, according to recent Experian data. Total household debt has reached a record $18.6 trillion, up more than $4 trillion since just before the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, new surveys suggest roughly seven in 10 Americans feel they are living paycheck to paycheck, up sharply from just a few years ago. When that many people are one layoff, one medical bill or one blown transmission away from disaster, you don't get a peaceful society.

You get a country permanently clenched.

A 2024 national study found that 84 percent of Americans experience financial stress, driven above all by the cost of food and housing, and the lack of savings. Another survey from Empower shows people now spend close to four hours a day thinking about money -- for younger adults, that number is even higher. That isn't financial planning; it is mental captivity. You cannot dream big when your brain is stuck in an endless loop of, "How am I going to pay for this?"

The pressure doesn't stop at the wallet. Kaiser Family Foundation data show that roughly one in three adults reports symptoms of anxiety or depression. Federal health statistics estimate that more than one in five Americans lives with some form of mental illness. Among........

© Townhall