Most Americans can't afford the standard of living they've come to expect as their God-given birthright.
Sorry if that burst anyone's bubble here.
Every single person I know living hand to mouth is in that situation because of really bad financial decisions. Bad decisions that they are still making. Every once in awhile I get a call from them asking for a loan for various reasons. I just have to tell them no and explain that me loaning them money won’t help them and why. The latest one was 2 weeks ago. A friend for over 30 years called and wanted to borrow money to buy insurance for her car. She didn’t have any. Her son, who also had no insurance, totaled his truck, and hit someone, while driving through a parking lot like an idiot. She wanted to insure her car so he could drive it to work. I pointed out that she had an almost $200 per month cable bill but no insurance? She hasn’t spoken to me since. shrug