Let’s be frank, it’s a rough time to be a Broke Boston Homeschooler. The New York Times ran two opinion pieces a few days ago, one right next to the other. “How Working-Class Life is Killing Americans, in Charts” and David Brooks’ “Biden’s Rise Gives the Establishment One Last Chance.”

I frequently despair at the awful things that happen to people in the name of Capitalism that I read about in the Times. But, this was the combo that finally broke me and I cancelled my digital subscription. (Before you go pointing out the full cost of a digital subscription, I want you to know I fell into a surprising long-term $4 for 4 weeks deal over a year ago.)

Here’s what’s so upsetting: the establishment is causing the immiseration of the working class (and the rest of us) which is causing these increased deaths of despair. My interpretation is that the New York Times seems to want to continue with the establishment. If Establishment = Higher Death Rate, then Approving of Establishment = Approving of Higher Death Rate.

I feel like Capitalism is killing me faster than it used to be. The loneliness of being in the shrinking middle class, the family diaspora that Capitalism encourages, unstable housing, and how the upper classes buy their way to what family and friends used to provide in support has led us to a place of strange isolation. Homeschooling on a tiny budget here is a journey of loneliness.

Having no clear connection to a stable future for me or my kids is burning me out. My health is starting to show the signs of long term stress. I have no supportive community to lean on in hard times, only a collection of friendly acquaintances who can help in mild times. Government and unions no longer offer protections to the middle class. Only people with money, or those in subsidized housing, are allowed stable housing and therefore the benefits of living in one place long term. One more dislocation from a rent increase and I think I’m a goner.

I can’t control the future, but I can at least stop reading the New York Times. “That’s okay. Things are going to be okay.“