Wow, the cognitive dissidence of this article is overwhelming. Thought I wouldn't expect any less from HuffPo. I don't know where to start but:

First, 35 isn't "young", it's not old but your 35... Time to grow up and as my friend once told me "Time to pull up your big boy pants and make some decisions."

Life is hard.... let it sink in... Life is hard, no one OWES you anything. I'm not saying we shouldn't all work towards a common fair level playing field, but here is how businesses work. I have money, I need someone to do something, people come and talk to me and say I will do X for Y money, or you say I need you to X and I am paying Y money. The business owner then chooses the best person from the job in their opinion. It's not income inequality, its people getting paid for what they bring to the table.

Let me put another example out there. I now relate everything to starbucks coffee, the true metric everyone can understand.

Lets say there is are three coffee shops, right next to each other. A starbucks, a local coffee shop and a diner. If you want half-caf, almond milk, double shot, double caf, machi-caramel-fluff sugar cup of the week and have $6 for it... go for it. But what if you just want coffee, and the other two places offer a good latte for say $2.50 and the diner offers a cup of joe for $0.75. Are these places wrong, evil or incorrect because they have given you the ability to choose how you spend your money?

Now what if the quality of coffee was all different: Shop A had great coffee, Shop B had ok coffee, and Shop C had well, horrible coffee. But through this coffee inequality every cup of coffee cost the same, by law, regulation or whatever. Too, lets say each cup of coffee costs $3.50, and the people paid the same. Well there are a couple of things here:

Shop 1 uses awesome ingredients and people, but after costs they only make $0.05 per cup.

Shop 2 uses ok ingredients and people, and they make $1.00 per cup

Shop 3 uses crap ingredient and people who don't show up for work, have a bad attitude and thing the world owes them something, so every customer experience sucks.

It's hard to get the nuance in this short forum but... Shop 1 will go out of business. Why, it's not worth it. Shop 2 may stay around, but now customers can't get that awesome cup of joe they wanted from shop 1. "But I was willing to pay more than that because it was awesome, it's worth it." Shop 3 will go out because the money is too much for crap coffee and bad service.

Hint, people are like the coffee shops. Your skillset determines how much you will bring into the company and thus how much the company can pay you. That's why that a-hole barista wasn't around for long in your favorite coffee shop. Customers didn't like them, so bam, their out.

Their little argument about the person who was fired for unexcused absences... yeah ok maybe there is something there, maybe not. How many places have you ever worked at where there is only one side to that story. Chances are, the person had more issues than that one occurrence of not showing up. Also, the business owners are people too with the fate of ALL THE OTHER EMPLOYEES jobs. Because everyone wants everything cheaper and cheaper, profit margins are razor thin and you need to cut people who waste your time. Sure that sounds crappy for the person whose having a hard day, but how many employees ever go to their boss and say, "Thanks for firing that person, it's nice to know my hard work is valued and that it will keep my job safer because you're keeping the company financially solvent."

Too.... Don't get mad when you say "housing , gas and food are too expensive" and then say "everyone should pay me more while i do less"... think about that.. Really think about it. Not everyone needs everything. I grew up without money... really without money. I grew up in a rural area, we grew our food in a garden, we didn't marvel at our farm to table lifestyle, we did it to survive. We chopped wood to stay warm in the winter, drank crap beer, and literally hunted deer for meat. I'm not saying i didn't go to McDonalds or buy hamburger from the store too. I'm just saying, stop making all of your problems about how the world is unfair.

You want a better job, but don't have the skill set yet? Try being straight with an employer : "I don't know everything yet, but can I come here for $.50 / hour lower than what your offering. I want to be the best". Now here's the kicker, you need to show them that you're willing to work hard, more than 8 hours a day. Be the first one in and the last one out. yes it is hard work.

Here's what is going to happen, at some point one of a few things will happen:

  - the "boss" is going to say, holy crap look at how much X does, we need to keep them happy, and give you a raise. I have done this myself. I know it to be true.

- The boss is an ass, but you got experience and showed your co-workers how hard you work. You're co workers quit and at their new job they say "you got to hire this person X, they are the hardest worker you ever saw." This is one way I came from poverty, I was polite and kind to others and showed them I was there to work and help. Shockingly if you're a jerk, people don't want to recommend you. Same if you are unreliable.

Yeah there are alot of scenarios, but just realize the way we have it now is actually awesome. As crappy as you think your existence is, while you read this on your iphone ($800) or on your laptop ($500 min) or watch it on your flat screen tv in your warm or cool apartment, do realize that you have it better than 99% of the rest of the world, and better than alot of the fiscally solvent "older" people did when they were younger.

Start asking what you can do to help, not what you need from people. Stop being a bottomless pit of need and start saying, ok, what do we have to do to make it out of here.

Find someone who is successful and ask to go over your situation with them. I know 0 (zero) successful, and I mean REALLY successful, people who aren't willing to have a conversation with a few people about how to get better. Realize though, these people aren't here to serve your intellectual curiosity, be kind and thoughtful of their time. Your first instinct will be to say "that won't work for me because...". STOP shutup and listen.

You don't have a lack of resources, you have a lack of resourcefulness.

Ok, I tangented, but I truly want everyone to be successful. That won't come from handouts, safety nets or coddling or "job security". it comes from saying "Today i decide to be good at my job". Then meaning it, and yes working harder, later, more focused, not looking at social media at work.

The moment you go to work, work for your entire period, stop looking at crap that doesn't matter on your phone. Show everyone how serious you are and bam... all of the sudden you will be in demand, the more in demand and you can do for the company, the more money you will make.

You want a solid financial future, be the best at whatever it is you want.