Believe me, it's pretty bad. I'm not saying that it's so bad that people can't eat, but especially here in Sacramento, it's bad to where people make enough to pay their rent, car payment, car insurance and a have a few bucks left over for eating out. Now that is disregarding those who have health insurance, like me, then it gets even more expensive. So the average person here can't afford a 30K car unless they are head deep in debt. I'd rather drive a old car, not be in debt and buy the toys that I want (PS3, XBOX360, HDTV) then be stressed out every month about if I'll be able to make my car payment or not.

Lots of people say that getting a degree would help, but honestly that's only in the big cities. Where I'm at, there are tons of Business graduates, like my GF, but there are no jobs available here, so most people have to move to bigger, more expensive cities like San Francisco, San Jose, etc. to find a good job and start fresh. But I guess that's the story in every country.