It is depressing that my generation is framing a forced downgrade in our quality of life as a trendy lifestyle choice.<p>In both the U.S. and China the economy is growing, but a greater and greater percentage of those gains go to the owners of capital. Instead of demanding a higher percentage of the product of our labor, we&#x27;re content to take what we&#x27;re given and downgrade our expectations.<p>I am a &quot;highly paid&quot; software engineer who works in San Francisco. Plugging in 30% of my take-home pay into Craigslist yields an anemic, depressing list of available properties. So instead of getting ripped off by some scumbag landlord, I built a tiny house in someone&#x27;s back yard.<p>If I could afford it, I would rent something nice, or even buy a house, but <i>even with</i> my 6-figure salary, it&#x27;s not possible. And this is a <i>scam</i>.<p>My generation, even those of us that are getting the best deal going under Capitalism, are getting <i>ripped off</i>. and it&#x27;s time we started talking about it that way instead of pretending like we&#x27;re &quot;living with less&quot; because of some moral or ethical or lifestyle imperative.<p>And I should be clear -- I think Americans can stand to live with less, I think that co-housing is a legitimate option and I&#x27;d choose it if it were available to me. I also think that Americans should be seeing the benefit of increased worker productivity in their compensation, instead of 100% of that productivity increase flowing to the owners of capital.