ozebb

The SSA has a great site showing projections into the future of various proposed modifications. That plan specifically does not on its own solve the problem completely (though it does help, extending the time frame for exhaustion of the trust fund out to 2060 or so). If we wish to avoid the exhaustion of the trust fund, we’ll need other measures as well.

When my wife and I bought ours it was only 1.5x a comparable (similar motor/blade spec) DeWalt/Bosch, maybe 2x a comparable Delta. The only saws available at 1/5 the price were on Craigslist.

Yeah, it’s more, but as hobbyists we figured we were (1) more likely to make a painful (and costly) mistake than a professional who’s working with the thing day in and day out and (2) less likely to be able to restore/maintain a used saw of unknown age, provenance, condition, etc. Worth it for us, and IMO probably for most serious amateurs.

scientifically proven ecological collapse

This is a pretty specific thing, but the general “we’re all doomed” vibe is definitely not unique to today. Boomers and older had the threat of nuclear annihilation looming over them, and before that… well, disease and famine and death and destruction due to war have historically been the norm.

Imagine how you’d feel living in the Americas in the 16th or 17th centuries and either watching the destruction wrought by European settlers firsthand or, maybe worse, watching your peers die en masse of the diseases introduced by those settlers. Imagine living in Eurasia in the 13th century and watching the Mongol army sweep through.

None of this is to say that today’s challenges aren’t real and serious. Just that we’re not the first to face such challenges.