Ireland’s Housing Crisis: The Squeezed Middle Is Not a Myth — It’s a Broken Social Contract

Violating the Social Contract: Why Working People Are Being Squeezed — and Why It Matters for Democracy

Across many wealthy democracies, something has gone badly wrong.

People who work full time, follow the rules, pay taxes, and contribute to society are finding that it is no longer enough to secure housing, stability, or peace of mind. This is often described as a “cost-of-living crisis” or “the squeezed middle” — but those labels do not capture the real harm.

This video explains why what we are witnessing is not an accident or a temporary shock, but a structural breach of the social contract.

Drawing on international evidence, moral philosophy, and real-world policy examples, this talk explores:

• Why wages no longer match the cost of essentials like housing, energy, healthcare, and insurance
• How privatisation, financialisation, and global capital have turned social necessities into profit streams
• Why housing has become a key site of injustice and insecurity
• How tax systems increasingly burden work while shielding wealth
• Why many people feel betrayed, exhausted, and blamed for problems they did not create

Crucially, the video introduces two powerful but rarely discussed ideas:

Moral injury — the deep damage caused when institutions violate basic expectations of fairness and reciprocity.

Epistemic injustice — when people are denied the language, credibility, or recognition needed to name what is happening to them, leaving lived experience dismissed or silenced in public debate.

These harms have serious democratic consequences. Rising political withdrawal, distrust, and even deliberately spoiled ballots are not signs of apathy — they are warning signals of a legitimacy crisis.

But this is not a call for revolution.

The video also shows that repair is possible. Countries like Vienna, Denmark, and Norway demonstrate that fairness, security, and affordability can be restored through practical, incremental policy choices — even in systems shaped by powerful vested interests.

This is a call to:
• Name the harm honestly
• Restore fairness and reciprocity
• Treat housing and essentials as social infrastructure
• Rebalance power away from extraction and toward dignity
• Rebuild trust before democratic damage becomes irreversible

If you’ve ever felt that “doing everything right” still isn’t enough — this conversation is for you.

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