They aren’t necessarily US specific. Wages not keeping up with inflation and rising cost of living is a factor from South Korea to Japan to Singapore as well. Some countries muck it up themselves like China with their one child policy back in the day (even the Chinese fertility rate has dipped below 2.2, I think).
I have YouTube Premium though not the Family variant and Google won’t just fix their app. It is way behind NewPipe or YouTube ReVanced. No, I don’t need shorts. No I don’t need constant nudges to join groups of YouTubers by paying after I just paid you money, Google!
What I want is system wide quality setting (what exactly does High or Data Saver mean; would it kill you to give 480p, 720p or 1080p as options) or Sponserblock integration (okay, this thing is probably never gonna happen but still). YouTube 's app is a stinking pile of shit. I just use YouTube Music from them and will cancel/not renew my plan after it lapses.