I'm not arguing that America isn't in dire straits at the moment, but the concept of having to work so hard to live you don't don't ever get to enjoy life is ancient and global. It's a sad state of affairs.

I can't afford bread and the only circus is the 3-ring variety taking place in DC.

They're actively eroding the bread supply and making the circuses harder and harder to access. We know where that leads.

a gap year, especially common in much of western europe, is a year in between the end of childhood education(say US high school) and the beginning of adult education(say US university) where a young adult is encouraged to find themselves before choosing their exact field of interest or life path.

It is common in many countries.

That is a type of gap year yeah. The stereotypical one is obviously that of which someone goes on holiday for most of a year without any responsibilities but it's harder to do that when you don't have the money to support it.

Over here its very common to do your studies but you take an additional full year after the end just for your thesis. During the year people usually work, travel and do the thesis.

it is for college, some people take 1year off from school and then come back, usually changing thier majors, or even going to a different field. you dont want to be graduating with a degree you dont like, since you wont get financial assistance after you already graduated.

if you mean a gap year "from a job, like quitting it" that is abnormal, and usually indicates something deeper going on.

Not a thing in most of Asia that I know of, but it should be, I could have used a break from the rat race for a bit when I was younger and maybe put some real thought on what I want to do with my life

More or less, but "vacation" also implies an additional expense beyond just missing work.

How is thinking, theorizing, loving, singing, painting, etc wastes my capital?

In the US some people take a gap four years and go to war. It's the American Vacation.

In Germany I've seen plenty of youngsters taking at least few months to travel after school.

In the UK it's similar, but they get "jobs" to top up the money mummy and daddy are sending. Most people can only afford to go straight into either university or the workforce.

The entry barrier is time.

Poor people must make money all the time so they don't have time to do those things.

That what op is talking about.

um. gap year. can't do that. you get enough gap years called unemployment.

How are ppl supposed to pay for bikes, skates, vacations, backpacking or instruments to learn? Maybe learning languages is pretty cheap, but that's about it.

Depends on how you define "poor" though. I'd say if you live paycheck to paycheck to just cover the basic survival-costs with nothing left to save, you're already fucking poor.