Yeah that's exactly what's happening. There are lot of very smart, well paid people whose job is to balance the degree of economic precarity the working class is in to keep the workers from gaining any power they could use for leverage. That's what's happening right now the rail strike being crushed, the massive tech layoffs, and the fed just fully mask-off saying it's going to fuck with the interest rates to raise unemployment.

They all read Marx. They know how labor power works.

Sometimes I feel like the machine doesn’t even want you to have the semblance of financial stability. Like as if there’s an incentive to keep people stressed and depressed knowing they’re barely making it each month.

That's exactly right. It's called precarity and is a feature of the system. Can't mount an effective defense of your rights if you're not sure where your next meal will come from.