One other opinion...

The recession and inflationary issues that we had in the late 1970's were bad. By all accounts, our current path looks to be worse than those times.

To add insult to injury, I believe that it will be much worse because in the 1970's there were still people alive that grew up with hardships and could cope. Our current society is filled with spoiled and weak people that will not think twice about dishing an atrocity upon you when they are simply inconvenienced. Imagine what they will do when they start to get cold or hungry. Now imagine what they will do when their kids start to starve.

--thieve, rob, and kill for a piece of bread (and possibly get killed along the way)

--give all their rights away to the government "who is here to help"

--peacefully die off

All of those options lead to the same net result--tyrannical dictatorship.

The few that are prepared will have to fight to survive with what they have and then will be left in a nation/world where they are outnumbered by the shit birds that chose options 1 or 2.

@Typo-MAGAshiv

There are many issues contributing to the high costs. Inflationary spending and interest rates are just a part.

Our current issue of doubling food and material costs are mostly due to the energy policies and the subsequent costs. Most people don't put 2 and 2 together since the price of gasoline has only gone up around $1.50-1.75 per gallon in the past couple years. The cost of gasoline has been artificially held low(er) by selling off the strategic oil reserves and other manipulative factors in hopes of keeping people from loosing their shit prior to the election.

With that being said...

The real issue is that of Diesel fuel. Most everything that you eat was grown or raised on a farm using machinery that runs on diesel fuel. A lot of homes are still heated with heating oil which is diesel fuel without the road taxes. #EVERY single thing that you purchase is transported using diesel fuel (including the gasoline in your car). Trucks, trains, snow plows, generators, ships, etc all run on diesel. The price of Diesel has gone from (average retail) $2.50 per gallon in November 2020 to a rate of $5.32 per gallon today. Those expenses have and will be passed on into the purchase price of the commodities. There is no way around that.

The fuckery of the current administration has put us in a position to be at the mercy of OPEC and the rest of the petroleum producers. They have set their pricing and supply volumes to values that most benefit them (not us) because they can.

I hate to break the news to you, but it will not get any better for a long time, but it is going to get much worse in very short order.

@TwoInchesOfShaft

men who are married earn more because they have to. Assuming you make the correct decisions (aka taking risk when necessary) isn’t this a good thing?

Not quite.

It's more like, nose-to-grindstone, working shit tons of hours, and sacrificing everything resembling freedom and fun.

If anything, you take fewer risks because the downsides are catastrophic instead of just inconvenient setbacks. It's easy to suck up some hard times and bounce back when it's just you. Not so easy when people are truly dependent on you.

I don't even have kids. I'm just trying to pay off debt we incurred by being stupid with our money, and stockpile for emergencies and maybe retiring one day.

I make a lot of money, but other than shit talking with you guys on here, I don't really have any hobbies.

That's not a balanced life, and once we reach a few financial goals, I'm stepping back the hours I work and getting back to frequent, regular gym time instead of the once per week if even that, and reading actual books.

Men who remain bachelors don't need much to live and be content. They can work 40 hours per week or even less, and use that time for more fulfilling activities.

Yeah, a lot waste their time with porn and video games, but that's still more fun than working yourself into an early grave.

Thing is, you can do something far more fulfilling than that. The time and opportunities are there.

Marriage is almost nothing but obligations.

Tag to others I know are married or have been in the past: @goodmansaysfuckyou, @lurkerhasarisen, @DeeplyDisturbed, @houseoftolstoy