As much as most people see their own hardships and at most what surrounds them, this is a global phenomenon that affects the poorer and middle class the most, while the rich will probably use it to get richer.
I don't even know how much prices have grown in my country since the Covid, or in how many waves, but sometimes you simply can't believe where they've gotten unless you see an invoice from a few years back for the same thing, and nowadays the cost is 2.5x or 3x higher. My father needs to renew the mandatory car insurance for an old utility car he owns. Compared to last year, the price is 2.5x higher and probably higher than the car is worth, but he doesn't want to sell it. He will have to, at some point, because he won't have a choice...
We are still coping well with all the price increases, but enough people have to live with less income than we have, as an extended family. That doesn't mean that we are not concerned about the future.
I like the picture above because it shows a difference in mentality: "Will work for food" is different from "Give me some money to buy food".
I am a good observant, and, we can notice how difficult is life for people in different ways:
- by seeing what and where they shop
- by observing their reactions
- by noticing changing habits
Regarding shopping things are evident. If you can't afford to buy, you stop buying or buy only the essentials. Sort of, you will see...
On my way from the dentist's appointment yesterday, I went by a tax office. I don't believe anyone goes to such a place happily, even during "good times". But I noticed a completely blown out of proportions reaction there that denotes the respective person was under tremendous stress, in my non-expert opinion. I know our bureaucracy can drive you crazy, but if you couple that with a shortage of money and you need to pay taxes you consider unnecessary or exaggerated, things can get out of hand, and the target of your frustration may not be to blame.
Something else I noticed on my walk back from my appointment, is that people started to smoke more. It could be that I ran into all the smokers and the non-smokers avoided me, so I made the wrong impression. Being a non-smoker myself, I tend to remark them easily.
I know smokers smoke more or more often when they are under a lot of pressure or stress. That may give the illusion of a short-term alleviation of stress but at the cost of becoming addicted and the expense burden that comes with it.
Meeting so many people who smoked on my way home, makes me think the level of stress is on the rise due to times getting harder.
When I see all this and the trend we have had regarding the cost of living, plus the increased likelihood of escalated pockets of hot war zones, it comes to my mind the approximative quote from Klaus Schwabb, head of the World Economic Forum: "By 2030, you’ll own nothing. And you’ll be happy."
Of course, we are hoping some crypto assets will be resistant to such a future. But most of us are thinking this from the comfort of our chairs...
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The fiat oppression system is real. We will also get rid of our car in the summer, it does not make sense to keep paying for it with the high cost of cars at the moment.
I need to convince my father to do the same with that old car, as much as he likes it. He pays enormous amounts in taxes and upkeep for it.
The stress that smoking presumably relieves aggravates the possibility of ill health and addiction, it's like just making something bad to make another thing goo, but I understand, the world is a hard place, I have a chronic condition and in the past I did a lot of things to help me cope with the pain and all
Exactly. Smoking at most feels good at the moment because of the nicotine, but we know how many illnesses it provokes or potentiates.
Yet, some life situations still pushes some people to indulge
They do. Not having enough money for daily expenses is a pretty powerful reason.
It sucks but wages just aren't keeping up with the price increases. All that money is just getting sucked up by the government as they pay themselves and their friends.
It would be nuts if wages would keep up with these prices too as that would make inflation spiral out of control. But yeah, that is a difficult period for regular people, but not as bad as deflation would be.
In this year alone, Nigeria faced a crazy inflation and things are 4x higher. For smokers, they feel they are trying to ease off stress by smoking which may be true but some of them spend more money on smoke than food
Have you ever noticed that?
4x in a year added to the cost of living is awful. Crazy how two of the richest countries in oil reserves (Venezuela & Nigeria) get hit by hyperinflation.
Oh yeah! I have the perfect example in mind, a guy who worked for a team of workers we employed. He has 5 kids, never had enough money while he was working with the team (although they are paid well), but never gave up on smoking or drinking. Otherwise, a good guy and hard-working! I felt sorry to hear now he also lost his job due to these vices (particularly drinking).
I agree. People are losing jobs, wages aren't increasing as fast as the cost of the essentials, and big corporations are posting all time high profits. I'm hoping the disruption that crypto and web3 brings can alleviate some of these problems.
I'm thinking in some areas it may be one of the few things that holds the whole thing together and not exploding in their faces right now.
It is a fact that living has become impossible now, especially for the middle class people, it has become a lot of trouble and the higher the inflation, the more the life has become more troublesome. After 15 days, the price of petrol is increased.
I heard many people hunt for discounts now, as they can't afford to pay full prices on almost anything.
Yeah you are right.
Hello, @gadrian. I hope you are getting your braces to preserve your teeth. They are the only teeth you have. Yes, it's getting harder and harder to afford things. Let's all hang in there and think positive. Don't let the fear mongers take us over. I was like that - very negative for a few years and got sick of it. Those fear mongers come out especially before our elections here that are in November 2024. They want to scare us into submission and don't let them do that! Barb 🌟😊👍 !BBH !CTP #ctp
I'm actually ok and positive despite what you might think after reading this post. But I cannot ignore what's happening around me. We don't live in a bubble, as much as we might like it sometimes.
After talking with an orthodontist, he said at my age braces won't help correct my issue other than for a short time, and while I won't have perfect teeth, I should be ok if I do the graft surgery.
So I went on with the graft surgery a few months ago already, and so far it looks very good and my lower gum continues to grow instead of retracting.
Thanks for dropping by, Barb!
OK, @gadrian I'm glad you don't have to get braces now. Are your gums receded? You are most welcome to me dropping by 😊 Do you have more homeless people on your city streets now? I imagine yes because I think homelessness is just about everywhere these days. 👋
After the graft surgery, things are much improved.
I wouldn't say there are more, but there are a few. But it's a relatively small town where I live now.
I'm so glad your gums are much improved @gadrian 😊
I'm there are not too many homeless. I live in a small town too.
It is so much better here than the big city.
!BBH !CTP
I agree, in many ways. Even though it depends on what you want. Big cities offer more opportunities. But for me, they are tiresome. I only like them now as city breaks, lol.
Yes me too @gadrian. It is so much quieter here and peaceful. Yes maybe a city break now and then would be fine. 😂
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Yeah Life gotten 2x here too, there are more poors and poors every day, i dont know how long until there Will be social disorders
Yeah, in some places people are more likely to rebel than in others.
Hello gadrian!
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