Transcription
Life in general. So, just of late, a lot of people are really struggling and they really are trying to get a hold or just grab the reins financially to really just get by and it's really unfortunate. I got a few different takes. Check these videos out and I'll come back with my commentary.
I just left Walmart where I bought one bottle of body wash, one stick of deodorant, and eight rolls of toilet paper. My bill was $49.50 for three items. I'm getting ready to move into a new apartment, and for a one-bedroom, 638 sq ft, it's going to be $930 a month. Gas is $5 a gallon. Milk is $3.89 a gallon and bread is almost $6 a loaf. A 24 pack of bottled water is $7.00 dollars. And I'm at the point now to where at 50 years old, I'm trying not to crack here. I'm 50 years old and there's no damn way I'm ever going to be able to retire. I've had to cash in my life insurance and my 401k in order to survive. You know, after a certain amount of time living and working on this planet, you shouldn't have to work to the you should not have to work two damn jobs just to survive. I'm so discouraged.
So, I'm walking around Costco here and I'm noticing these prices. For example, these Madras lentils, $15.99. I bought those a year ago for $6.99. Let's look at what else we got going on here. Dang. This is the flour we were buying for $5.99 last year. We literally bought this chicken broth $5.69 2 months ago. And I keep getting told that we got, you know, 6-7% inflation. You got to be kidding me.
"This is what $10 worth of groceries looks like. That's it. Grapes were half off." I don't know what the world's coming to. Sitting in line at a church to get some food because he can't afford food anymore. So, got to beg for food now. Can't afford food anymore.
I was having this discussion with somebody in the gym and they were saying, "Why do you think Americans are accepting like what's going on currently?" And I said, "I'll be honest with you, man. It's like somebody being in an abusive relationship, right? Most people that are in an abusive relationship, they know that they're in an abusive relationship, but they won't leave for whatever reason. They'll stay in that abusive relationship. They'll continue to get abused. And I said, if you think about Americans, they're just used to being abused. It is the norm. It is like this long relationship that has always been the norm. It's always been this way. And we see a little change. It's like a person getting better, but then they go back to their old ways. And it's almost like we think like, well, we know what good looks like, but then the bad is really bad. And I think that's the situation we're in right now. We're like, well, we know what good looks like. We know what our top tier looks like, but when it's bad, it's bad. A lot of times when you're in an abusive relationship, you're looking at the highs. But honestly, the cons outweigh the pros. But people don't look at it like that. And I think that's the current state that we are in America right now. Right now, the cons outweigh the pros. But we're just hoping on this high. It's almost like buying a lottery ticket. It's almost like if I hit this, I'll be set. But the chances of you hitting the lottery are slim to none. And that is the best way I can explain this situation." And after I explained it that way, he said, "Man, I never looked at it from that point of view." I was like, "Dude, that's what it is." And until we as US citizens break out of this abusive relationship, it'll continue to happen. And that's what it is. Hopefully this is helpful to somebody. Chris with the gyms.
"You know, I truly don't think that we are ready to have the conversation of every SINGLE DAMN AMERICAN CRUSHING THE DAMN OUT AT THIS POINT. DAMN rent, POWER, WI-FI, CELL PHONE, INSURANCE, GAS, GROCERIES. I DON'T GIVE A DAMN. I'M TIRED OF BEING TOLD YOU CAN FIGURE IT OUT. I'M TIRED OF TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT. Every goddamn day is THE DAMN SAME. GAS IS GOING UP. GROCERIES IS GOING UP. BUT YET THE DAMN HIGHERUPS ARE LIVING DAMN LIFE. DUDE, I'm about to DAMN CRASH THE I AM CRASHING THE DAMN OUT." I live in Detroit, Michigan, and by the end of the month, I literally need $4,000 and I can't even afford that after two jobs. My rent in itself is $1,700 for the month. My electric bill is $300. Groceries for the month cost over $600. And now that I'm thinking about it, I literally didn't even factor in that gas cost $5 per gallon right now. I have to pay my phone bill. I have to pay the Wi-Fi bill. I have to pay for car insurance. I have to pay for my medical insurance. I literally rent a one-bedroom apartment in Detroit. Why can't I afford to live off of two jobs? But yeah, Detroit is cheap, right? So, is it just me or is everyone in Michigan doing like survival math 24/7? Like, okay, if I wait till Friday to get groceries, I can get gas today. Or if I don't turn the heat up too high, maybe my electric bill won't destroy me this month. Or my personal favorite, standing in line at the grocery store calculating all of the different things in your cart and wondering which ones you have to put back. Like, you're calculating prices per ounce like you're studying for the SATs.
"What's up, America? People don't have enough money and they're not buying as many groceries. That's according to new research showing that 61% of Americans have started buying fewer groceries because they don't have enough money to afford food. 61% of people, not 30%, not even 50%, 61% of Americans have started reducing the amount of food they're purchasing and reducing the amount of meals they eat because they simply cannot afford the food. Now, this is in the most economically prosperous nation in the world. But while our people are suffering their asses off, the stock market continues to grow to record numbers. Once again, like I've said before, this shows the extreme wealth gap that's growing here in the United States. And no matter how many hours you work, it's starting to become almost impossible. Around 65% of people or more are living paycheck to paycheck currently and about 70% of you don't have $5 or $600 in a savings or checking account for an emergency. Now, this is becoming an absolute failure here in our economic system, benefiting only the very wealthy investment class while the entire rest of the nation incrementally suffers more and more. Something needs to be done with affordability here. This is bullshit for the number one economy in the world. It doesn't matter if you're the number one economy in the world if 99% of it goes to only 1% of the people."
"I'm glad we're taking care of every part of the world except for this part." "$75 bucks for what used to cost me $40 bucks. No tax on tips. No tax on, you know, this is a tax on every hardworking American. My man in there asked me if I uh wanted to donate to whatever charity. I said, I just donated to your gas pumps out there, homie. There's nothing left. Call the mortgage engineer. Peace."
So, there you have it. So you got a few different takes and you had a few different perspectives on, you know, what's going on as of late and it's very unfortunate and people are just really trying to figure things out. They're really trying to figure out how am I going to pay for these bills, pay for uh gas, uh how am I going to pay for my my utilities? Um all these things that we have commitments to like essentially, you know, you don't have to pay them but you know, you you'll soon see the consequences of not. But you know, it is it's hard and a lot of us are really trying to figure it out. You know, it's not like years ago where you had like a little side hustle or, you know, something to supplement your income. And it's tough. And even, you know, with things like the gig economy, it's it's really oversaturated. And it's even to that point where people are trying to venture into that if they never did anything in the way of gig work, you know, DoorDash or various different things or delivery work. And you know, even in that realm, it's like it's it's getting really, really few far in between. And um leave a comment down below if you're kind of experiencing this and you know what are some of the things that you had to cut back on or what are things that you notice to kind of really increase like your money to to get by, you know, and you know, it's it's unfortunate and I myself definitely have really been feeling a pinch. And day to day, you know, I'm sitting down, you know, trying to rack my brain to to figure out what else do I need to do to uh get ahead. And it's it's very unfortunate. But um I really appreciate all of y'all listening to what I got to say. And I catch y'all on the next one. Peace.