No Stupid Questions

Iniquity will hit a critical mass, we'll start a 3rd world war, if we survive the war we'll have another post war economy boomer world.

Use the self checkout and steal half your food

Here's what I'm doing:

1. MAXIMIZE INCOME. I just got a much overdue promotion. More income helps. I'm going to try for a second one soon. This can be difficult because if your skills are not very marketable it may mean giving up more of your time...which sucks. Move up where you are and when you can't do that any more move over to somewhere else with more headroom.
2. BE WISE. Be fiscally conservative. I think you need a decent income for this, if you're barely scraping by then you don't have this luxury. Have the recommended months of savings, avoid unnecessary expenses, save for retirement, buy instead of rent, avoid borrowing, etc. All that stuff financial advisors and personal finance classes teach.
3. MINIMIZE EXPENSES. Do you need a brand new car or can you get by on a 5 year old car? My vehicle is about 15 years old. Vehicles are almost always a liability. Can you take public transportation instead of owning a vehicle? Buying groceries at Whole Foods? Stop that, go to Aldi and Costco. Burning incandescent bulbs? Get LEDs. Can you live with a roommate? Etc.

Some things I'm considering:

1. BITCH ABOUT IT. Write your representatives and tell them to get off their FUCKING ASSES and DO SOMETHING.
2. Downsize my living situation.
3. Rent my current house and buy a duplex. Let someone else pay for the duplex with the other half's rent.
4. Move to Vietnam and live like a king.

Ask for a raise, get a better job. If the balance sheet is up then that means they have more money to pay workers. They only get to keep it if the workers do nothing. If workers rise up together then they will take back the gains.

Apathy and hopelessness is what they want you to feel when you should feel empowered instead.

Die in a ditch?

You have to take action and I don't mean wear an arm band and commit violence. The people in the driver's seat are still people for now. Human beings with families and feelings. Call their companies, say their crimes to their frontline people, ask how they sleep at night. Call the executive offices. Do the same. Keep making noise. Keep protesting. Do not be silent, ever. Keep doing it in en masse until these greedy pigs realize they're killing their own kind through apathy and greed.

Sit ins, phone line jamming, and socially ostracizing. Hold them to task any way you're comfortable. Companies were freaking out over Twitter users and they only represented 3% of the internet at its peak. You have more power than you think.

I'm building a chicken coop and turning my monoculture lawn into a native wildflower/vegetable garden.

If I'm still struggling to feed my family when that's established I will be violently entering the local government offices to issue a complaint.

Wow, some terrible answers in here. Look, dumb answers like steal, riot or "eat the rich" don't do anything. You all sitting there acting like internet keyboard warriors literally does nothing to solve this issue so wake up and get a grip.

To answer op's question, the only thing one can do is not engage with it. Price increases or not it's still a free market and you do have choices on what you buy. You don't need a new truck, or phones or organic eggs or whatever they want to sell you. Take care of yourself, learn to be budget conscious, work on your career and your own journey and ignore the rest, it's noise. Truly if you're underwater and can't afford to live where you are, move. There are places in every state that remain cheap. Food should not be a problem in this country. Everyone can afford $50-100 a week for food and you can stay in that budget if you learn what to buy and what to make with it. If everyone did that it'd be far more effective than rioting or stealing or any other dumb response.