They keep raising prices, stating that it’s due to inflation, but then they keep having record profits.
Meanwhile, the average American can barely afford rent or food nowadays.
What are we to do? Vote? I have been but that doesn’t seem to do much since I’m just voting for a representative that makes the actual decisions.
Plant a vegetable garden. Build a rain catchment system. Build a solar power system. Read books instead of consuming other media. Buy only local. Start a consumer or retail cooperative. Don’t participate in wanton consumerism.
Voting in the US doesn’t yield desirable results because of the gerrymandering and the voting system; however most changes which directly affect people are made at a grassroots level so participate in activities at a grassroots level.
This is the answer. And it comes with other benefits also.
I do okay financially. I don’t have problems affording necessities. But I have found there is also a lot of satisfaction in being more self-sufficient, in relying less on supply companies to deliver my every need. And it saves a ton of money.
Food is a big one. I used to spend a ton of money on takeout, delivery, junk food. But here’s the thing, basic cooking really isn’t that hard. It doesn’t have to take up a lot of time, especially if you meal prep. And the resulting food is both better in quality and better for you.
On that same thread, the grocery store is not always your friend. Especially if it’s one of the big national chains. You will find much better quality produce at your local farmer’s market, and it’s often cheaper too. Certainly way more flavorful, the vegetable that was in the dirt yesterday tastes way better than the one that’s been in a warehouse for a month. Happier chickens lay tastier eggs. Etc.
And there’s a lot of stuff you can do yourself. A vegetable garden is a great place to start, if you have even a tiny backyard. Think folding table size. Plant yourself some tomatoes and put up a net frame so animals don’t eat them, they will be the best tomatoes you’ve ever had. But planting and growing stuff is one of the most efficient ways to get food- Stick it in the dirt and water it and you get food for free!
Then think about all the shit we buy. How much of it do we really need? How much of it ends up in the landfill in a year or two? When purchasing things, think about the product entire life cycle and how each step will affect you. IE, Don’t just think about the dopamine rush you’ll get from unboxing your shiny new toy, or the novelty of using it the first couple times, ask yourself is it going to enhance your life owning it over the long term, and is that amount of enhancement worth its purchase price and the space it consumes?
This, as much as possible and in as many areas as possible. Keep everything local as much as possible and minimize consumption. I’ve found that satisfaction arises much more readily from minimum consumption than maximum consumption, which might be why the advertising industry spends billions per year to convince us that backward is forward.
Totally agree with participation at grassroot level though. Run for office because you can count on the ghouls sending a candidate.
I do want to just take a second to highlight this. The idea of buying local and buying from people who make things instead of corporations can be hard. It’s expensive. And obviously the point is that we are all struggling. So looking at all the stuff I buy I thinking I need to spend so much more on all of that is daunting.
We all live under the same shitty capitalistic hellscape. We can’t get out of it. We can only do what we can. Need a new dresser? A locally made one will cost you a lot. Don’t stress about not being able to afford it. If you need to, get a cheaper one.
But for a lot of things, you can get it for just as cheap looking around on Etsy. If they have their own website where you can order it so they don’t have to pay Etsy money, even better. My boyfriend is in his last semester of nursing school, so I’m getting him a gift, and it’s custom made. It’s expensive, but most things I would get him are probably made with cheap labor in another country, and would just help prop up a large corporation.
Does this mean everything I buy is custome made? That it’s made locally? No. I can’t afford that. But I stopped using Amazon for just about everything, have started buying from people when I can, and it’s honestly kind of nice. I got to help someone make a living doing what they want to do, instead of just working a job. So even though we can’t afford it all the time, it’s great to do it when you can, and not let the idea of it needing to be everything make us feel defeated and then never doing it.