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.
Cutting back on spending is the only thing I know that works. When consumers don’t buy things, the prices come down.
For groceries this means splurging less, avoiding things you don’t need (drink tea instead of soda, don’t buy snacks and chips). Fruits and vegetables are definitely still cheaper than prepared foods in many cases. Even when frozen. And they can be used to make a meal stretch, along with beans and rice.
Buy cheap bar soap and store brands of basic things.
Coupons aren’t really a thing anymore, but you can use the app for stores like the grocery, Target, Walmart, to “clip” deals and save.
A lot of the high prices right now are just greed. They aren’t tied to actual supply chain or labor issues. A grocery store in France just told PepsiCo to take a hike because their prices were so outrageous.
If you want the government to get involved, I encourage you to write your representatives about enforcing existing anti-trust laws. The mega mergers and buyouts are driving prices up because of less competition. Kroger wants to buy Albertsons for example. That just means more layoffs and higher grocery prices.
Hope this helps.
cutting back spending is hard when it’s one of the main ways to feel joy; you already have to spend on groceries and bills anyway, and it feels that much more stark and grim denying yourself the fun foods and nice convenience items to save like $10, then your rent goes up $50 because they said so, and so what’s the point anyhow…
Think of it as a protest then. When they’re charging stupid prices for beef, say “hell no” and eat lentils for a time. It’s all in the attitude. It’s honestly good for us to cut back a bit. If spending money is one’s main way to feel joy then something is wrong to begin with. Time to read a good library book or take more walks for joy. And most of us could stand to eat a little less beef anyway.
I would highly recommended finding other sources of joy. Buying things has been proven again and again to just give small bursts of happiness that quickly fade, this is the cycle these corporations often feed on.
Look into cheap hobbies you can do. Recovering from getting used to these small hits of joy isn’t always easy, but it will give you back more control of your life. I’m not perfect at this myself but I am much more aware of it and able to say no in the majority of my life.
You could also look into Minimalisim, there are some interesting ideas in there to be adopted, even if you don’t eat the whole pie.
This is why I pirate a lot of my media. Aaarrrr.
At the very least I can be entertained while I am cutting expenses.
You wouldn’t download a can of Poopsi
I have also found that piracy can scratch my shopping itch without spending any money.
There are other things too. It’ll sound weird but I got into the composting hobby (see: /r/composting ) and for a while I was crazy about getting as much organic material as I could. I’d rake my neighbors leaves, get coffee grounds from cafes, and dumpster dive for cardboard. I’d come home with a good haul and feel that satisfaction of acquiring something. And I was getting exercise and helping the environment in the process. Like I said, weird, but if you get creative you can find ways to have fun without spending money.
While I personally do appreciate the level of detail and amount of options provided in this reply, the more straightforward and longer-term solution is to eat the rich.
I’m fortunate enough to not be in a position where money is tight for food, but re: beans and rice, I absolutely love my instant pot!
Mexican-style beans are, IMHO, delicious, easy to make, and dirt cheap. I love them, our toddler loves them, and it’s easy on the wallet. Dry beans are really affordable, and a 25lb bag of rice is great to have in the pantry (note: careful with bulk brown rice as I think it can go rancid). A stove and a pot can do both, but an instant pot and a rice cooker makes it so easy.
I also drink a fair amount of coffee, but again, bulk or even just “make coffee at home” is very affordable. A few cups at Starbucks costs the same as a pound of beans (which yields many cups).
The biggest thing is to be aware of how much things should cost, and just refuse to buy them if they’re gouging.
Can I afford $13 for a case of Coca-Cola? Sure, I absolutely can. I can afford $24 a case. I’m just not willing to pay that. That same case was $7 in 2019. You can’t tell me their costs have doubled.
And even if I believed their costs doubled (and I don’t), that doesn’t mean their prices have to double. They’re not entitled to growing percentage profit on a larger number. Just because they made 20% on that $7 case doesn’t mean they deserve 20% on that $13 case. 20% of $7 is $1.40. They could absolutely take $2 profit on $10 and be happy with it. But they won’t. Because people don’t pay attention and they can get away with it.
There are enough barriers to entry and cooperation among would-be competitors that they can charge basically whatever the duck they choose.
I too choose this man’s duck.
Die in a ditch?
Move. Why stay somewhere that is taking advantage of you?
If you aren’t receiving benefits for the taxes you’re paying or representation for your votes, you can run for office or move and find immediate relief in less expensive countries, which is almost every country.
As if it’s that easy.
It really is.
It costs money to move, especially to another country.
Spend several hundred to move and get set up, cut your yearly expenses by tens of thousands of dollars.
It’s not a tricky equation.
… Several hundred? LOL
To go to most countries, you’ll be spending tens of thousands just to get there. I don’t know where you’re getting your numbers from, but it’s not reality.
No you won’t. It’s much cheaper to travel than you are pretending.
My numbers are from experience and current ticket prices.
It’s under $300 right now to fly to most countries in South America or Europe, the Bahamas, under $500 to fly anywhere in Asia and this is the most expensive time of the year because of the lunar New Year, my ticket last month was 270 usd from new York to Hong Kong.
several hundred
LOL okay boomer
Here you go, boomer.
Do me a solid. Just go get on a plane to any one of those places. Just step off the plane and just live there. No visas or any other nonsense. You’re the smart one and know better. Only 300 bucks to fly! These guys are just dumb.
Go grab a job and just live there.
Have fun, smart guy!
Prices from New York, boomer:
Join a union and demand more money to pay for it.
Not American, but I try to buy most of my daily stuff from independent places instead of supermarkets. The social contacts at my local butcher, bakery, vegetable shop, fish shop, … is also much more enjoyable than stressing in the Colruyt or whatever. And the produce is way better.
Once they get to know you, they often give freebies too, like offcuts to make bouillon. And you get free cooking tips as well!
Die
Stop voting Democrat, obviously. Since it was their policies that caused the high prices.
Stop buying their shit. Obviously there’s things you need to live and that’s fine but stop wasting your money and making them rich by buying all the ancillary shit.
This is the answer. Its simple but not easy. Do you think the average person knows what they’re spending money on each month? And how much? One chick I knew was spending almost $500 a month dining out!! A MONTH!
It is difficult to not have any “fun” purchases tho, nearly impossible imo. But you have to have spending discipline and next to no people have that.
But let’s say everyone stops spending on non essentials, taken to its conclusion that would leave only grocery stores, dr offices, mechanics, and banks left to do business lol maybe a few others.
But… those places all price gouge too :(.
Everyone starts growing veggies and fruit, and only buying direct from farmers.
Cry and hope for a revolution. Since the Supreme Court decided money is speech, we have no power. Representatives don’t care about their constituents unless a message comes with a “charitable donation”. The rich are seemingly immune to laws, but somehow there’s a surplus of money available to fuck over the little guy. This is a failed country of the corporations, and for the corporations.
Unironically the answer is “shop less.”
Prices on goods rise when demand for goods stays sufficient to support the price going up. The less everyone buys, the less things will cost.
Prices for goods have almost nothing to do with the price of rent, but the mechanisms there are the same - it’s just that you have to encourage building rather than “live somewhere less” because the second option really isn’t tenable, for obvious reasons.
If you want rent to come down, campaign for, vote for, or even run for office to be the candidate that will change zoning laws and encourage building multifamily housing.
the myth of supply based economics, and other fairytales.
Realistically there is no reason for produce or rent to be increasing in price, there is not any actual reason for the hikes in COL other than “record profits”
Buy stock in the companies posting record profits.
Sure, we cant afford food or rent, but there’s always stock money sitting around.
Delete this
why? honest question. if they are making record profits and their stock is going up why would you not buy their stock?
Because you’ll be investing in, and therefore helping that company. Only a small fraction of the company’s profit is going to reach you. You’ll be part of the problem with capitalism.
When you buy a stock that’s already ipo’d you’re not giving any money to the company.
That’s not really true.
If it were, why would a company care about their share price, post-IPO?
Although people generally conceptualize shares as an ownership of the company, there are a ton of mechanisms at play that make that notion essentially a farce.
It’s better to think of shares as a currency for which the company owns the printer. The reason companies want to keep their stock value high is that they can at-will conjure more shares from the ether and sell them. It’s not JUST during an IPO.
So, in a fractionally insignificant way, as a retail investor, every purchase adds buy pressure and shifts the order book towards a higher market price. The higher the market price, the more money the company can raise by issuing new shares while minimizing the dilution effect of the issuing of new shares.
Every day when going to your corporate job find creative ways to sabotage and monkeywrench the corporation you have access to. Nothing illegal, lose paperwork, lose files, foment miscommunication and misunderstanding, make mistakes at your specific tasks, misplace items, sow distrust in management. Cost them time, money, and efficiency. And above all unionize. Direct action on the ground where you have access.
Because nothing helps with the rising cost of living more than deliberately pissing away any chance of promotion and likely eventually being laid off and jobless.
You do realize how much privilege one has to have in order to casually jeopardize your income without sweating over it, right?
The problem is people’s finances are being jeopardized by corporate price gouging in the first place.
Better to simply stop reelecting politicians who support corporate bailouts for failing companies.
Eat the rich. Bring back the guillotine.
What a horrible take, encouraging violence against people. For shame.
Literally nothing has ever been won from kings and oligarchs by asking nicely you naive child.
Don’t sling insults. By doing so it demonstrates that you have no argument worth making.
There’s surely appetite building around the world for this. Who will throw the first stone that starts the landslide?
France
Voting is necessary but not sufficient.
The big other thing is to build external power. That’s not like militias per se (though with the rising fascism it’s not a bad idea), but rather stuff like gardening, learning to do repairs, and practicing mutual aid. Reduce your and your community’s dependence on the corporations. And make it an issue people around you care about.
Unions! Rising prices are irrelevant when workers are paid fairly.
Giving everyone more money will not fix the price of housing, It’ll do the opposite.
It will partially fix it because part of the problem is wealth inequality; housing is a form of wealth and becomes more out of reach as wealth concentrates away from people. Giving everyone money serves as redistribution.
Think about it. If everyone has more money that means so do the other people bidding against you. It’s like the college tuition problem. Everyone can get student loans, so colleges have no incentive to keep costs reasonable. Giving college students more money doesn’t fix the problem of college being too expensive.
Start being an actual adult and start making your own shit.
The only way to free yourself from the slave racket is to stop being dependent on it to survive.
Easy mode: Learn how to cook, and cook clean whole foods. Stop buying processed junk garbage.
Hard mode: Get tools and equipment and learn how to build and fix your own shit. Difficult and will take time, but 100% worthwhile.
Both methods allow you to produce goods and offer services you can sell to other people, too. That way, those that actually can’t make or do for themselves can turn to you and not shitty corporations for survival.
I don’t think that’s the initial point of OP.
The point is that quality of life and real income are in strong decline, and it doesn’t seem like it will get better in any observable future, should policymakers stay the same.
Sure, there are easy methods to cut expenses or even make some beer money, but a)many have already implemented it, and b)everyone already could.
The question can be formulated as “how can we improve the living situation for everybody?”. So that you wouldn’t need to figure out how to live cheaper or get some side hustle as you see your income shrinks.
Honestly, if we all grew and shared our own food, that alone would be enough to turn the tide and improve our lives.
We could use the money we save from groceries and use it to buy land, and with that land take back economic power from corporations, politicians and the ruling class.
We could organize and pick representatives amongst us that aren’t part of either party to take local offices and use their powers to change zoning laws to enable more housing to be built, and to allocate funding for such, and to pass laws banning anyone other than primary residents from buying the properties.
Assuming you want to do it legally. Arguably one individual could accomplish a lot more with the proper use of a .50 cal.
I’d argue you can’t outplay corporations in their own game. If you start saving on groceries and make it a trend, they’ll just find a way to cut your income once more. Because why paying so much if you can now get on with less?
Besides, the sum saved from sharing food is not nearly enough to buy any significant amount of land anyway, and you also need all the machinery and equipment to make it work, and even then this entire thing should be set at an enormous scale to combat the scale benefit of existing corpos (which would be very tough considering such scaling will cause immense oversaturation of the market and fierce price wars, to which independent businesses are not ready due to lack of reserves, i.e. corpos will just dump the price, see your community die off without money, and raise prices back up again the minute it happens, as they constantly do to manage competition).
Local representatives could work, but first something needs to be done with human perception of independent parties.
Honestly, .50 cal seems to be the most risky, violent, but most workable option. No wonder most such big changes were accompanied by bloody revolutions.
That’s not true, people have been making their own stuff for thousands of years before these corpos came up and we can do it again.
And we can collectively set up our own nonprofits we all own and that actually serve us, too.
You just have to believe it’s possible, which it is. And you have to believe in yourself. If you think those are lies, your worldview is just negatively skewed. People can and do make change all of the fucking time. It’s time for our generation to be among them.
For those thousands of year people lived in extreme poverty, because “just making stuff yourself” is actually extremely inefficient. There’s a reason industries started to centralize in the first place - the scale effect is huge, and we can’t expect to beat well-coordinated, centralized entities by just “doing stuff for ourselves”.
We need to organize and unite, but as I said, in a capitalist competition, unless you accrue capital bigger than the corporations (which is, well, problematic), you’ll just die to a price war (unless you convince everyone to go starve).
The only way is to change the system, to put already existing production capabilities to serve general population. This means strikes. This means protests. This means instating the new government if need be. Those are exactly the methods that drove us to more equality and prosperity in the past, the thing you talk about.
We cannot move further in an existing frame, and “just believing your dream” won’t change objective economic issues discussed in every economy 101. People who ignored basic economics for their idea ended up very poorly.
Making stuff ourselves and breaking free of the corporate vice grip is the only way we can make doing that viable.
Unless you thought corporations won’t just stop producing until the people surrender.
The only way is to capture the means of production - they’re only owned by corporations because some legal papers say so.
Corporations can and constantly do kill independent initiatives. It’s actually super easy, and doesn’t require anything but big cash reserves allowing them to wage price wars.
Besides, it is simply impractical to reinvent existing economy, and it will get to the same point over time. We can skip this and move directly into the factories that are already built.
I agree with you, but you can’t do it for everything.
I see so many people just throwing money away it’s crazy.
Like you said, cooking for yourself and your family. Don’t eat out. Bring packed lunches to work. My family might get fast food once or twice a month max, the rest is all from the grocery store. Eating out is stupid expensive now.
When it comes to your cars. Learn to change your own oil, battery, and air filter. Dealers and repair shops charge stupid prices for this stuff and it’s easy enough to do that you can do it in 15-30 minutes yourself. Remember to properly dispose of your fluids.
Learn to fix your own tech, tech jobs pay a lot which means that you as the customer will pay a lot to get your shit fixed.
Learn how to fix simple plumbing in your house, repair drywall, install/repair simple electrical stuff. When I see people in my local area paying handymen $500 to install a ceiling fan (not the electrical part like running wires, just hanging the damn thing), I about lose it.
I actively enjoy cooking, but it’s shocking and shameful how little a classic education does for one of the most fundamental aspects of living your life. Nearly every relationship I’ve been in I have the been the primary chef for, purely because I know the basics. Home Ecc should be a mandatory class because every single one of us needs to eat and should be able to provide a solid meal for ourselves (and it should also include finance education but that’s a whole other thing). I don’t put the fault on any individual person for not knowing, but it is a skill that EVERYONE should foster.
Check in to the American test kitchen YouTube for all sorts of advice, or go to the library and check out their extensive catalog. You’d be suprised how easily obtainable restaurant quality food is from your own kitchen.
