TexasAGGIEinAR said:

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Queso1 said:

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Danny Vermin said:

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2.69 for 2% at my Aldi. I'm also loving the gas prices which would be around 4 bucks here in Texas if Cackles were President.

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Why does this have to be a binary - Kamala or Trump issue? I never said it would be better under Kamala. I have voted for Trump 3 times. Save me.

Good to know that you have money for a texags star, but shop at Aldi.

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What's the point of paying double at HEB or Kroger when you can pay half of that at Aldi? That's just called not being an idiot.

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Because Aldi (unless they've changed their business model) only carries 1-2 options for any one item type. F that noise.

Based on my last excursion to an Aldi, HEB is so far superior in quality to Aldi it's like comparing a Bugatti to a Yugo.

Queso1 said:

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This isn't something that's being caused in 2025. And we shouldn't look at it as a red blue dichotomy. This is systemic and it has been for decades. They bailed out the banks. They bailed out GM. We pay for their wars. They throw our money around the world.

They refuse to fix the welfare system or the healthcare system. They print paper that is good only because a $38 trillion dollar debtor (who soon won't be able to pay their interest on the debt) says it's worth "a dollar". No gold standard. Nothing.

They can't fix the inflation because the entire economy would collapse if they did what is needed.

They keep secrets from us. They develop enhanced viruses in China and then deprive us of civil liberties during a pandemic.

They're all the problem. There are few that at least pay lip service to the issues and far fewer that actually try to do something. But the vast majority become wealthy and cow tow to lobbyists. They don't act in our interest.

Red blue…it's all theater.

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I think you're answering your own question. Or maybe it's just more of a rant. Either way, I agree with you. This is all systemic and not a single thing is being done to correct course. Considering that, there is only one rational approach to this: Prepare for even greater inflation and then ultimately collapse of the US dollar.

We are already well past the point where extreme measures need to be taken. Yet we don't even get minuscule cuts. There's no way we return to sound money. It's unlikely we see any substantial reduction of govt intrusion in our lives and the economy. IMO, this is leading to a major crisis which will more likely increase govt intrusion. I believe as COL increases and SOL declines, there will be more and more calls for govt to do something. Think Mamdani on a nationwide scale.

So I guess all I can say is that there's nothing we can do except prepare for it. Those who have hedged heavily against inflation will come out just fine on the other side.

jja79 said:

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You seriously think the rate of increase is higher today than when even the Biden administration reported it st 9.e%?

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On some things? Absolutely.

Across the board? No.

But I don't believe the rate(s) the govt tell me. From either party. I go by what I see....reality.

Inflation is still a big problem. Of course it is, since Trump and crew haven't really done a ton to combat it.

Helicopter Ben said:

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I think you're answering your own question. Or maybe it's just more of a rant. Either way, I agree with you. This is all systemic and not a single thing is being done to correct course. Considering that, there is only one rational approach to this: Prepare for even greater inflation and then ultimately collapse of the US dollar.

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May want to check the expiration date on those pre-packaged survival meals.. While the USD's ultimate fate, not different than any fiat, may be complete collapse, the introduction USD stablecoins has pushed that timeline way further out then I think most would have expected.

I think OP is George Carlin reincarnated.

I'm going to work. What are you doing?

Yes, this is the reality. We aren't getting spending cuts that matter so without that there is literally nothing that can be done.

Prepare your anus and hope the economic catastrophe that unfolds from all of this doesn't just completely wipe you out.

YouBet said:

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Yes, this is the reality. We aren't getting spending cuts that matter so without that there is literally nothing that can be done.

Prepare your anus and hope the economic catastrophe that unfolds from all of this doesn't just completely wipe you out.

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Since we are printing money anyway, I just wish they would lower the top tax brackets and let us keep our money to better prepare for what comes next. I am already doing that, but getting to keep more of my own money would really help with my short term contingency plans.

Tom Fox said:

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YouBet said:

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Yes, this is the reality. We aren't getting spending cuts that matter so without that there is literally nothing that can be done.

Prepare your anus and hope the economic catastrophe that unfolds from all of this doesn't just completely wipe you out.

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Since we are printing money anyway, I just wish they would lower the top tax brackets and let us keep our money to better prepare for what comes next. I am already doing that, but getting to keep more of my own money would really help with my short term contingency plans.

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Agreed. Problem is that we are doing the opposite with Trump removing people from the bottom of the tax rolls, which means the rest of us up the line carry more burden and then we print more money to make up for the ones we kicked off which then causes inflation.

Dumbassery abounds.

Sims said:

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May want to check the expiration date on those pre-packaged survival meals.. While the USD's ultimate fate, not different than any fiat, may be complete collapse, the introduction USD stablecoins has pushed that timeline way further out then I think most would have expected.

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Can you elaborate a bit on the bold part? I'm not disagreeing with you, just admitting I'm not very informed on this. Is it because of an increase in demand for USD generated by these stablecoins?

I think most of the people who have been warning about inflation are surprised that it has taken this long. But that is the part that is impossible to predict. I think we are at the early stages of hyperinflation just before it goes parabolic. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong and it takes another 100 years. What I do know is from what I've studied on prior examples of hyperinflation and the collapse of other fiat currencies. We are following a nearly identical path. From my perspective, there are only a few questions that need to be answered.

Is it likely that government spending will come down to a sustainable level?

Will the government stop printing money?

Is the govt more likely to grow and interfere even more than it already does?

I think the answers are an obvious no, no, and yes. If my answers are correct, then collapse is a mathematical certainty. If we can't predict when, but we're certain of the outcome, it only makes sense to prepare now.

Helicopter Ben said:

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Sims said:

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May want to check the expiration date on those pre-packaged survival meals.. While the USD's ultimate fate, not different than any fiat, may be complete collapse, the introduction USD stablecoins has pushed that timeline way further out then I think most would have expected.

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Can you elaborate a bit on the bold part? I'm not disagreeing with you, just admitting I'm not very informed on this. Is it because of an increase in demand for USD generated by these stablecoins?

I think most of the people who have been warning about inflation are surprised that it has taken this long. But that is the part that is impossible to predict. I think we are at the early stages of hyperinflation just before it goes parabolic. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong and it takes another 100 years. What I do know is from what I've studied on prior examples of hyperinflation and the collapse of other fiat currencies. We are following a nearly identical path. From my perspective, there are only a few questions that need to be answered.

Is it likely that government spending will come down to a sustainable level?

Will the government stop printing money?

Is the govt more likely to grow and interfere even more than it already does?

I think the answers are an obvious no, no, and yes. If my answers are correct, then collapse is a mathematical certainty. If we can't predict when, but we're certain of the outcome, it only makes sense to prepare now.

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The wild card or Ace card, if you will, is that we are still the global reserve currency. We get the luxury of drawing out our failure longer than anyone else because of it. That adds a high percentage of weight and uncertainty on trying to predict the ultimate timeline of this thing collapsing.

Burdizzo said:

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BadMoonRisin said:

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fulshearAg96 said:

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OK. Why the F is milk so expensive?

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The cows got a minimum wage increase.

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All they have to do is grow two more teats

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Over_ed said:

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Would things look better with Kamala?

Chill, it would be much worse.

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You're right on that. We have the lesser of the two evils.

YouBet said:

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The wild card or Ace card, if you will, is that we are still the global reserve currency. We get the luxury of drawing out our failure longer than anyone else because of it. That adds a high percentage of weight and uncertainty on trying to predict the ultimate timeline of this thing collapsing.

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Agreed. But the reserve status we enjoy now can't last forever. We're acting like it will, but it won't. I believe we are already seeing some early warning signs that the sand is shifting on that. I also think that when it happens, it will happen very quickly.

bubblesthechimp said:

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CDUB98 said:

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Queso1 said:

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CDUB98 said:

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Sir, this is a Wendy's.

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It's a big joke, huh? Looooool!!! There are hardworking people in this country that don't know how they're gonna feed their families, but you thought "I gotta be cool on a message board and drop a meme."

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Yes, your post is a joke.

It's precisely because of the hardships of life that I can make fun of you. When you're drinking powdered milk and spending your last dime to buy beans as your meal, come on back.

The gall of coming here to whine about your frufru milk getting more expensive, as if you're truly feeling the crush every day Americans are.

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This is the problem with this convo. Complaining about the cost of organic milk is being chided as being out of touch with the beans and powdered milk crowd by someone who has an association/12thman tag a diamond and 2 stars for Billy's board.

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Oh noes, I worked hard and made living.

Piss off, troll. You don't know me or my family.

Helicopter Ben said:

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Is it likely that government spending will come down to a sustainable level? No

Will the government stop printing money? No

Is the govt more likely to grow and interfere even more than it already does? Yes

I think the answers are an obvious no, no, and yes. - Agree If my answers are correct, then collapse is a mathematical certainty.

If we can't predict when, but we're certain of the outcome, it only makes sense to prepare now. - Agree with a caveat in my response.

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Stablecoins are, essentially, the CBDC everyone saw and objected to a few years ago. The main differences here are

1) They're issued by Treasury and not by Fed

Also

2) They're backed by UST bills, not notes. Stablecoin adoption supercharges foreign purchases of treasuries injecting huge amounts of foreign capital into the US. It's the anti-dedollarization.
3) They're completely controlled by the US
4) They take SWIFT (Euro Dollar market, for the most part) out of play
5) They actually could upend the entire banking system. Right now banks play intermediary between the Fed and the people to increase or decrease money supply, interest rates etc. Stablecoins can do that without any part of the banking system. It's a direct connection between the user and the US Treasury.
6) Globally, people want to be paid in USD rather than their own local currency. They want to hold their cash in USD rather than their own local currency. The vast, vast majority of global commerce is done in USD.

USD has a, lessening, stranglehold on global commerce. Stablecoins could be like an Extremis injection to USD control. There is a scenario in which every strength of the USD is multiplied to a degree that it can't be competed against (until such a time it explodes...I'm borrowing from Iron Man 3 FYI)

Ultimately, the mathematical certainty remains but timing becomes more cloudly. I think Stablecoins push dedollarization out decades. I think it would be folly to assume the US has reached this level of global monetary dominance without having some tools left to deploy.

Now the caveat. Preparation is prudent. I think the mistake someone could make is to prepare to such a degree that they miss a lot of potential upside in the mean time. Think of it this way, Dave just landed for an 2 week vacation with his family. Everyone but Dave heads out to the destination and enjoys themselves. Dave, on the other hand, the prudent planner, stays in the airport and heads over to his departure gate. He knows the plane home is taking off from there and doesn't want to miss it so why take the chance of leaving the airport?

I get the example has a very concrete defined timeline for the departing aircraft and the collapse of USD is undefined which is where the analogy falls apart. I think if you prepare for something like it's imminent and fail to use resources for any other alternative, you'll miss something. The correct behavior is not to just prepare, but to prepare to such a degree that it considers the reality of multiple outcomes being in the distribution - particularly when incoming data lean more towards those alternatives than the certainty in the near term.

Govt shutdown for 37 days and the sun still rises and quite frankly doesn't impact my life one bit.

Why am I paying so much in taxes?

We have a leech problem not a government shutdown problem.

Ciboag96 said:

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It's so bad, young people are Door Dashing a cup of Starbucks for $24

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Please tell me that isn't happening. That is weapons grade dumbass.

Helicopter Ben said:

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YouBet said:

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The wild card or Ace card, if you will, is that we are still the global reserve currency. We get the luxury of drawing out our failure longer than anyone else because of it. That adds a high percentage of weight and uncertainty on trying to predict the ultimate timeline of this thing collapsing.

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Agreed. But the reserve status we enjoy now can't last forever. We're acting like it will, but it won't. I believe we are already seeing some early warning signs that the sand is shifting on that. I also think that when it happens, it will happen very quickly.

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The paradox here is that in order for us to remain the global reserve currency we have to stay largely committed to Bretton Woods and maintain the petrodollar. Trump is wanting to retreat from Bretton Woods at least to some degree while maintaining our reserve currency status. I'm not sure we can do both - no one knows if that can really hold or what that looks like.

I'm a massive proponent of pivoting to the Western Hemisphere and reducing our focus on Europe (not totally leaving it). But this also means potentially putting our reserve currency much more at risk. In the grand scheme of things, with massive assumptions around us cleaning up our federal balance sheet and income statement, then this wouldn't bother me if we are no longer in that role so long as we run the Western Hemisphere and still have some level of input elsewhere.

The problem is that we both know we will not clean up our balance sheet and income statement and it's most likely too late to do anything about it anyway. Thus, total implosion is your outcome and then you start all over on the other side of it. When we fail, most everyone else will fail as well so we will all be in this together...now more than ever....two more weeks.

CDUB98 said:

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Ciboag96 said:

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It's so bad, young people are Door Dashing a cup of Starbucks for $24

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Please tell me that isn't happening. That is weapons grade dumbass.

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Not only that, they are breaking it up into monthly payments.

CDUB98 said:

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Ciboag96 said:

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It's so bad, young people are Door Dashing a cup of Starbucks for $24

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Please tell me that isn't happening. That is weapons grade dumbass.

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Bro....one of the residents at a fancyass apt complex my team takes care of, now, moved into a ~$4k/ month one bedroom apt. The complex has one of those kiosk-driven "stores" on the 3rd floor...Canteen, I think the name is....anywho, she had a bag of skittles doordashed. That was it. Guess one of the many things that "store" sells.


She was a college-aged female of a NY Jewish family. Daddy's money.

HASSETT: SHUTDOWN HIT ECONOMY HARDER THAN EXPECTED

Kevin Hassett said Friday that the government shutdown hurt the economy “much worse than expected” and may have caused lasting damage to federal operations. He noted the impact will likely show up in fourth-quarter GDP data but…

— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) November 7, 2025

Don't know why people celebrate government shutdowns.

Certainly a new variable to throw into the mix. Will be interesting to follow it.

It feels like when Wolverine temporarily got his old self back in Logan allowing him to briefly kick ass before his underlying illness still killed him though.

Dan Scott said:

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HASSETT: SHUTDOWN HIT ECONOMY HARDER THAN EXPECTED

Kevin Hassett said Friday that the government shutdown hurt the economy “much worse than expected” and may have caused lasting damage to federal operations. He noted the impact will likely show up in fourth-quarter GDP data but…

— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) November 7, 2025

Don't know why people celebrate government shutdowns.

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"Lasting damage to federal operations" could be great for the US. I wonder which ones they are referring to?

Also, for anyone who hasn't figured out what AI looks like, then read the first response by "The Master Builder" to that X. That is a classic AI wording template. That type of writing permeates my IG feed now. So obvious.

CDUB98 said:

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Ciboag96 said:

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It's so bad, young people are Door Dashing a cup of Starbucks for $24

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Please tell me that isn't happening. That is weapons grade dumbass.

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I know an 18 year old who door dashes Alani water, whatever that is, and Starbucks. She lives with her grandma, who...works for the federal government.

I have never door dashed anything. I work for a living.

Ellis Wyatt said:

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CDUB98 said:

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Ciboag96 said:

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It's so bad, young people are Door Dashing a cup of Starbucks for $24

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Please tell me that isn't happening. That is weapons grade dumbass.

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I know an 18 year old who door dashes Alani water, whatever that is, and Starbucks. She lives with her grandma, who...works for the federal government.

I have never door dashed anything. I work for a living.

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One of our more shocking revelations during covid was how expensive DoorDash is/was. We used it twice out of sheer laziness before the cost of it made me so incredulous that it made me not be that lazy again.

I had to learn on Texags that only whole milk (which is very fatty) is considered real milk.

Dan Scott said:

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HASSETT: SHUTDOWN HIT ECONOMY HARDER THAN EXPECTED

Kevin Hassett said Friday that the government shutdown hurt the economy “much worse than expected” and may have caused lasting damage to federal operations. He noted the impact will likely show up in fourth-quarter GDP data but…

— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) November 7, 2025

Don't know why people celebrate government shutdowns.

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The fact that the government employs so many people that it can have "lasting damage" on the economy when it shuts down is a huge problem.

The largest employer in the world is the US Federal Government. Let that sink in.

Queso1 said:

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The federal government has been shut down for 37 days. Inflation continues to rise. I paid nearly $8.00 for a gallon of milk today. Sure it was organic, but that's my choice - I work for my money - and it was around $5.00 just a few years ago.

We give our taxpayer money to other countries. Our debt is over $38,000,000,000,000. The dollar is ***** Our elected representatives no longer represent us. They represent corporations and foreign countries through lobbyists.

They use inflation to prop up the stock market. They keep lowering the prime rate. In order to set this thing straight, the rate should probably be in the mid to high 20 percent range. But they know if they address inflation the stock market will collapse and the whole house of cards tumbles.

We were told we would get accountability for Epstein, JFK and MLK. We got nothing.

They've flooded our nation with the third world.

Maybe I'm just in a bad mood today, but this whole thing is looking like a big ****ing joke on the American people.

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Sorry that your mood is bad, but you are 100% right. It is this bad.

Why? Because we trusted the wrong people. People who were greedy and sold us out. Trump may be the only person who can reverse this so I am hopeful. It will take time but we got no choice.

I keep talking about this same issue and a lot of America haters, Boomers and other self-loathers attack me instead of thinking about the points I've raised. Yes, these are uncomfortable issues and go against what the media tells us. We have to think for ourselves.

The basic problem is everyday Americans don't think about their own well-being. They vote and think of the well-being of the rich elite and that is opposite to what is good for everyday Americans. Globalization and (fake) free markets is more important than food on the table.

YouBet said:

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Ellis Wyatt said:

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CDUB98 said:

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Ciboag96 said:

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It's so bad, young people are Door Dashing a cup of Starbucks for $24

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Please tell me that isn't happening. That is weapons grade dumbass.

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I know an 18 year old who door dashes Alani water, whatever that is, and Starbucks. She lives with her grandma, who...works for the federal government.

I have never door dashed anything. I work for a living.

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One of our more shocking revelations during covid was how expensive DoorDash is/was. We used it twice out of sheer laziness before the cost of it made me so incredulous that it made me not be that lazy again.

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How much does a gallon of Central Market Organic milk cost via DoorDash?

How did you not know that?

Wow. Thank you for the thorough response. Was not expecting that much depth and I greatly appreciate it. I agree with your missed opportunities point and can admit that is probably a big mistake on my end.

To be clear though, my version of "prepare" isn't your build a bunker and stock it with MREs variety. I'm almost entirely focused on wealth preservation instead of growth because I think that is the far greater risk. It's also because I see a deterioration trend in the business environment. Being in business during the COVID insanity has turned me into a huge pessimist on that front. In a way, I'm keeping my powder dry in case things turn for the better, but since I don't see it trending in the right direction, I'm fine with just keeping what I have.

Quote:

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The fact that the government employs so many people that it can have "lasting damage" on the economy when it shuts down is a huge problem.

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If that were completely true they wouldn't be voting for entitlement spending. They have decided that they want the government to put food on their table rather than work for it. Not all but a significant number. Enough that it is election proof.

Sims said:

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Helicopter Ben said:

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I think you're answering your own question. Or maybe it's just more of a rant. Either way, I agree with you. This is all systemic and not a single thing is being done to correct course. Considering that, there is only one rational approach to this: Prepare for even greater inflation and then ultimately collapse of the US dollar.

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May want to check the expiration date on those pre-packaged survival meals.. While the USD's ultimate fate, not different than any fiat, may be complete collapse, the introduction USD stablecoins has pushed that timeline way further out then I think most would have expected.

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Stable coins are the next iteration/revision of the US dollar not the continuation of the paper based system.

Same name, completely different system.

The value of the dollar is going to take a massive hit (as are other currencies) once is all said and done with the transition to stable coins. aka - collapse.

There is a battle going on right now around the globe for control of the future digital financial system. Factions in the EU, US and BRICS are all maneuvering for position. All "working" together and stabbing each other in the back at the same time.

Whose currency fails first? My guess is the EU.

This transition is a giant **** sandwich. Everyone around the globe is going to have to take a bite. Going to be big winners and big losers, domestically and internationally. (side note: if you have physical assets in your own possession, you'll likely be a big winner)


Will the US dollar be around in one, two, five, ten or 50 years?.....Yes, but it's going to look completely different than what we have right now.


Stocking up on those survival meals is the hedge to get you and your family through the transition.......