its basically the tarriff version of pandemic, plus the doge cuts.

I definitely have a very similar mindset to what I did in January 2020. My only significant expense of the year is a bike that I hope to replace my car with. If a product isn’t priced significantly higher, I don’t trust it to be anything other than shrinkflation. No subscriptions, no Amazon, no purchases outside of essentials, only cheap outings and leftovers for lunch at work. I know it’s going to get worse and the mechanism behind that is going to be scattershot through the economy in ways I can’t even begin to predict, so it’s just pure survival mode and falling back on Great Depression consumer practices.

but also

Fucking hell, capitalism. Hurry up and just end. This is painful

Think about that for a second. Consumer confidence is as low as it was when entire countries were shutting down their air travel, locking citizens down, cancelling school, and people weren’t sure if going to the mall could kill them or their kids or their parents.