Context is crucial. But in post after post after post, I find people that simply don't know enough to understand the topic beyond the grade school level. They don't understand the context. This is a time of economic woe. But the CBO is predicting a 3% growth in GDP. By way of comparison, Russia is predicted to have a 30% decline. Ouch. Most of the world is going to take a hit, and worse than us. The real cost of gas hasn't reached an all time high. If you use constant dollars, we're not even close to it. This is the first time I've put together an emergency stash of food. I've got at least 3 weeks. The problem is it's addictive. I think I've got it under control now, I got only 3 things today for the stash. That's not a lot. But I need to throw some old junk away to have more storage containers. I can see how this could get out of hand. A lot of our problems are problems of success, if you think about it. Sure, gas is getting expensive, but if you had a Prius, how much would you care? Hmmm? Food has gotten more expensive, but most of us overeat. You can extend this to dozens of other things. When I was looking for my first house, mortgages were about 12%. The Feds pitched in with the states to make first time mortgages that were 9%. Ouch. I remember during one of the gas crises waiting in really long lines to get gas. My family is friendly with this other family. When one of the kids started to have his health decline, I told him about exercise. He didn't, he's in his 40s, and he's dying. I am a terrible eater, I got a standing ovation in an all you can eat restaurant once. Seriously, the whole restaurant. If I was a typical American, I would have died 20 or 30 years ago. Live long, and prosper.
