Bro, I’ve been high basically every fucking day for the last 5 years for sure but we’re getting on a decade here.

There isn’t much shit I haven’t tried on weed because raw dawgging this timeline is a guaranteed shotgun slurpee.

It is but with inherent negative connotations.

One schemes to get away with shady shit but plans to do good things.

Ironically, forgiving the debt would generate immediate economic activity that the government would tax and collect that money back with far greater returns.

Every dollar in food stamps generated $1.70 in economic activity and that’s just for “normal” poor people.

The problem isn’t (just) the cost of education being insane but that wages aren’t increasing to cover the bigger numbers.

The problem is that it’s becoming harder to hide the entire country is a “company town” or African diamond mine where keeping you trapped in debt you’ll never escape is the goal and it’s perfectly legal because they own the laws.

I have been with my employer for a decade. My nominal wage has increased 50% but once you account for inflation I’m still basically at my starting wage even after a decade of promotions and certifications.

It’s a dopamine versus serotonin issue. People think they want to be happy, but that longing is more for purpose. Eating ice cream can make you happy, but learning to cook your own meals makes you a more component being able to provide for yourself and those around you.

Most modern luxuries are basically Skinner boxes at this point monetized in some way to keep us staring at it or consuming it.

We doom scroll at the expense of relationship building.

We door dash instead of have community gardens.

Instant gratification isn’t always and intrinsically bad, but the more the default it becomes, the less patient and competent people become.

Then you pile on decades of American exceptionalism and actively encouraging selfishness at the expense of a functioning society and the present state of things is hardly surprising.