Only if you buy my ocean front property in Arizona.

This is the best comment in the thread and all the dorks are modding you down.

As a grocer in southern California, I can confirm that my store and others in our district are dealing with lackluster sales. There are a lot of factors to consider but the overall economy could very well be a big one.

I do know that my company has sells projections and those projections are lower then last years. Some weeks we are stilling beating those projections while other weeks it's right about where the company expected. Overall though, the company expects us to do worse this year then last year, despite our best efforts to provide better ads and pushing out more technology to help us along.

I will say some of the tech isn't all that helpful and some of it downright waste my time (so the company's time).

Just a little anecdotal evidence that yes, retail is definitely down.

P.S. I'm always sort of surprised about the variation in food purchasing though. When I get a raise, I don't go spending extra money on more food and when things seem tight, I don't really buy less food either. I may shift over to less expensive food, but generally speaking, I shop the sales weekly and stock up on the good deals to last until the next good deal on items I like lands. Most sales rotate around monthly it seems.

Maybe with regards to software, AI used by already proficient developers is a rising tide that lifts all vessels. It is reasonable to think they a startup can use AI to build something faster with the right staff and it's also reasonable those same tools can help more established companies refine their own software and add additional features to keep their product more appealing.

Both can be true at the same time.

Always hungry all the time? Are you absolutely sure you don't have some kind of under-riding issue that's causing this because that doesn't sound normal. Sure, hungry two hours after fast food sounds about right, because that's garbage and it won't keep you full. A salad does the exact same thing. It last about two hours. Makes a great appetizer before dinner and it's much healthier then fast food.

I'm not discounting your pain here. I get hunger pangs as well. Maybe they aren't nearly as bad for me and maybe for some people they are terrible. It's reasonable enough.

Now, with that said, are you REALLY trying to tell me that nearly half of society is this way? That sounds like an extraordinary claim that will require extraordinary evidence. That's why I wonder if there are not other issues at hand here besides just hunger pains. I know we all tolerate pain differently as well.

Maybe those of us that are thinner just have a higher pain tolerance. It's very likely a large combination of things, including the food industry and marketing industry actively working against us.

I don't doubt some subset of people do need extra help in this area, but I also see a lot of examples of people that use to be thin but just eat garbage all the time and years later, are no longer thin. Same exercise levels but they eat and drink garbage daily and it matters. I see this in some of my younger coworkers and I've also seen others turn things around.

P.S. I don't consider myself to have a high pain tolerence though I am thin. I try to watch what I eat, keep salts and sugars low and my job definitely helps me stay fit as it's a physical job with lots of lifting. If I sat in a chair all day, I'd most certainly have to spend time in the gym to balance this. I do sit in a chair after work a decent amount though. If I eat a lot of chips and pretzels instead of salads, I can see myself gain weight. Choices in food matter and it starts by not having it in the house in the first place.

If only we had an institution that young people had to attend that could teach them healthy eats habits, to view marketing with skepticism, to understand how credit cards, loans and other money management systems worked. We could call it "School". Crazy idea, but just maybe it could work.

Or you know, people could pack their own lunches and then they wouldn't have to rely on fast food and shitty cafeteria food. It's really easy to just bring leftovers or make yourself a sandwich, toss in an apple or make a salad.

That people are lazy fucks is on them.

Apples to Oranges comparison. Vaccines for covid help me build antibodies so that if I happen to catch covid, it helps my body fight it off. Ozempic helps with weight loss and diabetes.

Weight loss is about health but also vanity. Society says thin is better and more attractive. So if I take a weight loss drug, I will therefore be thin and more attractive as a result. The vaccine on the other hand, you can opt not to take it and if you are otherwise healthy, will likely be just fine without it.

Much easier to get people to take something that gives them a better looking body then something that is more preventative and for something you may not even catch. Also, sounds like these weight loss drugs are a shortcut to doing the really hard work of losing weight the more traditional, non-drug induced way.

There is also no controversy over taking a weight loss drug where as there is controversy over the vaccine.

P.S. Don't take this post as anti-vaccine. I get my vaccinations and I've never needed a weight loss drug. These drugs literally are two entirely different categories, so comparing them isn't fair.

I had no idea they had a app. I just open my web browser and I have it set to use DDG for search. The AI answer exist at the top and it has sources to click through to to verify and get more information. It's optional as you can just scroll down and find more results.

I've had overall a good experience with DDG over the years. I rarely use Google products if I can avoid them.

Hillary beat herself. She assumed she was going to carry some of the Midwest Northern states, didn't campaign there at all and it cost her in the end. The deplorables comment certainly didn't help either. The email server was just another stick on the proverbial camel's back. I mean, really, why didn't she just have a government email address to handle everything. You know, like every one else in government.

Obviously we've reached new lows since then, what with Trump's team using Signal (seriously, dumb fucks) for intelligence information swapping.

It's not that she was a smart, capable candidate. I wanted Bernie in 2016 but of course, it was "her" turn and the DNC made sure of that. There was other stuff but I was surprised Trump won that night as well.

It was pretty priceless watching the reactions from all the news media that night when it was obviously she lost. Total disbelief. The look of people so out of touch with reality that they couldn't comprehend what they were seeing. As I said, priceless.

That's how you stay poor. I've been poor. Grew up poor in fact. Welfare poor! The single best way to stop being poor is to educate yourself and work a job. You can even skip the education step and just work your butt off. I did this and it mostly worked though I still regret not doing more for myself. That's on me though, not society.

And this is a big part of why they will never not be poor. If they can't make proper financial decisions then they will always been in the same rut. At that point, you could double their income and they would still end up broke because they have poor financial planning skills.

So you are making a smart choice to hold back on a purchase that is currently being affected by our market bubble. That's a wise move. Maybe those poor people you know should take some of that advice because it sounds like they could use it. You sound frugal and that's awesome.

And if I'm an asshole for pointing out people's self-destructive spending patterns because of their inability to delay gratification, so be it then. Rather be an asshole then a perpetual victim that takes zero responsibility for any of my own actions.

Also, I can definitely appreciate that life happens and not everyone made poor choices but still had bad luck. This is not every poor person though. I know people with good incomes that have the same spending problems and instead of doing what you are doing, holding back on purchases for more favorable terms, they are continuing to spend away. SMH

Those options will definitely stay closed if you are dropping a $1000 on a toy. Priorities or just keep complaining. Housing goes in cycles as well. Be patient and things will change. Sure, I'm tired of waiting also but that's life.

The robot will slaughter the cow of course. That's the entire point. With enough advancements in robotics and ai/automation, you don't need human labor for 99% of the things to be done.

Given that people can some how afford to drop $900 on a personal gaming device, the economy must be fine.

As the prior poster, Slashythenkilly said, person needs to get a life. Also, who has "enemies" on here? Give me a fucking break. No one on here has done anything to remotely become anyone's enemy beyond posting disagreeable thoughts and maybe said some mean things to each other. If that's all it takes for someone to be labeled an enemy, those sorts are hopeless causes anyway and there opinions need not be considered.