What really angers me (coming from a similarly frugal upbringing and taking that into my adult life) is how frugality has been penalized at a macro level. The last 7 yrs of zero interest rates, the easy access to money prior to that, etc, have just made responsible living actually seem 'irresponsible'.
Frugality and responsible budgeting are "superpowers".
Your neighbors who took those zero interest rate loans and are living "the life" going on vacations and buying new cars... it's all a big show, and it looks grand from outside, but they're probably experiencing all kinds of stresses that you don't. These are the kinds of people who keep the psycho-pharma complex profitable.
Except that when the majority of the voting population succumbs to it, they end up voting for policies/politicians to paper over or backstop their problems.
