I am losing the war on the cost of living crisis, and I think you are as well.

I don't know about you, but I am losing the war against the cost of living crisis. It's been a lean summer where everything is too expensive. I can't remember when I last ate peanut butter or good cheese or indulged in a steak. Anxiety about the future is the only item I have in abundant supply.

My stomach is full of fear, and I know I am not alone. Any intelligent person now understands there aren't enough lifeboats for everyone. The signs are everywhere, letting us know- that aside from a few heart emojis from the well-off and the odd cost of living adjustment payment from a distant government- we are background scenery on an economic tapestry woven for the pleasure of the 1%.

In Canada, more than half of the adult population is only $200 away from defaulting on their bills. Personally, I am probably about 50 dollars away at any given moment.

In America, 40% of their citizens struggle to make their minimum monthly payments on credit cards and other debts they owe to be a bit player in the game of unfettered capitalism. Britain is no different; half the population is frantically thrashing about in the deep waters of debt and over-extension.

Every G7 country is in the same boat because all of them are governed by the rules of neoliberalism- similar to Vegas’ dictum that “The House Always Wins."

Minimum wage earners in these countries can no longer afford their rents because landlordism is now run as if it's a mob extortion racket.

For me, the end of each month is as nerve-wracking as a bomb disposal job as I must scrimp, juggle and beg to remain housed. It's no way to live but millions of us exist this way. We are scared shitless that we won't be able to come up with next month's rent. We are terrified and shamed of slipping and ending up living in a tent city for the homeless because our 21st-century is run for and by the 1%, who indoctrinated us to believe wealth is wisdom and poverty degeneracy.

Things like food, housing, heating, electricity, prescription drugs, dental care, health care, eye care,  and transportation are so costly many citizens feel they are on the cusp of becoming destitute.

Even if you don't go bankrupt or end up homeless during this economic unravelling the stress it creates wrecks havoc on one's mental health, relationships, friendships, and physical health. But doctors and healthcare professionals are in short supply if you don't belong to the top earning class. People are cutting corners by the most primitive and brutal means because they don't have enough money.

In Britain, some pull out their abscessed teeth with pliers for want of an NHS dentist and the high cost of private dentistry. The same is true in Canada. Go to any bargain shop or grocery store, and you will see customers and employees with rotting teeth, missing teeth or toothless as if they were the elderly from the 19th century.

There is so much human suffering in our communities and so little empathy, respect or solutions for that anguish from those who could change things. It's a darkness at noon scenario when a populace doesn't trust its politicians, journalists and to a lesser degree, trade unionists leaders to be striving to improve their standard of life. This warranted to distrust has created the conditions where fascism eclipses democracy. Democracy can't function when a large percentage of its citizens can't pay their rent, meet their debt obligations or afford a dignified old age. When that happens; democracy becomes an enclave for its top income earners, which creates the conditions for right-wing demagogues like Hitler, Trump, Boris Johnson or Canada's Pierre Poilievre.

This cost of living crisis has left many wounded and dead on its field of battle. I am bloodied by it and may bleed out from it. More casualties are to come, and with it unimaginable social discord. The rancorous politics of the 1930s will seem tame to what we are walking towards because the technology we have invented since defeating Nazism in 1945 is fascism best ally.

I sometimes wonder if the G7 armed its ordinary citizens with the tools it needed to fight the cost of living crisis as well as it did the armed forces of Ukraine to defend itself against Putin's illegal invasion of their country, would we have had a fighting chance against this tsunami of unaffordability? The worst lesson we may learn in the next year or two is: You can't save democracy abroad by letting it whither at home. 

As always, thank you for reading my sub stack posts because I really need your help this month. Rent for August is coming up and I am fighting to make sure I have it. Your subscriptions to Harry’s Last Stand keep the legacy of Harry Leslie Smith alive and me housed. So if you can join with a paid subscription which is just 3.50 a month or a yearly subscription or a gift subscription. I promise the content is good, relevant and thoughtful. Take Care, John

Photo by Brandi Alexandra on Unsplash