That is wild! I’ve had a bit of a glow up over the last few years, and I’ve had people I’ve known well not even recognize me out of context.

Give it some time. Whether intentional or unintentional, Trump has been teeing up economic collapse, and things are likely to come unglued in late 2026. Right-wingers have been harping on “the deficit” for decades, while doing nothing but increasing it. You can maintain a 2% budget deficit indefinitely so long as your economy grows by 3%. However, Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” boosts the budget deficit to ~6%, and ~1/3 of U.S. debt matures in 2026 and will have to be rolled-over into new, higher rate bonds. However, notwithstanding the rapidly approaching massive growth in the cost of debt service, Trump’s policies are shrinking the economy.

It is well known that population growth = economic growth, as each additional person contributes their labor and needs to buy food, housing, clothing, transportation, etc., etc. Conversely, shrinking the population by kicking out people contributing to the economy causes it to shrink, and Trump is kicking out people that help produce food and work in construction, not only shrinking the economy but also boosting the costs of production, contributing to inflation.

In addition, tariffs shrink foreign trade, and levying outrageous tariffs on other countries invites retaliation. Look at what has happened to soybean farmers with respect to China’s purchase of soybeans and alcohol distillers with respect to Canadian purchases of alcohol.

While all of this sets the stage for a future financial crisis, in the same that a household maxing out its credit card debt, rolling it over each month on new credit sets up a personal financial crisis, as eventually you run out of credit cards willing to underwrite your risk, there is reason to believe that the crisis will come sooner rather than later. This is because Jerome Powell’s term as Fed Chairman is up in May of 2026, and Trump will definitely put in a lackey that will do whatever Trump wants, rather than what is prudent for the U.S., and Trump has made it crystal clear that he wants the Fed to lower interest rates to juice the economy.

So what is going to happen is that there will be low demand for U.S. government bonds to refinance the debt, forcing higher rates to compensate for the risky financial position the U.S. is in and also forcing the Fed to buy them, effectively printing money. Add in the fact that the world no longer sees the U.S. as a reliable partner, and it will destroy the dollar, further reducing it’s demand and causing a massive inflation spike, and a financial crisis at a level not seen since the Great Depression, with bank runs, etc. There is a reason that gold is in the greatest bull market of all time, and continues to make new all-time highs. It’s because central banks are shifting away from dollar assets (central banks now hold more gold than U.S. treasuries), and individuals are looking to protect their assets. We will likely have a “melt up” (massive stock market spike) as people scramble to get out of dollars and into harder assets, and then a collapse. I expect gold to top $8K in 2026. Buckle up, because we’re living in interesting times!

Lol, everyone knows it’s spelled “Phelany”.

I’ve lost more than 70lbs of fat and have not kept it off for about 4 years. I’ve previously lost more than 50lbs, but then regained the weight later. What is different this time is I have a much better understanding of the forces at work and have made fundamental, sustainable lifestyle changes that will help keep me fit over the long term.

The saying is that “you’ll never out exercise a bad diet,” which is completely true, but even if the calorie burn isn’t sufficient to put you in a calorie deficit, there is tremendous value in exercising. Muscle is an endocrine organ, and exercise helps produce things like brain-derived neurotrophic factor a protein that is vital for the functioning of your brain. Muscle is also a huge chunk of your metabolic overhead, so maintaining or increasing muscle mass makes it easier to manage your caloric intake and not be in surplus, adding fat. Something like 90% of people who lose weight gain it all back and then some, and among those able to keep it off, nearly all of them have adapted their lifestyle to increase their baseline level of physical activity. I’ve done it by using a bicycle for nearly all of my local transportation. I live in a warm climate and my city is fairly bikable (though there is definitely room for improvement!) This one change adds ~ 6-7 hours of additional cardio to my week.

When it comes to eating, whatever you do has to be sustainable. You can “go on a diet”, but if you revert to your former norms once you’ve lost the weight, you’re just going to gain it all back. Worse, if you didn’t take care to boost your protein and do resistance training to maintain muscle mass while in a calorie deficit, you’ll have lost substantial muscle mass as well, and you’ll likely end up fatter and in a worse position when all is said and done. With strict caloric restriction without boosting protein or doing resistance training, about 40% of your weight loss will be muscle mass. Minimize the loss of muscle by boosting protein intake to around 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass, and doing some form of resistance training. Weight training in a gym is preferable, but you can do a lot with simply bodyweight fitness at home. Joe Delaney’s beginner gym workout program is a useful starting point, and is what I’m doing now. However, I started with a basic bodyweight fitness program I put together from the info at reddit’s r/bodyweightfitness, and it helped me a lot. Point is, something is better than nothing in this regard, and you need to do it as a matter of habit, like brushing your teeth.

As far as diet goes, there are lots of opinions out there and you have to find what works for you. If you have a lot of fat to lose, the ketogenic diet is helpful but restrictive. I did this for a while, and transitioned into what is more or less a Mediterranean diet. I eat whole foods, minimize highly processed foods, exclude highly processed foods with added sugars, and emphasize lean meats for protein and also fiber intake. I shoot for 160g of protein per day and 50-100g of fiber. If I consume carbohydrates, they have to come with fiber. Whatever dietary regime you choose, calorie tracking with a tool like myfitnesspal is vital. It is so easy to overlook consumption that if you don’t strictly measure and log everything that goes into your mouth, you really have no idea where you’re at with respect to being in a calorie deficit. After you’ve done it long enough you end up with a good grasp on your calorie intake and can relax the burden. No matter what dietary regime you select, it has to be a sustainable part of your life or the results will only be temporary.

Mulva.

Tad, short for Tadalafil.

Third base!

Thank you. I like to share things I wish I knew when I was younger!

I get where you’re coming from. I have family members lost to immersion in far-right propaganda that I now have almost no relationship with, and there is nothing I can do. It sucks.

I’m in my late 50s and have been through a lot of shit, and one thing I can tell you is that people generally won’t change until the pain of changing is less than the pain of staying stuck where you are. Moreover, you can want something for someone else, and even if it would overwhelmingly make their life better, it’ll never happen unless they want it for themselves. People are creatures of habit, and those habits rarely change except when there is no other option.

So what do you do? Focus on something that you can change - your behavior. Understand that they make their own choices, and if they aren’t interested in doing things you’re interested in (going outside, socializing, etc.), you need to find people who are interested in those things and engage with them. Healthy people grow and change throughout their lifetime, and some people are less able to do that, so you can outgrow your friends. I’m not saying you should kick them to the curb, but rather understand and know their limitations, and budget your engagement accordingly. Relationships, including friendships, are necessarily a 2-way street. If someone won’t meet you halfway with effort to keep the relationship afloat, then you should consider why you’ve been propping things up and match their energy and see what happens. The phrase: “If he/she wanted to he/she would” is something to keep in mind. People communicate not only with their actions, but also with their inaction. Find people who appreciate you and the energy you bring by reciprocating it.

While it can be challenging to make new friends as an adult, it’s not that difficult. Learning a new skill or hobby can introduce you to a lot of people. For example, I recently started learning swing dancing, and suddenly have several new friends of both sexes, and a never-ending string of fun social dancing events to go to. It’s been a total game-changer for my social life, and I would highly recommend taking classes to learn whatever social dances are popular in your area (swing, salsa, etc.). Of course there are also meetup groups for almost every type of hobby or interest, so you can do something you’re interested in and meet like-minded people. Basically, just get out there and do what your want to do, and find people that also like to do the things you want to do.

Dangler!

All hail!

Cute that they think there will be other administrations.

Sleep with one eye open

Gripping your pillow tight…

I’d take them over Trump any day!

China does have a large economy, but it’s military might so far isn’t even close to the U.S… For example, when it comes to power projection, the U.S. has 20 carriers vs. China’s 7. Give it time and the ever-changing nature of warfare, and China may well eclipse the U.S. militarily, but as it stands now I’d say the U.S. military is much more powerful than China’s.

I’m working on my exit strategy as well. While I agree that things in the U.S. are going to get much worse, everything is cyclical and there will be a time in the distant future when the U.S. gets its shit together again. The sad irony is that all of this is self-inflicted. None of this had to happen. All of the suffering so far, and the mass suffering that is going to occur as a consequence of a world superpower going rogue and then collapsing could have been avoided.

I’m a GenXer, and I feel fortunate to have been born and lived during what is now looking like “peak America”. I’ve known nothing but peace and prosperity. Sure, there have been “wars” and “recessions” in my lifetime, but they have been relatively minor and not had a major impact on my life. The changes being wrought now by corrupt leadership supported by ignorant and malevolent people are destroying the very foundations of what made the U.S. great, and will inevitably result in the collapse of the greatest superpower the planet has seen so far. It’s heartbreaking.

I have a Ducati Monster 1100 with a Termignoni exhaust that is borderline obnoxious. It makes all the right vroom vroom noises, making me feel like a very special boy. I am solicitous of others though and moderate my throttle action in residential areas to keep it mellow. I do agree though that loud pipes can alert drivers that might otherwise not notice you.

They need to cut back on all that avocado toast.

“full self-driving”