Consumer junkies, will take a mental beating, as the economy continues to tailspin toward a stiff recession.
The faux necessities - always charged, no less - will tug at wishes.
Cosmetics. Golf accessories. Overpriced coffees. Gadgetry. Mail order kitsch. Junk food.

Perceived privileges, based on/born of a credit card - never balanced or paid up - is a reminder of fooling yourself...no one else.
Penny and paper paupers, don’t fuel economies. They leech, until their own vein collapses.
One compromised pay period, and the ruse is exposed.

What was important to you, in January?
The new year was here, and the hope of a legal, valid election, with qualified candidates.
A glance into possibly reclaiming a nation.

What was important to you?
Super Bowl?
New truck?
Undeterred racist pride?
Spring credit card vacation?

Maybe it was steaks. Steaks were important to you, back in January.
By the pounds.
Guns. Ammo.
Was that high atop the list?
Maybe the HOA was threatening to fine you for your brown lawn and broken vinyl fencing - but, you had to let the lawn maintenance service go?

Cigarettes. Now THAT’S important.
Were they, back in January?
Or were you certain they were in the budget?
But, now, you can only afford them by the pack, not the carton.
On the credit card.
Back in January, you made sure to be seen with top shelf, single barrel bottles of booze.

Back in January, were you running your mouth, about “Fuck those people”, b/c you still had some head room, on your CC limit?
Were you still buying frivolous shit, thinking you had it made, b/c you’re “on the inside” of a political party you could never truly afford to vote in?

Come February, were you mocking the foreign experts and their pronouncements?
Were you dining out? Charging that, too?
Buying rims? Financing HornBlasters?
Did you have condescending comments about those who were sounding the alarms? Worldly travelers, who returned w/ facts?

When - exactly - did you begin to blame China?
When did you drive/fly down to Florida?

When did you begin to cough?
When did you begin to worry?

When did you fake yourself, in that you fake others?
When did you STFU and lay low?

When did you decide to go to work, anyway?
When did you sell yourself, for trinkets and baubles, instead of self preservation and community concern?
Did you ever consider anything of the sort? You’re SO smart, after all - they can’t get to YOU, they can’t fool YOU.
Riiight?

But, you let your credit card create a persona. Fake, AF.
Then, you had to keep up those appearances, and premiums, on your ego.
Are the neighbors sufficiently fooled and awed?
Are your coworkers?

Because, you’ll be needing them, as the shroud unravels.
Never thought so?

Gonna be some Real Raw mental mangling, when the Real Raw reality hits:
You ain’t shit.
Your truck ain’t shit.
Your steaks ain’t shit.
Your boat is a paperweight.
Your Louboutins ain’t shit.
You ego ain’t SHIT.

Nobody gives a f*ck about YOU, because YOU gave no f*cks abt THEM.

That’s when the Consumer Junkies will have mental breakdowns.

“I don’t need YOU”, will become fodder for recurring nightmares.

Those steaks will taste like shit.
That truck will rust, where it sits.
The boat will grow science projects on the hull, b4 the lines rot and drop.

Or, the trailered-boat will sit among overgrown weeds, with perma-flat tires, gelcoat turning to powdery dust.

It was allll so important, sooooo predictable for you, back in January/February, wasn’t it?

Never considered the fragility, the long con, did you? Your AMERICAN!

What about March?
Were you more pissed about the cancellation of a collegiate basketball tourney, the closing of your favorite corporate chain restaurant - or, the increasingly undeniable facts re.: COVID19?
What about the idea that your granny should choose to die, to save us?

What about the part of March, when you were sent home, “furloughed”?
What about the biz you own? When the orders just STOPPED coming in? Huh?
Is that when you began bitching into the odorous winds of ineptitude - still unable to face yourself?

New kicks will help.
Charge them.

As April began, you likely knew one of the now 10’s of 1000’s, dead as doornails.
Did you put on your “I’m your NEIGHBOR” face, as you had to ask for mortgage/rent freeze, because the lifted dually needs fuel?
What about that pesky eating habit?
Grumbling tummy protesting?

Well, patriot, you can kiss MY ass.

You can kiss HER ass, HIS ass and THEIR ass, also.

Suck your tailpipe, as you fondle your truck nuts.

Hey, patriot - what happens when the CC is denied, as the bagger, who “didn’t make good choices in life”, has to restock your wishes?

I can tell you where the line forms, and where your place is, at the end of it, Mr and Mrs Red White and Blue All Over.

It’s chilly back there. And, lonely.
Shoulda planned ahead, for that.

It ain’t crowded, walking.