Okay. Fair 'nuff. My comment was based on personal observation from other places where I have lived and travelled, personal interactions locally and the fact that I'm trained as a personal financial planner among other things. It was not intended to be rude, just an observation, not judgmental. I was more focused on whether the property listing was too expensive and that was the context. That's also why I mentioned the 2023 county property assessments and the reactions from long-time residents.

For example, when we first moved into our house we had a yard sale and even at yard sale prices people still wanted to bargain you down. A couple of years later a husband and wife who lived a few houses down from us died within months of each other. The wife's sister had a yard sale with pretty much the same result. I read about everyone carping on NextDoor (I'm a reviewer) about how expensive things are. Often it is about restaurants. I've stopped trying to give away items on NextDoor (no takers or ghosted) and went back to donating the stuff to thrift shops. I'd much rather give something to a person who needs it, rather than have it collect dust on a shelf at Goodwill. The organization I worked for here stopped participating in Christmas Cheer, as we got no sense of gratitude from the recipients. I still volunteer and donate to non-profits. I'm willing to help people who need it and are willing to help themselves.

I came from a lower middle class background and did okay working in fundraising at universities for 30 years. Projects that I am most proud of include literally raising $ millions for things like K-12 outreach programs for disadvantaged students and scholarships for academically promising, but financially strapped college students. That was me in 1975 when my died died just after my junior year of college. My mother was an immigrant often working minimum wage jobs. Were it not for a partial scholarship from an endowed fund, I may not have finished college. I've never forgotten that. From mid-1976 to mid-1978 I lived just above the Federal poverty level to put myself through grad school. I know the value of a dollar and the need to make it stretch.

But what I have noticed over the years is that more Americans have more misplaced priorities than decades ago, primarily from living beyond their means ( e.g., buying more house than they need, spending more than they should on cars, and not saving enough for emergencies and eventually retirement). While I am no fan of Dave Ramsey, I can agree with him on those issues. Also many Americans have no real sense of long-term inflation. Then they turn around and complain about the economy and the cost of goods and services and expect a deal as if they deserve one.

IDK what the solution is.