A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he does NOT crave

It is idle curiosity, but I wonder what the Chinese policy makers think of the Houthi blowing up the infrastructure supporting the trans-Saudi pipeline. That pipeline diverts oil from the oil fields near the Persian Gult to a port on the Red Sea.

China has been playing both sides of the street. Buying oil from whoever will sell it while propping up the Iranian military complex with components that can be used for missiles. I suspect that the military support came with some caveats; specifically that they would not target oil destined to China.

If so, China is learning that Iran's promises are not very reliable. The reasons it is not reliable are not important. The point is that repeated shocks to oil availability are grinding away at the myth of Chinese ever-onward-and-upward.

On a related front, Britain continues to supply Zelensky with missiles with enough range to hit oil infrastructure deep within Russia. While this is suicidal for the greater, European economy it is less damaging to the U.K. economy. Relatively speaking, Johnny Bulldog can rub Hans Pinscher's nose in the ground with little risk to to his own skin.

Meanwhile, elements of the international, deep-state supply Zelensky AND Iran with targeting information. Occam's Razor implies that they want total chaos and, perhaps, WWIII.

Even slackers sometimes touch upon the truth

My paternal grandmother once commented, quite dryly, that a fellow who can eat cornmeal mush with a cheerful face will never go hungry. She grew up dirt-poor near Allegan County's Little Rabbit River. She learned to speak English when she went to Kindergarten. Her husband, my paternal grandfather, died when she was 33 and left her with a child just as The Great Depression was about to experience the second crash (1937).

Thoreau, a slacker of the highest order, observed that the wealth of a man is proportional to the number of items that he doesn't crave. Proof that even slackers sometimes say something wise.

Craving and envy leads us into debt. Debt is the currency of the slave. Envy makes us do stupid things. Desire for status makes us do even stupider things.

Folks who grew up hard-scrabble will almost certainly do better in hard-times than the mama's-boys. The mama's-boys will go to the relocation camps and be surprised when the toilets back-up and they are not allowed to leave. The hard-scrabble boys won't leave their neighborhood. They might move in with a buddy, a brother or an uncle but they do the calculus of "It is hard here where I have resources and people know me. Why do I assume it will be better elsewhere?".

The calculus shifts if you have a solid job-offer elsewhere...but getting moved to a random sports stadium or to camps...not so much. 

A concrete suggestion

Eat a bowl of plain oatmeal or cornmeal mush* tomorrow for breakfast tomorrow morning. Have one hardboiled egg (salt is optional) and an apple on the side. For beverage, have black coffee or tea or water. Take any medicines that you have to take.

That is all it takes to reset your expectations. Doing something very simple and doing it voluntarily. If you find yourself forced into that kind of austere simplicity, you can shrug your shoulders and say, "Been there. Done that" and get on with life. 

* Bring one cup of water to a boil in a pan. In a separate container, add a half cup of cornmeal and a half cup of water. Stir contents of the container until it is well mixed and then pour it into the boiling water. Stir contents of the pan continuously until the water returns to a boil. Remove from heat and cover the pan. Let sit about five minutes. Serve.