The things that I am about to share with you are not meant to be depressing.  Rather, I hope that you will be encouraged to see that there are countless others in the exact same boat.  Over the past few years, the cost of living has been rising much faster than paychecks have, and this has put enormous financial pressure on millions of American families.  In some cases, families are dealing with extreme financial stress even though both parents are working good jobs.  Virtually everything has become substantially more expensive, and so our money is not going nearly as far as it once did.

Unfortunately, the mainstream media keeps telling us that everything is just fine.