While I watched all the notes roll in, I also saw how everyone was interpreting the comic. For the most part, people correctly identified the central figure as the owner of a grocery store company. The owner of an individual store has almost as little control over these things as the employees that stock the shelves. There are three grocery store chains that I can shop from, and I can't imagine ever being in the same postal code, let alone the same room, as any of the owners of those companies. Many of you are probably in the same situation as me: the rising price of all the things you want (y'know; food, clothes, medicine,) is making you have to choose which ones you can live without. Are you like me: I haven't had "disposable" income since 2019. I had a budget set in place, and you could liken it to a tightening of my belt. When food prices started noticeably climbing after 2022, that was someone else's hand reaching down to tighten my belt even further. The people at the top of the pyramid, the people who are truly responsible for food prices going up, they're pressing a button that squeezes more money out of the extant system of food production and distribution. (I learned what "rent seeking" was after posting this comic!) There's no button that I can push for more money. Have you gotten a raise in the last four years?

Some people assumed that the guy in the comic was getting eaten by the angry crowd. The idea that I had when I drew this; was that the sheer number of people that would be angry enough to approach this guy, would cause a fatal crowd-crush. It costs me more than it used to to stay alive. That makes me livid. I have to pay for a roof over my head, I had to pay for a bed to sleep on, I have to pay for the food I eat. And people who want money, have inserted themselves into all these things, which can sound fine in theory, but in 2024? I have nothing left. Everyone's taken their cut from my essential purchases, and I have (as I mentioned earlier) no money left. It made me happy to see how many people agreed with such a crude visual representation of these thoughts. It would make me happier to know that these rich people know. Do you know that we're all angry? Do you know what that looks like? (it's like in Inception when the subconscious background-people unanimously turn into a murderous mob)

The Thirsty Horse is a cryptid who deserves more attention