For years, I played what felt like a harmless game: credit card churning. Apply for a new card, meet the spending requirement, collect the sign-up bonus, and move on.

We don’t just live in a service economy anymore — we live in an extraction economy. Hidden tolls, friction farming, and failing service drain value at every turn.

Life doesn’t just cost more in dollars. It costs more in time, energy, and sanity. This is inconvenience inflation.