Thursday, August 17, 2023

The boots on the ground aren't marching to the beat of the propaganda drum

 

We keep hearing relentless propaganda from the Biden administration and its shills in the mainstream media about how well the US economy is doing.  The Treasury Secretary was the latest to proclaim the official message.


Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made a robust pitch in the swing state of Nevada on Monday that President Joe Biden's policies are powering historic job growth and rebuilding competitiveness, despite polls showing Americans remain skeptical.

Speaking at a union hall just off the famous Las Vegas strip, Yellen underscored the importance of the climate-focused Inflation Reduction Act, which marks its anniversary on Wednesday, especially in a summer that has made headlines with record heat and climate change-related disasters.

"It’s our nation’s boldest-ever climate action. And it is beginning to spark an economic renaissance in communities that had been left behind," Yellen said at International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 357, after touring a nearby training center where workers learn to work on clean-energy projects.

. . .

"I feel very good about U.S. prospects overall," Yellen told reporters, noting that inflation and the unemployment rate had both dropped below 4%, and that the U.S. economy was continuing to expand.

The U.S. economy has outrun recession warnings with record-low unemployment, strong wage gains and better-than-expected GDP growth, but many voters who backed Biden in 2020 think the economy has fared poorly, and may not vote for him in the 2024 election, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.


There's more at the link.

That was on Monday.  On the same day, I learned that a number of diners and independent restaurants in our small town are cutting back their hours of operation, because people are spending so much less on eating out than they used to.  Some who worked there are losing hours of work or being laid off altogether, and they don't know whether or when they'll find another job to replace what they've lost.

Yesterday, after taking our car in for a routine lubrication service, we found that we have to spend a couple of thousand dollars on front suspension and steering components.  That's not a surprise - the vehicle has almost 150,000 miles on its odometer - but it was unpleasant from a financial point of view, to put it mildly.  Fortunately, we've built up an emergency fund for such occurrences, and we were able to tell the service center to go ahead with the repairs (compared to the cost of a replacement vehicle, they're trivial!).  They were pleasantly surprised.  According to the service technician with whom I spoke, more and more of their customers are simply unable to afford such repairs, and go into panic mode when confronted with the need for them.  A few, he said, have even abandoned their cars, because they can't pay the cost of getting them into a safe enough condition to drive them away.

When collecting a prescription refill at the pharmacy a couple of days ago, the assistant sounded almost embarrassed when she told me that the co-pay was $50.  I didn't complain, but paid it - and that was an obvious relief to her.  She told me they see more and more older customers like me who can no longer afford their prescription medication, because they don't have enough money to cover the increased co-pays that are becoming common.  Indeed, some have had to stop their medical insurance altogether, because the rates have become so high as to be unaffordable.  The stringent conditions attached to Obamacare prevent them from getting subsidized coverage instead - and it doesn't help that Medicare is not covering a number of the more recently introduced drugs, because of their expense.

There are other signs and symptoms visible all around us, but they all add up to one thing:  ordinary people like you and I are having a harder and harder time making ends meet.  The only way some people are surviving is to cut back on everything except essentials, and even those may be unaffordable some months.

It's all very well for the powers that be to proclaim that the economy's booming.  If you're in receipt of government subsidies or payouts, it may well be - for you.  However, many (most?) of us don't get such largesse funneled into our pockets or bank accounts;  and, for a lot of people like us, things are a whole lot more difficult than the propaganda would have us believe.

How are you finding current economic conditions, dear readers?  I'd love to hear from as many of you as possible, to find out how things are looking "on the ground" where you are.  Please let us know in Comments.

Peter


37 comments:

Michael said...

I too have heard and seen what you've described so well. I'd add in how many more obvious semi-homeless living in cars in the past two years in my area.

A couple I am pretty sure are folks I know are full time workers at our local Walmart, but I don't want to embarrass the working poor.

The couple of homeless camps I know about from Emergency Room data and health and welfare checks have expanded so much that despite the massive greenery of summer vegetation they are plain to see from the highway. Normally in past years it was winter with most leaves gone you'd see a small encampment at one of the two.

Our winters can be HARSH here, so a lot of homeless people move south or become serial couch hoppers.

As proverbs and others say Proverbs 27:12The prudent see danger and take cover; but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.

Peter your blessed with a Proverbs 31 wife that you set aside funds for emergencies instead of spending them for pleasures.

Both mine and my wife's parents lived through the end of the great Depression, so my wife and I are frugal, and lived well below our means for decades. Even though we can "Afford" this or that we are pulling in our horns as we see real trouble coming soon.

Not all Americans think like that. I've overheard more than a few time "We DESERVE" this meal out or we "NEED to fill in our tattoos." from folks I can see from the condition of their cars don't HAVE the Money SO off to the credit card or defer some monthly payment they go.

It's not going to end well. We are going to find out just how "sanitized" the history of the Great Depression was and add to that our current "Mostly Peaceful Protests" and "Large Youth Gatherings" AKA Gimmie Dat riots with shootings to the mix....

Riots and such when the electricity and EBT cards still work bode poorly when the EBT cards don't feed "My Babies".

Pray for wisdom and act on it friends.

Anonymous said...

Lucky for me, my medical condition has been sorted out. The past couple years, wound care and pulmonary disease in legs have been very expensive (hyperbaric pressure treatments). Like you, I've taken to keeping an additional envelope to contribute each time I get paid (health cost tzx ?) to help with any last minute expenses.

Food / utilities / taxes. All are going up so committing to frivilous costs or toys that will depreciate in value are not in my foreseen future. I consider myself luckier than some - a large medical bill will really hit hard.

I think my kids will experience a world not seen in a kind light. More like grim reality. It seems like the only result of living a long life is getting scavenged by the medical, insurance and tax offices.

Steve Sky said...

The 'largess' of the Gov't will last just as long as the fiat currency doesn't collapse, i.e. Germany in the 30's. And it's coming. BRICS removed the ability of the US Gov't to export its' inflation to other countries.

I noticed the difference yesterday in the Food Lion parking lot. It was so quiet, and when I looked, about half the parking spaces near the store doors were open. A couple of years ago, the parking spaces would have been occupied thru half the parking lot, with a lot of people coming & going. The restaurants fit a similar description. Instead of waiting on a seat, there are open seats when you walk in. Where's the customers?

Maniac said...

Ever since I made the effort to give my tithes to a charitable cause, God has kept me financially secure and prosperous. Even so, the cost of living isn't getting any better, except for the millions of criminaliens pouring across the border.

halfdar said...

Sir,
Where we live in central Ontario, things are only gradually showing signs of stress, at least for the most part. I am the office manager for a landscaping company, and I have noticed the transition from purely aesthetic projects ('That stone over there is exactly the wrong shade of pink; could you change it to a more reasonable grey colour?') to far more practical ones ('Do you guys install steel roofing?').
At this point, the most serious changes are not in the variety of goods at the grocery store, but, for now, their prices. Those have exploded.
Lots of drug use, supported by the taxpayer.
Some job losses, but nothing unusual around here.
I fully expect these things to worsen.
In the meantime, it would seem that the agenda is unfolding as it most logically must. The government is trying to kill you. Not line-you-up-and-administer-two-to-the-back-of-the-head style; more, a steady increase in the difficulty involved in eating healthy food, having access to medical care, and generally being capable of staying fit. These things are to become increasingly rare, such that life expectancy will reduce. And there is always MAID if you want to give in early!!!
Being so gradual, it can't be readily noted that this is a feature, not a bug. By the time the war comes, people will be weak and sick so that resistance will be at best ineffective.
Seems to make sense, in light of the available evidence.
Mike in Canada

Anonymous said...

I'm making more money than I ever have - got a significant bump in salary, lower cost of living and major reduction in housing costs, due to a job change. And my wife and I find ourselves looking at price-per-unit and clipping coupons much more than we ever did before. That certainly told us something.

Re meds, there are a few discount services like GoodRx you might wish to look at. Not always better than insurance, but we find it often is.

Ozborn said...

I've been monitoring the local housing market, specifically the 4-5 bedroom family home category. Just last month there were only a few dozen listings, all at painful prices - thins month there are about 2x as many listings, and quite a few of those showing price cuts. If the housing market turns down, other major markets will soon follow.

Anonymous said...

it doesn't help that Medicare is not covering a number of the more recently introduced drugs, because of their expense

Wait until you get to “we can’t give you your medicine because Medicare doesn’t cover it. No, not even if you can pay for it.”

Zarba said...

It's bad, and it's going to get worse. I work in financial services, and delinquencies and charge offs have increased dramatically over the last 18 months as interest rates rose.

You may be able to afford the minimum payment on your credit card ween it's at 15%. but when it goes to 22-28%, you're screwed.

We're writing off deposit accounts (people who overdraw their accounts and can't bring them back up) at 3X the rate we did last year.

I have a couple friends who are mechanics and own their own shops. They have cars stacked up from owners who can't pay the repair bills. Part prices have doubled on a lot of standard items like struts, brakes, and other maintenance items. They can't get good help and are struggling to keep the doors open.

Don't piss on my head and tell me it's raining.

Anonymous said...

Yellen is 77 and she's well into senile dementia.
Ok, it's not quite like FJB's but anyone who saw it in relatives/friends can tell she has it as well.

Anonymous said...

All they have left is propaganda. "If you repeat a lie often enough and loudly enough, it becomes truth."

By the same token, reality is what remains after you stop believing in it.

Tractorguy

Jen said...

Peter, try GoodRx, it's an app that will get you the cheapest deal on prescriptions. I worked at our free clinic for many years, and we used this all the time, as our patients struggled to afford the meds we didn't have on hand.

Xoph said...

We face a number of challenges outlined above but do not despair. Reading a book on brainwashing (The Rape of the Mind) and when discussing old Soviet and Nazi propaganda it eventually backfires. People need enough time for their minds to sort out what they hear versus their lying eyes. I'm retired and working in a big box store. The employees and customers all know the truth about inflation.

Why can't you get good employees? Its not pay, but the overall demoralization of the workforce, along with great penny pinching corporate ideas such as skimping on training, rewarding people for a good job and focusing on metrics and dollars as opposed to helping customers. When your workers hear about their great raises once a year that don't even cover food inflation then of course people are not going to feel motivated to work for such a liar, or at best completely clueless organization.

If you can, start buying things made in China that aren't made in the USA. When BRICS decides they want payment in money (actually backed up by gold or other tangibles) vice or currency we will have real supply disruptions.

Keep in mind the tyrant wantabes that are currently in power and working to make things worse, not better. As things get worse, expect more totalitarian dictates. This will wake more people up, what is needed is the hope and will to resist those who want to drag us down. Teach and mentor the young, help speed them on their journey to waking up. They are as they have been taught as I remind everyone who complains about a younger generation. Too many teachers are not positive role models and the kids have learned not to trust those older than themselves. Be a positive force, they tyrants hate that.

Edward said...

Here in Las Vegas, people are still spending recklessly. Every casino is packed during the evenings and there are waits for every restaurant. Either people have plenty of money to spend or they're going into debt for it... As much suffering there is, we'll need a lot more of it to change this whole thing around and kick this administration out!

Anonymous said...

DFW, TX area - bought $98 worth of groceries last week, left store with 4 plastic bags.
Our favorite restaurant we go to nearly every Friday night- used to wait on average 10-30 minutes to be seated. Last few weeks, walk in get seated. More tables empty. Finish eating and no one waiting to be seated.
For my prescriptions, joined the Kroger RX program couple of years ago, $36/yr and all three of my Rx's were covered at zero cost to me. Received notification couple of weeks ago that Kroger is cancelling the program next year.
Prior to the Kroger program, used GoodRx to get my prescriptions at significantly lower cost than my health insurance coverage.

Landroll said...

My inflation gauge is real primitive and simple. Cat Food. In the last yer and a half, a can of the cat food iI buy has gone from 63 cents to 99 cents. Likewise, the price of a product was, let's say, a dollar a pound, now it is a dollar ten cents for 14 ounces. Numerous items like that in the supermarket. I'm not jammed up yet but I can see where the bear has been in the buckwheat,

JG said...

Meds at https://www.healthwarehouse.com/ is low. I have retired with my wife and moved at the end of 2021. We sold our house in the Northern Atlanta Suburbs and bought a condo in the Charleston, SC metro area to be closer to my oldest son and his family.

We have downsized. Bought a freezer. Bought long term items for meds, for the bathroom, for the pantry, for the laundry, and food.

Rick T said...

On the other side, GoodRx is a free service because they are capturing your medical data as an asset when they sell the company in the future.. Here is a link to their TOS for data usage: https://www.goodrx.com/about/privacy-policy#how-do-we-share-information

Does a prescription discount program need your precise location? GoodRX says they do: Internet/Electronic Activity, Device Information, Usage Information: Your geolocation information, Internet Protocol (IP) address information that may identify your computer, mobile device, tablet, or other device or browser, information about your operating system and browser, including the hardware model and mobile network information web/app browsing and search history related to our Services, and information regarding your interactions with the Services or GoodRx advertising may be collected by us or other companies we work with.

The laundry list of 3rd parties they will share user information list is quite extensive.

From the document:

C. For Corporate Transactions

We may transfer your information if we are involved, whether in whole or in part, in a merger, sale, acquisition, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, bankruptcy, or other change of ownership or control. If another entity acquires us or any of our assets, information we have collected about you may be transferred to such entity.

I'd rather keep at least a little medical privacy.

Beans said...

As the official grocery shopper, prices on some things have risen so much that what cost for a buggy of food four years ago at maybe $150 total is now at $250.

Even worse, used to be lots of things on sale. I don't drink alcohol, so sodas are a thing. Used to be both major brands were on sale every other week, so one week Coke products, another Pepsi. And the sales were often Buy 2 get 2 free. Now no sales at all often. And the price of soda has jacked up double.

Same with lots of stuff.

So the grocery bill is getting squeezed double, by rising prices and by lack of 'on sale' opportunities.

Then there are the real estate taxes, which have started climbing, showing up in rental contracts. Like the storage unit I have, used to be, 4 years ago, around $100, now it's $160.

Again, hitting the poor people the worst.

It's like that across the board. Everything is up. Everything.

Anonymous said...

I was taking a number of meds, my program for dealing with the cost is a diet and if program that has let me cut the number of meds in half, I hope to be off all of them in six months. A big decision for me is whether or not to keep funds in the bank or not and whether to keep it in cash or in hard assets. A certain amount of cash is necessary daily functioning and emergencies, but it could become worthless in an instant and the bank could fail without warning. Hoping for help from the FDIC is a lost cause.
I am retired and on a limited fixed income, but I budget a little each week for protein donations to a local food bank. They are finding it rougher and rougher to feed everyone. This week it was 27 dozen eggs since they are really cheap right now. I will do this as long as I can, but I know the day is coming when I won't be able to afford even that.

Anonymous said...

Here's a website from a lady who has seen the medical industry, both provider and insurance and has written a book on how all of the scams that get pulled on patients to extract money from them and how to prevent being scammed. Good information is available on the site and she has interviews on You tube giving the same info. https://crushmedicaldebt.com/

Peteforester said...

My list of "We can't afford this anymore" items has grown over the past few months. I'm making more than I ever have, and can't afford what I could when I was making LESS! E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G is MUCH more expensive than it was before the Manchurian president stole office!

ANYTHING emanating from the Biden "administration" is PURE BOVINE BM!!!

Anonymous said...

Astronomical increases in auto, home insurance as well as city water/sewer are starting to pinch.
Home maintenance & repairs have gotten stupid expensive, especially considering the quality of the labor.

I eat out (cheaply) maybe twice a month. I don't know how folks are "eating out" 5-6 times a week. Mostly junk fast food,at that.

Seriously considering reentering job mkt.....even at my age I'd be a 150% improvement over half the Big Box store employees I see.
Lol, I'd probably be asst store mgr in a couple months!

Anonymous said...

Not only have items significantly increased in price but logistically difficult to procure.

This is evident across all industries, some worse than others. I have many anecdotes to support that. This is true for the commercial shops as much as for the private consumer.

Today, talking with a local autoshop, he said the difficulty to source parts, or difficulty in even delivery of the correct part, has snowballed to create a jammed up scheduling.

That means his service bays and storage yard are full while he waits for parts. There is also the time suck of having to send back the wrong part for the correct part.

As a private person I've dealt with that myself. Warehouses are woefully understaffed but shipping like crazy. Ripe climate for mistakes. Exacerbated by lengthy delivery schedules.

A friend has nearly $one million in equipement and half his building sitting idle because he cannot find competent help. He'll train starting at $22/hr but employee must bring basic skills.

Another friend parked his two semi trucks. Insurance went from $8,000 to $16,000 to $24,000 in less than 24 months. The latest was his agent said to expect higher. So he let lapse the policies. Now he drives a single tow truck working insurance claims.
Went from north of $600k to $125k annual income.

Anonymous said...

Having spent many years working overseas and living with beloved and raising children in somewhat "austere" countries, we are reasonably well practised at spending carefully. Got a further wake-up call at the onset of the pandemic and took a previous spreadsheet that I had been working on in case I lost my job because of ill health, and went through it rather ruthlessly. We were fortunate enough to have paid off a mortgage by them so I cut down the number of vehicles, increase the number of stores, and started putting 5% away every month of income, and buying a small gold coin with the process. I won't claim that we are secure, but we are again fortunate enough not to have to have the wolf barking at the door just yet. My biggest unpredictable concern now that I am nearing retirement age is unexpected health costs. I can reduce (but of course not eliminate) expenditure on everything else such as food, shelter, power, and even transport - got a couple of small EV motorcycles which can work after/if we have to sell the car or it doesn't function any more - and property tax will always be with us. But a big fat medical bill not covered by insurance? Well, no one ever promised me that (a) life was going to be fair and (b) I'd get out of here alive. On the plus side, I'm still managing 3-4 miles walk with a 20lb pack every second day, post-vax myocarditis and aged-onset arthritis notwithstanding.

libertyman said...

Car repairs have certainly increased. For example, I had a slow leak in one tire, so the tire store said I had to replace the whole set as it is a full time four wheel drive system. A set of tires for a Jeep Grand Cherokee was 1200 dollars.

My sister's Mercedes SUV needs new front brakes, plus routine service (plus cleaning out a couple of mouse houses) about $2700 at a non Mercedes shop.
Buy a new car? No thank you, the average is over $40,000. My cars are long paid for, so I will keep them going for as long as practical.

I am 73 years old and plan to keep working for a long time just to keep up.

BobF said...

Double whammy for lots of folks in my area, Central Florida. Friend owns and drives a limo and the Disney downturn has him in really bad financial situation. Universal and Sea World are also a lot slower, mainly due to travel costs. However, they don't share Disney's additional hit due to their smartly staying out of social issues. Much the same for all the peripheral hospitality industry -- low and slow all over. Electrician I know does contract work at Disney and his work there has dropped off, too.

Meanwhile gas and groceries are going up rapidly. My full military career (retired 1/1/99) has begun to be worth more and more as I have Medicare and Tricare For Life taking care of a large chunk of my Rx costs, though my share is substantial on 3 of my scripts.

NO going out to eat, buying almost no grocery unless it is on sale, and even that is high.

House is only 1328 sq ft and 60 miles from either coast. Insurance 2 years ago $2000. Last week I paid $3260.

Refrigerant in the A/C went dry because of a leak last week. $1029.38 bill, of which the refrigerant alone was $734 (12 pounds). Washer went out 4 days ago, new one $600+. Old one would have cost half of that to repair and over a week to do so. Went with new as we know 2 other people with same model and same issue.

Wife finishes physical therapy next week and I begin again for the umteenth time.

Not a great time here at the moment, though we have finally found pain med that works -- Dilaudid. Generic is not expensive either, so at least that is a candle in the darkness.

Anonymous said...

But Bidenomics is a complete success that’s what the Democommies are saying

0007 said...

Case of "Mexican" Coke Cola went from ~$20.00 a case of 24 to ~$36 a case in a year. Even with my poor math skills I make that to be an inflation rate of ~ 55% across a year. The only people who aren't having problems are the*(&%$ politicians in (spit) dc with their 10% pay raises and colas not to be forgetting their payoffs.

John V said...

We go to Costco throughout the western states and have never seen an empty store. They are packed during all open hours seven days a week. Someone has money to spend!

Aesop said...

A $10 sub sandwich now goes for $20, a $12 dinner for one is now up to $25, and filling the half-tank on the econo-car is now running over $60.

Commercial rent since COVID has gone up 10-15%/yr.

And unlike some people, I can work extra shifts to bring in more $$, but that just puts both of Uncle's hands even deeper into both my pockets for even more tax dollars he didn't work for, but which is expected and demanded with all the finesse of a loan shark or protection racket collector.

This is a flashback to the worst of the Jimmy Carter years, with the deliberate destruction of civilization and literally all that's holy thrown in as icing on the cake.

And TPTB pursue "You'll own nothing, and like it!" with a glee normally reserved for maggots on a dead carcass.

The only way this ends is gunfire.

Sooner more likely than later.

Michael said...

Aesop, please expand how:

"And TPTB pursue "You'll own nothing, and like it!" with a glee normally reserved for maggots on a dead carcass.

The only way this ends is gunfire."

resolves the destruction of our Republic and our FIRST WORLD complaints of high-priced sub sandwiches. First world, 3rd world issues after gunfire erupts is NO FOOD to eat and unsafe water.

Sounds like tossing gasoline on a smoldering fire to me, but I'm not a heroic marine, just someone that has done medical support in Bosnia's ethnic cleansing.

Loss of grid power from such gunfire will do exactly what to our complaints of high prices?

Hint, loss of a very high % of the population of the USA.

It's going to happen, probably soon when the Gimmie Dats revolt again over not getting enough gibs. but I'm not celebrating that thought.

Destruction is easy, even exciting to some folks. Building community and support systems to replace what is going to be lost soon is hard work.

And given how many complain about not finding trustable folks to partner up with isn't encouraging.

Not sure "Patriot Warlords" is an improvement over the current mess. Way too many wannabe Afghanistan armed warriors with little real food supply once their MREs are gone.

Protect your family and trusted friends, real trouble is nearby.

Robert said...

I have seen my house insurance premiums double this year, along with the electric bill and rates.

There are plenty of items at the grocery store which are on "sale, 20% off". That is on prices that went up 50% during the spring. And the new packaging of the items contains noticeably less product.

Net-Net, the food prices are up substantially.

Medicine prices vary in an unpredictable fashion. Some medications have gotten cheaper, but the price changes with every refill.

I recently went to fill a prescription for a rather common antibiotic, which I had used last year. The quoted price was $1,200. Uhmm no. The previous fill was $68 for the same item.

Click-click-clickety click went the pharmacy technician on her terminal. Oops, that was a coding error that called up the "Insurance Company Price". (!!!???) Here you go, your price is $72. Have a nice day.

Income has not really changed. Yet

"Bidenomics" is pure gaslighting fraud. Our rulers know exactly what they are doing. They are counting on most people never understanding that or being willing to believe that.

As Aesop says, "The only way this ends is gunfire".

Aesop said...

Michael,

As usual, you respond to dog whistles only you can hear, with an endless string of non-sequitirs, designed to show everyone your depth, but which only illustrate your own bewilderment.

I can work extra shifts to pay for things.
But that's not a universal solution.

So now, O Guru Of Confusion, explain to the class how the EBT crowd gets extra money under these circumstances when their dotGov pay - for not rioting this month - suddenly doesn't stretch to the end of the month any more?

Do you imagine they'll quietly starve in silence?
Or shall they, against all evidence, stop doing dope and getting drunk, wash their clothes and their bodies for the first time this millenium, and apply for entry-level jobs???

Tell us how likely that looks to be from down the end of your nose, as you ignore all the realities that don't happen at the top of your driveway.

Based on your exhaustive grasp of world history, what do starving people do when they can't afford the necessities of life, and see their betters still making out, however slightly, and not sharing their fate?

Illuminate us with your expertise, since you're obviously and demonstrably clinically incapable of confining your commentary to the bloghost's original post, yet again, despite literally of dozens of suggestions of such from me, and have naught else to do but take wild stray pot-shots at what I post, despite me studiously avoiding any commentary on your offerings.

Maybe, just for grins, explain to the class why you and the rest of Big Green were in Bosnia doing medical relief, and the full circumstances of what happened prior to your arrival, just in case you might stumble over the obvious application of that situation to our own ongoing circumstances, as you nearly did in your own reply.

Was there, perhaps, some gunfire involved thereabouts, before, during, and after your visit? Were the people there in dire economic straits, and frequently in refugee status thereby?

Hmm, quite the poser there, how one thing led to another, i'n'it?
Almost as if the Horseman of The Apocalypse always travel in a foursome, huh?
Mirabile dictu!


And stop imagining that everything that will happen is what people want to happen, or plan to undertake personally. Gravity obeys its own laws, in both physics, and human affairs.

Prithee, stay in your lane, lest you further injure yourself. If you can't mind your manners on other people's blogs, at least mind your limitations.

Robert said...

In other economic news, perhaps related to our host's blog topic, we are seeing organized groups of non-white raiders working the mostly white suburban communities surrounding a large metropolitan city.

2-6 people show up in a stolen car during the afternoon and burglarize a house. They are usually in and out in less than two minutes leaving only the video recordings of their tour.

Unless somebody is home. Then it turns into an armed robbery at gunpoint.

Police spokesmen say they believe about 20 people are involved in these adventures.

We had a carjacking at gunpoint from a school parking lot last weekend. Two black males, headed south with their cars, tossing stolen cell phones out the windows as they drove away.

Both cars appear to have been used in subsequent burglary raids.

This is Bidenomics, coming soon to your Neighborhood. With an assist from a Soros-backed District Attorney who won't prosecute car thieves and promotes "Restorative Justice" instead of jail for burglars. Especially if they are non-white.

I can make more money and I can cut expenses. Maybe. If I resist criminal predators, I will likely be arrested, and in more trouble than the criminals.

Prices up, Crime up. Income flat or down.

That's Bidenomics. It ends badly for everybody.

Michael said...

LOL nice reply Aesop, didn't answer the question but entertaining none the less.

How will YOU and your merry men assist in preventing all the 4 horseman issues you well spoke of above with gunfire.

Inquiring minds (even idiots like myself) eagerly await your wisdom, sir.

Toirdhealbheach Beucail said...

Peter, one ancillary indicator is the fact that rescue shelters are filled to the brim with pets - all kinds - that are being turned in, returned, or simply abandoned. I think every one in our area, including the one I volunteer at, is filled to the brim. The next step, sadly, is that people will just start abandoning them.