Remembering
25 years ago, and it seems like it was just yesterday. As the country pauses to reflect, we remember where we were when we heard about the planes, how we watched with terror, and how it changed our lives forever. It brought back feelings that I haven’t had since the day that John F Kennedy was assassinated.
There is the initial shock, but the terror comes when you start to think about what might come next. I was 9 years old when Kennedy was shot. I was 45 when the Trade Towers where hit, but I had a 7 year old son. Two catastrophic events that re-shaped all our lives. I’m on my way to see him today for a happier reason. But I’m sure it will come up in the conversation. My older son will be there too.
But as I sit here, I can’t help but think about other people around the world, who are facing their own catastrophe. I’m thinking about the people in Ukraine and Russia, who face the effects of war. I think about the people in the middle East, in Iran and the UAE and Qatar and other areas there. The people in the West Bank facing the Settlers, and all the unrest. I know there are more, but they suffer more, because it’s like a new one every single day. It hurts to know that so many are suffering, whether I agree with their ideology or not. They are still people, most of them innocent but effected all the same.
Even here in the US, there are wild fires in one place and massive floods in others. The earthquakes in South America, and these massive measles outbreaks in places all over the world. All that happening and our governments are jus thumping their chests to see who can charge their citizens more money in tariffs to spite someone else. Ours is more interested in building ballrooms and arches than the problems of the people.
Our Economy
What is happening to the stock market? Yesterday was the third day in a row of consistent and devastating drops. Well, devastating to me anyway. My portfolio is suffering badly. Someone came out with a statement that AI is going to kill us all in 10 years. They didn’t say exactly how that would happen but it got some big air play.
All the indexes are down again and have been falling everyday. I don’t know if we have hit “correction territory” yet but I have to think we are going to see it. This is when a lot of people panic and start selling out. For my part, I am going to be incrementally buying. My thought is to keep buying on the way down and then start to hold off when it all starts to rise. Not that I have a lot of money to play with, but we’ve all seen this movie before.
Right now our government is 40 trillion in debt. And you thought your credit card bill was high! We have the Treasury saying they are going to help by buying back bonds, but the last time they did it, nothing happened. They are doing it again, and we’ll see. I don’t think they really have a grasp of what is happening. The FED is supposed to meet on the 15th to tell us what they are doing with interest rates. They skipped August so this will be something big, I think.
Oil is up over 105 dollars, and that is driving groceries, and well, pretty much everything up. Our president promised $5000.00 to every adult citizen in the US if the Republicans win both the House and Senate in the Midterms. He says the economy is so strong now that it will be easily done. This will be the latest in an offer like this where he has never come through on. But he knows that people other than him are suffering and the promise of a windfall of cash is tempting.
I can’t believe that anyone would believe him and I can’t believe that he is desperate enough to offer it. He is essentially trying to buy votes. That should be illegal. Besides, there is no money to cover it. It would have to be tax dollars so people would be better off, just paying themselves. HA!
It would be better if they could change taxes so that poor people pay less in taxes and rich people pay more to cover it, then it would really be a change. But he knows that a windfall $5000 sounds really impressive to people who are struggling to pay their rent. I hope people see through it.
And where is this economy that is so strong? It’s not ours, that’s for sure. Just listen to the reports that the government is putting out. We’re in big trouble, and a new ballroom isn’t going to help.
Well, I guess it’s all out of my control, but it seems it’s out of his too. We are all going to hurt for a while.
