Yes, Things ARE as Bad as You Think They Are. Here is What You Can Do.

One of the cardinal questions in politics for voters to answer is: are you better off today than you were before? Has the party in power made your life better or worse, easier or more difficult, safer or more dangerous?  Are you freer, or less free than before?

We think an objective answer to this question, in relation to the Biden Administration and those in the Democrat Party, is things are worse off in all those terms.

Wages have trailed inflation for over nine months.  The real standard of living of people is declining. Our wages are down and sadly, our savings in the form of our IRAs and 401ks, are down as well.

About a year and a half ago, we opined that 2022 would be a “risk off” year, meaning risk assets of all kinds would do poorly. We specifically mentioned the classic 60% stock, 40% bond configuration so often used by both financial planners and investors when preparing for retirement. Coming off a long period of zero interest rates, we suggested that it would not work.

It frankly has been worse than we thought. The chart below from Bank of America tells the story.

The 60/40 split has produced the worst results in 100 years. That is a devastating blow to the retired population and those within a few years of retirement.

That is not to say other configurations have done much better. As we chronicled in a series about the “Investor’s Dilemma”, we pointed out that nothing really could work under the Biden policy of rising inflation, rising interest rates, rising taxes, and rising regulation.

Even those smart and nimble enough to be all in cash have seen their purchasing power hit by at least 10%. There has been no place to hide. When you couple losses in stocks and bonds of about 25%, with purchasing power loss of 10% or more, Bidenomics has made you 35% worse off in just about one year. 

That is why this mid-term election is so critical. To stop the bleeding, we must defeat the Democrats decisively and stop this slide into penury.

Even gold and silver, often a hedge against such conditions, has not done all that well, although to its credit, gold has lost less than the stock market.

Some maybe thought they would be immune from poor governance.  But bad policies create bad outcomes, and when you erode the currency in which everything is denominated, you can’t hide.

Thus, from real wages to market returns, you are far worse off under Democrat rule.

Food, fuel, and shelter, the basics of life, are moving much higher in price while the administration pushes chimerical green policies that specifically attack fuel production, food production, and housing development.

The 30-year mortgage rate has risen from just above 3% to almost 6 3/4%. Combined with sharp increases in price, the cost of financing has left many unable to buy a home. The last holdout is now starting to slide, which is residential real estate.

The Democrats are destroying the American dream. Why? Because they never liked it in the first place. To them, it was all built on a lie and our prosperity was based on slavery, even though that ended over 150 years ago and was practiced in the backwaters of our economy. In their view, we are a racist, homophobic, xenophobic, trans-phobic country and people. With that kind of view, why would you support the “American dream”?

Progressive policies have made life infinitely more difficult for most but the few ultra-wealthy. And in terms of safety, you are more subject to crime today, more concerned about how the intelligence agencies are being turned against the people, and closer to nuclear war with a foreign power. We are once again sliding into a war with no strategic purpose, no definition of victory, and no end.

We have all experienced times like this before. Being old enough to remember stagflation and Vietnam, the memories float back. That was also a time of social upheaval as well, as radicals pushed new theories about race and gender. But in that period, the left was a minority assaulting the establishment. Today, they are the establishment and they control all the nodes of political power and the centers of culture and communications.

Hard economic times often come with social upheaval. That too seems to have gotten worse. People who once championed women, now define them out of existence. Blacks are no longer to be treated equally, they are to be given preferential treatment, even in front of Latinos, and especially Asians. Those who were for integration and fair treatment to all, now want special treatment just for some.

Progressives have stood our educational system on its head. Starting with the proposition that a free society should be confident enough to examine its own faults, our educational system now concentrates on nothing but our faults. They want our kids to have the same sour view of our country as they do.

Moreover, while the sexual revolution had its day back in the 1960s and 1970s, it was mostly an argument about the roles that men and women should play and what new rules society should have for the sexes to find a new equilibrium with each other.

Today, the argument is whether the idea of men and women even exists. Progressives think men can become women, women can become men, and many people can just dart back and forth between the two, depending on how they feel. This is adding a national neurosis to an already difficult economic condition.  

Some suggest this is intended, precisely to create revolutionary conditions.

Intended or not, the policies stink, and our only chance at improvement and getting out of this mess is to vote Democrats out en mass. 

We recommend readers approach this election with a fervor reserved for wartime. You must vote and you must convince your friends and neighbors that this election is perhaps the most important in your lifetime. Give of your time, and give of your money.  That is, while you have some money left.