Wish We Had Better News, But...

I wish we had better news, but it does seem things have come to a pretty pass, to steal the first words of the great Gershwin song, "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off." Indeed, if you're heavily invested in the stock market, you may wish you could call the whole thing off at this point. We'll spare you the dirty details except to say that this year's market action has been, by some measures, historically miserable.

Sadly, those of us who prudently mix bonds with stocks for what was once known as a "balanced" portfolio, have been betrayed by the bonds. Yes, it's the Great Bond Betrayal. (Should I copyright that?)

Well, at least precious metals and the mining shares perked up a bit. As opposed to recent weeks, that lent at least a modicum of buoyancy to our otherwise suffering portfolios. 

But wait, what happens if we take a longer-term look? Well, we could do that, but it would need to be very long-term I'm afraid. And many of us may not have a decade of two before things get set right. Yes, it seems that we need to speak in terms of years if not decades before some lasting light pierces these stormy clouds.

And markets probably aren't the worst of it. Inflation anyone? Yes, while we may see some backing off of the horrible inflation numbers for some months to come, if not through the end of the year, it's not going away. And chances are good - real good - that when it picks up steam again today's numbers may cause us to cast a wistful nostalgic glance back to the good old days. 

Yeah, inflation will likely be that bad for...dare we say it...years if not a decade or more.

And inflation's not the end of the story. Consider hunger - world hunger. It's already manifesting itself. We don't hear much about it in this country. Then again, we don't hear about much of anything if our ear is glued to the main stream media. That's been the case for years. And it's only gotten worse as the whole "disinformation" mafia began its nefarious activity in recent years. 

(Oh, about that "Disinformation Board" or whatever it's official title: It's on hold. And the oddball erstwhile musical theater actress who was going to head it up appears to have been nudged aside. On hold is better than full speed ahead, but, remember, so far it's on hold, not dumped in the trash bin where it belongs.)

Looking over my nose to this week, it would seem the Supreme Court may unleash it's decision re Roe v Wade. If the actual decision is anything like the draft that was nefariously leaked, expect the pro-abortion crew to explode in rage - a rage that may find our streets filled with demonstrations, and then some. We'll leave the "then some" to your imagination, except for this: Some who study cycles have projected this decade (yes, the one we're in right now) to be one of growing, rampant social unrest. Kind of like the 1960s, but with some sort of steroidal concoction that combines social justice, the false and dangerous claims of socialism/communism, and a host of other left-wing "causes" perhaps opposed by ordinary folks defending their property rights, but perhaps confronted by some element of right-wing ideologues who, despite their relatively small numbers, can stir up their own brand of trouble. Add the high octane fuel of social media to help the less-than-well-intentioned coordinate points of attack across our beloved country and we could be in for another round of...well, again, use your imagination.

We're not finished yet, but we'll leave the rest for another day. 

We really do wish we had better news.