Heading for a Memorial Day Break

A Memorial Day break: We're going into a 3-day weekend. Markets and the economy remain in happy/sleepy mode. The US dollar joined the club as well recently.

So rather than repeat the theme of our last two posts, with a dollop of Brain Trust wisdom, let's take a step back an look at some of the "big stuff" that's percolating out there - and has been doing so for many months now. Eventually all of this - either in whole or in part - affects each of us in some way.

Oh, and all this stuff impacts both our personal and work lives. Even if we've got a peaceful, ordered personal life, and a well-organized, productive work environment, it's likely we can't bar the door and keep all of this totally of sight/out of mind. At least that's been my own experience. 

So let's start with a look-back that should ring some bells. And as we do, remember that many of what we'll review are part of longer-term trends. They all didn't begin in the last two years or so.

If you recall, you may find that some or all of these - let's call them distractions and disruptions - seemed to erupt with the onset of the Covid Mess that began in 2020. It began as something many of us considered pretty scary - the purported terrible Sars Covid 2 Virus. That evolved into lockdowns that caused some workplaces to go out of business, with the accompanying loss of employment for millions. Following this were vaccine mandates that caused further unemployment for those who refused to be jabbed. Most recently, there's been a dramatic uptick in disability and death, and a strong case can be made that the vaccines are the culprit. While people die all the time, or become disabled from accident or disease, statistics unmistakably tell us these numbers have risen dramatically.

With that, here are some other distractions and disruptions we've been facing in the last two years or so:

The war in Ukraine: It continues with no end in sight. Since my wife is Ukrainian, so this has had a huge impact on our personal lives.

Looking forward, we may want to steel ourselves for more war on this scale. Those who study "cycle theory" have posited that we have entered a "war cycle" that recurs in discernible patterns through the centuries. Not that wars by any means cease in the interim, but they tend to be fewer and relatively contained. If the cycle guys are right, we may be looking at 10 years of increasing conflict, some at the scale (or worse) that we've seen in Ukraine.

Inflation continues unabated. Yes, it's increase slowed a tad recently. But remember, a slower increase still leaves us with inflation. Despite the efforts on the part of the government and Wall Street to paint a rosy picture (which is, in both cases, in their own interest), we're hard-pressed to see how the theory that inflation will quell and be gone by next year makes any kind of sense.

Crime continues to plague major cities. Official in New York, our local haunt, have spit out all sorts of bromides that crime was mostly a result of the Covid Mess. But trends of higher crime began before the Mess, and haven't eased up since. Those are the facts. You know things are out of control when we hear those who handcuffed the police in recent years calling for stricter law enforcement and a reversal of the "judicial light" laws that release virtually every sort of felon within five minutes of arrest. With increased drug use, mushrooming of the homeless, and the proliferation of emotionally disturbed people wandering the streets, we're in the thick of a trend that won't be easily reversed.

Social and cultural deterioration - a much longer-term trend - has taken a huge toll on young, old, rich, and poor alike. While there's been some recent pushback by concerned parents who want to protect their children from the depredations of various "progressive" elements whose agenda is to drag our innocents into a moral sewer, much damage has already been done.

For most of us, these distractions don't manifest themselves within the confines of the workplace. Of course, if you're an EMT or police officer, you're seeing the worst of the worse every day. (We should pray for those who have to work in such surroundings.) But the average person working indoors, staring at a computer screen can keep all this at bay with a little control of thoughts and emotions. Nevertheless, the effects on our lives, on our family and friends, can't be entirely separated from our daily labor. We may be able to segregate our work to some degree, but it's not uncommon for some spillover to occur.

And, naturally if any of these hit home, our personal lives will be somewhat - more or less - impacted. I know these weigh on my mind pretty heavily at times.

But let's not let all of this disrupt our gatherings with family and friends or distract us from remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our country from harm. We'll be firing up the BBQ for the first time this season on Sunday with some family. Meanwhile here's something for the ears to lighten things up as we wind down the work week.

 

Happy Memorial Day!