How Much Does All This Have To Do With You?

This question popped up the day after Thanksgiving: How much does all this have to do with you? 

It was a little voice that reacted to various "news" items that crossed our digital transom. And it's echo reminded us why we have zealously guarded our sense from the incursions of sight and sound that seem to fill our eyes and hears constantly these days. 

Even with our zealous efforts, the assaults sometimes get through those thick walls of defense we have assiduously constructed and which we have shared with you over the years. 

Typically they slip through the cracks that form when we are convinced we must check "the news" to see "what's going on" around us. Not a terrible idea, of course. After all, you don't want to wake up one morning to find that you've been led by some doddering old man for four years without your being aware of it. Alternately, you don't want to wake up to some Big Orange Guy whose social media and public statements insist that all is well, inflation is dead, the stock market and the economy are roaring, and wonder, "How did I miss all this? Is it just me struggling to make ends meet?"...or something like that.

So into those little breaches in the great wall of defense creep bits of "information" that hold themselves out to be important to all of us - like the recent death and funeral of Dick Cheney. 

Now, before anyone gets in a huff (There must be fans of this gent out there, right?), we're not speaking ill of the dead. Indeed, a prayer for the repose of his soul was and is appropriate. But did the coverage put out there, the "state funeral," the comments of various "dignitaries" really have much to do with you? 

Not that national leadership isn't somewhat important, but so much of that leadership does seem to cause a lot of dust ups in our lives, doesn't it? Do we really need all these politicians tinkering with our tax code, telling us that we're getting this or that benefit, but typically accompanied by mass confusion about when this or that benefit begins, when it ends, who get it, etc.?

Do we need our President constantly jabbering and seemingly contradicting himself over and over again, but claiming its all part of the gamesmanship of "negotiating"? 

We'll leave the political scene at that, lest we trip into the arms of the giant government squid whose arms constantly reach for our minds, our hearts and our pockets. Instead, we can turn to that giant squid of Wall Street and its constant grasping at our pockets to buy the latest concoction dreamed up to line the pockets of those Masters of the Universe who run the Great Casino that our investment markets have become.

So we really need these "products" to shore up our financial lives? Ideally, no one reading this believes they do. But unfortunately, many more do. And once entangled in these fancy products, the chances of coming out with a decent profit remains a distant dream for most. The latest Big Push has been Private Equity. Once the realm of the rich and privileged, our Masters have created products to "allow" the little guy to dip in their big toe, or, even better their whole foot. Those of us with some historical perspective know that when exclusive products that purportedly made millions for the few are offered to the many, it's a mechanism for the few to dump what they have bled dry on the unsuspecting chumps who will be left holding the bag. Thus will likely be the fate of owning these Private Equity funds.

And even if you haven't fallen for this ruse, know that if you are or might be the recipient of a pension (public employees take note), the Pension Funds have been inaugurated into the Class of Chumps, as they have gone whole hog into Private Equity late in the game.

Ugh!

We could go on for a looong time with this sad litany that is constantly humming, singing, screaming in our ears. For example there's the siren song of the "great" economy that's suddenly been awakened by some combination of AI and/or the current Administrations brilliant leadership. But we'll let that one go this week. After all, the weekend beckons. And if we haven't gotten to things that really matter to us during what was perhaps a busy work week, better we get on with such matters than dwell on all the stuff that, in the end, has little to do with us - or at least with our ultimate personal welfare.

Our loved ones will thank us for our focus on them rather than all this drek that takes far too much of our time and attention.