I want to discuss three items that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans touched upon with any seriousness in the 2024 election cycle. Those items are very important, and I highly recommend you study them carefully.
I am 87 years old, a grandfather, a retired small business owner, a writer by avocation, and an Army veteran with two older brothers buried in Arlington National Cemetery. They fought for the U.S. Constitution and the American flag.
From my point of view, the election was won over the price of eggs. The economy impacted too many of the voters to overlook it. Their family budget saw things like blueberries going from $2.00 a pint to $4.00 a pint, eggs doubling in price, and butter going up 40%. This was too much it appears. The irony of the entire situation is the free countries of the world have an abiding envy of the United States over our current economic successes in employment and unemployment. They noticed that our inflation is much lower than their country's inflation. They noticed the stock market being the highest it's ever been in America. They noticed the record-breaking 16,000,000 new jobs in just over two years. But apparently the American voter saw it differently.
Now we have a new President coming in with a promise of tax cuts for the rich. Tax cuts do not cure inflation, 80% of the time they make inflation worse. So, if there's going to be tax cuts and tariffs then of course we're headed for problems in my opinion. But every new President gets to plan his course and pick out the path that he feels is best. Mr. Trump won 56% of the Latino vote, so it doesn't appear he's going to go hell bent over the border. Of course this is probably just wishful thinking. I don’t see how we can deport millions of immigrants when we are still in need of workers. America has surprising abilities to invent and proceed positively and to recover. We all must give our input into the new Administration’s direction and hope for the best.
I want to discuss three items that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans touched upon with any seriousness during the recent election cycle. Those items are very important, and I highly recommend you study them carefully.
Climate Change/Global Warming
Dear reader, dear voter, the world is on fire. California is breaking all records on wild fires. The world is overheating. Las Vegas, Nevada has had back-to-back years of record high temperatures in July. This past October they set a heat record for one day. Arizona has had three months of record-breaking heat this year. The glaciers throughout the world are melting and the oceans are like warm soup. These oceans are the source of energy for hurricanes. Hurricanes are now wider across than ever with some storm diameters reaching 500 miles across, and many are stronger than ever. These hurricanes can drop rain bombs, known scientifically as "wet microbursts". What is a rain bomb? A rain bomb drops as much as 15 inches of rain in a 24-hour period. Check it out. We are not taking any major action against this situation throughout the world. We go about our business with many folks saying it's all a hoax. Dear reader, this is not a hoax. There’s 425 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere and we are not shortening our carbon footprint in the world. If you think our children and grandchildren are going to be safe, you had better do a little bit more research. We do have problems in the area of American insurance companies, federal flood insurance, and FEMA. How can we expect private insurance companies to keep paying for comprehensive coverage on cars without huge rate increases, and now wind damaged houses? The federal government is the only one that covers flood insurance, and what is happening is many insurance companies are now avoiding areas where hurricanes are prevalent as they are running and hiding from those states that are going to be hit by more hurricanes. The private insurance industry provides wind damage coverage for houses and cars and government is responsible for floods. So what about FEMA? Well FEMA is covering the catastrophe bills. So how is that going? It's going to bankrupt us worse than we are now. So dear reader, if you think you're doing your kids a favor by never bringing up climate change, you're not a very good parent in my opinion because this is a looming problem that will not go away. It is not a hoax! The problem is getting worse!
Federal Debt
The United States of America has a debt of $35 trillion. President Joe Biden just wrapped up his four years with $4 trillion of deficit spending over budget. Former President Donald Trump set a record in his four-year term, spending almost $8 trillion over budget. We spend very close to $7 trillion a year in our annual budget. So, if you do the math, we are seven years in the hole. So, what are we going to do politically to help this situation? Cutting taxes is definitely not a viable answer. Yes, dear reader, they're going to cut taxes for the wealthy and a little bit for the middle class. Would tax cuts make inflation higher? You betcha. I'd like to hear back, is this a good idea? We are headed for trouble with the debt because FEMA is going to go broke, flood insurance is going to go broke, the insurance companies are in total withdrawal from areas of heavy hurricanes, tornadoes and so forth. All this wind rain and heat is on the rise and will cause our Federal debt to accelerate.
The Doomsday Clock
The Doomsday clock has never been closer to midnight than at this time. Should this make you uncomfortable if you love your children and grandchildren? You're damn right it should! Wars and troubles abound throughout this world, and we must do everything we can to curtail this madness. Vladimir Putin wanted to use short range artillery nuclear weapons against Ukraine. Lloyd Austin our Defense Secretary, said “don't do it”. So we've kept nuclear weapons out of Ukraine. However there's so many dictatorial countries with atomic weapons that we are sitting on a virtual time bomb of possibilities over this sad issue. New President Donald Trump has asserted he gets along with all of our former opponents, and he can deal with the situation to bring more peace. North Korea is now sending troops into Russia to use against Ukraine. Are we going to have a spread of dictators wanting more territory? We can't sit back and allow this madness from leaders in the world to continue. Peace is not a dirty word. The answer to the Doomsday clock is for every country in the world to join together to find remedies over climate change.
In effect it means, all nations should say “uh-oh we've got to help our children, the world is burning, drowning and melting before our eyes”. We can not hide from this issue, so folks you better get serious if you love your children. Remember, the exponential effect of climate change is like putting a little 4-inch diameter snowball at the top of Mount Everest and then pushing it 29,000 feet down hill. Do you think it's going to remain a tiny 4 inch diameter snowball at the bottom? So, remember the climate change problem is growing unpredictably bigger than the science community can keep up with. So, we better decide how much more we can hide from these terrible problems. For example, in Florida almost 15% of the inhabitants are thinking about moving. The state of Florida will not allow the terms "climate change" or "global warming" to be used on state stationary. What's that all about? The southern states are surrounded with ocean water that is turning into hot soup in August and September.
I've had a blog for over a year and a half. I've tried and tried to be fair minded, and I am a moderate, I am a progressive, but I am also 100% behind our new President as far as solving our problems goes. He's got a lot of support. I don't want to see a divisive path, but a positive path for all. We’re all in this together after every election. Both parties have to get over the divide-and-conquer tactics.
Now dear reader I'm going to do something I have never done before in my blog. I'm going to talk to you about the Christian faith. 65% of the public in United States of America claims to be Christian. Well, I think we're going to need our Christian faith to survive the three points I've made above for you to consider. What is one way we may be able to pull out of this, relying on our Christian faith? I think oddly enough, it should be referring to the Bible. Chapter 5 in Matthew is the Beatitudes, directly given for us to take action by Christ. The next one is the Rich Man and Lazarus in chapter 16 in Luke. This is an introduction to a very warm place. And the last one is the Sheep and the Goats, chapter 25 in Matthew. This is Christ demanding that we care for the less fortunate or suffer the consequences.
I believe it's good for all of us to read the above because to me, I find it very peculiar that Christian Nationalists on television, and some evangelists also on television, rarely if ever bring up these three passages from the Bible. So please look them up, read them, and see what you think as far as a search for truth. Also note, that President Abraham Lincoln put this quote from the Bible in his second inaugural address, “Offenses are bound to come, but woe unto him from where the offense cometh”.
So am I hopeful about America's future? I absolutely am because we have so much going for us. But is there a price we must pay if we continue to remain blinded over truth? Remember, a thousand billionaires have to start thinking about where all their money came from? What business environment made them so rich? They had better think that one over. This billionaire class seems too intent on trying to stop paying taxes and continuously complaining about being regulated. Many folks feel strongly that the billionaire class is getting a free ride. One more time I would like to suggest those 55 Founding Fathers who structured the Constitution were not hell bent on irresponsibly making more money.
OK, now let's talk about the Founding Fathers. Those 55 men in Philadelphia in 1787. They were the billionaire class of America at the time. When they met to put the U.S. Constitution in place, they did not want dictators. kings or authoritarians. They decided to set up the Constitution and allow for “we the people” to choose their leaders. These founding fathers were a noble and ideal group of men, there were perhaps no others like them in history. They meant to strike a new political manifest mostly rejecting power and money for themselves. Instead, they gave way politically to the power of the people. That unique idea has lasted over 240 years, so far. Don’t forget George Washington absolutely made it clear he did not want to be a king or a dictator. Dear voter, we forget that at our own peril. So dear reader, pardon this entire sermon, and I’m hoping you will give me a smile and not a frown! May God bless the United States of America and keep us safe from mayhem in our future. We must work hard to fix this troubled world for our children and grandchildren.
I’m ready to help out in any way I can, and I hope you are all ready as well. All 200 countries of the world must consider our stewardship duty to save this earth from wars and climate chaos.
Opening Image: NOAA/AP, AtomicArchive.com, U.S. Dept of the Treasury and Bureau of Labor Statistics, Appalachian State University/WBTV