This quote is over a hundred years old but it could just as easily apply today. The "monsters" I believe the author was referring to are similar to the ones we see these days. They are collectively the un-elected, un-accountable permanent bureaucracy using entrenched positions of power and the authority of the State which they control to eliminate any threat, real or perceived, that would remove them from their positions of priviledge and power.
Erstwhile normal people can become monsters if they feel their position is threatened and they will resist to the death even well-meaning and constructive change.
Nothing will be resolved today imho; whatever the result is it won't be accepted by the other side so it's reasonable to expect the division we're experiencing to deepen further and possibly escalate.
"No matter which side is declared to be the “winner” in about 48 hours – or several weeks from now. Neither side is going to accept it and it is highly likely that one side will do more than just not accept it."
It feels as if half the country is in an abusive relationship with the other half and each side is completely convinced that they're right. Interestingly, this has happened before in America:
Meanwhile, the carousel of pundits, paid infomercials and manipulated statistics keeps churning out endless pieces about how great things are complete with experts that carefully explain the deeper meaning of all the BS data.
"In reality, economic distress is creating psychological trauma on young and old alike. Seniors on fixed incomes and the poor dependent upon welfare, sink further into poverty, as the cost of food, energy, rent, medicine, and most necessities reach all-time highs. No one earning the average income in this country can afford a home. Credit card debt and auto loan debt have reached unpayable levels, and an avalanche of defaults and re-possessions has commenced. Meanwhile, with stock markets and housing markets at all-time highs, the wealthy have gotten wealthier, so the plight of the bottom 90% is of no concern to their day-to-day luxurious existence."
As I predicted a few blog posts ago, the Fed is now expected to cut interest rates again by 0.25% this time because, er..our economy is so strong that it needs to be protected!! Actually, it's the opposite; banks desperately need lower rates to survive since they are hemorrhaging deposits leaving them for sexier (higher interest) Money Market funds but the Fed desperately needs to sell more treasuries.
“The power of the Federal Reserve comes from its credibility. Its credibility comes from making the right calls, making the right decisions. The central bank's done a lot more harm to itself over the last several years making the wrong calls, leading to inflation, which is deeply harmful for 52% of our fellow Americans who don't own any assets. That is more important to the Fed's credibility than whether these politicians are screaming at you.”
While price levels remain notably higher than before the pandemic, according to the CPI, inflation has slowed - reaching a 2.4% increase for the year ending in September. That's only part of the picture, Bloomberg reports.
"The CPI is capturing the goods and services that you purchased for consumption, but there are things that affect your cost of living that are outside of that," explains Steve Reed, a BLS economist. For instance, interest charges on rising consumer debt are largely absent from the CPI. Roughly $628 billion in revolving credit card debt now bears an average interest rate of about 22%, yet these costs aren’t reflected in consumer inflation data."
Other, less pliable statistics are showing a different picture than the one painted by legacy media:
By now I'm guessing most of you have had enough unsolicited opinions thrown your way to last a lifetime so, one more's not gonna kill ya. Mine are probably wrong anyway. It shouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone who has been reading this humble blog the last few years that tomorrow won't bring much relief and that we're probably in for more uncertainty before anything is resolved. Our country's divisions are too deep and personal to be easily reconciled and will require more time along with many trust-building exercises like rehabbing a relationship in crisis. The only guidance I can give is practical in nature because I focus on issues most business owners have to deal with on a daily basis. Sure, this might once again be - "the most important election of our lifetimes" but nothing changes the fact that we all have to open our doors tomorrow and make payroll.
If you want to preserve the current purchasing power of the dollars you have, one of two things must happen. Either your dollars have to earn more than their rate of depreciation which is accelerating or you need to put them into a non-depreciating asset like Gold (precious metals), property or another asset class that maintains it's value.
Here are questions business owners should consider when making decisions about spending and borrowing:
* Where are my liquid assets and are they producing enough return to cover currency (dollar) depreciation and maintain their purchasing power?
* When I borrow capital, can I earn enough turning it over in my business to cover the cost of borrowing AND currency depreciation?
* Are my margins maintained either through cost reduction or price increases?
These are difficult times to run a business because of the confluence of events making a perfect storm of dollar purchasing power destruction, lower demand and higher interest rates.
"IMPORTANT – The unquestioned assumptions holding your system in place only work if they remain unquestioned, and they only remain unquestioned if people don’t realize they are there."
Here's wishing everyone a happy and healthy post-election week,
Cheers!