A few random observations, charts and factoids to provide some context on what is going on in the world.
A Threat to Democracy?
The Russian presidential election results are still being counted but with 60% of the vote in it appears that Vladimir Putin has been re-elected to a record fifth term with around 87% of the votes cast.
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| Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russias-presidential-election-2024-live-candidates-polls-when-results-will-be-2024-03-17/ |
The D.C. establishment and the Democrats like to talk about Trump being a "threat to democracy."
You are sure to hear this narrative continually between now and November.
However, consider the election total in the District of Columbia in the November, 2020 presidential election.
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| Source: https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/washington-dc/ |
Does this look like the results you would expect to see in an open, free and democratic society?
The results are more skewed than in the authoritarian state of Russia.
Who is a greater threat to democracy?
Donald Trump or the bureaucrats and deep state inhabitants who live in and around Washington, D.C. who regulate and control almost every aspect of our daily lives?
Cash Buyers
Barron's reported last week that 68% of the homes purchased in Manhattan in the fourth quarter, 2023 were bought with cash.
The median list price for homes for sale in Manhattan is currently $1.6 million.
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| Source: https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Manhattan_NY/overview |
In the meantime, mortgage payments required for the median price home for average Americans have doubled in the last 3 years.
A graph of average 30-year fixed mortgage rates over the last three years.
No wonder those Wall Street and mainstream media liberals in Manhattan see nothing wrong with Biden.
Inflation
In June, 2021 Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen famously stated that any inflation that might occur would be "transitory". Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell echoed her comments.
Of course, at the same time I wrote a blog post ("Inflation in our Future?"), that questioned the conclusion that the inflation we were starting to see at that time would be transitory.
A year later inflation spiked to an annual rate of 9.1%, a rate that had not been seen in four decades.
Yellen now admits she regrets making the "transitory inflation" comment.
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| Source: https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/us-treasury-secretary-janet-yellen-walks-back-transitory-inflation-claims-i-regret-saying-it |
Joe Biden and the Democrats have recently been claiming that inflation is down and under control.
Yes, it is no longer increasing at 9%, but it is by no means going down.
The price increases we saw are still with us. It is just that the additional inflation on top of those previous hikes has moderated.
However, prices are not returning to where they were three years ago.
Consider some of these price increases since January, 2021.
In the last four years, inflation has effectively eviscerated almost a quarter of the wealth of Americans.
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| Source: https://truflation.com/dashboard?feed=aggregated-us |
This might suggest that who is in office for the next four years could be an important decision for you and the country.
Will It Ever Be Over?
On March 16, 2020, the "15 days to slow the spread" campaign against Covid-19 was rolled out in Washington, D.C.
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| Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/16/trumps-coronavirus-guidelines-for-next-15-days-to-slow-pandemic.html |
Four years later, only 41% of Democrats believe the pandemic is over according to a recent Gallup survey.
This compares to 79% of Republicans and 63% of Independents.
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| Source: https://news.gallup.com/poll/612230/four-years-say-covid-pandemic.aspx |
The survey also asked respondents when they had contracted Covid over the last few years.
Interestingly, 46% stated that they had Covid in 2022 compared to only 25% in 2020 and 34% in 2021.
Of course, the Covid vaccinations were available in 2021 along with boosters in 2022. There was no vaccine protection in 2020.
When has there ever been a pandemic in history in which infections were higher after the introduction of a vaccine that was supposed to curb the pandemic?
Most troubling is the fact that 46% of Democrats, 46% of Independents and 35% of Republicans believe that their lives will never get back to the "normal" life they had before the Covid pandemic.
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| Source: https://news.gallup.com/poll/612230/four-years-say-covid-pandemic.aspx |
What more do you have to see to understand that the Covid response that began almost four years ago was one of the greatest failures of our government institutions and public health "experts" in the history of mankind?
Odds of Getting Away With Murder
It seems that it used to be very hard to get away with murder.
That is no longer the case.
In 1965, the police identified and arrested suspects in 92% of all murders.
Today the number has dropped to barely over 50%.
With the increase in better forensics, surveillance cameras, etc, you would think it would be easier to identify and arrest murder suspects today than in the past.
Balanced against this is the fact that in 1965 the police were much more likely to arrest innocent suspects, especially in minority populations. The fact that police are more cautious in arresting a suspect today is a positive development.
However, it is likely that a lot of murders go unsolved today simply because they occur in communities which do not want to cooperate with the police and/or people are afraid to do so out of a fear of retribution. This is a very negative development.
As a result, more and more people get away with murder.
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