A few random observations, charts and factoids to provide some context on what is going on in the world.
It Doesn't Start At Harvard
We hear a lot about the liberal political indoctrination that goes on in America's colleges. It is said that it is not easy to graduate from college and come out as a conservative.
However, looking at the data on the freshman class at Harvard the indoctrination appears almost complete before students ever get there.
Harvard's freshman class.
65% Progressive
8% Conservative.
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| Political Persuasion of Harvard Freshman Class Source: https://twitter.com/sfmcguire79/status/1726678572893614114 |
It seems pretty clear that a good portion of the entire educational system in the United States is dedicated to pushing leftist ideas to young, impressionable students.
Parents beware and take the necessary steps to find out what your children are being taught as "truths"
Does Anyone Want To Sell A Home?
Sales of existing homes in the United States are approaching the anemic levels of the 2010 Great Recession.
House sales are also currently below the numbers during the Covid lockdown period of 2020.
The annual rate of 3.79 million house sales in 2023 is just marginally better than the 3.45 million sold in 2010.
In 2010 the problem was there were few buyers as a glut of houses on the market meant prices went into freefall. High unemployment, stricter mortgage lending standards and the fear of trying to catch a falling knife kept many buyers on the sideline.
This year there are some buyers out there but there have been few who want to sell their home and give up the low mortgage rates they have with their existing house.
The low inventory has been the big reason that house prices have not fallen further in reaction to the increase in mortgage rates.
If we begin to see layoffs and unemployment begins to rise we may see house prices begin to fall due to the fact that the ratio of home prices to median household incomes has never been higher.
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| Source: https://www.longtermtrends.net/home-price-median-annual-income-ratio/ |
This was somewhat sustainable when interest rates were low that kept monthly mortgage payments affordable.
That is no longer the case.
The current 30-year fixed rate is just shy of 8%.
It was less than half that rate two years ago.
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| Credit: https://themortgagereports.com/61853/30-year-mortgage-rates-chart#loan-purpose |
A Lot Has Changed In Two Years
Do you remember this claim that was made in May, 2021?
This is how those "impressive" results turned out.
Of course, we also know that this narrative is what caused the Covid vaccines to be mandated to wide swaths of the U.S. population.
You either agreed to taking the vaccines or you lost your job.
This included the U.S. military.
In the end, significant numbers of military personnel were discharged from service including highly trained pilots, engineers and special operations personnel such as Navy Seals.
Two years later this is where we are.
No vaccine required and earn up to a $50,000 enlistment bonus.
Most of the military service branches are suffering significant recruiting shortfalls right now for the all-volunteer forces.
The Army, Air Force and Navy all fell short of their necessary recruiting goals this year.
How does any of this make sense?
You force out experienced and trained service members for not taking the vaccine and then turn around and offer $50,000 in incentives for unvaccinated replacements?
Meanwhile the latest CDC data shows that less than 16% of American adults age 18+ have agreed to roll-up their sleeves for the 2023 Covid vaccine.
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| Source: https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/data-research/dashboard/vaccination-trends-adults.html |
It appears that the public has made its own decision on how "effective" these vaccines have been.
In the meantime, the federal government spent $1.7 billion to purchase 20 million pediatric Covid vaccines for this year.
Only 4.5 million doses were administered last year and this year's uptake looks like it will be lower still.
A lot has changed in two years.
The only thing that has not changed is inept Covid public health policy and fiscal mismanagement by the federal government.
Getting Rid of The Debt Ceiling Limit Doesn't Look Like A Good Idea
Speaking of fiscal mismanagement, since the federal debt limit was suspended in June in budget negotiations between Congress and the White House, the federal government has added $2.2 trillion in federal debt.
$2.2 trillion of additional federal debt in less than six months?
The suspension was included in a bill titled "The Fiscal Responsibility Act".
I kid you not.
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| Source: https://citizenwatchreport.com/2-3-trillion-added-to-the-us-national-debt-in-less-than-6-months-since-the-debt-ceiling-was-suspended-in-june/ |
What does Joe Biden have to say about this?
He claimed earlier this year that he had already cut the federal debt by $1.7 trillion in his first two years.
Joe is just slightly off with his numbers.
Since he took office the federal debt has increased by $6.4 trillion in less than three years (from $27.5 trillion to $33.9 trillion).
As we also saw with Gavin Newsom's debate with Ron DeSantis last night, facts are very, very dangerous to Democrats.
If you can't explain them away, you just make up your own facts.
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