What's Happened?

For Dear Diane and me April and May have been strange months. 

The first thing that happened was a car accident. I was sitting at a red light when pickup truck smashed into the back of my wonderful Kia Sorento. As it turned out, the other driver was uninsured and because of the extent of damage and the age of my car (2011), the insurance company had to total the Sorento...so sad. I really liked that car and took excellent care of it, hoping I could drive it for a few more years. Anyway, we had to get another car, so on Tuesday we went to a local Subaru dealer and leased a new Outback. It cost me far too much, both the up-front and monthly payments, but we took the plunge. The car is very nice, really too nice and too luxurious for us, and with far too many bells and whistles that will no doubt take me weeks to figure out. We had thought about getting either a Forrester or an Outback, but this was the only car of either model in their current inventory. Supply chain problems have also affected the automobile industry.

Then, last weekend, right after we left home for a weekend trip to Pensacola (Diane's hometown), we got a call from a neighbor telling us a large branch (actually, a very large branch) had broken off the huge live oak tree in our backyard and fallen on top of our roof. I don't believe there's any severe damage, but I won't know for sure until someone gets up there and checks it out. (I'm too old and too smart to do it myself.) Right now, I'm trying to get someone to look at everything and give me an estimate on branch and possibly tree removal. It's all very tiresome and I expect it will be expensive. 

Oh, yeah, I also broke a tooth and have to find a dentist that takes our insurance. As I said, strange times.

But then I realize how well we have it compared to so many others and all these personal worries and concerns just fade into the background. It's probably a lot easier for a retired couple like us to cope with all the problems the world has tossed our way. Today's younger generations must not only deal with a challenging economic situation, but also navigate society's moral decay and its effects on families. 

When we look at our economy, we find increasingly high inflation exacerbated by growing shortages of needed products including basic food items, baby formula, diesel fuel, equipment parts, almost everything. The supply chain problems likely resulted from the draconian COVID shutdowns of our economy, combined with the so-called Green New Deal and incentives that have kept people out of work. These policies -- along with continued massive spending by the Biden administration, the total lack of an energy policy that reflects reality, and a Fed that for too long has provided cheap money -- resulted in the gift of high inflation and a depressed stock market.

Society's moral decay is a whole other matter that must be fought through courageous action and prayer. I'm nearing the end of my life -- not real soon, I hope -- but young families today must be very worried about the future. My only advice is to hold tight and vote for those who are willing to fight legislatively for the soul of our nation. Vote, too, for those who actually understand the roots of inflation and its solution: tax cuts, less intrusive regulations, true energy independence, and most important, decreased government spending. We have survived similar periods -- just ask Jimmy Carter -- and we will survive this too, provided American voters don't go stupid on us and the current Congress practices a little restraint during the final months of 2022.

Pray for our nation.