We Aren't Imagining These Prices

And Fauci comes clean UNDER OATH about how there was no evidence to support the 6-foot rule or masking children.

As many of you know, I write a monthly column in my local paper that I often share here too since so many of you live far away and won’t be picking up our free weekly paper at the grocery store or coffee shop. This piece below ran here this past week in The Valley Breeze.

Something odd and frustrating is going on with discussions of the economy and it can make you feel like you’re taking crazy pills. As our grocery bills continue to shock us at the check-out and our utility and insurance bills make us want to cry, writers at the New York Times and commentators on CNN seem to think we are all just too stupid to understand that the economy is doing great. 

Are there economic indicators that are quite positive? Yes, absolutely. The people pushing the “this economy is great” narrative want us to focus on GDP growth, low unemployment, and wage growth. Of course these are good things — to say otherwise is absurd. But most people in Rhode Island and nationally do not feel these positive indicators the same way we feel food prices, gas prices, rising utility costs, rising insurance premiums, sky high rent prices, and exorbitant interest rates on car loans and mortgages. 

The current average interest rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is 7.17%. When Biden took office it was 2.7%. If you know any young people trying to buy a house, they will tell you that the current market, coupled with these mortgage rates, is a nightmare. 

Half of Americans currently pay more than 30% of their salaries in rent.

Have you been to McDonalds lately? We’ve seen prices at some McDonald’s restaurants increase by over 100% in the last decade. That once quick and cheap stop in the minivan for Happy Meals leaves a much bigger hole in the wallet than before. 

I was taken aback the other day when my Italian sub cost $15. Do I think my local sub shop is engaged in price gouging? No, I do not. I think their costs have also dramatically increased.

Of course much of the “how do you not understand how great things are” nonsense is coming from people who have the upcoming presidential election on their minds. They are frustrated that voters’ perception of the economy is so negative and they want us to believe Biden when he says that “the economy has grown more since I took office than at this point in any presidential term in the last 25 years.” There may be indicators for which that is a true statement. But a change from absolutely terrible to ‘really bad but not as bad as before’ isn’t much comfort to people who can barely afford the basics. We, the dummies who just don’t get it, know what we were spending before and we know what we are spending now and for most people, it just isn’t unsustainable. 

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On a different subject that cannot go unmentioned, transcripts of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s sworn deposition from January was just released (he also testified before a Congressional committee this week). When asked whether or not he was aware of any studies or data to support masking children, he said that he “couldn’t recall.” Can you hear my head exploding?

On the question of the six-foot directive for social distancing, Fauci acknowledged that he didn’t know where it came from. He said “it just sort of appeared” and called it “an empiric decision that wasn’t based on data.”

Schools around the country were kept closed—some for eighteen months —because of this six-foot requirement. People couldn’t have funerals for their loved ones. Surgeries and medical appointments were postponed and cancelled. People’s lives were shut down and so many, especially children and the elderly, were completely isolated from friends and family. And why? Because of a number some bureaucrat literally made up.

I know some think we just need to move on from the COVID years but it doesn’t make sense to move on until we know why everyone who raised questions — including doctors who have been proven right—were vilified and why we were repeatedly misled and dismissed by our own public health officials. 

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LOVE my view

My new business venture, LOVE my view, has been up and running for about a month to “bring gratitude back to the game.”

Our website is LOVEmyview.com. Come visit, shop and spread the word! A bit of gratitude goes a long way in changing our mindset and our mood — in 2024, I think a lot of us really need that.

To read the origin story for LOVE my view, click here. Here is a sampling of our products out in the real world—states represented here are MA, VA, CT and RI. I still need my New York, Wisconsin, Texas, California and Florida customers to send in pics!