As we’ve just finished recovering from our Thanksgiving feasts and mustered the courage to step back onto the scales to assess the damage that’s been done, I encourage everyone to also assess their lives in terms of generosity.
We’ve all heard about possible tax increases to help pay for the government’s $11 trillion of money creation and borrowing that is supposed to help us recover from the economic devastation caused by Washington’s policy that forced healthy Americans to stay in their houses and 16 million to lose their jobs. Here is a fun fact: over the last 18 months, we’ve created 40% of the total amount of money that was created from 1776 until 2021! In fact, if you tried to count our national debt, which stands at roughly $29 trillion, and you were able to count one-digit per second, it would take you just over 900,000 years to do it. So, Jesus of Nazareth could have started counting when he was born and he would still have 898,000 years left of counting to do. Simply mind-boggling.
The current administration is suggesting that they will pass a new “reconciliation act” or some type of tax increase to help offset the new debt levels. They are promising to only raise taxes on the wealthy, those earning more than $400,000 per year as a household. In this instance, I don’t disagree with their policy of “Taxing the Rich” because the poor have been absolutely obliterated by the inflation Washington’s money-printing extravaganza has created. Also, I am in no way only blaming the Biden administration for this rapid inflation; these wheels were put in motion by President Trump and his determined approach to avoid having the second Great Depression happen on his watch. It is estimated by the recent Consumer Price Index that the current inflation rate is north of 5.5%. That is, after you strip out the increased cost of buying food, energy and housing. So in other words, if you don’t count the things that America’s lower income population spends 90% of their earned income on, inflation is only up 5.5%. If you add food, gasoline and rent back into the mix, inflation here in America is estimated to be much more like 15-17% on a year-over-year basis. Shoot, for the first time in our country’s history, used cars are appreciating in value.
So, what I am asking of us as a group of hardworking MCM readers is that we take a moment to think about the devastating effects these new inflationary pressures are having on our neighbors in need. Rather than spending our extra savings on frivolous things that will likely be in the Goodwill donation center within a couple of years, let’s look at ways we can provide basic needs. Especially for our readers who own things – stocks, houses, cars – they’ve all gone up dramatically in price over the past 18 months. As we enter the holiday season, consider the ways your family can be extra generous and help others.
I wish all MCM readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
