Inflation is perhaps the most pernicious form of economic decline. There’s no escaping it, taking advantage of it is very risky, and it doesn’t “go away” after a while. Inflation is a nightmare that keeps more than a few preppers awake at night.
Inflation is what makes burying cash in a jar in the backyard untenable. Inflation is what makes saving in a traditional savings account a losing proposition. Inflation (along with artificially low interest rates) is what forces you into riskier and riskier investments just to preserve your value. However, this is just run of the mill inflation. Run of the mill inflation doesn’t evaporate your savings’s value overnight. It sneakily takes a little here or there, compounding on itself, just like interest does. Pretty soon, that $1000 you put away for a rainy day has the buying power of $500 (at the time of saving), and you have to scratch together another $1000 just to keep pace. As Ron Paul noted, people who used to rely on simple saving (the poor and middle class) are hardest hit. Things are more expensive, including the essentials. It’s hard to escape when food and medicine and basic living commodities cost more and more.
However, in normal times, inflation isn’t really something you need to prep for. It’s just something to be aware of when making plans. Save more, don’t have too much in cash, make sure your investments are beating inflation. That’s about all you need to do to stave off run of the mill inflation.
Acute inflation is different. We don’t need to get into hyperinflation for the pain to be very real. Stagflation is a real concern, especially with the amount of macro-level “fixing” the government and the Fed have been doing for the past few years.
It’s hard enough to prep for inflation that overcomes the expected growth in the stock market, but the broader economic instability that would come along with a growth in inflation are nearly impossible to predict and prep for. Generally, the expectation would be that an uptick in inflation would be accompanied by a recession. How does one prepare for an increased likelihood of unemployment alongside a growth in inflation? It’s not easy.
Just taking the inflation into account in a vacuum, the answer is to buy now and pay later. Get into as much (fixed interest) debt as possible and pay it off when money is cheaper later on. However, that’s a massively risky plan if you don’t have guaranteed income to pay it off. Going into massive debt is a horrible idea when the economy is on shaky ground. Any number of pillars of your financial security may be eroded and could send you into bankruptcy, foreclosure, repossession, unemployment, etc.
On the other hand, just taking the economic uncertainty in a vacuum, the answer is to hoard cash and ride out the troubles. Cash in hand, cash in savings accounts. Bypass the long term gains in order to have short term stability. Save, save, save. Of course, when you introduce large inflation into the mix, all that saving is undercut by the erosion of value of those savings. Great, you saved 18 months of expenses in your savings account. Guess what… now it’s only 17 months… and now 16 months.
How do you prepare for the whole enchilada? How do you take both economic uncertainty and inflation into account? The least bad answer is balance. I haven’t been convinced that there is any good plan to handle such times, but you can be less exposed than most other people by hedging against both eventualities.
First, think outside of the dollars and cents. The most effective solution may not be a financial one, even though the problem is economic in nature. Personally, I wouldn’t go into debt to fight inflation, but I would be tempted to (and have currently started to) reroute funds that would have otherwise gone into retirement investing instead to buying things that we will eventually need. For example, we’re funding our down payment fund extremely aggressively with the goal of being ready to pull the trigger in 18 months rather than in 30 months as originally planned. Now is a good time to start stockpiling non-perishables, with the expectation that prices (sticker and real) will only go up on those goods. Prioritize purchases that will reduce your recurring costs in the future. Can you grow/improve your garden, buy some ammo, buy canned goods, emergency supplies, upgrade to a more fuel efficient car, etc. without going into debt? Now’s the time.
Second, reduce recurring costs. There are two sides to the ledger, income and outlays. You may not have all that much control over the income side if the economy gets unstable, but you have a lot of control over the outlays side, and the benefit is that reducing costs is even more effective in inflationary times. What costs should be targeted? The most variable costs. Restaurants are gonna get expensive. Grocery is already seeing inflation in the prices. Can you eat in more? Can you cook more instead of buying pre-made food? Can you grow and store some of your own food?
Utilities are also a fertile ground for reducing recurring costs. That HVAC upgrade you’ve been thinking about for a few years is a good way to reduce your electric/gas consumption. Blow some insulation into your attic and inject spray foam into your walls. Now may also be a great time to buy a fuel efficient car for commute/travel. Gas prices are probably not heading downward in the near future.
Like we are doing, having a plan to get out of a rental and into a mortgage (or pay cash if you’re financially able) reduces one more vector for inflation to creep in.
Third, do actually keep some cash available. Inflation isn’t instantaneous (and when it is, there ain’t much you can do to prepare for it). Having 6 months of barebones expenses in liquid cash protects against job loss without exposing too much of your nest egg to corrosion via inflation. It’s a balance. You’re insuring against short-term catastrophe by taking a long-term loss on a certain amount of your money. It’s cheap insurance where you get to keep most of the premium.
Finally, when you’re stable enough to not worry about the immediate uncertainty, you can start making money off of the coming downturn. Now is the time to invest some for dollar cost averaging purposes, but we’re in the midst of a broad-based bubble. When the bubble pops, assets are gonna be cheap. The smart investors will scavenge the wreckage for great deals. Land, cars, stock, you name it. People will be desperate, and that means clearance prices.
The ten million dollar question is timing. When is the next economic downturn going to hit, and how big will the inflation be? IMO, it’s going to be sooner than later, but the market can stay irrational longer than anybody can stay solvent. No point in over-relying on this specific scenario happening by a certain time period. Just another scenario to add to the broad based prepping that you are already doing.
This is what I love about this community. Just when I think I have things sussed out, someone posts an article that gets me thinking about something I probably haven’t spent too much brain run-time on yet, and I end up with a little bit of new perspective. Thanks, Trashy.
Reading the headline I was prepared for the worst – which you neatly avoided. Well done.
This hits close to home. I took the kids to McDonald’s last night and 2 Happy Meals + a 20 pack of McNuggets was $16.10. McDonald’s 1976 advertising universally touted that “… at McDonald’s family restaurants, you can feed a family of four for about $2.50“. Doo doo do do do, I’m (not) Lovin’ It!
When we rarely eat at a fast food its $1 menu only and if you want something more, then you are paying for it. If I am going to be paying $20.00 for shitty food, Ill go to Chipotle.
But those kids that worked at McDonald’s back then didn’t earn a Living Wage!
No, it was a McWage, as it was a McJob.
If you can’t pay a Living McWage you shouldn’t be in McBuisiness! (I’ve had socialists tell me this when I said I paid $50 an hour to contract workers but only had a few hours of work for them at a time)
The whole “living wage” thing is a funny concept, although I can see why it appeals to collectivists. The business is just paying you for your work, so only owes you the value of your work (or whatever you manage to negotiate, but it will be within the ball-park of the value of your work). They are not responsible to you for your life, livelihood, or anything outside of your narrow working relationship. The people who cry about a “living wage” seem to have the mindset that employees are serfs and employers are their lords and masters, responsible for their general well-being. No thanks to that. The company doesn’t own me when I’m off the clock, and as such they don’t owe me for it either.
That 1976 $2.50 is about $11.25 today.
Two cheeseburgers ($2.00) x 2 = $4.00
Large fries ($1.89) x 2 = $3.78
Small soft drink ($1.00) x 4 = $4.00
Total for four people = $11.78
I can go to my local Mexican eatery and get 3 carne asada tacos, chips and salsa, and a nice big lemonade for about $12 out the door, and they are really fast.
I can’t seem to get anything at a fast food joint for less than about $8. I don’t see feeding a family on $12. So if speed is king, I’ll go to Wendy’s, but if I have the time to spare, I’ll go for the Mexican–so much better.
I wouldn’t consider 2 large fries equivalent to 2 meals, personally. Are the cheeseburgers getting split here?
Family of four – 4 burgers, 4 drinks, 2 fries to share.
You messed up your math. If we assume your prices and your order, the total is $15.78.
Never mind, I messed up my reading. You had two cheeseburgers as a line item, not one (is there a special or something?).
It’s on their menu.
It also left out tax. Ohio taxes eat in food, but not to go food. However, any sweetened beverages are taxed, even on to go orders. Because that keeps it simple…
My 12 year old eats the two burgers and a fry himself. Whatever you call it, it’s not a meal for a family of four unless three are small kids.
You have to keep in mind the inflation that the farmer subsidies bring to beef, cheese, etc. The government keeps inflating those as well, because they love people and shit.
My kids like fast food a lot more than I do. So when they talk me into stopping, I make them pay for their own food. The youngest has figured out that you can use the daily deal on the McDonald’s app and save a lot of money.
Where do Real Dolls fit into the equation? Asking,….for a friend
On top of the miniature US Bank Tower in downtown LA that was gloriously destroyed? Oh…not the right rant.
So many great miniatures in Independence Day. Special FX were my introduction into film. Such a waste of a degree.
Ii am glad I was able to buy something, even if its just a mobile home, its a fixed payment for 5 years then done.
A man’s home is his castle and no matter the size, provides shelter, comfort, sense of security, and peace of mind.
Exactly,
I was thinking on the drive in today (which always seems to provoke random thoughts) that if I were on my own, I’d be just fine in a small place – one bedroom, combo living/dining/kitchen – in the right location. The Casa Dean is very nice, but if things get tight, we’ve already identified it as our biggest opportunity to cut costs. And likely raise cash, as long as CA keeps sending hordes of people here with ridiculous amounts of money to buy a house.
Once the kids leave, I’ve insisted to Mr. Mojeaux that we have a 2- or 3-bedroom apartment. I do need a place to work, after all, and he may need one as well.
He’s not happy about the apartment, but I’m done with home ownership and even renting a house would oblige us to yard work.
If the housing market craters and deflation sets in, then renting is a lot smarter than being tied to a house.
If significant inflation sets in, then rent will climb rapidly while a mortgage stays fixed.
Nice, Trashy.
We’re really struggling with these questions right now. Thinking of selling and moving, but Kristen’s RV-life is starting to look more attractive!
No one knows what’s gonna happen. Flexibility and resilience in all things is probably a good goal.
Yeah. I’ve been plugging away with the standard investment strategy I’ve been running with for the past several years, but with the current uncertainty, I’m contemplating changing some of the strategy into some more durable goods.
This seems like the perfect sized house to me, except with a garage. Also, once my kids move out.
Too big.
Presumably my wife will still be around.
LOL, good one.
*bookmarked for 3 years from now when ammo is 5x the current prices*
I thought I had enough target and self-defense ammo stockpiled for all my calibers and could finally sit back for a bit.
Now I gotta start over for the AR-10. My wallet burst into flames when I saw what .308 is going for.
I shouldve bought out the store when I was able to get 308 at $0.75/rnd late last year.
7.62x54R is at $0.75 now.
That’s not cool.
I spent 90 bucks on 440 round ammo can that was manufactured behind the iron curtain just a few years ago.
I picked up a some crates when it was cheap. My UPS guy must have hated me back then. It was a long walk from the parking lot to my front door. Cheap, surplus ammo by the crate sealed in spam cans… I sure miss those days!
The little shop near me had all the ammo you could want in pretty much every caliber. The prices were steep but everything was there. I bought some Brenneke slugs in case I need to shoot a dinosaur. I couldn’t bring myself to pay $36 for a box of 50 9mm range ammo, but there was plenty of it.
Good morning, and welcome to Price Theory 101.
Yep – I know the owner, our kids played football together. He isn’t making any more per box than he was a year ago and felt embarrassed by the prices.
On the other hand, if supply is catching up with demand, prices will hopefully start to correct themselves.
Yeah, we can hope. I’m in the middle of moving, so haven’t done much shooting lately, and therefore my inventory is pretty good at the moment. But once we’re settled and I no longer have to drive fifteen miles to the gun club to pop some caps, well, I’ll be looking for regular resupply.
I shot a box of new-bought .357 at the range. Then I did the math. Fuck me.
I have spent my entire adult life missing those wonderful years we spent under Jimmy Carter.
Misery Index
The misery index is an economic indicator, created by economist Arthur Okun. The index helps determine how the average citizen is doing economically and it is calculated by adding the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate to the annual inflation rate. It is assumed that both a higher rate of unemployment and a worsening of inflation create economic and social costs for a country.
Jimmy Carter: Average — 16.26; Peak — 21.98 in Jun 1980
Donald Trump: Average — 6.60; Peak — 15.03 in Apr 2020 {hmm, I wonder what happened last April}
Remember kids, Orange Mad Bad was very Bad.
The fact that he had a misery index over 15 in his final year in office AND only lost reelection due to various reasons says something about Biden.
A normal Prez with that gets thumped in his reelection.
Remember kids, Orange Mad Bad was very Bad.
Yeah, the Dems are lucky for the pandemic (at least for their short-term goal of beating Trump). He had some of the best employment numbers ever under his watch (it’s amazing what even slightly taking the government boot off the citizens’ neck will do), and all the while I was seeing those numbers I had the sinking feeling that that was possibly going to be the high-point of the American economy during my lifetime.
And for the first time in a very long time, there were decent income gains outside the top quintile.
Two semi-relevant stories: I just came back from my local bagel shop. Bought a bag of 8 for $2.50. Onion bagels, with poppy & sesame, if anyone wants to know
.
The Circle Jerks sing about stagflation.
SCIENCE.
To reach its conclusion, the study compares coronavirus infection rates in Louisiana with the country of South Korea, where coronavirus was largely quashed. Now, Cockburn can think of many differences between South Korea and Louisiana — he has never thrown up into a garbage can in Seoul, for starters — but for all their PhDs Harvard’s experts are remarkably simpleminded on the topic. The paper says nothing about South Korea’s conformist culture, its intense xenophobia, its high education levels, or its low obesity rate. No, it’s the equity, stupid: South Korea is more equal than Louisiana. It didn’t have slavery. So a few hundred thousand in reparations and Louisiana would be just like South Korea.
The paper’s scientific pretensions fray towards the end, when its authors collectively turn toward the reader and tell them that, if they want to reopen the country without erecting socialism, they might as well bring back Jim Crow:
‘Since reparations have not been enacted, however, “reopening” American society early (after coronavirus-forced shutdowns) had a disproportionate adverse mortality effect on Black people, an effect that was predictable. Therefore, de facto, it resembles a modern Tuskegee experiment, since massive wealth redistribution could have averted these deaths, just as penicillin to treat syphilis would have averted deaths in the nearby state of Alabama.’
Tuskegee was progressive government scientists deliberately lying and withholding care, but ok.
It was for the common good.
Those people were Racists, and Racism is a coherent and consistent political ideology, and there’s only one place to find Racism in the U.S. today.
Sure it was.
Korea didn’t have slavery? The Book of Knowledge disagrees: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Korea
Most of the countries that have been considered a success on Covid are islands. While South Korea isn’t an island, it might as well be since it’s only land border is tighter than a gnat’s ass.
This. The only countries that have avoided the pandemic are those with tight border controls, usually due to militarized borders and coasts. The US has never had tight border controls, so it was never going to avoid the pandemic, no matter who was in charge or how much they locked down.
It didn’t have slavery.
Bullshit. Not African slave trade slavery, but there’s slavery in their history. Probably mostly of Koreans, but still.
massive wealth redistribution could have averted these deaths
Do people have to try to be that stupid, or does it just come naturally?
Dammit, I don’t come to the internet for rational, sensible views and advice! I want PANIC and drastic, ill-considered advice!
Buy every damn mason jar in America! It’s the only way to survive.
Actually, buy them and scalp them on Amazon. It’s the American way.
I ran across this article last week. Kind of a depressing look at a for-real shit-hit-the-fan situation.
Words from a BosnianSurvivalist
I was in Heidelberg while that shit was going on. Some of the stories we heard from ‘downrange’ were downright depressing.
Great article! Thanks for posting!
Key take away (one of many):
“If there is unrest, the government will seize all the
registered guns. Never forget that.”
Boom.
I always liked his stuff even if at first I questioned his bona fides. Meaning I couldn’t and quite frankly can’t now confirm if he was in Sarajevo during the war.
shtfschool dot communications if you want to check out his site.
5. What should you stockpile?
That depends. If you plan to live by theft – all you need is weapons and ammo. Lots of ammo.
So, I need more ammo.
Were gold and silver useful?
Yes. I personally traded all the gold in the house for ammunition.
So, I need to buy more ammo.
I sense a trend.
Thought police.
The guy carrying a cane to literally beat wrong-think out of your head is a nice touch.
I’m singin’ in the rain… ? ?
JFC
I wonder what would happen if I go down there and start insulting hetero white male Christians right in front of them?
That’s not being offensive. That’s just fighting the power.
The stupid thing is that rather than try to take away “white privilege” (freedoms and opportunities) they should be elevating everyone to have the same privileges (opportunities) . Otherwise they’re going to take away privilege (freedoms) from those that have it and then crush everyone.
The purpose of white privilege is to establish the belief that there is an implicit system of privilege so that an explicit system of privilege can be erected in “opposition” to it. And the putative beneficiaries of this new arrangement are just human shields in the endeavor. The average black person will be just as irrelevant to the halls of power in the new system as in the old.
Very well put.
The punchline: A new system of privilege built to oppose “white supremacy” will have, as the basis of its legitimacy, the presence of disadvantaged/oppressed minorities. How do you think minorities will fare in that system?
Woke government: we’ll waste your money on mobile jumbotrons and overtime for photo ops to tell you that we’ll beat your ass if you step out of line.
The “ER” on the flag is a nice touch. Did they ask the Queen if she endorses the Stasi, or did they just assume she was okay with it?
Worst part, it isn’t yet an offense to be offensive. So on top of everything, they lied.
But, since they’re willing to lie, I don’t think they care if QueenE approves.
The law is whatever the people who enforce it say it is. None of Boris Johnson, the modern Tory Party, the new UK Supreme Court, the average British PC are going to say no to this. Passing a new act in the Commons is passé when any past act can be reinterpreted at any time.
It is hard to take them seriously when they deliberately misspell words. Friggin limeys. 😉
It’s a victim of the linguistic wars with the French. A lot of good Anglish Words died in the fighting.
Bah! Paulie Krugman said there is no such thing as inflation. And even if there was such a thing, which is just a myth perpetuated by right wing extremists, it could never happen here.
And Krugman has a prize. Do you have a prize? Obviously, he’s an expert.
So who are we supposed to believe, an expert with a prize, or some right wing extremist on an extremist web site?
This is fake news. It just keeps getting more obvious why we need a truth czar right now!
in Romania at peak inflation in the 90s it was worth working for banks you could get loans at preferential under inflation rate interest but salaries increased with inflation. You could get yourself some nice big loans and buy real estate before the epic 2000-2007 bubble and make… well make bank
is that how you made your fortune?
I have a fortune?
Well, I also heard a rumor you shorted Gamestop.
Ha – going to deny the orphans toiling away in your mines, fields, or factories, and household next?
I ran out of peppers after last night’s dinners, but I still had rolls, onion and shaved steak, so I decided to repurpose it. I lined the leftover rolls in sour cream, seasoned the onion with minced garlic as it sauted, added the beef and seasoned with taco seasoning, salt and black pepper. Once it was on the rolls, I covered with mozzerella.
I’m not sure if they count as taco sandwiches or some other term.
So you are not a pepper prepper.
Fraid not.
And I’m certainly not a proper pepper prepper
Wouldn’t you like to be a pepper too?
You’re only a true prepper if you’ve been hoarding the number one essential item for survival, Charmin Ultra Plush.
*looks around nervously*
GF may be guilty of this.
How many peppers would a practical prepper pick if a practical prepper picked a pack of pickled peppers?
What if the prepper is properly pickled?
Frankenrolls.
FYI: sandwiches made on bolio rolls and commonly sold in taquerias are called tortas. And they do use crema as a spread. I haven’t had shaved steak, but I’ve had pounded/cubed steak (called milanesa).
If frozen Thin Mints become a universally-accepted means of exchange, Tom T & I are set for life.
Hey, you can’t just put those things out there in circulation, they have heroin in them, or something.
depreciation from freezer burn could eliminate that nest egg.
Thin mints have a half life of 220,000 years, I’ll have you know! The heroin and radiation shields them against freezer burn.
Talking about inflation, you get fewer cookies in the box every year. No euphemism.
After 3 years of the current admin, a box will be $800.
Half an hour of minimum wage? still cheap.
Oh, we’re up to $400 an hour now? Well, at least they’re being serious now.
That’s the kind of math that will get us out of this mess.
From Aldi’s or the girl scouts? If the latter…those little bitches ripped you off.
Yep. Keebler grasshoppers #FTW.
My mom used to work for one of the Girl Scout groups up here. Back then (pre-public internet) they had to order cookies based on predictions and the paper orders. After the end of the sales (all cookies delivered, no longer setting up stands outside stores), they would sell any full cases left over at a discount. There were always a couple cases of Thin Mints and Trefoils left over. If we were lucky, there would be Do-Si-Does and Tagalongs. These cookies would be stashed in the freezer and eaten over the course of the year.
Back in the before times, one of our local breweries (Jolly Scholar – Situated on the campus of Case Western Reserve University) would buy cases of cookies every year, and make milkshakes out of them. Local news talked about how happy the Girl Scout troop that the cookies were purchased from was.
Just so y’all can sleep better.
We’re all safer now!
Y’all can sleep more securely now. We’re going to be protected against white supremacy as he’s declared that his number one job. Antifa? Who? BLM? Who? Those are just ideas! I mean right after he sends out Beta to get all the guns, he’ll start protecting us against the number one threat, white surpemacists!.
As per the woke dictionary:
white supremacist noun A person or institution that does not immediately capitulate to the childish demands of leftists.
For fuck’s sake. I realize that immigration is a conservative bugaboo (that they conspicuously did fuck-all about until Trump) but seriously? This guy is going to be head of the organization that’s going to be fucking over every conservative and not-Democrat-enough group in the country for the next 4 years, with the full legal cover of the courts, and conservatives’ biggest concern is what does he think about immigration law?
Did they ask him what he thinks about abortion, too? Maybe they can find out if he’ll deign to allow them to hold an opinion without checking the NYT for the approved list of opinions first. While they’re at it, why not ask if he’ll respect their wishes to travel to the camps by van instead of boxcar?
Idiots
No gold talk? *Ron Paul has a sad
We don’t have silver tongues around here.
Gold fetish is two doors down on the right.
/challenges devil to a fiddle-off.
Inflation is evil. It puts the economic incentives backwards from how they should be for a functioning economy. Destroying savings and rewarding debt is how you get a house of cards economy. We need a Volcker.
Except that a Volcker won’t work now because if the fed raises rates to somewhere approaching rational, then the fed gov will default. Government debt drives low interest rates which drive inflation. There is no stopping the government debt from climbing ever higher and thinking that it can ever be paid off is lunatic thinking. We are stuck with permanent low interest, permanent high fed gov debt, and permanent inflation. This will continue until it can’t any more. Only question is how long is that?
Hopefully, longer than my lifespan
This will continue until it can’t any more. Only question is how long is that?
Given that the dollar is the reserve currency and that the US produces 25% of global GDP (despite having only 5% of global population), I’d say much longer than it should be given the reckless approach to things.
Also, looking at the numbers, global GDP is down 4% from 2019, so the lock-downs only cost the world $4T and counting.
I had a conversation about creping inflation with my financial adviser yesterday. Based on her advice I will be transferring some of my IRA from stocks to a commodities fund. This fund was doing really shitty until sometime at the beginning of the 2nd quarter last year, now it’s going gangbusters. It’s something to put a % of my investment money into, the question is how much.
Be careful of survivor bias. Total stock index beats managed funds over the long term. FAs have no incentive to recommend index funds with low ORs, and most importantly, zero fiduciary duty to their clients.
Index funds.
Look at the result once a year.
Large cap
Mid cap
Small cap
International cap
Bond index too.
Love the article. My wife and i arent great with money, but ive been trying hard to change.
You made a post a while back about keeping stats about how much you spent on food and deducted that Aldi had changed to amout of cheese they put in the package. That made me say “man i need to do stuff like that.” Trying to do a little better every month.
I can share the spreadsheet I’m putting together over on the forum. Ironically, it’ll have to wait until after the Aldi trip I’m making right now. ?
I don’t have a spreadsheet but every once in a while Ill break down the costs of a meal. My breakfast this morning was an egg, cheese and sausage on English muffin. Each cost me about $1.25 in food costs. Ill use that marker in 6 months to see if it is costing me more to make a simple meal at home.
I remember dark predictions of rampant inflation when Nixon ended the precious metal support for the dollar in order to… fight inflation.
And we all know how that one ended.
badly
inflation and being beholden to the House of Saud forever after.
However, had he not tied the dollar to oil (via his deal with the Saudis), our currency wouldn’t be the world’s reserve right now and there’s really no telling how badly the dollar would be getting beaten on global currency markets.
The decoupling of wage gains from productivity gains?
I must admit that the economics of the 1970s were more clever than they initially seemed. Clever is not a compliment, however.
Premature
afternoonmid-morning links cause inflation.I have spent my entire adult life missing those wonderful years we spent under Jimmy Carter.
I was there, too. I’m as happy to hate on Jimmeh as the next guy, but give credit where credit is due. Nixon got that ball rolling.
LBJ’s “guns and butter” economics. He wasn’t going to let a little war interfere with his Great Society.
I was too young to hate LBJ.
I hated Nixon, but I hold a soft spot in my heart for him because he left Vietnam when I was 17.
Ford was too dumb to hate.
I thoroughly hated Carter for making everything worse than it needed to be.
I hated Reagan for the drug war and many other topics, but was pleased that inflation finally came back to rational terms.
Bush I was too inept to hate more than a little bit.
I despised Carter. I hated him more that anyone . . . . Until Obama.
I wanted to like Bush II, but hated him well before the end of his first term.
In the final totem pole, Carter is third just below Clinton and Obama on top.
So fuck Jimmy.
Although, I do give Jimmy some props for legalizing home brew.
I despised
CarterClinton. I hated him more that anyone . . . . Until Obama.Preview, preview, preview.
Except that a Volcker won’t work now because if the fed raises rates to somewhere approaching rational, then the fed gov will default. Government debt drives low interest rates which drive inflation.
We have painted ourselves into a corner, after welding the doors and windows shut.
Casual wear for the professional hypochondriac
The majority of medical professionals say that they like to wear a surgical-style mask outside of work. “I just wear a regular disposable surgical mask,” infectious disease expert Dr. Amesh A. Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, tells Yahoo Life. Dr. Timothy Murphy, senior associate dean for clinical and translational research at the University at Buffalo, tells Yahoo Life that he doubles up on surgical masks. “When I go out, I have taken to wearing a two surgical masks—one knotted for a snug fit, to take advantage of both the extra layers and the snug fit to maximize protection of myself and others,” he says. And Dr. Gloria A Bachmann, medical director of the PROUD Gender Center of New Jersey at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, tells Yahoo Life that she opts for a “standard disposable mask” with “no distinguishing features or messages” for a reason. “I want to send the universal message that we’re all in this together—that wearing a mask while working, shopping, walking in my neighborhood, etc., is the one thing all of us can do as a team,” she says.
There’s no “you” in TEAM.
Why can’t these people be like normal schizos and off themselves?
Who is threatening these idiots to get them to behave this way?
The deplorables. Their very science-denying existence is a threat to everything these people stand for.
When I was hanging out around the hospital last summer, I saw more medical professionals leaning up against the wall outside with their mask down and smoking a cigarette than I saw walking around with a mask on.
See, I have anecdotes too!