Originally, I wrote a column about 9/11 and how it should be a National Holiday. My reasoning was suspect so I have it in my draft folder.
I still believe that it should be a holiday. A day of remembrance for the lives lost, the families that were affected and the fact that it was a generational tragedy and should be remembered as such.
Yet, President Biden was conspicuously absent at any of the memorial services . In fact, he was in Alaska, which, I may be wrong, did not lose a single resident in any of the attacks that took place on that day. Suffice it to say, Alaska is pretty much the last place a President of this country should be.
I know I pick on President Biden but this is despicable.
Barrack Obama, arguably the least patriotic President this country has ever had, always showed up somewhere to commemorate the day. Yet, Joe Biden could not see it in his schedule to be at the White House, or the Pentagon, or New York or even Shanksville.
Want me to go on?
Didn’t think so. I think the Democrats out there that think this man is something special have just been kicked in the teeth and no matter who runs against him, this would be one of the first things I brought up.
I am curious, does he want us to forget about what happened? Does he want to move on and ignore the damage that those attacks did on this Nation? If so, he should be booted and then cast off.
Say what you will about Kamala Harris, she showed up. Yes, she still had that dumb ass smirk on her face a couple of times, but for the most part, she was actually there and while she said nothing (nor should she) she showed respect. I still dislike her but just not as much.
I won’t apologize for my feelings about this subject. The President should have been somewhere, anywhere, except Alaska.
To top that off for today, Speaker McCarthy, under pressure from the far right has signed off on an Impeachment inquiry. In the grand scheme of things, it’s pretty much meaningless but it will hopefully expose President Biden and his crack head loser of a son for who they are, entitled and criminal. Biden will never be impeached. The Democrats control the body of Congress that controls that process but what it will do is give the GOP a chance to dig into things that may expose President Biden and his possible arrangements with foreign governments.
I think exposing the Biden clan for what they are might just be the thing that prompts President Biden to rethink his run for the White House next year.
I guarantee if you asked a thousand staunch Democrats, they would pretty much agree that Joe Biden is not the best choice for the 2024 Presidential election. They would probably prefer someone like Governor Newsome from California or maybe Governor of Michigan.
Donald Trump would just love that.
Back to business.
I have rambled on and on about a few things over the last few weeks. One of them was about the Fed and it’s next move. I am still standing firm about the course they should take.
I don’t think they should be raising rates again. The economy is showing an unusual resilience to this higher rate environment. Sure, there are implications that we should be seeing in the coming months but considering we have been in this higher rate environment for the better part of a year and any sign of a negative impact has been muted by the positives. Enough is enough I say. We have digested this and we have yet to pop an antacid. Leave it be.
In reality though, I do think the Fed will raise rates one more time this year. They don’t need to but I think they look at the data differently than most of us and they see acceleration in wages as the next part of cause and effect for inflation and I get that but raising rates will not slow the wage part of this. Unless there is a true slowdown (i.e. recession) let people earn a living wage.
You have to figure that part of the pressure on the job market will be impacted by the tidal wave of illegal immigrants that the Biden Administration has let in. Yes, they cover a much lower wage spectrum but the bulk of small businesses rely to some extent on illegal immigrants.
I am not saying it’s right, I am just saying it’s a fact.
The pressure on jobs seems to be at every level. Lower paying job pressure (Landscaping, manual labor type jobs) will eventually subside because if you are a businessman and successful, you will risk it and hire some of these people.
Let’s be honest here. If you went into a bustling locale. Let’s say Bergen County in New jersey. Wealthy, growing, high taxes but people still have three Range Rovers in their driveways. Lock the doors on every business and do a true accounting for who works in these service industries I will bet dollars to donuts that the bulk of the employees are illegal or borderline illegal.
Bitch and moan about these illegal immigrants flooding your communities but realize that these men and women work to make everything work. Seriously, you are going to have some 16 year old Bergen Catholic junior riding some 36” John Deere riding mower around a 4 acre estate in Alpine? Absolutely not. That kid is studying for his ACT’s and driving his Dad’s Porsche while he is in London on “Business”.
Wages will still grow in the middle and upper earnings sectors and that is ok as well. Companies are still making money and they can afford to pay the going wage for whatever it is they need. US colleges are still churning out eager kids that will take these jobs for what they feel is decent money and the economy will continue to do well.
We are in a very envable spot right now. We have almost full employment. We have employees, union and non union, continuing to make wage gains and even though interest rates are higher, I don’t see too many examples of the credit market tightening up.
Yet.
The first sign of the crack in the economy will come from exactly that. If credit becomes harder to come by, that could derail everything within 3-6 months.
That is why I do watch the housing market and I do watch mortgage rates and acceptance rates as well. You will see it there first.
Excellent!!!