The New Year has been here for weeks, so how are things working out so far for you and yours? Notice any improvement from the Old Year, or is everything back there fatter than it ever was?
Not to worry. There’s plenty of year left, and already the positives are streaming into our devices. Here are a few of the good-news trends in a still-young 2023, in case you scrolled right by them (that’s cursive-talk for “ICYMI”).
The long-predicted Great Recession and Job Market Collapse, predicted for months by Major Economic Influencers, has not materialized. In fact, unemployment has already dropped to historic lows not seen since the 1960s and the nation’s economy has added over a half-million jobs. Despite a torrent of news about Quiet Quitting, Rebellious Resigning, and Really Long Restroom Breaks, the job scene and the economy are booming.
The first major National Security Crisis arose and was quickly resolved – and it wasn’t that Chinese balloon thing. About a year ago, Mars updated its M&M candies to make them more “inclusive” and fit a “more dynamic, progressive world.” But the news sent at least one media network into an insurrection-level frenzy. Alarmed news host Tucker Carlson shrieked: “Woke M&M’s have returned. The green M&M got her boots back, but apparently is now a lesbian maybe? And there is also a plus-sized, obese purple M&M.” The candy responded: “We’ve made some changes to our beloved spokescandies. We weren’t sure if anyone would even notice…” As yet, 2023 has seen no cancer cure but America now has “spokescandies.”
Breaking records is quintessentially American and USA 2023 is already on track to break its own gun-death record, trailing only eastern Ukraine. Nations lacking our 2nd amendment and biblically-inspired Supreme Court struggle to kill a fraction of what our “well-regulated militia necessary to the security of a free state” does on a regular basis. Fortunately, though Covid shutdowns have lifted and kids have returned to classrooms nationwide, our schools still close for about three months of every year for holidays and summer vacation, which should keep childhood gun deaths down.
Our list of those Who Must Be Held Accountable continues to grow. It includes politicians and government officials who other politicians or government officials accuse of committing serious Breaches of Trust, violating their Oath of Office or who may have even broken the law. What “accountability” would look like is seldom specified because it depends on the intricacies of possible actions that could theoretically if not actually be taken to “hold them accountable.”
Plus, getting too specific about why or how one should be “held accountable” has legal risks, e.g., an expensive libel/slander lawsuit; vague ranting about “accountability” is safer and cheaper. For the wealthy and/or well-connected, Accountability remains a largely theoretical concept in the New Year.
To ease the Affordable Housing Shortage, our state government has already announced the amount of affordable housing each of our communities needs and will be expected to build in the next five or so years. No one knows if, when, or where any of it will ever be built in this or any other New Year. Accountability? Maybe next year.
One Comment