The K-Shaped U.S. Mid-Terms
As most of you know, as I have gotten older, my political leanings have moved from right of centre to left of centre. Trust me, in my 20's I was a card carrying member of the Progressive Conservative Party and in 1978, I worked tirelessly for the Paul McCrossan campaign in York-Scarborough. I believe a few things have driven my own personal evolution:
1) Creep - You can see the direction that Canada is headed in, by looking south. In culture, we trail the United States by about a generation. I don't mean that we are behind them, not at all, I am just suggesting that by them being ten times our size, they reach critical mass on a lot of issues before we do. Put another way, what ails them ... ails us ... eventually. I will throw a few out there. It seems to me, that over the past ten or fifteen years: The Canadians around me in this mid-sized city in southwestern Ontario have increasingly been doing some very un-Canadian things:
- institutional mistrust (courts, politicians, the police)
- questioning the legitimacy of news organizations
- hatred of public service and public servants
- resistance to public health initiatives (vaccines, social distancing, masks)
- mistreatment of service workers (especially young brown ones)
- indifference bordering on rudeness to those around us when in public
- indifference bordering on endangering those around us when driving
- public freakouts
2) Trickle Down My Ass - Trickle down economics has simply not worked. It is canon among the right that if you give rich people and corporations lower taxes, they will invest that money ... creating well paying jobs. Hogwash. We have been lowering the tax rates for corporations and the rich for forty-five years. And while productivity of North American workers is up year after year for over four decades, what has happened to the middle class? Have wages kept pace with inflation? Is a nice home or an advanced education more affordable than it was in 1985? How's that grocery bill or your rent when taken as a percentage of your take home pay? No? What we did get, was sky high corporate dividend payouts, a booming stock market, a whole new class of millionaires and billionaires. We also got factory closures, a reduction in real wages, laws to slash union membership and supress collective bargaining. The K shaped economy is a thing! Those on the right side of the equation are actively grabbing the land, the courts, the media and have a stranglehold over politicians. When the CEO of a large pharmaceutical company is gunned down on a sidewalk, people quietly rejoice. I am surprised it didn't set off a run on that sort of thing?
3) Location Location Location - The rich do not live where we live. They have vast estate homes in gated communities. They have million dollar boats behind locked down marinas. They stay in hotels and eat in restaurants that we can't afford. If they fly commercial, they get on first and get off first. One notch up the food chain, they fly private. A notch above that, they own the plane. If they are asked to subsidize healthcare or fund youth programs, (or seniors, or sidewalks, or streetlights, or sewers), the answer is increasingly: "Sorry, those losers need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, like I did". I am not suggesting that progressives have all the answers, but at least there is some sort of recognition that the purpose of government is to make life better for everybody. Not just the financially elite.
So, last week, I promised my read on the mid-term election results down south. The way they vote in the U.S. is pretty clearly divided between city folk and country folk. In 2024, seventy-five million people on both seaboards voted Democratic. Seventy-seven million people in the middle voted Republican, especially in the south. With the way their system works that'll get you a Republican majority every single time. This election, the democrats had better candidates, were much more focused and refused to be drawn into culture wars. Republicans wanted to talk about the Communists, the Socialists, the trans athletes, Iranian nuclear weapons and Hunter Biden's laptop. The dems talked about gas prices, food prices, tariff prices and affordable healthcare. The chart on the header shows the stock market vs. consumer sentiment. The K-shaped economy is a thing! If your house was paid off, you had a couple of bucks in the bank and didn't get laid off in the last ten years, life has been pretty good? Your house is worth more, your investments have doubled, you are on the glide path! If you were anywhere on the other side of that equation, it's been shit. Your rent keeps going up, as do food & gas prices, Your boss is only giving you part-time hours and you lost most of your insurance coverage when you got downsized. You keep hoping to get back in a real job, but trade wars and the threat of AI has those million dollar boat owners afraid to hire. Dpown south, Republicans can only win of they get country folks to vote against their own interests. How? Culture wars! "They are going to take your guns! The Iranians are building the bomb! There will be swinging dicks in your teen daughters locker room if the communists have their way!!" This time, that didn't work.
Ten years in, they know Trump is a moron. He's remarkably corrupt and has pocketed billions. They are curious as to why the Epstein files were not released, as if we don't know? They do know that Stephen Miller is a Nazi and that people are once again dying from the measles. Trump's cabinet looks like a mob family and Elon Musk .... is just ... WTF? He looks like he crawled out of some Resident Evil bunker. He spent half a billion (without blinking) on Republican candidates. Oh, and the endless parade of bimbos marched out in front of the cameras as if they had an original thought (including our very own Premier of Alberta). So, this time, around 8% of middle America voted the other way. Game over.
So, there you have it. If the dems spend the next two years trying to impeach Trump / Hegseth, or conducting endless special counsel investigations, then JD Vance or Marko Rubio will a big white house to live in for four years. If Democrats start fixing things and leave retribution and the culture wars alone for another two years, who knows: Can a gay decorated Marine win? Or will AOC, Kamala and Gavin Newsome have a huge public bun fight at Biden's funeral? I'm not hopeful.
BTW - Our turn (and our test) comes in the fall of 2029. Whoever wants my vote, had better be out for my welfare. I don't need any help from any level of government minding others people's business for me!
Our Optimum Week
Good flyer with deals on F&V along with two of our favourite cuts of meat. I see my Zehr's has a whole bunker full of ham steaks. Now that the fyer is out, I can see why. These seldom go on sale and I like the product. Three bucks is half price and each steak feeds two. There is a limit is six and I will probably do that. Here is how to prepare them:
- defrost overnight, get them to room temperature on the counter
- in a separate bowl mix 1 tablespoon each of brown sugar and honey
- add a teaspoon of dijon mustard, a splash of AC vinegar, a pinch of paprika
- heat a teaspopon of butter in a frying pan on medium low
- first side down, five minutes, no lid
- flip and cover with the glaze, reduce heat, three minutes
I like a slice of raw onion, some canned baked beans and a dollop of French's mustard on the plate! SWMBO will demand a boiled potato. Here is your list:
I Am Reading
Hitler's Pope. I talked about it a couple of weeks ago. Nazi's bad. Catholic Church bad. It's a nuanced account but riveting stuff, considering what went on in the concentration camps while The Vatican did a lot of hand wringing.
We Are Watching
Apparently, Bobrovski was so distraught after letting six Colorado goals in for The Leafs fourth straight loss (Tuesday), that he went out on Queen's Quay and threw himself in front of a streetcar! It deked three or four times and went between his legs. I've seen this movie before.
Season Two of Mobland - Guy Richie's still got it! Fantastic stuff. Five stars!
Season One of Ted Lasso - We had to see what all the fuss was about. It's different, it's laugh out loud funny from time to time. It's good.
Season One of Will Trent - This is an ABC network show that sort of rose above the normal serving of network slop. It's just a cop show but with a great lead and some interesting side plots & back stories. I'll let you know if it holds up.
... and finally
Swoop went in for some major upgrades last week. Different windshield, different seat and some "surface of the sun" LED lighting. I don't want anyone saying "I did not see you"
We also did a cooling system refresh, oil, final drive refresh and a full tune-up.
My thanks to MA for the referral to his Witch Doctor.