One of the most vexing problems I have when composing a piece for this blog is holding course on a specific topic. Hell, DECIDING UPON a particular topic is difficult, for so many events and controversies are swirling about in real time. Right now the dreaded NEW DEDUCTIBLES loom in less than two weeks so PLEASE CAN'T YOU DO MY SURGERY NOW ?!? For some, their problems legitimately arose recently. For most, though, they put everything off so now it's a <financial> crisis. How is this relevant to the title above? Well, I received the following text last night about our OR staff…
Mind you, lunch for the OR and those serving it runs about $300 and I do so about ten to fifteen times per year. It's worth it to me to show the people I rely on that I appreciate them. Sadly, few others do so. The important point is the “shitty short staffed” comment. Most everyone actually PROVIDING care is burned out these days. Literally exhausted.
Your healthcare system is hanging by the very thin, friable threads of supply chain and labor. Both not-for-profit and for-profit systems (the distinction is meaningless because they are both driven by greed) are literally raping their facilities for revenue with the staff viewed as transient and fungible. I've written before about how fragile things are, but it's not just healthcare.
A good friend of mine owns a fine dining establishment. Picked up dinner there last night with Ike Turner riding shotgun <note the “get home” bag on the floor below him, packed with things to help me do so as I drive back and forth daily through the violent Southern city we live and work around>. Yes, that's a hatchet. Mr Beretta is in there, too.
Their beef carpaccio is divine, Ike really wanted some when we got home. My friend tells me staffing is always an issue, but their product is in high demand: walk-ins last night at 530pm were told to come back at 9. Other establishments aren't so fortunate
https://www.seattletimes.com/life/food-drink/16-recent-seattle-area-restaurant-closures-to-round-out-2022/
https://www.offers.com/blog/post/restaurant-closings/
You can find more, many more. And it's not just the hospitality industry. It's everywhere
https://bestlifeonline.com/retail-chains-closing-2022-news/
But personal consumer debt is the highest in history. How does this compute? People are either living on their credit cards or spending money like there's no tomorrow.
https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/research/average-american-household-debt/#:~:text=Average%20consumer%20household%20debt%20in%202022&text=According%20to%20Experian%2C%20average%20total,total%20consumer%20debt%20was%20%2492%2C727.
I think it's both. We behave as if we are living in a re-creation of the Roaring Twenties
But what we're really strolling into is Weimar Redux, replete with currency collapse, hyperinflation and, sadly, probable war.
I could post a dozen links that tie the Biden Crime Family, the CCP, the WEF, the Obama Shadow Presidency, Zelensky, Ukraine, FTX, the DNC and others I'm sure many of you readers could add into a magnificent Gordian Knot
desperately in need of an Alexander to slice it to shreds with his sword. Will that be a person or an event? I have no confidence in the current crop of faithless politicos; they're all scrambling to join The Club
https://youtu.be/Nyvxt1svxso
My concern lies in the possibility that the metaphorical Alexander slicing the knot will be an event, maybe economic collapse, maybe war, likely a nuclear one
with an increasingly high likelihood that it will be Uncle Sam who flips the first switch in some fever swamp delusion about a tactical or winnable nuclear exchange.
Has anyone noticed how publicly detached Xi Jingping and the CCP have been from the Ukraine conflict, energy crunch, FTX…well, the Gordian Knot? Has anyone stopped to consider the possibility that, just as Ukraine is the obvious US/NATO proxy in a war versus Putin and Russia, the US could be Xi and the CCP’s proxy in a war against Russia, The Collective West and capitalism? I know, it seems far-fetched but the Chinese play the long game
Everything in the last six decades has been about manipulating your mind. Good Lord the released JFK documents practically implicate the CIA in eliminating him.
https://twitter.com/mtracey/status/1604114538894397440
Remember the Bush crime family too. Poppy ran the CIA not long after that.
Your mind belongs to no on else; keep it free to consider all possibilities; its all connected ….and prepare
Build your tribes, love your families, and steel yourselves. And, lastly, don't get sick.
A Fine Gordian Knot
A government instituted by geniuses (The Founders), maintained by idiots (Politicians), operated by imbeciles (Bureaucrats). With a track record like that it is surprising we have lasted this long.
Give Ike a hug for me. My Ike, GSD has passed but he took great care of dad. No one but no one was going to harm his 'Dad'. Not watching msm now going on 7 years really keeps more fresh air moving around the brain. I enjoyed taking the tv outside and doing a Elvis on it. One shot. Mike & Ike.