It seems we haven’t had “normal” times in quite a while. A lot of Americans wish we could return to the Obama era, not because Obama was a good president, but just because there seemed to be a lot less controversy.
Some of it is the media blowing things up because they hate Trump. But it’s not all in our imagination either. The first Trump presidency was filled with chaos, but much of it was enabled by the establishment media making up stories about Russia and other things.
In 2020, that’s when things really blew up. We got the COVID hysteria and the lockdowns, followed shortly by the vaccines. We also got the protests and riots in major cities across the U.S. after the death of George Floyd in May 2020.
Then we had the actual election in November and all of the controversy with it. Then we had January 6, 2021, where we still don’t know the extent of federal agents on the ground encouraging some of the events that day.
We suffered through 4 years of a Biden presidency where Biden was a puppet of the Democratic establishment. He gave us vaccine mandates, which threatened about 100 million Americans by telling them they weren’t allowed to work if they didn’t take an injection in their arm. We also had all of the other COVID insanity such as mask mandates and vaccine mandates for non-residents entering the country.
We got hit with high consumer price inflation in 2022, and there is a lot of blame to go around for that. We also got the Russian invasion of Ukraine because the Biden people refused to talk in a civilized way with the Russians and assure them some security.
All this time, it was evident that Biden had some kind of dementia while his handlers and the media assured as that he was sharp as a tack.
Trump 2
There were reasons for cautious optimism in 2024 leading up to the election. Trump was surrounding himself more often with seemingly decent people like Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr., and Tucker Carlson. Even his pick for VP was a little out of the ordinary, as Vance was not a conventional Republican establishment war hawk.
When Trump became president, things actually looked a little promising for liberty lovers. He pardoned the J6 people. He pardoned Ross Ulbricht. He allowed Elon and DOGE to start uncovering massive waste and corruption.
And within a couple of months of being in office, it all went downhill quickly. Trump now seems to be best friends with Lindsey Graham, and he seems to take his orders from Netanyahu. Trump bombed 7 countries in his first year back in office, including kidnapping the president of Venezuela and his wife. He is threatening a major war with Iran now.
Trump has been a total disaster for liberty in almost every way in his second term. It is at the point where it is hard to make the claim that “at least it’s not Kamala Harris”.
Trump has become such a loose cannon and narcissist that we don’t know what he is going to do on any given day. We can only imagine what he will do if the economy goes into a depression.
Returning to the Basics
As long as we don’t get nuclear war, then life should go on for most people. It is wise to not make any rash decisions, especially when things are emotionally charged.
It is tempting to think things will completely blow up, which can lead to bad decision making.
We probably won’t get hyperinflation. We probably won’t see a complete default on U.S. government debt. We probably won’t get martial law. We probably won’t get concentration camps other than what ICE is doing.
I think back over 25 years ago. I heard rumors during the Clinton administration of government officials wanting to confiscate 401k accounts.
The best bet is to count on some continuity. We have lived in an inflationary world for a long time, so you can count on that continuing. It might get worse because of the debt and spending, but it doesn’t mean we will get hyperinflation.
You probably won’t get your student loans forgiven. The debt will become less in real terms because of inflation, but you will still owe the money. That goes for every other debt too.
Your best bet is to stick with the basics. Have a well-diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds, gold, and cash in the bank. Stay out of debt. It is still a good idea to pay off your mortgage if you can, especially if the interest rate is anything above 4% or so.
If you are working, do a good job and continue to gain skills and show your worth. Your job probably won’t be replaced by AI anytime soon.
Your number one threat for retirement, financially speaking, is inflation. It is probably your number one threat at any time, other than a job loss. Inflation makes it hard to plan for the future. It makes it hard for individuals and businesses.
Stick to the fundamentals. Pay attention to what is happening in the world, but don’t let it drive you crazy, and don’t get too emotional over it. People tend to make bad decisions when they are driven by too much emotion.