Reflections

As “Baby Boomers,” we have some selected years that stand out in our collective memories.

1963: It was a year that, for everyone of the age of reason, remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing as President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. It seems we all lost our innocence on that fateful November day.

1968: The infamous 1968 included two more assassinations (Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.). More than that, it was a year when our Country had never experienced more division among the people than since the Civil War. Also, the majority of us tasted the political waters for the first time. We felt our voices could make a difference. It turns out maybe they were just idealistic dreams.

1974: We witnessed a President resign and leave office in shame – the experiences of Nixon and Vietnam were over.

1992: The year we grew sick of listening to Fleetwood Mac’s “Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow,” as we elected the great Governor of Arkansas, William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United States.

2008:
We will vividly remember this year with a sense of doom never felt before. The gnashing of teeth will not cease for years to come, and we will regret the decisions that were made on our behalf.

This year has seen the amount of individual’s retirement funds and personal investment portfolios drop 40 percent in value.

The housing market prices also have decreased 10-20 percent, and the Federal Government’s debt is estimated to be at $9.5 trillion by year’s end. That’s a ridiculous number.

Oil reached $146 a barrel, and gasoline at the pumps hit an American high of $4.35+ per gallon, all in the name of greed and excess profits.

The cost of the war in Iraq is at $582 billion and climbing by the second.

Health care costs have risen 6 percent this year, with an average cost of $9,144 per employee. This figure would significantly be higher if companies had not drastically reduced benefit costs by increasing co-pays, while lowering the expenses and quality of both dental and optical care.

The average cost of health care for every American was $2,295, and $4,635 for every working person.

For the first time, since the Depression, the middle class was forced to make tough decisions, such as buying groceries and paying energy bills rather than affording medicine and health care.

Additionally, we have an elected President with the lowest approval rating in the United States history, as well as possibly the most powerful Vice President ever to hold court.

We may be on the verge or onset, if you please, of another major depression in the United States and possibly across the world.

Only the very wealthy will survive by relying on the shoulders of the lower and middle class populations.

This blog will delve into each and every one of these issues in depth during the upcoming year.

Please have faith in the new year, all is not lost, we have elected a new generation with hopes and dreams of their own. We may be surprised by the outcome of decisions to be made in the coming years. They say hope does spring eternal.

May God Bless and keep you in the coming New Year.