You have not heard from me in two weeks. A lot happened in those two weeks. The Captivating Mrs. Campbell is very adept at pointing out when I am wrong, which does occasionally happen. Some of you readers are nearly as adept in highlighting my errors.

I said I thought the debate between Trump and Biden would not be a “pivotal point” and that no one would land a “knockout punch.” Boy, I could not have been more wrong. Although I can’t imagine that anyone thought one candidate (Biden) would deliver a knockout punch to himself!

The last two of our five areas of chaos are culture and society. What is the difference between the two? Society is how we interact with each other. Culture is the atmosphere in which we interact. I once heard culture described as similar for we humans, as the water in which fish swim. Put fish is bad water and you will have bad fish. But them in fresh, sparkling water and the fish will prosper. Let’s take the culture first:

So, the economy and the world are pretty big topics. But hey, we are not shrinking violets here and we take on the hard stuff. Here goes the status of two more of our five areas of chaos.

International: We are all very much aware of the wars in Ukraine and the middle east and how those have the potential to spread beyond their current boundaries. We also know the tension between Taiwan and China and how that could erupt. Or how the “cold war” between China and the U.S. could move into a “hot” war. These are all significant risks on the world stage. But those are not the only places where chaos could deepen.

Yes, I am back with the blog after a brief respite. No more podcasts for reasons I articulated previously. But there is still a lot to do and a lot to analyze and a lot to say as the chaos around us ramps up. This week and next, I think it is time to take a look again at our five dimensions of chaos (political, international, economic, societal and cultural) and assess where we stand currently.

First, because it affects many of the others, let’s take a look at the political landscape in the United States.

You might expect me to talk about Iran’s attack on Israel this past weekend, which is obviously the big news. I have little to add to that until we see how it plays out from here. In other areas of interest, there are lots of facts and figures of which you might not be aware. So, this missive will concentrate on that. Hopefully, you will find this informative.

A couple of weeks ago, Ben Shapiro “broke the internet” (his words) with a provocative review of Social Security. Basically, he said it was going bankrupt (true) and that we needed to get rid of it. I’m not so sure about that last part. Let’s dig into the issue.

Now, let’s look at a little history of Social Security. It was started as part of FDR’s New Deal in 1935. The retirement age was set at 65. In 1935, the average American lived only to age 60. So, the average person had been dead for 5 years before they could collect social security. Which means they collected nothing.

The math worked.

We have just begun the longest general election in our lifetimes. Many of you are tired of it already. If not, don’t worry. We have over seven more months to talk about it. But for now, let’s give it a rest and look at where the economy is and where it might be going.

The Good News: The Dow, NASDAQ and S&P 500 are all at or close to all-time highs. So, are Bitcoin, Gold, and most home prices. Unemployment is below 4%. There are jobs created every month and economic growth is solid. Corporate earnings are at all-time highs and growing by 8% a year. The dollar has been strong and interest rates, although up from the lows of a few years ago, are still below 40-year averages. Consumer spending continues to be strong. Happy days are here again, right?

The Reason for the Good News: What is causing all this strength? Well, the United States economy, though choked by more taxes and regulations than in the past, is still a beacon of economic freedom in the world. There are brilliant entrepreneurs creating new businesses and ideas every day. The U.S. economy wants to grow. It always has.

My new podcast with Generalissimo Duane Patterson of the Hugh Hewitt show has launched! You can find it wherever you listen to Podcasts (Apple, Spotify, iHeart, Pandora, wherever). It will come up on ANY podcast App. Just search for Look Through The Chaos and it should pop up. We plan to do 2 podcasts a week to release every Tuesday and Thursday. Many of you have been asking me for this and now it’s happening! Don’t miss the first episode (which posted Tuesday) as it will explain what we are doing and why and you will understand our humor a bit better.

I think this is the first time I have used the song title as the title of the missive. It is apropos. There is a lot of “never meanin’ what they say and never sayin’ what they mean” going on right now. In this blog, we will rip into a few of these issues in search of the truth. Truth is something you will never find in the propaganda media.