RED OCTOBER

Usually, it is Democrats who strike with the October surprise. But this time, the real October surprise is no surprise at all. It is rather that things are rapidly becoming too obvious to ignore. Democrats were and are counting on outrage over the repeal of Roe v Wade to save the day. But every poll shows comparable results. No one, and I do mean no one, thinks things are going well. No one expects anything to get better. No one thinks we are heading in the right direction. Whether fair or not, most of the blame lands on Joe Biden. But in reality, the blame falls on a lot of people. Starting with those stupid enough to put him in the Oval office and expecting something different. The list is actually exceptionally long. It includes much of the MSM, which ignored the obvious and embraced the ridiculous. Sometimes it is hard to determine if they are this corrupt or just this stupid. One thing is certain, they see a vastly different world than the one I see wherever I look. At times, the difference is so stark that one must ask a fundamental question, are they this far out of touch, or am I that far out of touch.

This reminds me of an incident when I was on a Risk Management Think Tank. A broker had gathered some of the top risk managers in the country to some meeting at Hilton Head Island, so they could “pick our brains.” The first night there was this presentation by a risk manager for a major corporation. He described a bold innovative approach to risk management, one that did not focus on thinks like claims and loss control, but rather compensating geophysical activity that made these largely irrelevant. He had all kinds of charts and graphs. After the meeting, I went to dinner with a friend who was also a risk manager. He was someone I knew and respected. I said: “either everything I ever learned about risk management is wrong, or this guy is insane.” He looked at me, smiled, and said: “you’re not the one who’s insane.”

I won’t mention the name of that individual or his company but can say it was a household name and was one of the most respected companies in the world, until it collapsed overnight and literally disintegrated.

The same standard applies now. There are a lot of people trying to convince everyone else of things that simply are not possibly true. Yes, men and women are built differently and regardless of how one view his or herself, that doesn’t really change anything. Yes, criminals are criminals, they have zero interest in living by the rules and the only effective solution is to put them in places where they cannot hurt anyone else. Governments, even the best governments, are inherently inefficient and corrupt. The smart people in government know this and they just get out of the way of the truly capable and creative. The role of government must not to pick winner and losers, they tend to always pick losers It is far more effective to keep a level playing field. When they do that, the truly creative people take over and the rising tide lifts all ships.

The more money government spends, the more it wastes, the higher inflation, the less equity and the more frustration for the average citizen. If a government wants to build things like roads and bridges, GREAT! But when they want to end the global warming, excuse me climate change, that has been going on for centuries, by doing things that can’t possibly work, don’t expect good results.

This is sure looking like a very red October, for several reasons. Democrats have control of the House, the Senate, and the Presidency, social media, and the MSM. They desperately try to silence anyone and everyone who disagrees with them. As a result, they live in a bubble that does not represent reality and like most people living in bubbles, everyone can see right through them. But one is reminded that equal responsibility goes to the Republicans who found a way to be outwitted by such obvious dim wits.

We may be strongly divided regarding who may or may not fix this, but there is little doubt regarding who simply cannot be trusted. Quite bluntly when the ship of state is sailing directly toward the shoals, anyone who wants to change course is an attractive alternative. Republicans are unlikely to win big this November, but Democrats are almost certain to lose. As if things weren’t bad enough, this hurricane is going to take a lot of wind out of the Democratic sales (pun intended) and skyrocketing gas prices won’t help. Blaming the other guy, solely because he or she is the other guy, ain’t going to work this time. Baring a miracle, the world will turn upside down this November. The question is who out there can right the ship.

TDM