In his novel, titled 1984, George Orwell
described a world in which an all-powerful government spied on its citizens and
manipulated reality. For example, when the government cut the chocolate ration
from 30 grams to 20 grams, it announced that it was raising it to 20
grams–a bald-faced lie.
Twenty-five
years ago, high school teachers assigned their students to read 1984 as
a cautionary tale about the dangers of all-powerful government in a post-industrial
society. No more. Today, we are living in 1984.
President
Joe Biden, our demented Big Brother, recently made this pronouncement about the
American economy. “Today, we saw more progress bringing down inflation while
maintaining one of the strongest job markets in history.” That’s just bullshit.
Everyone I
know expresses shock at the price of groceries. I went to the grocery store not
long ago and discovered that the cost of Kraft mayonnaise was almost $10 a jar!
People
retired and living on fixed incomes find their dollars’ buying power shrinking month
by month. Social Security payments are adjusted to take inflation into account,
but the 3.2 percent raise that retirees will get next month is a pittance in
today’s inflationary environment.
The
government’s official employment rate is more bullshit. The Biden
administration claims unemployment is below 4 percent, but that number hides
the fact that millions of people are not working and not even looking
for work. That’s why we see so many retail stores with “Help Wanted” signs taped to their front doors.
Who can blame
people for not working? What’s the point of working as a fry cook for $10 an
hour if your wages don’t allow you to pay your electric bill or own a decent
car?
Inflation
will continue to rise in the coming months. Our government isn’t even trying to
balance the national balance sheet and is frantically printing money to pay its
bills.
The United States
is beginning to look like Germany in the late 1920s. Like the United States
today, Germany was governed by a man suffering from dementia. Paul Von Hindenburg,
president of Germany from 1925 until he died in 1934, drifted in and out of
senescence.
Like President
Biden, Hindenburg presided over runaway inflation. Like Biden, who chose Kamala
Harris as his vice president, Hindenburg made some notoriously bad personnel decisions–like
appointing Hitler as chancellor of Germany.
Germany, in
the years leading up to World War II, was wracked by political violence from
the left and the right. America, too, is plagued by a rising tide of political violence.
Evil days
are ahead of us. The time may come when we will fondly reminisce about the days
when mayonnaise only cost $10 a jar.
