I can\u2019t speak for the entire Nation, but I can speak for Central Ohio. And here, the economy is good. Let\u2019s look at the numbers first: the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the \u201ctemperature\u201d of the American stock exchanges, is setting record highs. For the millions of Americans invested in 401-K retirements plans, that is a great thing. Your money is making money. The Central Ohio unemployment rate is 3.3%, a number that was considered beyond \u201cfull employment\u201d for decades. Want a job? You don\u2019t need to \u201cdo\u201d fast food, there are thousands of jobs available in \u201cdistribution centers\u201d, and even better jobs coming in this \u201cSilicon Valley of the Midwest\u201d boom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In spite of the current home mortgage rates, they can\u2019t build enough houses here. Columbus estimated 5000 new home builds in the past year, the \u201cneed\u201d is closer to 15,000. The mortgage rate still is high at 7.3% (down from 8.1%), especially when compared to the rate available two years ago of only 2.8% (when I luckily refinanced). But it all beats my original rate in the late 1980\u2019s of 8.5%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The market pressure is also pushing existing housing prices up. In the past four years, my own home value has increased 64%. Unfortunately, the County Auditor figured that out too, so my property taxes will go up, but not anywhere near that much. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My natural gas bill doubled from $0.35 for a cubic foot in 2021 to $0.69.9 in 2022, but dropped back to $.53.5 in 2023. It still \u201cfeels\u201d high, but better than it was. On the other hand, the electric bill hasn\u2019t changed much in that time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The daily \u201cstandard measurement\u201d of inflation is the price of three items:\u00a0\u00a0gas for the car, loaves of bread, and gallons of milk (though to be fair, I don\u2019t drink milk, so I definitely had to look that one up).\u00a0\u00a0A gallon of 2% milk today is $3.29, below the 2023 average of $3.42.\u00a0\u00a0A loaf of white bread is $2.00, up $0.20 from this time last year.\u00a0\u00a0And a gallon of gas is under $2.70, down more than a $1.00 from earlier in the year.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Most items are trending\u00a0\u00a0down, or at least even.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s easy to blame economic forces on politicians. But all they can really do is react to the current problems and do their best to influence the outcomes. Donald Trump didn\u2019t \u201ccause\u201d the Covid shutdown. He did his best to avoid a Covid economic depression, a difficult thing to do when unemployment went from less than 5% to greater than 15% in just a couple of months. It could have been the Great Depression of the twenty-first century, like the one my parents experienced in the 1930\u2019s. But it wasn\u2019t, for most of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Joe Biden did his best to re-open and moderate the swings of the economy as we all went back to work. Sure there was inflation: exactly what pumping all that money into the economy to avoid depression would do. But there also was a return to more than full employment, and increases in wages. And the Biden policies \u201cfixed\u201d the worst of what could have been a \u201cwildfire\u201d economy followed by a crushing recession. The \u201csoft landing\u201d of the economy, pandemic and post-pandemic, has arrived. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And from a more personal standpoint, Ohio\u2019s retired teachers\u00a0\u00a0are \u201criding\u201d the economy as well.\u00a0\u00a0Ohio\u2019s teacher retirement system was mismanaged.\u00a0\u00a0With an investment portfolio of $90 billion, in the past fifteen years their \u201cprivate\u201d (and hidden) investment strategy fell $70 billion short of just following the stock market, according to the State Auditor.\u00a0\u00a0And the System paid \u201cinvestment specialists\u201d millions of dollars to do it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The result is that in a decade of retirement, I have received only a 4% Cost of Living increase, instead of the promised 18% or even more. I\u2019m living on 2014 money, with a purchasing power of almost 30% less today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, to get partisan; the Teacher Retirement debacle is a product of Ohio\u2019s Republican government. Led by then Governor John Kasich (who made his millions working for the failed Lehman Brothers investment firm), Ohio\u2019s leaders were convinced that private investment strategies could beat market strategies every time. They gave the System full authority to invest behind closed doors, and to cut benefits. And that\u2019s exactly what happened. They cut benefits and cost-of-living increases, raised the retirement age and the amount every teacher paid into the program (second highest in the Nation); lost billions of dollars in potential profits and paid themselves millions in bonuses to do it. So here we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That needs fixing too. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"