The Forever Theft

A few years ago, at the height of my middle-age gym-rat phase, I incurred (developed? suffered?) some pain in my right shoulder that persisted beyond the normal aches, pains, and strains associated with picking heavy stuff up and putting it back down. I tracked down an orthopedist, made an appointment, got an MRI, and learned that I had a small tear in one of the myriad tendons therein, along with bursitis therefrom.

A quick pause to tip my hat at a certain internet friend who looks askance at the "there..." words.

Dr. D gave me a cortisone shot and sent me on my merry way. It helped, but the pain never went fully away, so I found workarounds.

Earlier this year, I developed left shoulder pain that persisted longer than I was happy about, so I paid Dr. D another visit. After a quick physical exam, she told me she'd likely find the same minor damage as in my right shoulder. At that point, I mentioned that I still could not throw a ball comfortably. To which she replied,

Oh, you're never getting that back.

Yet another reminder that Father Time is both inexorable and merciless, and a bit of an "aha" moment in assessing medical treatment as I enter my seventh decade on this rock. No longer are injuries and damage treated with "let's get you back to baseline state." Instead, it's "let's get you good enough to cover your remaining couple decades."

Slightly (only slightly - I'm a realist) bummed, I got on with my life.

That is, of course, until something triggered a blog moment.

That something was Joe Biden's State of The Union address last week. Which I fisked, here, a couple days ago, but which really warrants more than one look-see.

The intersection of Dr. D's reality check with Biden's speech was JoeB's chest-thumping about how inflation has been tamed. Biden boasted that inflation had been brought down from 9% to 3% and patted himself on the back for that decline. Of course, he made no mention whatsoever of his proximate complicity in creating that inflation, nary a word about how his reckless spending bills and profligate deficits/borrowing stole 20% of Americans’ dollars in just three years.

The last time we had inflation this high was forty-plus years ago, meaning that no generation since the Baby Boomers has personally experienced sharp inflation. Sorry, GenXers, you were still kids.

Inflation, unlike interest rates, doesn't "get better" when its rate decreases. Like my ability to throw a ball, you ain't getting it back. The theft of value you've all experienced is permanent.

Gone.

Goodbye.

Never to be seen again.

Those higher interest rates you're getting from your bank for the honor of putting your money in their coffers? Sorry, net loss. Even at 5% a year for three years, you're still in the red.

Those big stock market gains you may have seen across the past three years? Subtract 20%.

Your retirement savings? Knock off a fifth.

Those nice raises you might have gotten the past three years? Oops, you probably didn't break even.

The equity you have in your home, that you might cash out of when you stop working? Sorry, that's sapped, too.

Inflation is a terrible thing to inflict on a society. It's even worse when those doing the inflicting should know better. Its cause is simple. Far simpler than the perpetrators would have us believe, and it has nothing to do with private sector "greed" or "shrinkflation" or the stem-winding explanations that blindered economists drone on about.

In other words, massive spending and the borrowing/printing required to fund it. See: Joe and the Democrats.

To repeat - inflation is permanent, even after the rate has decreased to "target" levels. To see one of the prime culprits of the current bout of it pretend it's the fault of everyone but him is a deep insult to every hard-working American, and a telltale of what he really thinks of us.

I'd snip in John Belushi's "not my fault" bleat from The Blues Brothers here, but this is no laughing matter.