If you're fortunate enough to lead a reasonably normal American life, things go something like this: you go through school and graduate from either high school or college, somewhere in the middle of the class.  You get a job, move out on your own, and meet your eventual spouse.  You marry, have a family, and work at a series of jobs to support yourself and others.  With any luck, you like (or at least tolerate) your chosen profession and derive a reasonable degree of satisfaction from having done pretty well.  Then, at some point in your 60s, you retire, with the expectation that your so-called golden years will be a 15- or 20-year span characterized by decent health; minimal financial pressures and obligations; and a general enjoyment of a more relaxed, leisurely pace.  Maybe there will be a few long-delayed material indulgences thrown in.  What the heck — you've earned those, right?  This is all the retirement that any of us really wants.

This describes me fairly well.  After having spent my working career in the consumer electronics and musical instrument industries in marketing, product development, and engineering management, I retired two years ago.  (By the way — if you need someone to design some killer new speakers for your stereo rig or play smokin' jazz drums at your daughter's wedding, I'm your guy.)  I was really looking forward to relaxing and enjoying my retirement, but the Democrats have ruined those plans.  I only get one retirement — just this one — and the Democrats have wrecked it.

Since I retired in 2020, this is what has happened, all courtesy of the Democrats:

COVID

Whether it was a legitimate mistake from sloppy lab practices in Wuhan or a deliberate plot by Communist China to upset the Western world or something else altogether, it descended upon the world like a ton of bricks dropped from the back of a huge construction dump truck.  Worldwide panic ensued.  The Democrats, utterly horrified that everything — everything — was going so well under President Trump that he'd easily win re-election that year, took advantage of the COVID scare to rewrite the presidential election voting procedures and execute their elaborately designed fraud plans.  Drop boxes, mail-in/absentee ballots that weren't cross-checked for proper signature ID, Democrat state legislatures illegally changing the voting deadlines to make post-election vote manipulation that much easier, etc. — all manner of voting fraud was committed under the guise of "COVID" and "public safety."  That ruse, the most blatant, damaging election gambit in American history, gave us this blitheringly incompetent, ideologically driven Biden administration.

Inflation

Biden printed billions of dollars to spread around and bribe voters, calling it "COVID relief," and paid people to stay home and not work.  Now, under Biden, we have 8–9% inflation and a labor participation rate that is the lowest it's been since the 1970s.  Prices are out of sight.  The supply chain has collapsed, and shortages of household staples have become so commonplace that it's just an accepted way of life in 2022.  The administration puts forth an abomination deceitfully labeled the "Inflation Reduction Act," knowing there is not one single thing in that bill that is intended to reduce inflation.  Now the Fed is raising interest rates to try to calm inflation.  In order for that to work, it has to crush consumer demand so suppliers will reduce their pricing in order to entice a weak and shrinking pool of customers to buy something.  Nice going, Joe.  My favorite salad dressing is hardly available these days because of supply shortages, and when I can find it, it's nearly double in price.

Shut Down Oil/Gas Industry

On Day One, Biden cut the legs out from under American energy independence.  Oil, gasoline, and natural gas prices skyrocketed.  Why did the administration do this?  Because they think it's cool and woke to be Green.  The Squad likes Green, and the administration wants to be "in" with that ilk and with the extreme voters who support that.  Green energy and renewables can't come close to supporting our energy needs and won't for the foreseeable future.  Remember, Biden, Pelosi, Kerry, Obama, Gore, etc., etc. — none of them lives by Green rules.  But they expect you to.  All I know is, now that I'm a retiree, gasoline has gone from $2.11/gallon to $3.76/gallon.  And it'll be back over $4.00/gallon shortly, as soon as Biden's game-playing with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve runs out of tricks.  And we just got a letter from our electric company — in November, the rate per/kWh will double.  Double, just like that, for no reason.  Bad enough as a retiree.  Good thing I don't own a small business operating on a tight margin, like a restaurant or bakery or hair salon.

Unstable Foreign Policy

Biden is a weak, befuddled old man, clearly not in any semblance of control of his rapidly diminishing faculties.  You can practically hear our overseas adversaries licking their chops as they run roughshod over the remaining elements of proper international behavior and decorum, totally confident that the frighteningly senile Biden will not do anything to oppose them.  Would Putin have invaded Ukraine and be threatening the world with nuclear war were President Trump still in office?  Would Communist China be saber-rattling over Taiwan?  Would North Korea have resumed test-firing ballistic missiles?  Would Iran be shamelessly flaunting its nuclear progress?  Of course not.

All of the above has so rattled the investment markets (the Democrats can't fool the markets with their bogus smoke and mirrors) that the major indices have lost trillions (with a "T") of dollars in value.  Retirement accounts are in a shambles.  Two short years ago, things looked great.  Now there's a financial/investment canyon that will likely take ten years to recover from.  People in their mid- to late 50s will have to work much longer than they planned.  New retirees feel as if the rug has been pulled out from beneath them.

I'm just like millions of other Americans: I played by the rules, I worked hard for forty-plus years, I did right by my family, and I was a solid member of my community.  All I wanted was the modest retirement I had planned for.  But the Democrats wrecked it.  On purpose, and I'm mad as can be.

Image via Max Pixel.