A new (broken) America

March 6, 2025

It's a crazy time to be an American. At least for a sane person. First month after the disaster took office the second time, the country and the government are in shreds - and so is my mental health. Thank God for Crown Royal, Xanax and medical cannabis or I'd never sleep.

I feel like all of us are just treading water watching the Titanic sink. 45/47 has torn up all our long time alliances with Canada, Britain, most of Europe and Mexico. It's heartbreaking to watch him insult and punish our friends and family in those countries. He's let the Muskrat tear through the government deleting posts and departments and firing career employees just because. I have only hated one person in my life before now (my ex's 2nd wife who tried to blow up my relationship with my kids), but now I can add 2 to my life - 45/47 and Muskrat (I will NOT used their names out of disgust). I could add Mike Johnson and most of Congress who are either blackmailed or cowed by the President enough to go along with every stupid and cruel thing he wants to do.

So, where is our family is this little mess? Hanging on, waiting for the other shoe to drop. After 13 years of some part time remote work, George is being called into the office full time. And it's STUPID and bizarre because ALL of his work is in remote meetings with people who AREN"T IN THE SAME STATE HE IS. So the commuting and gas is just a waste of his time. I can't even.

I've had to change my retirement plans. I had planned to retire on Social Security after my 64th birthday this fall and simultaneously apply for SSDI (SS disability) to see if I could qualify and get my full (67yo) SS benefits - but they are tearing apart the SSA offices now and firing a huge percentage of the staff, so they are predicting SS payments will be disrupted - and I don't want to be in the middle of that. So for now, I'll plod along at my 20hr/wk job and be grateful I don't HAVE to rely on SS right now. However long that will last.

The feeling of not knowing what will happen in the world is sort of like COVID in a way. We know something awful is out there and that it will kill some people (taking away veterans services and SNAP benefits, USAID, federal funding for childhood cancer and vaccine research, etc) and we don't know when it will end. I don't feel like I can plan for the future and want to just stop spending on everything. We moved our investments into bonds because the stock market crashes every other day when Trump opens his mouth with some new idiocy. It's not a great way to live, but what choice do we have?

Well, the anticipation of disaster is over at least. Now, we survive the daily dumpster fire that is known as America.