For about the last dozen years, I have bitched and moaned about the political climate.

What has it done for me besides cost me some friends?

Nothing, zip, nada.

I can’t think of a less productive activity than worrying about politics and getting all riled up on social media about it.

The fact of the matter is, people are going to vote how they are going to vote.  The vast majority of us are programmed to view life through a particular lens, and that is what causes us to vote the way we do.

I would argue that there are very few among us who are truly independent minded and can swing back and forth between both parties.

In this day and age, that number is probably even smaller, because there is such a stark difference between the two parties.  (Some argue that the Democrats and Republicans are one big uniparty, and to some degree, they are right… they all want the power concentrated in DC, and work together to keep it there).

So, let’s face it… the reality is that no matter who is in charge, DC is a disaster, and so are many of our city and state governments.

2020 revealed this to be the case like no other year in history.  It may just be that the United States is in rapid decline, and we will soon find ourselves living like the Europeans in the land of mediocrity.

Therefore, the best way forward for ourselves as individuals is to FOCUS ON OURSELVES.

The government is not going to save you from Covid-19.  The government is not going to improve your life in anyway.  The government is actually going to make your life more difficult.

Deal with it.

Get ready for higher taxes

This is simply unavoidable.  We are approaching $28 trillion in national debt, and that doesn’t account for the entitlement obligations faced by Social Security and Medicare.

We can no longer grow our way out of that abyss.  This is the lesson we must learn from the last four years.  Trump’s economic policies helped spur a rebirth in manufacturing, and we got down to about 3.5% unemployment before the pandemic.

But, GDP growth was only able to push to shy of 3%.

Compare that to the Reagan years when you had some similar policies, but we experienced economic growth north of 7% for some years.

Yet, during this little boomlet, the debt continued to skyrocket.

In 2018, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell got together and pushed through a budget, signed by Trump that increased spending by another $300 billion annually, over and above the already outrageous levels that started under George W. Bush during the financial crisis.

No matter which party is in power, government spending increases, and revenues fail to keep pace.

Yes, the tax cuts and deregulation helped to improve the economy, and tax receipts have gone up every year that Trump was president.

But, with this mounting debt, we are facing the reality that, one day, our creditors are going to demand higher interest rates to buy that debt.

When that starts to happen, you can bet that the economy will struggle, and taxes will have to go up to deal with the shortfall in revenues.  It will be a neverending cycle, just as most of Europe has experienced for decades.

Less Freedom

Guess what?  We all lost quite a bit of our civil liberties in the last year.

Many will argue that it’s for the greater good.  But, because so many of us have accepted the business closures and mask requirements, and soon to be required vaccines, we’ve given much of our liberty away.

We now live in a country where most people want to feel safe, rather than free.  In order to achieve that, we’ve handed more control to our politicians at every single level.

And, yes, President Trump went right along with most of this stuff, so don’t even try to argue that none of this is his fault.

More Crime

If we learned anything in 2020 it’s that many of our politicians are willing to forego protecting the citizens whose taxes pay their salaries in an effort to stay in power.

As a result, criminals have become more emboldened.

Nowhere is this more evident than in New York City.  Shootings in NYC are up nearly 100% from a year ago, and murders are up 40%.

Why?  Because the mayor despises the police, fails to back them up, and as a result, they are doing less policing.

This story has played out in cities across the country, and it’s hard to imagine things getting better anytime soon.

So what do we do?

If you want to deal with all of these issues, you’ve got to start taking ownership.

Most people bitch about higher taxes because that eats into their income.

You want to offset those higher taxes?  Then make more money.

I was watching a video on Youtube last night, and this topic came up on a fitness channel I am subscribed to.  The trainer was making the comparison of people who struggle to build muscle to people who struggle to save money.

The solution to building more muscle (for the vast majority of people) is to train harder and eat better.  The solution to saving more money (except for those who are addicted to spending) is to make more money.

If you are worried about Covid-19 and other issues, then do your best to get in better physical shape so you are better able to deal with these issues when they come along.

If you are worried about increased crime, then learn how to kick some ass, and do what is necessary to protect your home and loved ones.

Investing

Many people turn to investing in real estate or the stock market to make more money, save for retirement, build wealth, etc.

The problem is that most of these people let others do the work for them, and most of those professionals are simply focused on matching the returns of the S&P 500 while producing less volatility.

Or, in the case of investing in real estate, they do it wrong by focusing on cheap properties in neighborhoods that people are leaving.

Making more money at investing requires that you do some work.  You need to treat it more like a second job.

One piece of advice I’ve heard more than once from very successful traders is this… do what most people are unwilling to do.

What most people are unwilling to do is take ownership of their investments and investing program.

If you want to build wealth more quickly, then you need to understand the risks, and take ownership.  You’ll make mistakes along the way, but in the long run, if you do it right, you’ll be much better off.

Start your side hustle

One thing that should really open our eyes is the ability of the government to shut down our businesses, and effectively ruin our lives.

The lesson we need to learn there is that we should never rely on a single source of income, because that income is not guaranteed.

Over the last year, I’ve witnessed businesses that have been in existence for over 50 years being forced to close as a result of government overreach.

Therefore, if you have a skill aside from your normal job or business, put it to use to build another income stream.  Then, once it is established, plow that extra income into your investments.

Get your ass in shape

Remember that anecdote I mentioned.

If you want to get in better shape, quit making excuses.

For the last ten years, as I became bigger and softer, I made every excuse under the sun.

Even when I saw pictures of myself that horrified me, I still made excuses.  I thought I worked out enough, but I blamed other things for my continued weight gain.

Bottom line was that, even though I’ve worked out fairly consistently over the years, my diet absolutely sucked.  And, ultimately, I was putting in more calories than I was burning.

I also realized that, even though I probably work out harder than most people my age, and probably for people 20 years younger, I can still push harder.  The human body is an amazing machine that can adapt.

With this in mind, if you struggle with your weight, look yourself in the mirror.  You can do better.

Learn to kick ass

When most people think of the increase in crime in our cities, their immediate reaction is to go and buy a gun.

Remember those long lines at the gun shops this summer?

Well, just remember this… a firearm is just one tool.  And, if you don’t practice with it, it’ll be practically worthless anyway.

By practice, I don’t mean just standing on the firing range, aiming at a fixed target.  Yeah, that is part of the practice, but it’s far from what a real life situation will be like.

To be more capable of defending yourself and your loved ones, you need to develop other skills.  These include soft skills, such as developing your street smarts, to hard skills involving empty hand combatives and use of other weapons.

Final Thoughts

If you are horrified by what’s transpired over the last several years, you should be.  The country has changed forever.  Our children (if you are in my age bracket) will be the first generation that has less wealth than the previous generation.

This is perhaps why the country has lurched so far to the left.  And, we really only have ourselves to blame.

Regardless, we have to accept these realities and deal with them.

Some of you reading this probably say you don’t have the time to do all this.  Bullshit.

Add up the hours you spend watching football or Netflix, or sitting in the bar (when they’re back open of course), and you will find plenty of time available to get started on all this stuff.

Get your priorities in order and take ownership.

My goal going forward is to help provide solutions for dealing with these realities.

With that in mind, I encourage you to sign up for my blog posts, and my new montly newsletter, which will be coming out in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for reading!