More predictable news stories...
Daylight savings time ends at 2 a.m. this coming Sunday and that is either terrible or great or ???? Sleep researchers tend to favor just sticking with standard time, which is closer to what humans have experienced for millennia. Something about resetting our internal clocks each morning due to special receptors in the eyes or something. Who knows?
Here is one thing I know: we will have at least two days of TV and social media blathering about the "change" and how bad it is... or not. There will be some traffic accidents that will be blamed on drowsy drivers (or maybe overly alert drivers, since most Americans will "gain" an hour overnight into Sunday).
The Federal Reserve is prepping for another .75 percent interest rise quite soon, part of its attempt to rein in inflation and still avoid a recession and generally fit thousands of angels on the head of a pin. At the same time, lots of companies are reporting record profits and are boasting that no matter how high they raise their prices consumers are still buying.
I am shocked, shocked I say, that companies will soak consumers for every extra penny and give no consideration to their legal theft. I read a story today that wondered how companies will fool consumers in the future into thinking they are getting better value for the increased prices, since companies don't lower their prices based on lower inflation and lower costs.
Many universities and most community colleges are experiencing dropping enrollment combined with the need to provide remedial courses for entering students, particularly in math. Another shock! So it turns out that nearly two years of a pandemic and online schooling and political violence and economic rollercoasters is having an effect on education? Who could have predicted this?
Oh, and add in soaring college costs that seem designed to produce far fewer college students at the same time the "powers that be" push college as the gateway to success... which likely means we will see a higher percentage of upper middle class and upper class students entering college in the next few years... and even more separation between the educated elites and the riff raff who the elites depend upon to serve them.
Canada announced that it plans to welcome a million new immigrants, mostly based on specific job needs and skills, in the next year or two. About 20 percent of all Canadians are immigrants, a record high.
America, on the other hand, has no plans regarding immigration at all beyond current practices, while most of the country experiences severe labor shortages and wonders "where did all the workers go?". Let me take a stab at it: Baby Boomers have left the work force and succeeding generations are finding more fulfilling and lucrative jobs than in food service and truck driving and child care and gardening...
Canada has a government that is creating targeted programs to handle near-future needs. America awaits the "end times," so why worry about climate and worker shortages or even inflation? The Chosen will soon be ascending to heaven to party with other special souls, and everyone else is doomed. Sorry, I must have read one too many Lauren Boebert stories.
Trump's taxes don't have to be released, at least for another week or so, and Lindsey Graham will have to testify to a Georgia grand jury, though he likely will take the Fifth, and the midterms will be messy and won't lead to much of anything other than more chaos and bickering and accusations.
And Trump will announce his candidacy for 2024 before the year ends, which means that will be all anyone can talk about.
But by all means, let's focus on changing the clock.
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