2022 was a very challenging year for everyone. The most difficulty faced by families was an inflationary wave that appears to be decreasing but nevertheless felt deeply especially at the grocery store.
Inflation to this degree has not happened for decades. The last time I felt it like this was during the Jimmy Carter administration.
I remember purchasing a condominium just before prices began to spiral. The effect of that climb was to make my mortgage less expensive since I was paying with inflated money.
Things like this happen because of what we decide to do with out lives as individuals and as a society. For example, seeing the reality of COVID 19 devastating our economic system, we made the choice of pumping trillions of dollars into individual and institutional hands in order to spend and maintain market viability.
At the same time, we created the ingredients for inflation. In hindsight, it would have been more prudent to have responded to the COVID 19 devastation by authorizing the needed infrastructure financing earlier rather than later and make better use of the allocated resources.
In a sense, the more significant problems are created by people in the public sector or in our private lives. Because these are people issues, they tend not to have a permanent solutions.
In other words, most people problems cannot be solved, only managed. That is the view we should have going forward in order not to be disappointed with the “answers” we create.
2023 promises more of the same challenges we have experienced in the past with others added here and there. Of most immediate concern is the health and welfare of our youngest and oldest members of the community.
We should look to maintain and enhance Social Security and Medicare for our elderly as well as medical benefits for our veterans as we seem to be constantly sending soldiers to war around the world.
Our children should also be a priority, especially in the area of healthcare and the improvement of early childhood and K-12 educational systems that is very much broken.
Second, there is a need to take more seriously and do everything we can to save our climate. The pre-Christmas storm that affected the whole country ought to be an immediate reminder that things are going to get worse and that we should be prepared to turn things around as soon as possible.
Third, the mid-term elections have again demonstrated that a significant portion of the Republican Party has largely gone rogue and it is affecting our political system and most of all, our democracy. We need to work to diminish the power of extremism in both political parties so that common sense approaches to problem solving and problem management can be effective.
Fourth, we should make it clear to ourselves that the United States is the global leader and we need to exercise that leadership for the good of the world rather than retrench and isolate especially when were are needed the most.
Ukraine is a perfect example of that responsibility. Under the previous administration we diminished the unity of NATO and had to rely on exhaustive intelligence and diplomacy to reunite the alliance in the face of Russian aggression.
Ukraine has become an international symbol of the challenge to conserve democracy threatened by tyranny.
Finally, we should again come to terms with the notion that America is the “shinning city on a hill.” It is essential to continue as the beacon of democracy.
Happy New Year.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of la Voz bilingüe. Comments and responses may be directed to News@lavozcolorado.com.
