“Sometimes I feel like the guy who, on top of a mountain, invented the TV just to run down to the village to see that everybody already had one.”
‘There is really nothing much new in this world. I always hark back to the middle-ages when most ordinary people’s life was one of drudgery and misery. Disease, no plumbing and no harnessed energy.”
“I can’t even imagine a life without electricity or antibiotics. What we take for granted today was unimaginable five hundred years ago. “
“Nobody, not even Da Vinci or Isaac Newton could imagine the transportation and communication we have today.”
“If they did, they would most likely have been burned at the stake or thrown into a dungeon.”
“Do we live happier lives Camp, with all our modernity and comfy existances than those five centuries ago?”
“I would have to say yes, simply from a creature comfort view. It’s nice to have cold and warm running water, toilets and fridges. I like my beer cold, not lukewarm. Also, you and I would have both been dead long ago from an infection or some kind of a disease. And what would we do without lights, our gadgets, communication devices and transportation modes? As long as we have enough money to pay for it all, of course.”
“And now with the mid-terms over and a trashing of the Maga-Republicans will the Democrats reinvent America again as in a government for the people rather than a government for their own friends, families and social class as in the rich for the rich and let the poor fend for themselves.
“I think they have a chance to fix some things like the health system and the immigration chaos but the world will still have to live with 25 months of Trump and his cronies. Will he lash out with more executive orders, dish out pardons to all his friends and family, and ramp up deportations and detentions along with the cost of living?’ Camp said, shaking h is head of grey curls.
“The question is: will a lame duck bite?”
“The first bite is in the form of the new Chief-of-Staff, Stephen Miller, who like another former acolyte of Trump’s, Roy Cohn who graduated from McCarthy to Trump, has sworn absolute loyalty and devotion to the Supreme Leader. As Kai Bird and Susan Goldmark write in the New York Times, Miller’s job now is the advancing of an agenda that Americans rejected. Count on him to fight any attempts to constrain Trump’s outrageous power grabs and to deploy an angry campaign of retribution and more anti-immigrant policies then we saw in the last two years.”
“Nevertheless, these election results are a step in the right direction. As Churchill said: You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing, after they exhausted all other options.”
“Yes, it is certainly encouraging. After Orban’s and Vudic’s departure from power now the Republicans are scrambling to regroup. On the other hand, I don’t see any big advantage to the Canadians from these results. Tariffs do generate billions of dollars for the US government, money they sorely need and depend on. I can’t see them replacing them with a wealth tax or even a consumer tax.”
“The next two years will be interesting. Can Carney stay the course of the ‘knight in shining armour’ for the middle-powers? Only if we see some real results in people’s wallets, like lower prices at the pump and the grocery store. Or the liquor store for that matter. A six-pack of beer costs over twenty bucks.”
We both sipped our valuable brews with new respect.
“Do you see less consumption of alcohol these days?” I asked Vicky when she swapped out our drinks.
“Yes, people drink less and 00beer is definitely the most popular new drink. It’s simply too expensive to drink these days. After rent, food, gas and taxes.”
We both nodded, remembering the good old days when one could go out and party all night for ten bucks. Now you get one beer. Times have changed.
