Tom Riggins: 2021 in review

As 2022 starts there are a lot of reviews of 2021. I thought, why not do one of my own? So here it is, my view of some events in no particular order. For you leftist liberals who don’t understand sarcasm, please do not read this.

January brought the inauguration of Joe Biden. There seemed to be a sigh of relief that he was able to complete the oath without botching it. It then took until March for him to come out of the White House basement to conduct a press conference. Unlike his predecessor, he took no questions. Or maybe he left because his teleprompter quit working or answers to questions couldn’t be written in quickly enough. Either way, the resultant unhappiness of the press corps was stifled by their editors.

The Biden administration promptly started implementing their agenda. Biden essentially opened the border. He also all but eliminated domestic oil production, citing climate change concerns. I guess if our enemies in Venezuela and the Middle East can send us their oil it doesn’t count toward climate change. Congressional Democrats also passed Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief package. Congress had no idea how this would be paid for but passed it anyway to pay off their cronies. Maybe they plan on holding bake sales on the White House lawn. In a totally unrelated matter, the Federal Reserve decided to continue funding the federal deficit at well below market rates.

The inevitable happened. Illegal immigration hit an all-time high. And no wonder, with the prospect of a piece of the COVID relief package, no COVID vaccine requirements, and no consequence for entering illegally. The administration suddenly had an urge to do something about it due to public outcry so Biden appointed Vice President Harris to take charge of the border. She said she has visited the border (once) but her GPS must have been broken because she only made it to about 25 miles north of the border. And that is the last we have heard from the White House about the border.

The inevitable happened yet again. After trillions of government dollars pumped into the economy combined with labor shortages because people were being paid by the government not to work and the shortages created therefrom, inflation reared its head. Despite the Federal Reserve’s belief that it was transitory, inflation spiraled higher rather than leveling or decreasing. Prices went up and supply shortages occurred. Ports were backed up because of government actions. After a few months, Biden became concerned and said he would fix the problem.

In a completely insane statement, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki stated that more government spending would cure inflation. That must be a corollary to the Democrat economic philosophy of spending your way out of debt. In a completely unrelated matter, the Federal Reserve conceded that maybe inflation isn’t transitory.

COVID was a major factor in society in 2021. I think history will show this pandemic to be the greatest scam ever perpetrated on the country. With all of the Fauci-promoted actions “based on science” contrary to the CDC’s own website to get the disease under control, the U.S. has almost double the deaths per 100,000 people compared to countries that did not do lockdowns or masking. Cheap, effective, and simple treatments were outright banned from use in favor of ultra-expensive and marginally successful prevention actions. I suggest reading Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s best- seller book “The Real Anthony Fauci” to have your eyes really opened. In a takeoff of an old Wendy’s commercial, “Where’s the science?”

Biden must have confused the office of president with emperor. He decreed that COVID must go away. Unfortunately, COVID didn’t listen. Come to think of it, neither did the supply chain problem after he decreed it would be fixed. In a completely unrelated matter, the Federal Reserve announced it would start raising interest rates sometime in 2022 to fight inflation. Let’s see, the 10-year Treasury note is now yielding 1.5 percent. With inflation officially at 6.8 percent that is a 5.3 percent difference. Will the Fed raise interest rates five percent or more in 2022? I don’t think so. Maybe that is transitory also.

Donald Trump must still be president because in December 2021 everything wrong is still his fault. Which makes sense if Biden believes himself to be emperor. Here is hoping 2022 if better than 2021.