• THE  ELEMENTS WHICH RESULTED IN LAST WEEK’S TRAGIC LOS ANGELES FIRES may “end home ownership as we know it, and could eventually crash the national economy.”  Natural disasters – fire/ hurricane/ flood/ tornado/ earthquake/ tsunami/ drought/ etc. – have, beyond their devastation and human tragedies, caused insolvency for some insurers and caused others to either drop  coverage for such disasters, stop selling protection entirely in certain states, or raise rates to a point where insurance + taxes now exceed the cost of mortgage payments making coverage unaffordable for many homeowners. In areas where policies aren’t available, the value of houses then decrease, as do property tax collections which impact services governments can provide, and could “create a death spiral where the only logical conclusion is that fewer can live in these communities vulnerable to climate impact, plummeting values drag everything else down, and eventually lead to some kind of economic crash on the scale of the 2008 Great Recession or worse.”  Risk of natural disasters has now become another critical component of strategic & financial planning for businesses and families. DCG can help. [SPLINTER.COM – 1/8/25]
  •  “THE ESTABLISHMENT PRESS ARE LESS TRUSTED THAN VIRTUALLY ANY MAJOR INSTITUTION IN AMERICAN LIFE. If the 2024 presidential contest proved anything, it’s that those media no longer drive the national conversation, after four years of not one reporter to the White House outside of Fox News having thought it important enough to let us know that the Commander-in-Chief could barely function – until it could no longer be hidden, then turned their focus to elbowing out the president and supporting ‘Kamalot,” a shameless, sycophantic, contrived campaign to persuade voters that a woefully inadequate candidate was actually a generational political talent. Most quarters of the media still not only refuse to debate, but won’t even concede that there is a debate, and cable news panels still devolve into struggle sessions & group therapy. On the bright side, though, most people have stopped listening.”  [PATRIOT POST- 1/3/25]
  •  UP TO A THIRD OF GEN Z ADULTS ARE INCREASINGLY EXPERIENCING A ‘MIDLIFE CRISIS.’  Several studies find those aged 18 – 27 responding that they’re being driven by stagnant job prospects, career uncertainty and financial instability leading to mental health issues including anxiety, depression, obesity and overmedication/addiction as their futures fade. One study found the suicide rate among Gen Z women is now nearly double that of Gen X.  “An entire generation has been raised in an education system that prioritized obedience and self-esteem over excellence and hard work, them dumped them into a failing and unforgiving economy, along with millions of illegal migrants who ‘minimum wage’ every starter job, to discover that Participation Trophies do not, in fact, pay the bills.”  [PETER ST ONGE – 1/10/25]
  •  GLOBALLY, THE U.S. POPULATION BETWEEN AGE 16 – 65 RANK 14TH OUT OF 31 INDUSTRIALIZED NATIONS IN LITERACY, with fewer than 50% able to navigate multiple pages or identify targeted info from various points of a text, based on assessment measuring the “cognitive & workplace skills necessary to participate in the 21st century economy.” In Numeracy, the U.S. gap is widest among all countries, with some 98% of public schools reporting that “at least some students are behind a grade level in both math and English language arts.” Historical standards for reading and writing continue to erode, with over half of Americans now reading below 6th grade level, and in one Connecticut school, where two-thirds of students are chronically absent, they automatically receive a minimum score of 50 in every class “regardless of whether they attend (allowing up to 50 unexcused absences in a year), complete assignments, or score zero points on tests, and where one student who can’t read or write still earned a diploma and now attends University.  [EPOCH TIMES – 1/7/25]

           THOUGHTS FOR THE NEW YEAR:

  •  The horrendous California fires have been designated a ‘National Emergency’ which enable non-taxable “Disaster Relief Payments’ to employees for both Federal & State purposes. Documentation isn’t required as long as the Employer has ‘reasonable expectation’ that payments are for personal or family living expenses, repair/replacement of residence or contents, and which are not otherwise covered by insurance. 
  • “Every new technology is eventually subsumed into the darkest corner of society for violent and twisted purposes.” The soldier who rented a Tesla Cybertruck and blew himself up in it in Las Vegas on New Years Day planned his attack using ChatGPT – the generative A.I. app – to research explosive targets, bullet travel speed & distance, and legality of fireworks.  [ASSOCIATED PRESS]
  •  McDonalds is latest national company to announce that after a “civil rights audit,” it will be ending DEI practices and woke policies relating to “aspirational representation goals.”