The path we are on is delivering us to a Trump dystopia. I find myself at a loss when someone casually shares a conspiracy theory. Nonsense suddenly coming out of someone’s mouth when I think I’m having a casual conversation throws me for a loop. Last week I mentioned to…

Economists are in agreement that the coming recession will be deep, lengthy and painful. Make no mistake, a recession has already begun. The general definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. We’re past that. And we all know it. Recent consumer surveys show that average people expect inflation to get…

Better think again. It looks like we are entering into a recession. All the signs are there… We watch as traffic directors at food banks organize long lines of cars. Every day we read fresh news articles about another company laying off workers. …

The student loan crisis illustrates how little value we value education. I don’t understand why there is so little understanding of this fact, or of the general loss of respect as a nation we have for educated people. If cars were taking the toll on the nation’s finances that the…

Last week I realized I needed to think about getting a new pair of trousers. The ones I’ve been wearing aren’t worn out yet, but they’re getting a little thin and faded. They’re still good for casual wear, though. The thing is, I really like these trousers. They’re made of…

And it’s happening again. The under-40 generation deserves our sympathy and compassion. Random chance and bad fortune have repeatedly decimated their careers, standard of living, and futures. …

Try seeing the world through new eyes When I was in high school in the 1970’s I spent a lot of time in the swamps and forests of Western Oregon. My dad had land in Tillamook County, near Sand Lake about 75 miles south of the Columbia River. …

On a dark and moonless Arizona night in 1983 I was driving back to Tucson on Highway 79 after a weekend of skydiving in Coolidge. It was a longish drive and as happens on longish drives I found I was in need for relief. …

Fascism and Nazism sprang from utopian goals Lately I’ve been thinking about the Progressive Era in the United States — that time between roughly 1890 and 1920, which saw so many reforms to industry and politics. Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle about the meat packing industry, and that brought us…