In late 2023, we declared that the soft landing had been achieved with core inflation under control at 2.8% (rates are going to be higher forever; we are never getting back to 2%) and unemployment at 3.6%. But post-pandemic price levels had risen substantially and people were apoplectic. That December, with elections roughly a year out, we wrote a post entitled $7 Mayonnaise Might End Democracy.

While the jury is still very much out on whether or not the nation as we once knew it will survive the apocalyptic hellscape we’re living through these days, there is hope that this