With the beginning of a new year, Anno Domini 2023, although still in Anno Liberatis 246, we should pause and think about all our blessings. All the many ways 330 million of us, for the most part, enjoy things in this earthly life that virtually every human for the past 6,000+ years (at least until the two and a half centuries) did not have. And that a large majority of the 8+ trillion human beings now living on the planet do not enjoy.

Let us look at the numbers first. This rather complex and grandiose pie-chart is a few months old, but the data is still pretty accurate as we Americans flirt with inflation, recession, the aftermath of the Pandemic Panic, and fears for the future, including the fate of our empire.

Think about those numbers for a while. Out of about 330 million people, only 157 million are actually working! When you consider that probably 7 million of those actually work for government agencies (as employees or contractors), and therefore produce primarily paperwork and anger and frustration? We have only 150 million, well under half, who are in essence supporting the whole population. And according to the amount of money sent by governments overseas, and the trade balance, a whole lot of people: perhaps hundreds of millions more, overseas!

Is that not amazing? Are we not blessed?

With the (by historical standards and those of most of the world) the incredibly high standard of living we enjoy, it should be no surprise that we are the wealthiest society, wealthiest nations known to history! (Yes, despite that 1/4% of the “elite” who are the new Midas-type folks, and that 4-5% of the population who (by American standards) are dirt-poor.)

Lets dig a little deeper.

As we prepare to enter 2023, we see that these population figures are probably too low, as hundreds of thousands jump the southern borders of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Who knows how many have come across in 2022, or will in 2023? But we ask why they come? Because of the blessings they know Americans enjoy, at least partly!

And we know since many of the numbers come from government agencies (BLS and the Census) that they are almost certainly wrong. But it is a start, no?

Ask yourself, which slice do YOU belong in? You only get to pick one. Are you happy there? Notice the chart doesn’t show those who are underemployed, which are likely much more than the 10 million unemployed and discouraged. And at the same time, businesses are incredibly short of workers in many fields – even while wages and salaries are going up. (Just not as much as prices!)

When we throw in the declining birth rate, the rising death rate, and the shortening of life expectancy, these numbers may be far better than what we see in the future. When we consider the potential for what could go wrong in 2023, who can count on a optimistic short-term situation?

What could?

• -Expanded war in Eastern Europe: direct contact between Russians and NATO, including US and possible escalation to nuclear weapons
• -A fresh collapse of the supply chain, worldwide AND here in the States
• -A new “convenient” pandemic that really is a massive killer – not just a side effect of panic and lust for control
• -New tyrannical enactments and “redefining” or regulations and laws in the States stifling our economy and society
• -A collapse of the Chinese regime and economy
• -New, fresh natural events: earthquakes in California (and elsewhere), more really nasty cold-snow-tornadoes or even an uptick in hurricanes
• -Even worse inflation – perhaps triggered by the latest 1.7 trillion dollar spending spree and supply woes
• -A real uprising or insurrection – not in DC but in some place where people are sick and tired of governments’ abuse of them. Even possibly in Canada or Mexico
• -Collapse elsewhere triggering even more border jumping as the people who we are told hate us seek a safe harbor here in this horrible land
• -General civil war or war between the states: war(s) of secession – or even relatively peaceful divorce

Not a lot of great things to contemplate here, is there?

But… All things considered, are we not blessed that some of these events have not happened, despite worries and signs that they were in the wind?

And another but. Are we wrong here at The Price of Liberty to think that “this too shall pass” and that many Americans, many of the 330+ million, will continue to enjoy being part of the wealthiest, most privileged society in human history? Even if some of those disasters do come to pass? That even if some of these happen (as many have happened in the past), Americans – many of us – will quickly work and repair the damage, deal with the results, and go forward to even greater things?

Indeed, let us count our blessings this new year! And remember that all these are tied closely to the liberty of the past and the liberty we still have. If we want more of these good things? We will work to get/regain liberty. If we want the messes to happen we listed above? Just let liberty languish and die.

It is our choice, in 2023.