Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Monday, November 28, 2022
Sunday, November 27, 2022
Saturday, November 26, 2022
Friday, November 25, 2022
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
Germany: Adventist Conductor Herbert Blomstedt Awarded the Federal Cross of Merit
Photo: Paul Yates
THE SWEDISH CONDUCTOR HERBERT BLOMSTEDT TURNED 95 THIS YEAR.
NOV 14, 2022APD, EUDNEWS.
GERMANY: ADVENTIST CONDUCTOR HERBERT BLOMSTEDT AWARDED THE FEDERAL CROSS OF MERIT
On November 10, the Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt was awarded the Great Cross of Merit with Star of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his life's work at the Leipzig Gewandhaus.
The Prime Minister of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, presented the award and paid tribute to Blomstedt with the words: "Maestro Blomstedt, we are all full of admiration for your vitality and mental elasticity, for your strength without doggedness," reported Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk in its TV programme MDR-Aktuell.
In a statement distributed in advance, Kretschmer described Blomstedt as a "bridge builder in the best sense of the word". He stands for the unifying function of culture in Europe and throughout the world. Blomstedt had already received the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2003. Now he also holds the award with a star.
"Music is his source of strength"
"I am, of course, delighted to be honoured with such an award by a country in which I have lived for a long time and [in which I] had been the leader of two of the best orchestras - namely the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and the Staatskappelle Dresden," Herbert Blomstedt told MDR. Despite a fall, the consequences of which forced him to conduct sitting down, he feels "as fit as ever". Music is his source of strength, "that can't be ignored", according to the MDR report.
Conductor of numerous orchestras
Blomstedt was born, to an Adventist pastor couple, on July 11, 1927, in the USA, but moved with his parents to their native Sweden at the age of two. He received his first musical education at the Royal Conservatory in Stockholm and at Uppsala University. He later studied conducting at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, contemporary music in Darmstadt, and Renaissance and Baroque music at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, and worked under Igor Markevitch in Salzburg and Leonard Bernstein in Tanglewood/USA.
In February 1954, Blomstedt made his conducting debut with the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Later, as principal conductor, he led important Scandinavian orchestras such as the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Danish and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestras, staying with the latter until 1983. From 1975 to 1985, he was principal conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden. For the next ten years, he was music director of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. From 1996 to 1998, he was principal conductor of the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg, and he conducted the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra from 1998 to 2005. To this day, he regularly conducts concerts of various major orchestras in America, Japan and Europe. He currently conducts concerts in the Leipzig Gewandhaus and was a guest in the Dresden Frauenkirche in cooperation with the Sächsische Staatskapelle in the summer.
Numerous awards
Herbert Blomstedt is an elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and has received several honorary doctorates. He remains associated with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, of which he was the 18th Kapellmeister, as an honorary conductor. Six other orchestras also awarded him this distinction: the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan, the Danish and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestras as well as the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and the Staatskapelle Dresden, which had already honoured him with the Golden Honorary Pin in 2007.
In 2013, a biography about Herbert Blomstedt was published, entitled "Mein Leben - ein grosser Gesang (My life - a great song)". It is not commercially available and was written by freelance author Ursula Weigert for his friends.
His vitality was “a gift”
In an interview with the New York Times newspaper in February 2017, Blomstedt talked about the secret of how he manages this workload at his age.
"It is a gift," Blomstedt emphasised. Asked about his weekly day of rest, the conductor explained why he does not rehearse on the Sabbath (Saturday) but does perform with the orchestras: "I thought of my father [who was a pastor]: He prepared his sermon very thoroughly during the week. On Fridays, at sunset, he would close his books and spend time with the family; but on the Sabbath he would preach the sermon. I love to rehearse, to work with the orchestra. But on Sabbath we don't practise anymore - we just play what we have rehearsed together. And that is a blessing for all of us," says Blomstedt.
Blomstedt Prize for students at Friedensau University of Applied Sciences
Herbert Blomstedt has also endowed a prize himself. In memory of his wife Waltraud, who died in 2003, the Adventist Theological College Friedensau near Magdeburg has been awarding the "Waltraud and Herbert Blomstedt Prize" since 2008. The prize is awarded to Friedensau students for excellent bachelor’s or master's theses in the fields of theology and Christian social work or for a particularly worthy artistic achievement in the field of music.
To read the original article, please go here.
Pope sacks leadership of worldwide Catholic charity, names commissioner
November 22, 2022 1:24 PM EST
By Philip Pullella
Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Nick Macfie and Bill Berkrot
By Philip Pullella
Pope Francis holds a mass at Asti Cathedral, in Asti, Italy November 20, 2022. Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS
VATICAN CITY, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Tuesday fired the entire leadership of the Roman Catholic Church's worldwide charity arm following accusations of bullying and humiliation of employees, and appointed a commissioner to run it.
The surprise move involved the executives of Caritas Internationalis (CI), a Vatican-based confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social services organisations working in more 200 countries.
The sackings of the executive level of CI, which has more than a million staff and volunteers around the world, were announced in a papal decree released by the Vatican press office.
A separate statement from the Vatican's development department, which oversees CI, said a review of the workplace environment this year by external management and psychological experts found malaise and bad management practices at its headquarters.
Current and former staffers told Reuters of cases of verbal abuse, favouritism, and general human resources mismanagement that had led some staff to leave. CI is based in a Vatican-owned building in Rome.
"No evidence emerged of financial mismanagement or sexual impropriety, but other important themes and areas for urgent attention emerged from the panel's work," the statement from the development office said.
"Real deficiencies were noted in management and procedures, seriously prejudicing team spirit and staff morale," it said.
It said that while "financial matters have been well-handled and fundraising goals regularly achieved", management norms and procedures had to be improved.
A CI spokesperson referred all questions to the statement.
Among those affected by the decree was Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who was nominally president of Caritas but was not involved in the day-to-day operations. His main job at the Vatican is head of the Church's missionary arm.
The president's position is traditionally held by a cardinal.
Tagle, a Filipino who is often considered a possible future pope, will step down as president but remain in a new role to help the commissioner keep up relations with national Caritas offices and prepare for election of a new leadership next year.
Two current Caritas insiders and one former staffer, all of whom spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said the decree was aimed at the management practices by the office of the outgoing secretary general and the board.
The former staffer said employees had left jobs at the headquarters because of a climate of bullying, fear and "ritual humiliation".
Apart from Tagle and one priest, all members of the CI executive were lay people.
(This story has been corrected to say that departures were in Rome, not outside Italy in paragraph 14).
VATICAN CITY, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Tuesday fired the entire leadership of the Roman Catholic Church's worldwide charity arm following accusations of bullying and humiliation of employees, and appointed a commissioner to run it.
The surprise move involved the executives of Caritas Internationalis (CI), a Vatican-based confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social services organisations working in more 200 countries.
The sackings of the executive level of CI, which has more than a million staff and volunteers around the world, were announced in a papal decree released by the Vatican press office.
A separate statement from the Vatican's development department, which oversees CI, said a review of the workplace environment this year by external management and psychological experts found malaise and bad management practices at its headquarters.
Current and former staffers told Reuters of cases of verbal abuse, favouritism, and general human resources mismanagement that had led some staff to leave. CI is based in a Vatican-owned building in Rome.
"No evidence emerged of financial mismanagement or sexual impropriety, but other important themes and areas for urgent attention emerged from the panel's work," the statement from the development office said.
"Real deficiencies were noted in management and procedures, seriously prejudicing team spirit and staff morale," it said.
It said that while "financial matters have been well-handled and fundraising goals regularly achieved", management norms and procedures had to be improved.
A CI spokesperson referred all questions to the statement.
Among those affected by the decree was Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who was nominally president of Caritas but was not involved in the day-to-day operations. His main job at the Vatican is head of the Church's missionary arm.
The president's position is traditionally held by a cardinal.
Tagle, a Filipino who is often considered a possible future pope, will step down as president but remain in a new role to help the commissioner keep up relations with national Caritas offices and prepare for election of a new leadership next year.
Two current Caritas insiders and one former staffer, all of whom spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said the decree was aimed at the management practices by the office of the outgoing secretary general and the board.
The former staffer said employees had left jobs at the headquarters because of a climate of bullying, fear and "ritual humiliation".
Apart from Tagle and one priest, all members of the CI executive were lay people.
(This story has been corrected to say that departures were in Rome, not outside Italy in paragraph 14).
Tuesday, November 22, 2022
Monday, November 21, 2022
Sunday, November 20, 2022
U.N. Climate Talks End With a Deal to Pay Poor Nations for Damage
Nations reached a landmark deal to compensate developing nations for climate harm. But some leaders said the summit didn’t go far enough in addressing the root causes of global warming.
Sameh Shoukry, the Egyptian foreign minister, seated, reading a statement at the closing session of climate talks in Sharm el Sheikh.Credit...Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters
By Brad Plumer, Max Bearak, Lisa Friedman and Jenny Gross
By Brad Plumer, Max Bearak, Lisa Friedman and Jenny Gross
Nov. 20, 2022, 3:33 a.m. ET
SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt — Diplomats from nearly 200 countries concluded two weeks of climate talks on Sunday by agreeing to establish a fund that would help poor, vulnerable countries cope with climate disasters made worse by the greenhouse gases from wealthy nations.
The decision on payments for loss and damage caused by global warming represented a breakthrough on one of the most contentious issues at United Nations climate negotiations. For more than three decades, developing nations have pressed rich, industrialized countries to provide compensation for the costs of destructive storms, heat waves and droughts linked to rising temperatures.
But the United States and other wealthy countries had long blocked the idea, for fear that they could face unlimited liability for the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change.
The loss and damage agreement hammered out in this Red Sea resort town makes clear that payments are not to be seen as an admission of liability. The deal calls for a committee with representatives from 24 countries to work over the next year to figure out exactly what form the fund should take, which countries and financial institutions should contribute, and where the money should go. Many of the other details are still to be determined.
Developing countries hailed the deal as a landmark victory.
Saturday, November 19, 2022
Friday, November 18, 2022
Thursday, November 17, 2022
NY Fed launches 12-week CBDC pilot program with major banks
(Kitco News) - The New York Fed announced on Tuesday that they will launch a 12-week pilot project in collaboration with commercial banks for a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York wrote that its New York Innovation Center (NYIC) “will participate in a proof-of-concept project to explore the feasibility of an interoperable network of central bank wholesale digital money and commercial bank digital money operating on a shared multi-entity distributed ledger.”
The project is designed to test “technical feasibility, legal viability, and business applicability of distributed ledger technology” on a regulated liability network (RLN).
“The NYIC looks forward to collaborating with members of the banking community to advance research on asset tokenization and the future of financial market infrastructures in the U.S. as money and banking evolve," said NYIC Director Per von Zelowitz.
The banking community members who will participate in the New York Fed’s CBDC pilot are Citi, HSBC, TD Bank, Wells Fargo, BNY Mellon, U.S. Bank, Mastercard, PNC Bank, and Truist, according to a joint announcement released Tuesday. The technology will be provided by SETL with Digital Asset, powered by Amazon Web Services, and global financial messaging service provider Swift will also participate to support interoperability across the international financial ecosystem.
The 12-week pilot will test an RLN design that operates exclusively in U.S. dollars where banks “issue simulated digital money or ‘tokens’ – representing the deposits of their own customers – and settle through simulated central bank reserves on a shared multi-entity distributed ledger.”
The project will also test the feasibility of a “programmable digital money design” that is “potentially extensible to other digital assets,” and it will test the compatibility of the RLN with existing laws and regulations. The pilot will also include “dialogue with the broader U.S. banking community, including community and regional banks.”
This pilot project follows Friday’s announcement of the launch of Phase II of Project Cedar, a New York Fed study exploring the technical framework for a “theoretical wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC), which tests the feasibility of cross-border settlements between international banks using different national currencies.
The New York Fed and participating banks will publicize the results as a “contribution to the literature on digital money” once the pilot project has concluded in mid-February.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York wrote that its New York Innovation Center (NYIC) “will participate in a proof-of-concept project to explore the feasibility of an interoperable network of central bank wholesale digital money and commercial bank digital money operating on a shared multi-entity distributed ledger.”
The project is designed to test “technical feasibility, legal viability, and business applicability of distributed ledger technology” on a regulated liability network (RLN).
“The NYIC looks forward to collaborating with members of the banking community to advance research on asset tokenization and the future of financial market infrastructures in the U.S. as money and banking evolve," said NYIC Director Per von Zelowitz.
The banking community members who will participate in the New York Fed’s CBDC pilot are Citi, HSBC, TD Bank, Wells Fargo, BNY Mellon, U.S. Bank, Mastercard, PNC Bank, and Truist, according to a joint announcement released Tuesday. The technology will be provided by SETL with Digital Asset, powered by Amazon Web Services, and global financial messaging service provider Swift will also participate to support interoperability across the international financial ecosystem.
The 12-week pilot will test an RLN design that operates exclusively in U.S. dollars where banks “issue simulated digital money or ‘tokens’ – representing the deposits of their own customers – and settle through simulated central bank reserves on a shared multi-entity distributed ledger.”
The project will also test the feasibility of a “programmable digital money design” that is “potentially extensible to other digital assets,” and it will test the compatibility of the RLN with existing laws and regulations. The pilot will also include “dialogue with the broader U.S. banking community, including community and regional banks.”
This pilot project follows Friday’s announcement of the launch of Phase II of Project Cedar, a New York Fed study exploring the technical framework for a “theoretical wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC), which tests the feasibility of cross-border settlements between international banks using different national currencies.
The New York Fed and participating banks will publicize the results as a “contribution to the literature on digital money” once the pilot project has concluded in mid-February.
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
Monday, November 14, 2022
10 Spiritual Principles for Climate Repentance
The Elijah Board of World Religious Leaders
Introduction
The leaders of the world are presently gathered in Egypt, during this time of great international tension and conflict, for the Cop-27 meeting. We support them with our deepest prayers and meditations. Theirs is the urgent work of addressing the practical challenges of climate change and for negotiating between nations, in an attempt to help humanity resolve the climate crisis. As religious leaders we offer our voice as a contribution to the gathered leaders and to humanity. Ours is a voice of hope and unity, grounded in a spiritual vision. From this vision, offered as common ground between diverse religions, an positive attitude to life is derived that can inform practical decisions and negotiations. It can also give hope and meaning to individuals struggling under the burden of climate anxiety, who seek to find their place and identify their responsibility at this time of crisis. We must also confront honestly the destructive habits which continue to limit the possibilities and the hopes of human beings, in a call for wake up and self-examination. With the following ten principles we seek to initiate a process of climate repentance, broader understanding, and effective action. Many practical consequences can be derived from the vision set forth here, as well as from the individual principles we offer. Our call is a call to action; and a call to return to a correct vision of the creation, the creator, and the harmonious relationship of humanity with creation.
God and the world – the Nature of Being
Creation is not our possession. The human person must recognize this and find his/her rightful place in relation to this fundamental fact. For some of us, this leads to a sense of gratitude for God’s gifts and for the gift of life itself, wherein humanity takes its rightful place as partner and co-creator, in advancing the life of all creation. For others,, creation itself is sacred.
Therefore: We recognize human responsibility to love and protect nature.
Creation is not simply external to God. It is, in significant ways, permeated by God’s presence and being, manifesting the divine agency and reality. Such understandings are found in all traditions, whether as the universal view or as one voice among others. Alternatively, nature is permeated by the spiritual, manifesting ultimate reality in every particle.
Therefore: We must treat all of life with reverence.
Within creation, and between humans and other parts of creation, as well as among religious communities, there is interdependence. All are part of a greater whole wherein each element both receives and gives influence, impact, love, and growth.
Therefore: We must care for each other and the planet.
Humanity and Its Responsibilities
The distinctive task of humanity is to nurture and serve this interdependent life-giving, and so to resist the temptation to exploitation, waste, and harm. Acting in the interest of human well-being cannot be something pursued in separation from working for the well-being of the whole created order. This finds two prominent expressions:
a. Commitment to not harm creation, and the responsibility to protect it.
b. Commitment to serve, advance, and aid in the growth and evolution of all parts of creation.
Therefore: We recognize that we are responsible for the wellbeing of all life today, as well as for future generations.
The human person has capacities that are conducive to the realization of this vision, as well as forces that are destructive. Ego, self-centeredness, greed, arrogance, and more are negative traits stemming from a limited sense of the human person. These have the potential to destroy humanity and creation. The soul, or the higher aspects of the human person, have the capacity to realize the fuller vision of humanity’s role in the broader scheme of the meaning of life and creation.
Therefore: A disciplined spiritual life is helpful in overcoming the challenges of climate change.
There is an inherent relationship between the human person (within) and nature and objective reality (without). Thoughts, speech and action have the capacity to bring harm or to heal.
Therefore: Use thought, speech and action only for the good.
Based on this understanding of the human person and his/her role in creation, the processes of growth, transformation, return and repentance are fundamental to human existence.
Therefore: The human person is benefitted by the ongoing effort to purify, raise, and transform himself, in view of a higher vision.
Living in Spirituality and Responsibility
There are reactions when we harm the earth and others. Actions have consequences and no action can be ignored. The weight of our actions and their short and long term consequences lead us to find ways of mitigating harmful actions and to work for the good.
Therefore: Act knowing that every action counts.
Empowered by mind, reason and spiritual understanding, we adopt a mindful and attentive view of the natural world.
Therefore: take seriously the lessons and observations that humanity has reached by application of its mind in scientific study and through common reason.
The life of attentive, intelligent love is embodied in compassion: in openness to the pain and vulnerability of the world. Care for the other is expressed in love and compassion as fundamental spiritual principles. These are to be applied to other humans, human communities, and other parts of creation. Compassion means suffering with others—to feel the pain of the earth, of the poor, and of those who suffer the consequences of climate change. Opening our hearts to their pain will lead us to change.
Therefore: Be sensitive to the intolerable insecurities and injustices in which so many of our fellow-humans live.
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Wow!!! The Ten Climate Commandments Have Been Implemented!!!
Note:
I agree with most statements, except an Eternal HELL.
Our loving Created could not torture someone forever...
Sunday, November 13, 2022
Friday, November 11, 2022
Wednesday, November 09, 2022
Monday, November 07, 2022
Sunday, November 06, 2022
Jesuits in the boardroom
As corporations struggle to survive in a more uncertain world, they should look to the success of the Society of Jesus
by Paolo Quattrone + BIO
Would you give your money to someone who will seek to maximise their returns rather than yours?
The answer is likely ‘No!’ However, as Voltaire warned us, in the corporate world common sense is not very common. Workers, suppliers and lenders provide the corporation with their resources but these are used in the interest of shareholders first. We take the primacy of shareholder value so much for granted that we forget that other and more democratic forms of governance are possible and have, even in our relatively recent history, governed organisations, economies and societies with historic success.
The life of corporations is complex, made of contradictions, power struggles, tensions between different stakeholders, conflicting priorities, and emerging and unforeseen needs and demands. Corporations face Rumsfeldian unknown unknowns, wars, pandemics and black swans. Anyone who has had even minimal exposure to how corporations work knows that, like families, they are political arenas. So, it is very important to consider if shareholders’ value is still a good governing principle.
Recent history is full of commendable attempts to replace shareholders’ value as the organising purpose. One day, the customer is king; another, the stakeholders are, with their defined interests. Lately, other ideas, from the environment to the good of society, have become pressing necessities, as testified by the proliferation of objectives and metrics that corporations have to pursue and disclose: eg, the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The likely outcome of these commendable attempts is an impossible accountability, as addressing the grand challenges of the SDGs and making corporate conduct more attentive to environmental and social issues will bring even greater contradictions, tensions and wicked problems. One forgets that safeguarding the environment is intrinsically in contrast with any form of value production and distribution. We cannot enjoy new cars, clothes, roads, infrastructures if not by consuming natural resources and polluting the environment. It is of course a matter of trade-offs and how we want to tip the scale: there is no magic wand. As the British sociologist John Law said in After Method (2004): ‘if the world is complex and messy, then … we’re going have to give up on simplicities’. Nowhere could benefit more from considering Law’s insight than the world of corporate governance.
Saturday, November 05, 2022
At COP27, flood-battered Pakistan leads push to make polluting countries pay
By Sarah Kaplan and Susannah George
November 5, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. EDT
DADU, Pakistan — Before the floods, Mazhar Hussain Birhamni dreamed of becoming a scholar. The 22-year-old wanted to pursue a master’s degree in English literature, to comprehend the world beyond the rural village in Pakistan where he lived with his parents.
But his books were washed away this summer amid historic flooding that scientists say was supercharged by climate change. After weeks of relentless rainfall, a nearby levee was breached in August, sending a waist-deep torrent rushing into his house. Birhamni’s family had just a few hours to escape with what little they could carry: pots and pans, small bags of food, a woven bed frame. With one-third of his country underwater and no help in sight, the college graduate’s dreams seemed lost to the deluge.
Low-income nations have long warned that rising temperatures would hit their citizens the hardest, punishing the people who contributed the least to planet-warming emissions and have the fewest resources to cope. Now, as the floods in Pakistan and other recent disasters make the consequences of climate change impossible to ignore, the world is gearing up for a showdown over who should pay the costs.
At this month’s U.N. climate negotiations in Egypt, Pakistan will lead a bloc of more than 100 developing nations insisting on compensation for the irreversible harms of climate change — a class of impacts collectively known as “loss and damage.” The bloc has called for the creation of a dedicated loss-and-damage fund, which hard-hit countries can rely on for immediate assistance after a disaster, rather than waiting for humanitarian aid or loans that will drive them into debt.
Wealthy countries have historically resisted such calls, fearing liability for the billions of dollars in damage that could be linked to their emissions. But the dramatic escalation in extreme weather, coupled with deep frustration over unfulfilled climate funding promises from the industrialized world, have put pressure on nations like the United States — which has resisted providing compensation — to shift their stance.
There are signs that attitudes may be changing. U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said Thursday there is “no more time to postpone” the issue. Egypt will make loss and damage a priority agenda item at the upcoming talks. In September, Denmark announced a $13 million fund to assist vulnerable countries — the first U.N. member state to do so.
“With the Pakistan disaster the poster child of climate impacts, there is a change in the political mood, I think,” said Munir Akram, the country’s chief climate negotiator and permanent representative to the United Nations.
Friday, November 04, 2022
Thursday, November 03, 2022
Wednesday, November 02, 2022
Warnings
Volume 41 Issue Eleven November 2022
Last Trumpet Ministries · PO Box 806 · Beaver Dam, WI 53916
Phone: 920-887-2626 Internet: http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org
“For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” I Cor. 14:8
Warnings
“If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
II Chronicles 7:13-14
“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
Philippians 4:11-13
Philippians 4:11-13
As we enter the month of November, many Americans are making preparations for an upcoming holiday. Observed annually on the fourth Thursday in November, Thanksgiving Day is known as a celebration of prosperity and a time to be thankful for the abundance of blessings to which we are accustomed. The traditional feast usually includes turkey with all of the trimmings and a wide assortment of side dishes and desserts. However, in 2022 the American people approach this holiday against the backdrop of great uncertainty. Stubbornly high inflation has pushed prices at the supermarket higher and higher, while interest rate hikes implemented by the Federal Reserve have sent the cost of borrowing money soaring to astronomical levels. As such, the housing market is cratering, and the American stock market has taken a brutal pounding. On September 30, 2022, Business Insider reported that global markets lost an astonishing 46.1 trillion dollars in market value since November 2021. (1) Marketwatch further reported that this year saw the worst September stock market performance since 2002. (2) Needless to say, Thanksgiving Day is going to be different for many families this year.
As it turns out, it’s not just humanity that has been ravaged by disease in these perilous times. In 2022 flocks of birds throughout the country have been tormented by a tenacious strain of bird flu. Although bird flu is nothing new, outbreaks of the virus typically subside during the summer months. The current strain of bird flu continued throughout the summer and has affected 47.6 million birds in forty-two states just this year alone. (3) This number includes more than 3.5 million turkeys in the state of Minnesota and more than 13.3 million turkeys in Iowa. Consequently, the price of turkey has increased by a whopping 73 percent since this time last year. (4)
With food prices soaring, it is not surprising that the American people are planning to alter their behavior. A recent survey conducted by Personal Capital found that one in four Americans are not planning to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. About one-third of respondents said they would have a smaller celebration because of the higher cost, while 88 percent of respondents said they would cut at least one dish from their meal. (5)
As many Americans choose to forgo Thanksgiving, we must ask ourselves, is the United States of America still a thriving and blessed nation? Are we still a prosperous country? Consider these startling statistics: According to the United States Department of Agriculture, thirty-three million people in the United States are “food insecure,” or in other words, struggling to put food on the table. (6) This is about 10 percent of the entire American population! Furthermore, about 1.2 million people living in and around our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., struggled to procure enough food in 2021. (7) According to a report from CNBC, an estimated 60 percent of Americans are living from paycheck to paycheck. (8)
As it turns out, it’s not just humanity that has been ravaged by disease in these perilous times. In 2022 flocks of birds throughout the country have been tormented by a tenacious strain of bird flu. Although bird flu is nothing new, outbreaks of the virus typically subside during the summer months. The current strain of bird flu continued throughout the summer and has affected 47.6 million birds in forty-two states just this year alone. (3) This number includes more than 3.5 million turkeys in the state of Minnesota and more than 13.3 million turkeys in Iowa. Consequently, the price of turkey has increased by a whopping 73 percent since this time last year. (4)
With food prices soaring, it is not surprising that the American people are planning to alter their behavior. A recent survey conducted by Personal Capital found that one in four Americans are not planning to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. About one-third of respondents said they would have a smaller celebration because of the higher cost, while 88 percent of respondents said they would cut at least one dish from their meal. (5)
As many Americans choose to forgo Thanksgiving, we must ask ourselves, is the United States of America still a thriving and blessed nation? Are we still a prosperous country? Consider these startling statistics: According to the United States Department of Agriculture, thirty-three million people in the United States are “food insecure,” or in other words, struggling to put food on the table. (6) This is about 10 percent of the entire American population! Furthermore, about 1.2 million people living in and around our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., struggled to procure enough food in 2021. (7) According to a report from CNBC, an estimated 60 percent of Americans are living from paycheck to paycheck. (8)
There is no question that people are struggling already, but what will happen if inflation continues to rise well into next year? Here let it be noted that chief executive officer of KraftHeinz Miguel Patricio stated in October 2022 that he expects inflation to remain high for the foreseeable future and warned that more price hikes are coming at the grocery store. “We’ve already increased the prices that we were expecting this year, but I’m predicting that next year, inflation will continue, and as a consequence, [we] will have other rounds of price increases,” Patricio said. Patricio attributes some of the inflation to an unpredictable supply chain that has recently been disrupted by poor crop yields. “Every day, there’s a shortage of something. It doesn’t help [that] with the global warming that the crops have not been good. So there’s a lack of tomatoes in the world, there’s a lack of potatoes in the world, there’s a lack of beans in the world,” the frustrated CEO lamented. (9)
There are multiple reasons for the rising costs we see today, especially when it comes to groceries and staples. The cost of poultry and eggs has risen because of bird flu, both drought and flooding have hindered crops, the war in Ukraine has hampered the production of fertilizer in Europe, and the conflict has also hampered the export of wheat to countries that need it most. All of these problems are in addition to supply chain woes which began during the pandemic and were never fully corrected. To make matters worse, Bloomberg News reported on October 19, 2022, that the United States’ supply of diesel fuel is at the lowest level ever recorded with only a twenty-five-day supply remaining. The rush is on to replenish the supply before it runs out even as demand for the fuel, which is used by the American trucking industry and agricultural sector, skyrockets. The supply crunch threatens to push inflation even higher. (10) Meanwhile, The Energy Information Administration, or EIA, has projected that the cost of natural gas, which is used by many families to heat their homes, will increase by 28 percent this winter. (11)
Tuesday, November 01, 2022
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