Political Turmoil

Shantel came across this meme the other day and we both found it so hilarious. (Although the meme should say the Capitol, not the White house) Unfortunately, there are some truths to it that are also very sad. It has been such a crazy path the last year. Of course we have a separate post for COVID-19, but I thought it would be good to touch on these couple other things. 

On January 6 thousands of Trump supports gathered near the white house while the US Senate was planning to certify the election results at the capitol. Donald Trump continued to assert that his election loss was not true and that the election was a fraud. He instigated the group to fight against the election results and then the protestors moved from the White House to the capitol. The protest turned to a riot and then they rioters overpowered the capitol police and took over the capitol. All of the senators and congress had to be evacuated in an emergency to get out before the rioters captured them. It took hours before the National Guard came to clear the capitol and return it to the control of the US. 

It was very saddening to me. To see this kind of action in the United States, this is what you typically would see in other countries, but not here. What those people did is wrong. Unfortunately, I believe there will be more of this kind of horrible thing in the future, not less.  

The other random thing mentioned is reddit attacking Wall Street. Many big hedge funds had taken big shorting bets against Game Stock betting the stock price would go down. A group of people on Reddit decided to buy up Game Stop and push the price higher. On January 11, the price was about $20, and by January 27, it rocketed up to more than $400 during the day (closing at $347). The gambit worked and the hedge fund companies lost billions of dollars as they were forced to pay exorbitant prices to cover their stock bets. Many people made millions, many lost millions as the price jumped up and down. The reddit crowd is still going as you can see the price has bumped back up over $250. It has been a crazy thing to watch. 

I think that these are just two small examples that show the volatility, the turmoil and the signs of the times. We will just work to continue to take care of our family and serve others in the midst of all the turmoil.