EDITORIAL by Dhiren Shah
Hello Readers,
Last week’s election is still making the news. Governor Phil Murphy is leading by enough votes to win, but Ciattarelli is not conceding yet. His campaign is hoping to win enough votes in the provisional ballots that it requires an automatic recount for the entire election. It is not official, but Murphy will win the election for the second term as projected.
New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney, the second most powerful elected official in New Jersey, has lost the election against an unknown republican candidate. That was the biggest surprise in the election. Sweeney lost to Edward Durr, a truck driver with a very small budget. Durr won because people are upset with Sweeney and his political moves. Another big bit of news is Nicholas Seppy, a 19-year-old sophomore at Stockton University, who won a seat on the Egg Harbor Township (at the Jersey Shore) School Board. Seppy said, “One day I hope to study law and I figured this would be a good place for me to start.” Seppy won in the school board election by a huge margin.
President Joseph Biden’s popularity is going down each and every day. When he was elected, his approval rating was over 54%, and now it is about 38%. His disapproval rating reached above the 50% mark in October 2021. His unsuccessful effort on the economy reduced his popularity. According to the market report, for the first time in about 21 years, the inflation rate went above 6.2%.
According to Trading Economics: “The annual inflation rate in the US surged to 6.2% in October of 2021, the highest since November of 1990 and above forecasts of 5.8%. Upward pressure was broad-based, with energy costs recording the biggest gain (30% vs 24.8% in September), namely gasoline (49.6%). Inflation also increased for shelter (3.5% vs 3.2%); food (5.3% vs 4.6%, the highest since January of 2009), namely food at home (5.4% vs 4.5%); new vehicles (9.8% vs 8.7%); used cars and trucks (26.4% percent vs 24.4%); transportation services (4.5% vs 4.4%); apparel (4.3% vs 3.4%); and medical care services (1.7% vs 0.9%). The monthly rate increased to 0.9% from 0.4% in September, also higher than forecasts of 0.6%, boosted by higher cost of energy, shelter, food, used cars and trucks, and new vehicles.”
Many of us have started to move closer to a regular life, as if there was never a coronavirus. However, the US is still heading towards its highest new COVID cases (over 72,000 cases) on Nov. 9. Russia, UK and Germany still have a high number of COVID cases. Most parts in India are acting like the virus is gone. During the Diwali holidays, people celebrated and went to mini-vacation spots by the millions. All the hotels were almost full at those spots. However, India is not far behind by the numbers. I talked to many people in India, and they think that COVID is being controlled by the Modi administration. However, precautions are very important to curb the pandemic. I hope the new wave does not hurt India again.
The holidays are around the corner. The economy is not up to the mark. Inflation is around the corner as well. I hope the government can get a handle on the economy, rather than spreading money to the citizens and non-citizens and unemployed. Biden must think about America first, not raising his prestige in the world.
Have a wonderful week.
I’ll talk to you next week.
