Well believe it or not, 2023 is coming to an end in a couple of days.  I don’t know where the year went, but now that it’s over, I thought we should assess some of the vital statistics that might reveal the state of our nation.  On a national level, we’re confronted with the Biden effect, which has devastated everything it’s touched.  Let’s look at the economy.  Corrupt Demented Imbecile Joe Biden, who as this is written is ensconced in the luxury estate of yet another billionaire toady on St. Croix, far from the pressures that life in the U.S. places on the little people, continues to insist that “All is well,” and the economy is great.  He even tried to use the catch-phrase “Bidenomics” to show what a great job he’s done.  The problem is, as with most things Biden, it was all lies, and even the compliant media now consider the word “Bidenomics” a joke.  And given the fast-approaching municipal debt crises left over from the Wuhan plague and the ever-growing housing bubble, which must burst some time soon, Bidenomics may soon become the 21st Century version of Hoovervilles.  All truly is not well in the economy.  No matter what number the Dow Jones Average reaches, people are hurting, and there’s just one man to blame – Joe Biden.  He insisted on spending money we don’t have, to boost federal spending beyond the highly inflated Wuhan virus spending years.  The deficit this year is $1.7 trillion.  The national debt was $27 trillion when Joe was elected.  It’s now $32 trillion.  Joe’s borrowing money from the Chinese to make up the difference.  This wasteful spending was absolutely unnecessary, as Biden appeared on the scene after the Wuhan plague was over, making the 2021 American Rescue Plan spending unnecessary and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act spending as useless as the Act itself, which even Democrats now admit did nothing to curb inflation.  On the contrary, the profligate spending was the cause of the record inflation that has cost American families $700 more a month, just to pay the bills.  Inflation, less than 2% under Trump, ballooned to 9%.  In 2023, we’re told the rate is down to 4.5%, but that’s the rate of increase.  The $2 container of oatmeal is still $5.  The prices of everything are up, and they’re not coming down.  But it’s all in a good cause.  By robbing you, Joe Biden was able to give more than $100 billion to Ukraine.  Your pension may be gone, but your money is funding pensions for deserving Ukrainian bureaucrats.  Joe also needs the money to fund his illegal Student Loan bribe, eh, forgiveness program.  Fear not, though.  The Federal Reserve is on the job fighting the inflation Biden caused.  They raised interest rates 11 times in 2023.  Mortgages went from 3% to 8%.  This burdened the already overheated housing market.  Prices were sky high before the rates went up.  Now there’s little housing inventory available because people can’t afford to replace a house with a 3% mortgage with one at 8%.  Millions of people may be unable to move, but they have the comfort of knowing that even living in their old house may become unaffordable.  Biden Administration regulations are trying to outlaw gas stoves, ranges, boilers and water heaters.  Climate change you know.  Gas appliances emit CO2, and we can’t have that.  Biden says we must replace the appliances, and all our cars, trucks and buses, with electric, which is cleaner, because they will be powered by “renewable energy.”  Now, nobody has explained where this miraculous energy source is coming from, and it really doesn’t exist, but that’s not Joe’s problem.  Heating costs in New York are expected to double from what already are among the highest in the nation.  Your government at work.  The jobs picture for 2024 is equally unsettled.  It depends on who you ask.  Harry Truman once said, “If you placed all the economists end to end, they would point on all directions.”  He was right.  Forbes expects more hiring in 2024.  The Federal Reserve, which crippled us with high interest rates, unsurprisingly predicts that their actions will stem inflation and cause hiring to slow.  Take your pick.  But enough about money, how about population trends?  According to the Census Bureau, the U.S. population increased by 1.6 million in 2023.  Of course, that number doesn’t count the more than 10 million invaders who Joe Biden has let in since he took office.  And 10 million is what they admit to.  It’s much more than that.  Illegal border crossings in Texas topped 14,000 in one day just last week, and a massive caravan of deserving “migrants” is marching through Mexico as I speak, headed for the border.  Fear not.  Biden says the border is secure, and that’s good enough for me.  On the local level, the FBI tells us that, according to their figures, crime is down.  Someone once said figures don’t lie, but liars figure.  Anyone who’s been to any city knows crime isn’t down.  Arrests are down, because police have been handcuffed.  Prosecutions are down because enforcing the law has become unfashionable.  Fear and insecurity are up, and respect for the government is down.  Closer to home, New York City is in an uproar, experiencing budget cuts, which Mayor Adams blames on the 135,000 “migrants” who have come to NY in response to his invitation, as the Mayor of a Sanctuary City.  Adams says he must cut at least 5% from every department, and cancel planned Police Academy classes needed to replenish the dwindling Police Department.  The migrants aren’t the whole reason for the cuts.  Post-Wuhan, workers have not returned to NY 5 days a week.  Commercial real estate is in crisis.  Tax revenue is down from rents, and from loss of business.  No workers in the office, means no workers to patronize restaurants and shops.  The City is dying, but it’s fighting back.  How?  It’s passed a congestion pricing plan, that would charge a $15 a day tax on any car traveling below 60th Street in Manhattan.  They claim it will raise $1 billion to bail out mass transit losses of $2.5 billion.  Ridership is down due to remote work and the fact that some 40% of riders don’t pay the fare.  The City Counsel decriminalized turnstile jumping.  No crime, no arrest, no prosecution, no fare revenue, and soon, no city.  Adams wants Biden to just give him more money.  Biden declined, and instead has the FBI investigating Adams.  That’ll teach him to complain.  In short, the numbers of 2023 reveal that we are on the brink of a series of looming disasters, any one of which could be devastating.  Threat of global war, burning cities, a housing bubble about to burst, a potential economic crash, millions of hungry illegal alien invaders, lingering inflation, and a brain-dead government intent on making simple existence even more expensive.  Add to all this an upcoming election that’s bound to tear the country apart, and look out, here comes 2024.  Hold onto your hats.