Welcome to 2025. I am not prepared. Neither are you.
Welcome to 2025. I am not prepared, and I don’t know what I could’ve done differently. It is really just hard to believe everything that has happened since the election. I mean, it’s a whirlwind, and the hits keep on coming. I know my tears are being swallowed up by the anti woke crowd, but I couldn’t care less about their glee, nothing should surprise me anymore and so I will just continue to live and vote for the change I want to see, it is literally all I can do.
I have no doubt that what we will see in the coming months will be chaos. I am only hopeful that the chaos slows down the harm that will certainly be unleashed on so many. I distinctly remember the first administration in which he displayed himself as such a foul character from every single aspect, and I still can’t understand how anyone would choose that. I call you a liar if you said you would accept your child behaving like him. Everything I was taught as a child was to reject that type of behavior. I didn’t think you could make this stuff up and people would believe it but here we are listening to him talk about making Canada the 51st state? I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that they think that the billionaires they love so much are somehow going to make life better for them. Do they understand the billionaire class became billionaires at their exploitation, regardless of how it’s spun? Now they think that these same billionaires will reward them with wealth, or security, or peace of mind? I’ve been waiting for trickle down economics to work for like 50 years, and the rich just keep getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, wages are stagnant, and people are working themselves sick. Yeah, the I told you sos will not make up for the destruction they leave in their wake.
My message is this, just because your guy won an election, doesn’t translate to you being better off. I have no doubt that you’ll walk around with your chest puffed out, but even more probable is that you will find out that he doesn’t care about you even a little, so your posturing will be in vain. The only segment of the population that will prosper will be those who are already rich, or those willing to sacrifice any of their dignity at the expense of others. Trump and his ilk have never parted with a dollar, even if it meant to bankrupt someone who works hard.
With the economy being the reason (that’s their claim anyway) many people voted for a billionaire, I wonder how they came to the idea that he, or anyone around him, has their interests at heart. As a small, privately, and truly locally owned business, my goal has always been to provide the type of quality workmanship that you should always expect to receive. I can say with certainty that nobody locally does what we do, and I’d rather you hire another small locally owned business than one that has sold out to the corporate greed of big money. The economic trend lately in many industries of public service has been for private equity groups to maximize profits by purchasing companies or businesses, which in a consumer capitalist society has never benefited the consumer in the long run, as they have to cut costs somewhere in order to satisfy their shareholders. Eventually they buy up all of the competition, and then they can charge whatever they want. They tend to market everything they offer by using gimmicks such as buy a furnace and get a free AC, which is never really the case, but they certainly can give quotes that are much cheaper because their goal is quantity over quality, and the end game is to not have any competition so they can then set the value at whatever they want, which will make a lot of products unaffordable by a majority of people who are already struggling, and so these private equity groups own financing companies who have already set up predatory lending options that will worsen the situation for people with no other financial means.
It is already here in Lansing. Many of the companies that you’ve thought were local are not local at all. They are owned by private equity firms whose goal is to eliminate companies like mine. We may all look back one day and say “why aren’t there any quality contractors out there anymore?” and it will be because the right has played the long game, and destroyed local business. It has happened in so many industries, and it is now happening with the home service industry at a pretty good pace. Just as an example, look up Heartland Home Services and you’ll see they own at least 3 dozen heating and cooling companies including ones you’ve heard of right here like Vredevoogd, and Hager Fox. They still advertise as being local, but Heartland Home Services has bought out plumbing and heating and cooling companies from Kentucky, to Delaware, Minnesota, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, and several right here in MIchigan. This is just one private equity firm, there are so many others. Hedlund Plumbing built a reputable business but is now rebranded as Service Professor. They are not locally owned and they are flooding the radio, TV and social media with ads to get you to call them. Look, I can’t compete with the volume, but the type of tactics they use are not good for the consumer, and with shady tactics, it is usually followed by less than scrupulous work practices. Trump, Elon, and the other billionaires’ policies will promote more of this until we are living in the world of the movie Idiocracy.
I hope the rest of the world stands up to defend decency, because I feel pretty small. I feel like I am witnessing everything I have come to know is not normal anymore, lies are perceived as truth, intellect is perceived as elitist, history doesn’t matter, money determines one’s success, etc. I can’t keep up. I am only thankful to know that there are so many of you who see things similarly to me.
There was a time, I think, when most people could see the good, and the bad, and make a distinction between the two. A time when people inherently did the right thing. Maybe I am being nostalgic, but I want to see the good in people, but it is getting harder and harder when we as a collective have chosen the likes of a man who has no redeeming qualities. It is as if we have forsaken humanity because he has built an empire and a brand. His tall buildings are a symbol of American exceptionalism, and I don’t mean that in a good way, because he is certainly exceptional in all of the ways I despise. I want to see more people get ahead, get a proper education, understand the world is full of many walks of life that look nothing like their own, and accept people regardless of their differences.
We are still a young country, but we’ve grown at an exponential pace during the industrial age. Many who subscribe to old ways of thinking do so because it’s hard to accept new ideas, but that just isn’t good enough. The ideas they inherited were passed down subconsciously to their children and generations afterward. Brave people spoke out and we saw change, but to this day we still see the vestiges of hate that I hope are gasping for its last collective breath, but I won’t hold mine because I can see how stubborn it is. It is up to us who find ourselves amongst those with long held ideas to continue to challenge them and make it known that hate is not welcome here. I can say with certainty that silence is only going to make things worse. You can’t fix a problem if you don’t confront it, and I know from personal experience that hearing a bigoted joke, or a racist joke, or a sexist joke and not saying it may not harm me, but it will harm someone close to me.
For the next four years, I will continue to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. I want the best people do have opportunities to contribute to society, and it doesn’t mean that just because someone is of a certain race, sex or orientation that they should be given anything, but that they shouldn’t be excluded just because their name looks foreign, or they dress a certain way, or because of who they love etc. For me, I know people in positions of power often overlook an application because the person’s name is Jamal, and not Steve. They may be equally qualified, but Jamal may not even get the call back to prove he is indeed the best fit. DEI is not about giving the position to someone just because said person is Black, a Woman, or identifies as Queer, if you think that is what DEI is, you are not listening, either willfully or ignorantly, or both.
I am sure the next few weeks will be as chaotic as the last couple of months. My head is on a swivel, and I can barely focus on any one thing, but the economy will impact everyone and I suspect the likes of Joe Rogan, Glen Beck, Steve Bannon, Elon and so on will spin things to fit their narrative through plausible deniability (they’ve mastered this), but these people are all profiting off of the exploitation of many who have been deceived by false narratives that keep them comfortably in their bubble. These are the types of people who are bad for the American people, no matter what party you subscribe to. They all sell America out by claiming they are loyal to the ideas and promises of this nation. They have been claiming the sky is falling since Obama took office, and yet, we have seen progress along the way. Hopefully they won’t burn it down, but they will blame it on Joe if it does.
