Author: Kerby Anderson

Kerby Anderson
Some of the challenges the U.S. will face in the future will exist no matter who is elected in November. But it is also true that sometimes one candidate or policy can make a bad problem worse. The continued funding of Social Security is a good example.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) declared that to fund Social Security, the payroll-tax rate will have to be raised 35 percent. The CBO estimates that revenue for Social Security will remain stable for the rest of the century. But Congress will have to raise the payroll tax rate from 12.4 percent to 16.7 percent (a 35 percent increase).
However, the revenue for Social Security might not be enough if Donald Trump is able to get legislation through Congress that would eliminate the income tax on Social Security benefits. The CBO estimates that the payroll-tax revenue would decline over time but assumes that would be offset by an increase in income-tax revenue from beneficiaries.
On the other hand, Kamala Harris would like to increase Social Security benefits. Since the CBO assumes that revenue would be relatively stable for the rest of the century, any increase in benefits would make Social Security insolvent, unless Congress decides to increase the Social Security payroll-tax by more than 35 percent.
The other variable is Congress. It is questionable whether newly elected members of Congress would be willing to increase the payroll-tax rate. Their opponent in the next election would accuse them of raising taxes on the American people.
As you can see, who you elect to the presidency and who you elect to Congress will determine the financial future of Social Security. Unfortunately, they will probably decide to do nothing, and “kick the can down the road.”

Kerby Anderson
You may not have heard the term “BlueAnon,” but it is being used more and more to describe unhinged left-wing conspiracy theories. Amber Duke writes about “The Rise of BlueAnon” in the October issue of The Spectator. David Harsanyi has his book coming out also documenting The Rise of BlueAnon: How the Democrats Became a Party of Conspiracy Theorists.
The term “BlueAnon” is a variation of the term “QAnon,” which was a series of fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual known as Q. While it is true that the far right have their conspiracy theories, it turns out that many more on the left believe conspiracy theories. These include claims that the attempted assassination of Donald Trump was a staged event. It also includes a viral tweet that J.D. Vance made salacious sexual admissions in his book Hillbilly Elegy that aren’t in his book but spread around the Internet at lightning speed.
The conspiracy theories of the left have a great impact because they receive institutional backing. Conspiracy proponents post on social media claiming a staged assassination attempt. Other conspiracy proponents on TV debate whether Trump’s ear was hit by shattered glass and voice suspicions about how fast his ear healed. This should not be surprising given the many years the media and members of Congress kept promoting the Russian collusion hoax.
Although the media narrative is that conservatives are the ones believing most conspiracy theories, that is not what some of the latest polls have discovered. One poll found twice as many Democrats as Republicans believed “the Holocaust is a myth.” Previous polls have also discovered that Democrats are more likely to be 9/11 “Truthers.”
It turns out that some of the most damaging misinformation is coming from BlueAnon.

Kerby Anderson
What do people in the intelligence community believe are the greatest threats to America? I had an opportunity to watch one presentation that listed five threats.
The first is the possibility of an EMP attack in which a nuclear weapon is detonated at high altitude over this country. The Congressional EMP Commission has stated this could bring down our entire power grid.
The second threat could have a similar impact. This is the concern that sleeper agents from foreign countries in this country get activated and take down this country’s power grid or conduct terrorist actions.
A third concern is the possibility that massive supply chain disruptions surface because of looters or rioters who target food production facilities and supply chains. We have seen many suspicious fires at food production plants. This overlaps with a fourth concern that the country breaks out into a civil war with certain states deciding to secede and close their borders.
A fifth concern results from China invading Taiwan. Some fear that that could trigger World War III if the US decides to respond. China has the largest navy in the world and more warships than the US.
I listed these in descending order of disruption. The first two threats would have a devastating impact on the country. Supply chain disruption would be harsh in some areas, perhaps less in others. And we might hope that the likelihood of a national civil war or the onset of World War III would be less likely, but very devastating if it occurred.
These threats are a reminder that we need to have serious and capable people in office. It is also a reminder that each of us need to also prepare for scenarios like these we hope and pray never occur.

Kerby Anderson
The other day I came across a shocking statistic. Lee Burdette Williams says, “About three million first-time college students will soon be arriving on campus—most of them coming directly from high school. About one million of them won’t make it through their first year or return as sophomores.” She concludes that “this attrition is financially and emotionally devastating for families” and it is also “destabilizing for colleges.”
Why is this happening? Many of these departures are financial. Higher education costs so much and has been rising more than twice as fast as inflation. But another factor, often ignored, are the mental challenges these incoming college students face. Just consider these two facts.
First, nearly half (44%) of all college students report symptoms of depression and anxiety. Second, the rate of students taking psychiatric medication doubled in less than a decade and a half (2007 to 2019) and now includes one quarter (25%) of all students.
Lee Burdette Williams has served as dean of students at the University of Connecticut and later at Wheaton College. She suggests that the nine weeks between high school graduation and a student’s arrival on campus are not enough time for social and mental adjustment. They go from being under their parent’s authority and management to independent living. Although many of us made this transition in the past, today’s students seem less mentally equipped to do so.
That is why she suggests two alternatives. One is what she calls a “half-step year” where the student lives at home while attending a local college. The other is a full “gap year” which is becoming more popular and provides students with an opportunity to pursue study or experiences that may enhance their resume.
If you want to make sure your child or grandchild doesn’t drop out of college, you might explore some of her suggested alternatives.

Kerby Anderson
As we look through the corridors of history, we see the rise and fall of nations. The symptoms of societal decline are well known. Governments spend too much and debase their currency. Leaders get decadent and patriotism declines. Families fracture, and eventually the society falls apart.
A nation in decline fails to protect its citizens. One of the important functions of a society is to protect the weak from those who intend them harm. Not only is crime in the streets, but it becomes difficult and eventually impossible to travel anywhere.
In the ancient world, that surfaced in the form of highway robbery. In a recent commentary, Tucker Carlson explained that the modern version of this is carjacking. “Carjacking is the clearest possible sign that your civilization is falling apart and that’s why you find it in places like Somalia and South Africa, places where force, violence, and clan loyalty have replaced law and order, places where ‘might makes right.’ In the city of Johannesburg, for example, a vehicle is hijacked on average once every hour of the day. Now once that happens, there’s really no coming back from it. Nobody’s going to build anything in the city with endemic carjacking.”
Tucker Carlson then brought the story closer to home. He explained that carjacking has become a permanent feature of life in New Orleans. That’s not surprising since the city probably needs 2,000 police and has under 500 active-duty police.
The crime problem in this city can be found in many other cities in the nation. Two years of “defund the police” have had their toll on the officers on the police force and have kept possible recruits from joining the police force in their city.
There are many signs of societal decline. We should add increased crime and carjacking to the growing list of problems in America.

Kerby Anderson
When I talk about the polarization in this country, I am often asked why is there so much hostility against Christians? We are often the greatest source of ministry and encouragement in the community.
In his book, Christians in a Cancel Culture, Joe Dallas devotes a chapter to this question about hostility toward Christians. You can summarize his excellent discussion with three words that begin with the letter “C.”
The first is convenience. Whenever truth is told, someone is inconvenienced. Former worshippers of the Goddess Diana were upset when the gospel was preached in Ephesus. The silversmith who made money selling shrines was negatively affected. Elijah’s words to Ahab were an inconvenience to the King.
The teachings of Jesus were certainly troubling to the religious leaders of His day. He rebuked their hypocrisy (Matthew 23) and presented Himself as Savior (John 3:16) and the way to salvation (John 14:6).
The second is conscience. Presenting biblical truth can prick the conscience of unbelievers and carnal Christians. One example, he cites, is the accusers of the adulterous woman who were convicted of their own sins (John 8), because that conviction can be found in both Christians and non-Christians (Romans 2:15).
The third is conviction. It would be a mistake to assume that hostility toward biblical truth springs only from an inconvenienced agenda or a pricked conscience. Saul of Tarsus had strong convictions. He “persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it” (Galatians 1:13). But after his conversion was able to later say that he “lived in all good conscience before God until this day” (Acts 23:1).
Should we expect hostility? Jesus faced hostility, so we will likely face hostility as well as we present biblical truth. We should speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) and leave the rest to God.

Kerby Anderson
Yesterday I talked about the book, The Sovereign Individual which decades ago predicted the death of the nation state. To paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumors of the demise of the nation state are greatly exaggerated. Governments may still exist and exercise their power, but we can see how the power and influence of some governments are in decline. There are many reasons for this trend.
First, is geography. The information revolution has made it possible for many people to make a living online or by working remotely. A factory has a more difficult time changing locations, though many have done so by even leaving the US. By contrast, an individual participating in the cyber economy can pick up and leave a jurisdiction if taxes, regulations, or even climate is unfavorable. They can move from one state to another or from one country to another, and usually, the government is powerless to stop them.
Second, is the reality of a government monopoly. When we go into a store or a coffee shop, we expect customer service, but governments take us for granted and rarely treat us like customers. The authors use this example:
If you went into a store to buy furniture, and the salespeople took your money but then proceeded to ignore your requests and consult others about how to spend your money, you would quite rightly be upset… The fact that something very like this happens in dealings with governments shows how little control its “customers” actually have.
A third reason, not mentioned in the book, is the sad reality that governments are broke. You could argue that the US is $31 trillion past broke. Put another way, the US national debt is significantly more than GDP. And there are a dozen other countries in the world with higher debt loads. This is not sustainable.
Nation states are not dead, but most of them are dying.

Kerby Anderson
The authors of their book, The Sovereign Individual, explain that we are entering into the fourth stage of human society. First, there were the hunting and gathering societies. Then came the agricultural societies. More recently we had the industrial societies. Now, we live within informational societies.
Although the book was written in the 1990s, there are sections of the book that are quoted even now in the second decade of the 21st century. The authors predicted we would use our phones for news, information, and financial transactions. They predicted more people would be learning online. More and more people would be working remotely. And they predicted the rise of “cybercash” and privatized money.
But let me also add that they were also like a typical baseball player and had both hits and misses. But we should appreciate the predictions that were on target. The accuracy of their predictions resulted in part because of the pandemic and lockdowns. The last two years accelerated the trends of remote working and online education. A federal government that printed so much money, increased consumer interest in cryptocurrencies and digital cash.
The authors say we can learn lessons from the past as we see what happened when the agricultural revolution changed society. We can see parallels between the decline of the Church and what they predict will be the decline of the nation-state. Mass production of books ended the Church’s monopoly on Scripture and information. They predict that the information revolution will destroy the power of the nation-state, and allow people to change locations if laws, taxes, or regulations are unfavorable.
Although this book was written two decades ago, it predicted many of the changes we are seeing in our world today during this fourth stage of society.

Kerby Anderson
You are probably aware that Americans distrust science and science magazines more than in the past. But you may not know how much has evaporated. Back in 1975 (when I was finishing a graduate degree in science), Gallup documented that most Americans trusted science. In fact, Republicans trusted science more than Democrats did, 72 percent to 67 percent. Republican confidence in science dropped to 45 percent by 2021.
Christian Schneider argues “Politicized science may make us sicker.” He reminds us of the tactic used against President George W. Bush when his opponents argued that his common-sense regulations of fetal stem cells were hurting and killing people. He quoted from columnist Charles Krauthammer who said he had “never seen a more loathsome display of demagoguery” and added that “Hope is good. False hope is bad.”
Americans don’t even trust science journals, which have become political. Scientific American has started endorsing presidential candidates: Kamala Harris this year and Joe Biden four years ago.
Heather MacDonald (Manhattan Institute) further documents how science has become political in her book, When Race Trumps Merit. She explains in a recent lecture that the American Medical Association insists that medicine is characterized by white supremacy. The Smithsonian Institution announced that “emphasis on the scientific method” and an interest in “cause and effect relationships” are part of totalitarian whiteness.
We would all benefit if scientists and science magazines got back to doing science and medicine and stop following the woke trends in society. This politicized science may make us sicker.

Kerby Anderson
Since the Hamas attack last year on Israel, the government and IDF have been fighting in Gaza. But now Israel has also had to deal with Hezbollah to the north which has fired more than 8,000 rockets at this small country. These indiscriminate attacks have forced thousands of Israelis to flee from the northern part of Israel.
Once again, world leaders are cautioning Israel to avoid escalating this conflict. But Rich Lowry argues that “the Jewish state is under no obligation to tolerate the intolerable.” Instead, the country’s leaders are to treat all these rocket attacks as background noise. No other country in the world would be expected to ignore such attacks on their sovereign nation.
Israel cannot follow these rules. Rich Lowry asks, “What other country is asked to bear the rocketing of its civilian population?” And yet, it was criticized even when it tried to minimize civilian causalities by targeting terrorist leaders through their pagers and electronic devices. The counterterrorist plan is reminiscent of something you might find in a James Bond film or a Mission Impossible film.
Rich Lowry summarizes how Israel is criticized no matter what it does. “Israel hits terrorist targets from the air — and it’s accused of war crimes. Israel goes in on the ground — and it’s accused of war crimes. Israel does neither, opting instead to target terrorists by using their own devices against them — and it’s accused of war crimes.”
Perhaps you can sense the frustration. But you also need to experience the fear. The guide we use for our trips to Israel lives in the region where these rockets are landing. Imagine how you would feel if rockets were landing in your community, and world leaders were cautioning you to show restraint. This is the situation in Israel today.

Kerby Anderson
A recent story from CBN News reports that there has been a fourth major collegiate revival in the last month. According to the story, “thousands of students gathered at the University of Arkansas on Thursday night to seek Jesus Christ and find salvation in His name. Unite US reports that 10,000 students from 67 different universities gathered in Bud Walton Arena.”
One young man shared his powerful testimony right before getting baptized at the event, saying, “I spent a lot of years running from God. I just came to Jesus about five weeks ago, but I got caught up in, I’ll just say it, cocaine and alcohol. I had a lot of really near-death experiences, and I think Jesus had his hand on my life because I should not be here.”
The other campuses reporting a revival last month include the University of South Carolina, Texas A & M at Corpus Christi, and Ohio State University. You are probably also aware of the major revival that took place on the campus of Asbury College in early 2023.
Jerry Newcombe wonders if the “recent campus revivals will spill over to the nation.” He reminds us that poll after poll documents that millions of Americans feel the country is headed in the wrong direction. He goes on to argue that there is a great need of a national revival and then reminds us of the First Great Awakening.
That revival began in the 1730s with the preaching of Reverend Jonathan Edwards and spread through the colonies due to the work of the traveling evangelist George Whitefield. He quotes Benjamin Franklin and John Adams who witnessed the impact of the revivals that led to the great awakening.
America needs a revival and reformation. I pray that what is happening on campus will spread to the rest of the country.

Kerby Anderson
Tariffs are in the news and are being debated between candidates. In the past, tariffs have been used to protect domestic industries and provide an additional source of revenue. The downside of tariffs is that they increase costs for consumers and can lead to retaliation from other countries.
Dominic Pino posted the number 4,392. That is the number of pages in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. Before you even get to the first section, there are 900 pages of notes and rules for interpretation.
He explains that once you get into the actual tariffs, you learn how tariffs have been manipulated to favor certain companies and countries and not others. Let’s look, for example, at tariffs on imported meat. The edible part of turkey that is not cut in pieces, frozen, or valued at less than 88 cents per kilogram is taxed at 8.8 cents per kilogram. But if the value is 88 cents or more per kilogram, it is taxed at 10 percent.
If it’s not cut in pieces and is fresh or chilled rather than frozen, then it is taxed at 15 cents per kilogram regardless of valuation. But if you take the time to look at 17 separate trade agreements, you will find cases where the meat is not taxed.
Imported knitted or crocheted fabrics of a width not exceeding 30 centimeters that contain by weight 5 percent or more of elastomeric yarn but no rubber thread and that are made of cotton are taxed at 8.8 percent. Those made of other materials are taxes at 8 percent.
It should be obvious by now that most of these tariffs aren’t listed to protect the consumer but to give one company an advantage in the marketplace.

Kerby Anderson
Imagine being in the Army and watching a presentation about extremism. Up pops a slide with the title “Terrorist Groups” and under it are labels that identify the National Right to Life and anyone with a “Choose Life” license plate as an extremist. Mind you, this slide just followed a slide of the terrorist group ISIS.
This is not the first time we have seen such Army training slides. During the Obama administration, we discussed on my radio program other slides that identified “evangelical Christianity,” Catholicism, and Mormonism as different forms of “religious extremism.”
Danielle Runyan is Senior Counsel and Chair of the Military Practice Group at First Liberty Institute. Her editorial documents what I just discussed and then goes on to explain that this incident at Fort Liberty was not a one-time error. When members of Congress denounced such activity in their letter, the Army response was that the slides were not vetted and implied this was an exception.
Daniele explains that “the repetitive nature of these events in the Army over the past decade, as well as the woke ideology that has plagued our nation and destroyed the careers of thousands of religious servicemembers over the past four years,” make it hard to believe this wasn’t intentional.
She mentions a briefing given to Army personnel at Camp Shelby that identified the American Family Association as a “hate group.” At another briefing, the Defense Equal Opportunity Institute explained that it considered extreme leftist organizations to be a reliable source for training.
If the Army wonders why they are having trouble recruiting Christians to serve in the military, they might want to look at what they are teaching in these training sessions.

Kerby Anderson
Yesterday I talked about the book on free speech by Jonathan Turley (professor of law at George Washington University). Today I would like to talk about the recent column where he documents “The Left’s Assault on the Constitution.”
The reason for his article, and many other articles about the Constitution, is due to a New York Times article that had the title “America’s Constitution is Sacred. Is It Also Dangerous?” Lathan Watts writes, “Our Constitution Isn’t Dangerous, But Our Ignorance of It Is.” Jerry Newcombe responds by asking “Is the Constitution Really Dangerous?”
The purpose of Jonathan Turley’s column is to show that the distain shown for the Constitution in the one New York Times article goes far beyond that one article. The assault on the Constitution involves more than court-packing and is targeted on the freedom of speech.
He quotes a UC Berkeley law school professor who has written a book, No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States. An editor of The Nation magazine calls the Constitution “trash” and urges the abolition of the US Senate. A law professor at Georgetown Law School complains that Americans are “slaves” to the Constitution.
The article in the New York Times repeats similar comments and scoffs at what the author calls “Constitutional worship.” She writes: “Americans have long assumed that the Constitution could save us; a growing chorus now wonders whether we need to be saved from it.” And I might mention a previous New York Times op-ed by two law professors from Harvard and Yale who argued, “The Constitution Is Broken and Should Not Be Reclaimed.”
These are just a few of the quotes provided by Jonathan Turley. They remind us that it is time to defend the Constitution.

Kerby Anderson
Free speech is very important, but many Americans believe that violence may be necessary to stop candidates or citizens with the wrong views about free speech. On my radio program, I frequently quote Jonathan Turley (professor of law at George Washington University). Though he is a liberal who would disagree with my perspective on many social issues, I quote him because of his dedication to free speech.
I recommend his new book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage. He provides the history of free speech and makes an excellent case for free speech. However, he laments that for some people “violent language can become violent action.” He explains, “We are living in an age of rage. It permeates every aspect of our society and politics. Rage is liberating, even addictive. It allows us to say and do things that we would ordinarily avoid, even denounce in others.”
One chilling illustration of this I discovered in an article by Bob Unruh. He cites polling research that uncovered the disturbing fact that 26 million Americans believe the “use of force is justified to prevent Trump from becoming president.” The study on “Political Violence and the Election: Assessing the threat from the Left and the Right” also concluded these 26 million are “active, dangerous” and have “growth potential.” On the other side, the study also found that another 18 million say the use of force is justified to “restore Trump to the presidency.”
Jonathan Turley recently cited the number of politicians working with extreme groups and concluded they were “playing a dangerous game toying with groups” that call for violence. I agree with his conclusion that this recent poll is a “chilling account of the growing radicalism in America.”

Kerby Anderson
I want to talk about the word unconfiscatable. Apparently, it isn’t even a word found in many dictionaries, which is why when I write it on my word processor, it has a red squiggly line beneath it. Mitchell Askew brought my attention to this word in his latest book.
He argues that the word isn’t used because nearly every asset we own can be confiscated. The money you have in the bank or the funds you have in the stock market through an IRA or 401k are ultimately in the hands of a third party. It is possible that they or the government could prevent you from getting your money. Just ask the people in Turkey who felt they needed to rob their local bank so they would get the money they put in the bank. Just ask the Canadian truckers who had their bank accounts frozen by the government.
Something that would be more difficult to confiscate would be what we refer to as a bearer asset. That means you have possession of it. One example would be gold. If you take possession of gold coins and put them in a safe deposit box in the bank, you have possession of them. Or do you? In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6102 that required Americans to give up most of their gold in exchange for cash.
We always assume that we have an inalienable right to private property. But sometimes, especially in other countries, that right to property can be lost. That is why Mitchell Askew argued that bitcoin is unconfiscatable as a form of property. It cannot be taken from you, and it can be moved to anywhere in the world. Few other assets in the world are truly unconfiscatable.

Kerby Anderson
More than a decade ago when I was teaching a class on creation, I heard about some Christians who believed in a flat earth. I was aware that some people were online promoting a flat earth theory but assumed they might just be evolutionists trying to mock Christians.
Apparently, there is a percentage of Christians who believe in a flat earth, deny that men walked on the moon, and even deny the Holocaust ever occurred. One flat earth documentary denies the existence of other planets and denies that stars are far away. As you would imagine, it requires a lot of mental gymnastics to reject the established facts of science and history.
Long before we had pictures of the earth from space, we had evidence of the earth’s curvature. This included the shadow of the earth on the moon during a lunar eclipse and the observation from people who would watch ships sail off in the distance and then slowly sink below the horizon.
 Of course, we have so many more pieces of evidence. I have had an astronaut who walked on the moon in my Sunday School class. I have had another who held the record (until recently) of spending the greatest number of days in the International Space Station. And all of us have pictures and videos of the earth from space.
 Nevertheless, some Christians take Bible passages out of context, like Job 38. Or they quote from a non-biblical source like the book of Enoch. A recent Albert Mohler podcast had a question from someone who asked if a man who believed in a flat earth should be disqualified from being an elder in the church.
Dr. Danny Faulkner (Answers in Genesis) has written about the flat earth phenomenon, and apparently has a book coming out on the subject. That may be a good resource to share with a flat earther, though I fear it won’t make much of a difference.

Kerby Anderson
Earlier this month the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve cut the short-term interest rate target by 50 basis points. The financial world was waiting to see what Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell would announce. Even after it happened, commentators were contrasting the words of Powell with his actions and suggesting he was more worried than he sounds.
Guests that I have had on my radio program like to make interesting comments about the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve, they might say, isn’t a federal agency and has doubtful reserves. Another might say that the Chairman of the Federal Reserve is the most powerful person in America. What should we think about all of this?
The Federal Reserve has a dual mandate to keep inflation low (at 2%) and to also keep unemployment low. It engages in what is called “monetary policy” in an attempt to achieve those two goals. This central bank was established in late December 1913. If you want to read how it was created, you might want to read the book, The Creature from Jekyll Island, which is now in its fifth edition.
As I have talked about in previous commentaries, the Federal Reserve has had to “print” money to finance the massive government spending during these last few decades. In one interview, Jerome Powell explained they “have the ability to create money digitally, and we do that by buying Treasury Bills or bonds or other government guaranteed securities.” He also added in another interview that the Federal Reserve has become the most important factor in the global economy.
Last year, the Wall Street Journal wrote that Jerome Powell has become the most powerful economic voice in America. Perhaps now you can see why so many people pay attention to what Jerome Powell says and what the Federal Reserve does.

Kerby Anderson
School shootings have been in the news for two reasons. Earlier this month, we were able to see the full text of the shooter at Covenant School. The next day, the news was about a shooter at a high school in Georgia.
The Covenant School shooter’s diary is a reminder of the sad and disturbed thoughts running through those who take out their anger on other students. This trans-identifying 28-year-old who killed six people had been in psychological counseling for many years. She manifested all kinds of self-hatred and had eating disorders.
Let me quote from one expert in the article, “The Rise in School Shootings Reflects Both ‘Mental Health and Spiritual Crisis’.” Dr. Jennifer Bauwens observes, “We’re both having a mental health and a spiritual crisis, and there’s just not one factor that contributes to this problem.” After looking at the diary, she concluded that, “this young woman was very oppressed and had a lot of spiritual ideas.” She also added “You do see sort of a typical profile of someone who is identifying as transgender, where there’s all this other host of mental health issues.”
She believes that young people, who are dealing with emotional issues and feel alienated from society, are attracted to some of these radical ideologies. This becomes an excuse since “all my problems are this issue.” That doesn’t mean ”that everyone who identifies as transgender is going to carry out something horrific like this (a school shooting).”
In previous commentaries, I have documented the mental health crisis affecting the younger generations. Social, psychological, and spiritual issues are in play and must be addressed. This is the challenge for schools and the church to make a difference in the lives of these troubled young people.

Kerby Anderson
As I have mentioned in previous commentaries, there has been a significant difference of opinion between the media and average Americans about the economy. The media (and members of the Biden administration) point to certain positive economic indicators and believe Americans should be excited about our current economy.
Earlier this month, the Census Bureau produced its report on household income, poverty, and health coverage. They discovered that real median household income remains lower than in 2019 and has barely grown since 2020. The Wall Street Journal editorial explains “Why Americans Are Sour on the Economy.” The editors even provided a chart that shows contrast between the first three years of the Trump and Biden presidencies.
During the Trump years, incomes climbed for Asians by $14,600, for whites by $8,910, for Hispanics by $6,960, and for blacks by $4,540. By contrast, income gains during the Biden years were modest. Incomes for Asians rose only $1,500, for whites only $850, for Hispanics only $700, and for blacks $2,650. The editors add that because COVID reduced incomes in 2020, this comparison, if anything, flatters the Biden record.
If you look at the last year, you see an even more dismal record. Real median earnings for full-time workers last year declined 1.6 percent. The decline was even worse for high-school grads (3.3%). What that means is that inflation outpaced wages for most low-wage workers.
I think you can see why so many Americans are sour on our current economy.