Some Year End Thoughts

When I was in elementary school I and my fellow students speculated what the year 2000 would be like. We envisioned space travel, flying cars, ray guns, homes we could talk to, and Star Trek style vacations. Now we are looking at the end of 2013 and most of the people born this year will live to see the year 2100 and they will probably think the same futuristic thoughts we did.

The Good of 2013

The best news for the rank and file worker was the stock market. Chances are good that your 401(k), IRA or pension plan made a hefty 25 percent this year. On January 1^st the Congress raised tax rates on the richest Americans from 35 to 39.6% and avoided going over the dreaded “fiscal cliff.”

Unemployment dropped over the year from 7.9 percent in January to 7.0 percent in November. It’s the lowest unemployment rate since 2008.

The birth of Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge pumped $347 million bucks into British coffers in 2013. Good job William and Kate.

Locally, the Bozeman Hawks football team took the state title and finished 13-0 for the season.

The Bad of 2013

One thing about blogging, it’s much easier to find bad news than good. The Boston Marathon Bombing, school shootings, airport shootings, and government complex shooting, the Zimmerman trial, the economy, the roll out of Obamacare, the “do nothing” Congress and the government shutdown make the bad parts of 2013 easy to write. Bad is bad.

Some Final Thoughts

Someone once said that, “one must experience the bad to appreciate the good.” I have always subscribed to that saying. Every year has its ups and downs and 2013 was no exception.

For some, the year can’t end soon enough, while others enjoyed a pretty good year. Whether you fall in the former or the latter you have another year to look forward to and I guess that’s all any of us can ask for. Every twelve months we get another shot at having a good year.

Don’t know about you but I plan to make the best of 2014. I’ll check back next December and let you know how it went.