Coping With Reality - Indiana Shrinking, Inflation Going Up, Solar Power,

 I am coping better than the Tangerine Mussolini.

Tuesday, I came home and called the Open Door Clinic. I had had enough of the pain in my legs. Then I started revising "The Psychotic Ape". I go to the Clinic on Friday.

Wednesday, I went to work and asked my boss if he wanted me to come in on Friday and leave earlier than usual or to just take a sick day. He didn't care. Which is pretty much why I am tired of this job. Luckily, it was a short day. I came home and cleaned and organized and tried to stay conscious enough to go to the polygraph. CC did go with me. I needed a co-pilot. I was afraid the pain would distract me while driving. It worked. She spent most of the trip down to Carmel doing medical research on her phone. We stopped for a smoke and I showed her the damage done. She freaked. Now, she thinks I have blundered myself into diabetes. Just what I need. Turned out the guy doing the polygraph had texted me (always a mistake) that he needed to reschedule, he was becoming a grandfather, again. CC and I stopped at a Vietnamese restaurant in Fishers. She was game - got a sandwich and fried rice. I thought my Pho Tom was very good. We passed on stopping at St. George's. I wanted her to see the interior, and we were running late enough for vespers to have started, but thankfully she did not want to, had to get back to Muncie, because I am not sure if I could have made it from the parking lot to church. I dropped her off, and came home about 8. I got through a few videos on YouTube and went off to bed.

I hope the day at work is short - it is hurting my bank account, but I am running on sheer will power.

Some items for reading from this week:

The Democrats’ Message Is Broken. These Strategists Have a Few Fixes. (The New Republic)

“The good news is that, especially on bread-and-butter issues, the public is on the Democrats’ side. But the messenger is equally as important as the message, and too often, our messengers are emblematic of the reasons voters haven’t been satisfied with what we’re putting forward,” Democratic strategist Anjan Mukherjee said. “Change rarely comes from the top, and voters made it clear in 2024 that they want change. It would behoove us to listen to them.”

 It’s Official: Trump’s Tariffs Are Driving Up Inflation (The New Republic) - reality cannot be denied, folks.

People Can’t Wait to Move Out of the Fastest Shrinking City in Indiana (newberry-news.com)

Why Are People Leaving?

Economic Decline and Job Losses

Grissom AFB and similar shrinking cities grapple with limited economic diversification. Job losses, or slow job growth in key sectors, make these communities less attractive for young professionals and families seeking stable employment. Without strong local industries or investment, workers move to larger metros promising more opportunities.

Urbanization and Suburban Growth

Indiana’s fastest-growing cities—like Monrovia, New Palestine, and McCordsville—are benefiting from suburban expansion around Indianapolis and other urban hubs. These areas offer new housing, amenities, and proximity to vibrant job markets, drawing populations away from smaller towns facing stagnation.

Declining Middle Class

According to broader trends in Indiana, many shrinking areas are also witnessing a shrinking middle class, which exacerbates economic hardships and prompts more outmigration. The flight of middle-income families continues the cycle of reduced local spending and service availability.

California farmers identify a hot new cash crop: Solar power (The Conversation)

One such approach is agrivoltaics, where farmers install solar designed for grazing livestock or growing crops beneath the panels. Solar can also be sited on less productive farmland or on farmland that is used for biofuels rather than food production.

Even in these areas, arrays can be designed and managed to benefit local agriculture and natural ecosystems. With thoughtful design, siting and management, solar can give back to the land and the ecosystems it touches.

Farms are much more than the land they occupy and the goods they produce. Farms are run by people with families, whose well-being depends on essential and variable resources such as water, fertilizer, fuel, electricity and crop sales. Farmers often borrow money during the planting season in hopes of making enough at harvest time to pay off the debt and keep a little profit.

Installing solar on their land can give farmers a diversified income, help them save water, and reduce the risk of bad years. That can make solar an asset to farming, not a threat to the food supply. 

And back to coping with reality - and a question:

 Does Donald Trump dream tangerine dreams?

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