Astrology for Monday, January 3, 2022

Before Christmas, a solar eclipse conjuncted the United States' Sibley Chart ascendant at 12 degrees Sagittarius. Our perception of ourselves and the world's perception of us is affected. An eclipse's affect lasts for a period of time. The solar eclipse also activated a need for adjustment on the part of the US Sibley's 13 degree Mercury. Mercury rules not only perception, but in a mundane chart, the media.

This need for adjustment is what I want to write about. I was listening to NPR, and a pundit came on to talk about the latest jobs report. There was no good news in it, he asserted, because inflation was inching higher. Other sources refused to look only at creeping inflation. Historian Heather Cox Richardson wrote this:

In Washington Monthly, national economic consultant Robert J. Shapiro catalogued what he called the “extraordinary gains” of the past several months. “Over the first three quarters of this year, real GDP increased at a 7.8 percent annual rate—that’s adjusted for the current inflation,” he wrote. “The Federal Reserve expects real growth of 5.9 percent for all of 2021, followed by another 3.8 percent increase in 2022.” In contrast, the real GDP grew by an average rate of 2.2% every year and never actually reached 3% between 2000 and 2019. Reflecting this growth, the stock market is booming, with the S&P Index jumping 21.7% from January 20 to December 7, 2021.

He continues: Americans’ disposable income grew 3% (after inflation) from January to October; in the same period in 2019 the rate was 0.5% and in 2018 it was 1.7%. Personal savings rates climbed during the pandemic, enabling households to pay off debt and make new purchases. Since January, unemployment has fallen by a third. Wages, too, have climbed, although inflation, which appears to be tied to supply chain bottlenecks, is hurting poorer Americans. Economists currently think that inflation will ease as the bottlenecks clear.

“It’s a Biden boom,” the article is titled, “and no one has noticed yet.”

Bad news "sells." Unbiased reporting is few and far between as staffing slashed, and profits, not fairness, is the paramount goal. What you consume as news really defines point of view. To enhance democracy, an adjustment to our perception through the press is vital. As the Washington Post says "Democracy dies in darkness." We need unbiased reporting that doesn't pander to public fear, but gives a balanced view so that people have the information to make up their own mind.