Happy New Year, and welcome to 2023!
We can finally put 2022 behind us, and look forward to the new year ahead.
At the beginning of the year, as I prepare to get my taxes in order, I usually get to review what happened so many months ago. Think back to the beginning of 2022…we weren’t still locked down, but pretty close to it. I was teaching remotely, about a month away from stepping back into the classroom and seeing people in person. Well, almost, we were still all wearing masks.
Interest rates were at all-time lows. Gas prices were stable. We could finally cross the border by land, just fill out an app before coming back or you’re in big trouble. Get your shot(s). The world was at relative peace.
All seems like a bit of paradise when you look back, doesn’t it?
Since then, war has broken out in Ukraine and gas prices shot to new, ridiculously high levels. With that increase, everything else started to go up as well, and inflation took hold. To combat inflation, interest rates jumped by four per cent between March and December. Food prices have jumped, but wages for many haven’t kept pace.
Come to think of it, 2022 was a pretty crappy year, after two crappy years before it. Top it all off with a real Canadian winter, and we should be really looking forward to 2023.
So how is 2023 starting off? Well gas prices have dropped a lot, even lower than they were at the beginning of last year. I still don’t understand how the pricing works. At one point last week, I saw gas at $155.9 in Richmond, and $170.9 in Tsawwassen. Weird.
We welcomed 2023 with much milder weather, the snow is gone, a little localized flooding, but nothing too serious. The King Tide was more of a tourist attraction than anything else, bringing Global TV out to Boundary Bay a couple times, just in case. But nothing happened, so they left.
The war continues, but the effect on the world has been absorbed, so we go on with our lives as they bravely fight for their homeland.
So next January, when I start assembling my 2023 taxes, I wonder what I’ll see then? What does 2023 hold in store for us?
The sun came up this morning. There’s hope for us after all.
Brad Sherwin, MBA is a long-time resident of South Delta, and has over 30 years’ experience in marketing, public relations and business strategy. He teaches post-secondary marketing, coaches hockey goalies and is Past President of Deltassist.
