The Daily Feather — Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

“Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season).” Pete Seeger’s 1959 lyrics tapped the first eight verses of the third chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes. In a 1988 interview, Seeger recalled receiving a letter from his publisher warning the protest songs he was writing. Back then wouldn’t sell. Seeger’s response: Improvise a melody to biblical words inside fifteen minutes. His publisher was delighted and able to sell the song to the Limelighters and then to the Byrds. The latter version is iconic and hit No. 1 in the U.S. in December 1965, a year punctuated by American ground troops being deployed to Vietnam, the burning of draft cards across college campuses, black civil rights activists being attacked with fire hoses and police dogs and President Lyndon Johnson promoting his “Great Society” reforms. The song compelled a nation “Turn, Turn, Turn!” To grow, accept that change is inevitable, history is a cycle, strife is temporary, and to everything, there is a season.

Recall the idea of “time compression” we referenced throughout 2021 and 2022, the idea that the magnitude of fiscal stimulus, fully monetized by the Federal Reserve, would accelerate the expansion of and subsequent turning of the post-pandemic economy. If you will, we’re coming through an abbreviated season of seasons. Yesterday’s National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) small business survey, which tumbled to a decade low, provided helpful insight into the risks for today’s consumer price index (CPI).