I find it quite interesting listening to the pundits on MSNBC, which is supposed to be an actual part of the so-called “liberal media,” as they act almost as if in a state of panic at the idea Bernie Sanders very well may be the democratic nominee after WINNING his third primary in a row. (OK, Buttigieg got a couple more delegates in Iowa) Today, I listened to Chris Matthews lament the possibility of Sanders as if he can’t beat individual 1. This is what I’ve been lamenting for years – the democrats operate in an atmosphere ruled by FEAR. Personally, I’ve been saying for almost a year now, “whoever the democrats nominate in 2020 is the person I’ll vote for in the general election.” If the people decide they want Sanders, I’m all in. Obviously, what “we the people” need to worry about is people on the Cable TV airwaves acting like Matthews.

These people do have an affect on the opinions of those in their audiences. I still remember MSNBC giving individual 1 MASSIVE amounts of free advertising and it was Matthews, himself, who helped to create the false equivalency between individual 1 and Hillary Clinton – helping to “normalize” individual 1. Well, are they going to be subconsciously working to individual 1’s benefit again? If they help push the right wing “talking points” that Sanders is a “socialist” they will be helping to keep individual 1 in the “White House” for another four years. (Plus, I’ll lose another bet!)

So, is Sanders some kind of radical “Socialist?” Honestly, these people on MSNBC need to educate themselves. Sanders is no more of a “Socialist” than FDR was a “Socialist.” He calls himself a “democratic Socialist” which is similar to what I’ve called myself for 30+ years. In some ways I’m very conservative, like when you talk about traditional American cultural values, plus I’ve always wanted to see politicians who were fiscally responsible. But, more importantly to me, I believe politics should work from the “bottom up.” In my early years I played basketball and I remember when I got to college I felt the team was no better than the person on the end of the bench (Occasionally, that was me). Every person on the TEAM was important.

I’ve always looked at government in the same way. I’ve NEVER understood how “we the people” could continue to support “Supply Side Economics” (ie trickle down – to me trickle up) where our national debt has BALLOONED as a result of one “tax cut for the rich” after another. Since the days of Reagan – which is when this “trickle up” policy was first implemented – we’ve seen the debt SOAR and the Middle Class stagnate. And, worse than that, for today’s young Americans there’s a serious issue with access to College education, access to housing, access to health care, and access to well paying jobs. I find it maddening when I listen to people like Matthews act like addressing these issues is “radical.” Just as FDR wasn’t a “Socialist” when he initiated Social Security (although republicans are still fighting it) neither was LBJ when Medicare was implemented. What are these pundits thinking?

I think Mr. Sanders has done a poor job of explaining the “cost” of “Medicare for all” while the reality is Medicare for all would cost far less than what we have now. And, when I went to college back in the 1960’s (my first time) it (college) was almost free – I believe each quarter the tuition was around $100. The college I went to didn’t have athletic scholarships so I had to borrow money to get through (2 years – I went to a Jr. College my first two years which was even cheaper) and, after I finished I owed $3000. To me, in the wealthiest nation in the world, it’s shameful the amount of debt someone like me would have if I was going to college now.

And, individual 1 is even into making it worse. I read the other day that in his recent budget proposal individual 1 is even attempting to take away the debt forgiveness for those who work in low socioeconomic areas where, for example if you’re a teacher like I was, you’re working with children of generational poverty. The way it is now, after a certain number of years, your school loan is forgiven. I can tell you from personal experience, it’s challenging to work in schools with students living in poverty but those students are every bit as important to our society as students in more affluent areas. It takes, however, a certain type of teacher to thrive in that environment. I witnessed countless numbers of “new” teachers who couldn’t “survive” in “my” school (you’re correct, it wasn’t really “my” school :o) get jobs in schools in more affluent areas and thrive. What I’m saying is I believe providing school loan forgiveness to teachers (or people in other areas of service to low socioeconomic areas) is an INVESTMENT in our future which is well founded.

And, when I get around people who don’t understand the value to “we the people” of having some kind of national health insurance plan I just want to say “don’t get me started.” I mean the reasons why this makes total sense are numerous and causes me to just shake my head when I listen to people like Matthews (and others on MSNBC – which is what I watch when I choose to watch cable TV “news”) act like they FEAR a policy providing health care to EVERYONE. Based on what is happening right now with the coronavirus “scare” there are likely MILLIONS of Americans who won’t even go to the doctor to check out their symptoms after beginning to feel sick until the affect of the virus is WORSE and many others have been exposed. This virus is making it even MORE clear as to the danger of having an incompetent thug as our IMPEACHED so-called president. The consequences very well could be much wider than most people understand.

For example, just the other day I wrote about how I felt Wall Street was at a “high” which is the result of individual 1 intimidating the Fed into “pumping” money into our system despite those at the top already being FLUSH with cash. That leads to rich people borrowing money at low interest rates to invest in stocks putting the picture in my mind of our IMPEACHED so-called president with a tire pump frantically pumping up a balloon (which represents Wall Street). Well, the balloon appears to be losing a bit of air as I’m writing this and I can guarantee you individual 1 will be (frantically) blaming democrats, the media, and anyone else he decides to LIE about to his “adoring” base. I listened this morning to a man in New Hampshire suggest he’s supporting individual 1 because “My 401K is way up.”

Sadly, that’s the mindset of many Americans. Of course, this man has no idea why his “401K is way up” and, I have to wonder what he’s thinking as the Market (and, likely his 401K) has dropped OVER 10% in less than three days. Personally, I continue to wonder why so many Americans don’t seem to care their IMPEACHED so-called president is a pathological LIAR, they don’t seem to care that he’s an avowed racist, they don’t seem to care that he has no idea how to manage the America economy (other than “pumping” up Wall Street), they don’t seem to care about having an IMPEACHED so-called president who chose Vladimir Putin over our intelligence community – and what that ultimately means to ALL of us, They don’t seem to care their IMPEACHED so-called president turned on our allies, the Kurds, who helped reduce ISIS to an afterthought allowing the Turks to massacre those Kurds who couldn’t flee THEIR homeland.

If you’ve been around here you know I could go on and on with examples why it’s so difficult to understand why so many Americans support such a “deplorable” human being as individual 1 – who, now, is being referred to as a mob boss by MANY more than just me. It tells us a lot about so many Americans when we listen to someone – a blue collar worker – like the man in New Hampshire who was willing to overlook ALL the reasons any person with a moral compass would NEVER support someone like our IMPEACHED so-called president because their 401K “is way up.” Aside from the issues I mentioned above that someone would have to “not care about” in order to support this IMPEACHED so-called president, I also have to wonder if these people care about the $1 TRILLION+ deficit which resulted from the “tax scam” that funneled TRILLIONS to the top “1%” of America. (And, by the way, the REAL reason these 401K’s are “way up” is President Obama and those in his administration who created the recovery from the last republican president)

Maybe this issue with the coronavirus “scare” will get their attention when they realize their IMPEACHED so-called president cares more about how that virus is affecting his “pumped up” stock market than what is required to prepare for a possible pandemic. Now, I certainly hope the virus doesn’t become a serious issue in America (I’m in the category most susceptible to severe cases – old people), but I believe people like the guy in New Hampshire who seems to think his 401K defines the success of our “leaders” will, indirectly, be the reason individual 1 continues to brush off serious preparations for this possible crisis, or any other. Reports are he’s fuming about the stock market plunge instead of working to help FIGHT this virus which is spreading around the world.

I had suggested when the stock market “bubble” actually bursts, it’s going WAY down and will expose the fragility of this economy – which, in the manufacturing sector, is already in recession. I doubt this coronavirus scare will trigger this, although it’s possible, but it seems to me when he decided to push through the “tax scam” individual 1 took an economy which was on sound “footing” and put it on a foundation of “sand.” Our IMPEACHED so-called president is banking on the recession “waiting” until after the election which caused me “pause” in a couple ways. First, I don’t believe individual 1 or his economic advisers have any idea what to do once the economy (which he “inherited” from President Obama) goes into recession – especially if, as republicans usually do, he creates a severe recession. There’s no room to lower interest rates virtually any further than they have them during this expansion. (That’s NOT “forward” thinking)

Secondly, I believe our IMPEACHED so-called president cares more about the “optics” than the reality on the “ground.” I believe he’ll be clamoring for the Fed to pump even more money into Wall Street. As opposed to aggressively dealing with the potential of this virus turning into a pandemic on American soil, I believe individual 1 will be focused on somehow “fixing” the stock market. And, based on my intuition about the market BEFORE the coronavirus, I think it’s possible this pandemic simply speeds up the recession which was on the “edge” to begin with. And, as I’ve said here many times, I have NO confidence individual 1 will have any clue about how to deal with a recession other than to berate – and BLAME – the Fed. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me to hear our IMPEACHED so-called president blaming President Obama for this downturn in the market! Yikes!!! Stay tuned!!!

Final Thought: When I started this post a few days ago, the DOW stock market average had dropped a “bit,” but since then it’s gone down almost 4000 points which maybe will start getting the attention of people like the person I mentioned above who is basing his vote on his 401K. I have to wonder how people like that don’t remember that it was Obama who actually started the market on it’s “journey” into record territory. I’ve written about when I decided I wanted nothing to do with Wall Street, but I have followed it fairly close over the past 30+ years, just the same. When you watch it, I believe you just get a “feel” for when it’s going to head in the other direction. That’s the feeling I had prior to the coronavirus scare – which, to me, the market was already on such weak “footing” that it wasn’t going to take much to turn it “south.”

This drop of about 4000 on the DOW (as I’m writing this) is nothing more than a “reality check” to a market which had been “pumped up” with too much borrowed money. Now, I’ve also said I am NO economist, but it seems to me borrowing money to buy stocks creates risks most of us don’t understand. In fact, I’m wondering if people who just took a “hit” are in a more precarious position based on money they borrowed. I was watching a discussion of economists this morning on Yahoo Finance.com and a couple investors were saying “It’s time for the Fed to step in” in relation to the market which is nearing what, I presume, would be considered “free fall” territory. Of course, that would be real bad, especially with an IMPEACHED so-called president whose been called a f*cking moron by two of his former cabinet officials – while they were still in office. Is the coronavirus going to be what FINALLY exposes individual 1’s supporters, not to the disease, but to the reality of the incompetence of this IMPEACHED so-called president.

Oh yes, I have to add: Last night I heard a piece which was aired on Fox “news” in an interview with the deplorable first son of our IMPEACHED so-called president where Don Jr. said: (something like) “The democrats are hoping the coronavirus kills millions of Americans in order to stop all our ‘winning.'” That was a jaw dropper for me – in the “how STUPID is this?” column. Yikes!!!!! Is it really that hard to understand why America is so divided? (Just add remarks like that from Don Jr. to what the Russians are doing – and, of course, his IMPEACHED dad)