OK, I keep saying this, “I’m not an expert,” but I just finished watching the democratic debate for the honor of replacing individual 1 likely amid another economic disaster and I’m listening to the CNN doctor talking about the efforts of the CDC, about three or four weeks too late, to mitigate the covid-19 crisis. The cases in the U.S. are expanding toward the worst fears while our IMPEACHED so-called president is cheering on ZERO percent interest rates for Wall Street. It’s likely too late to stop this thing and the effects remain to be seen. The problem with the lack of testing which will persist for at least the next month makes it impossible to know the actual amounts of people with the virus. It’s likely 10 to 20 times what has been reported (today, it’s reported the number is 3500 from 2800 yesterday)
My guess is, despite all the money I’ve talked about which the Fed is “throwing” at Wall Street, the market will continue to “tank.” I don’t see how it doesn’t with business closing all over the country and workers losing their jobs. Yes, the toilet paper industry is strong right now – as freaked out Americans appear to be in panic buying mode – and, “we the people” will need to keep going to the super market to buy food as we’re likely to be having cabin fever.
Well, it’s now morning (I wrote the first couple of paragraphs last night) and the market “triggered” another “circuit breaker” within seconds of the opening as it was heading due south – I believe the “circuit breaker” kicks in when there is a loss of 7%. By the time I got up this morning it was “UP” a bit to -1700 on the DOW soon to be back below 2000 on the day. I’m learning about the “VIX” which is the measure of volatility and, according to what I’ve seen it’s nearing record highs – which would suggest even more stock market trouble. I keep listening to the “experts” on Yahoo.com/finance and many of them don’t make sense to me. To use a term from my friend I often mention here who is a diehard individual 1 supporter, they’re in “dreamland.” This looks really bad to me!
Personally, I have no idea how this crisis will ultimately end up, but where I live virtually everything except grocery stores and gas stations are closed. (Oh yes, doctor’s offices and hospitals) My family has put me in “detention” because they’re worried I’m one of the most vulnerable. Personally, if the weather gets better I’m going to try to make it to the golf course. But, seriously, my youngest daughter is a hospice nurse and things are starting to look a lot worse, from what I understand listening to her. I can tell you, “we the people” need to be thankful for the doctors and nurses in our society, even though our IMPEACHED so-called president is in court while this all is going on attempting to obliterate what is left of the Affordable Care Act.
In a word, my daughter is TOUGH! You have to be to do what she does – before she started working in hospice care she was an oncology nurse – the first time she told me about putting someone who had died into a body bag so she could take them to the morgue I was like – YIKES! That’s my little girl!! Well, now she is going to be right in the middle of this pandemic and I feel all I can do is pray for her and all the others who are on the “front lines.” When I talked to her yesterday she shared with me the health care organization she works for does NOT have the protective items the doctors and nurses need while helping those who are sick.
In regard to all the equipment the frontline workers need, this morning, I listened to a report on individual 1 suggesting it’s up to each facility to “order” the materials they need. I’ve heard nationwide we are likely short of something like 200,000 ventilators and my daughter says they don’t even have proper masks and gloves. All I can think every time I hear our IMPEACHED so-called president say something is the advice he constantly ignores – he should SHUT UP! I watched the debate last night between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders and it’s clear to me Biden is likely the democratic nominee for president this fall. Someone needs to tell individual 1 every time he opens his mouth on this crisis he’s creating another commercial for Biden.
Most Americans don’t know individual 1 and a group of republican governors are attempting, while this crisis is ongoing, to take insurance away from something like 30 MILLION Americans in their attempt to overturn the Affordable Care Act. How do you spell STUPID? (Well, I was a sixth grade teacher and I know how to spell STUPID although I’m thankful for “spell check.”) On the bright side I believe after we get beyond this it appears to me the argument for universal health care will have a much better chance of overcoming the OBSTRUCTION of Moscow Mitch, individual 1, and the rest of the republican party.
I live in Washington State and our governor, Jay Inslee, (AKA a “snake” according to individual 1) has been at the front of those leaders who are making decisions which will hopefully minimize the damage caused by this pandemic. In reality it’s the governors around the nation who are leading in the fight to mitigate the damage of the virus. Right now I’m listening to individual 1 and those who are part of the CDC “task force.” Here’s the saddest part of all this – I know the health care professionals are doing all they can – but, when one of them speaks it’s as if they have to make some kind of statement (LIE) aimed at our IMPEACHED so-called president who is standing next to them attempting to make him look good. Here’s the reality, our federal government was NOT prepared and “closing the borders” didn’t minimize the epidemic – the actions of individual 1 undoubtedly made this far worse than it should have been.
Just this past weekend, when you look at the photos of the airports where the people who were in Europe were going through customs it’s as if no one who came up with the “plan” was thinking straight. (Apparently this was Jared Kushner) There were people CROWDED together for up to 7 hours, in some instances, waiting to go through customs, essentially, getting (possibly) infected. Who knows how many in these large crowds have become infected because of being forced to go through this disastrous circumstance. Right now, I’m listening to our IMPEACHED so-called president who is still suggesting he’s been doing a “great job.” Yikes!!! He gave himself a 10 out of 10 today. And, yesterday or the day before he said he “takes no responsibility” for the government’s terrible response to this pandemic. Pathological LIARS evolve to the point where when a word comes out of their mouth they actually believe it’s true. Another word for this is delusional!
I watched the stock market while individual 1 was speaking and it dropped almost another 1000 points from where it was when he started, closing around – 3000 on the DOW or almost 13% in ONE day! Yikes!!! After the first $1.5 TRILLION the Fed infused into the market, the DOW dropped a couple thousand points. The Oval Office address dropped it another 2000 points. Of course, the Friday press conference pumped it up a couple thousand points and, then the Fed announced it was dropping rates to ZERO and pumping another nearly TRILLION into the market which caused the market to drop over 2000 points at the open today, triggering another “circuit breaker” and then individual 1 spoke again this afternoon and suggested this will go on until August and the market dropped another 1000 to close at 3000.
It’s Tuesday (the next day) and the stock market is trying to go up again – I guess this is the true definition of volatility. I’m guessing MOST of the republicans will continue focusing on trying to prop up Wall Street although I have to say, yesterday, I saw Mitt Romney suggest every adult American should receive $1000 (per month? for the next few months?) which would be sending money to “we the people” (I want to say so we can continue hoarding toilet paper – but this probably isn’t the time for bad humor) which would likely be money spent. I’ve said (and understood since I was in high school in the 1960’s) government SHOULD work from the bottom up.
This all changed when Ronald Reagan became president and instigated the “trickle down” (trickle up from my vantage point) philosophy of economics. This has proved to create HUGE multi national corporations which seem to be the back bone of our economy and are the focus of republican initiatives under emergency situations. We saw Bush/Cheney pull together a $700 – $800 BILLION to bail out the banks – who, by the way, were incredibly reckless. I just finished reading “Dark Towers” which is a book about Deutche Bank and it further reminded me of what happened in 2008 where America’s banks were the recipients of a BAILOUT with little to no consequence to their bad behavior. Well, of course, this crisis is different, but we’ve already seen “conservatives” pouring TRILLIONS into “Wall Street” and, that’s likely to be their “plan” going forward. That’s all they know how to do!
At some point “we the people” will understand that the “trickle down” philosophy doesn’t work for us. OUR national debt is well over 20 TRILLION now and likely to be rising quickly and our Middle Class has been stagnant since the day Reagan took the oath of office. The bottom line is the way to mitigate this crisis is to pour money into the hands of “we the people” who will likely spend it. The money is actually infused into our economy for the people who most need it. It’s true we can’t blame the banks for this crisis, but the reality is pouring money into Wall Street is just another example of short term thinking.
I just listened to Elizabeth Warren talking about what she believes needs to be done to protect our economy while we’re dealing with this crisis and it reminds me of why I wanted to vote for her. Unfortunately, she was out of the nominating process by the time we in Washington State were voting, but I still say she’s the smartest politician I’ve seen for some time. Joe Biden has pledged to pick a woman to be his “running mate” but I doubt it will be Senator Warren. Just the reality she comes from Massachusetts makes it unlikely as the VP usually needs to be able to help with a “purple” state. I’m thinking it may be Stacy Abrams of Georgia. I would also be excited if she were the choice. That being said, Elizabeth Warren was proposing a $750 BILLION stimulus aimed at the “grass roots.” She “gets it.”
I’ll end this rant by saying, once again, the “republican way” has already PUMPED a couple TRILLION into Wall Street and the market continues to TANK. Clearly those who are involved with trading on Wall Street are inflicted with what I call the “herd mentality.” Each day it’s either significantly up or significantly DOWN. The “downs” are “winning” at the moment. Again, I don’t understand how it works, but I’m guessing there are “short sellers” who are getting very rich off of the misery of everyone else. I would love to see the stock market stabilized and I agree with Elizabeth Warren the way to do this is from the bottom up!
Final Thought: Today the market has been fluctuating between +2% and +4% based on the expectation there’s another government relief bill on the horizon. (Although, apparently, Moscow Mitch is balking at part of the bill) As I’ve said in recent posts my son’s restaurant (and virtually every restaurant in America) has closed temporarily (some possibly permanently) and the bill should provide relief to all these workers who are no longer working and can’t find work in their profession. Lets hope our “leaders” in Washington can focus on our people on “Main Street” for the next few months!
One last thing: My son has a friend who’s a barber and he’s three weeks from opening his first barber shop. He’s in serious financial danger. People like him should have access to some of this low interest money to keep them “afloat” until this crisis is over. Again, from the bottom up!
I wrote this over the past few days and didn’t publish it because I got so worked up I was already on to the next one which is always published. My hope is “we the people” don’t allow individual 1 to LIE himself out of the responsibility he holds for the poor response to this pandemic. (For heaven’s sake, he abolished the Pandemic team in the National Security office a couple years ago) He couldn’t have stopped this, but he’s made it worse and he’s now trying to LIE himself out of the responsibility he holds. Whether he can accept this or not, “The ‘buck’ stops at the Oval Office!”
Talk about your second chances: The DOW is now down to where it was on individual 1’s FIRST day in office! Just try to picture in your mind what our IMPEACHED so-called president could have done (to us) in the Ebola crisis! Just sayin………..