As I have for years, everyday after I turn on the computer I go to Yahoo! Finance to check out the stock market and, during this pandemic when we have a DEPRESSION level of unemployed Americans it’s almost mind boggling to see the market creeping up to record territory. Of course the TRILLIONS of stimulus – up to this point in time something approaching $10 TRILLION, most of which is being “pumped” into the market by Jerome Powell of the Fed, is going to lead to interesting discussions when all is “said and done” with the virus – whenever that might be. In anticipation of republicans taking a “bath” in the upcoming election I already sense the “deficit hawks” coming out of hibernation – just as they did following the “Great Recession” brought on by Bush/Cheney.

Of course, the Bush/Cheney recession “hit” the country right as we were getting ready to vote for either Barack Obama or John McCain who famously undermined his own campaign by claiming the “The fundamentals of the U.S. economy are strong” as America was cratering toward what COULD have been another “Great Depression.” Sound familiar? Well, except, in my view, the economy is in FAR worst condition now than it was back then. Republicans have agreed to approximately TEN times the “stimulus” they agreed to in the so-called TARP bailout AND, they’ve done a good job in hiding where the BULK of that (around $10 TRILLION) has gone. They’re laying the groundwork for a massive attack on the Biden administration which, if history is any indicator, will begin prior to Biden actually taking the oath of office regarding the “Biden deficit.” I’m not kidding!

In other words, due to the incompetence, the LYING, and the CHEATING of individual 1 there’s a good chance republicans will be “down” – but, unless Biden, should he win, has a progressive and courageous start to his administration and MANY republican senators get “retired” along with individual 1, we’ll see the same playbook which has happened over and over in the years since Reagan turned America sharply to the “right” as if it’s a “broken record.” And, by the way, when you look back at Bush/Cheney you see the LYING, the incompetence, and the CHEATING – just in more subtle ways. Dick Cheney was, in my view, every bit as “deplorable” as individual 1, he was just a more polished politician as he went about trying to turn America into a corporatocracy – the equivalency of a Mussolini type fascism – that believes in TORTURE. We stopped that attack on our “better angels” back in 2008 and, hopefully, we’ll stop it again in 2020. But, brace yourself!

As I’ve said here, many times, I’m an old man in my mid 70’s and (too) MANY of my peers are part of the Fox “news” audience. I had discussions with two of them this past week, two people I can talk about politics and they don’t start throwing things – like many of the Fox viewers I’ve encountered over the years. In our discussion I’ve been reminded of the surveys of American voters where it was determined those who watch Fox “news” are the least informed of all the Americans surveyed – including people who don’t watch anything considered “news” on TV. And, that’s saying something, because Sinclair Broadcasting is “beamed” into the homes of nearly 40% of American households, so most people get at least some “news” via TV and, very likely, it’s right wing propaganda. (Thankfully, Sinclair is NOT beamed into mine and I call it the “one minute challenge” when I tune into Fox in a futile attempt to see what they’re saying – the LIES are ALWAYS pouring forth at a level causing me to change the station before I can even make it to that one minute “challenge”)

I believe individual 1 is a traitor to this country which puts his cowardly sycophants, also, in a very DARK part of our history books. If they, led by William Barr, somehow figure out how to CHEAT to “win” another election it will just make their place in History even DARKER – because the young people of this country won’t tolerate another four years of this, as us “baby boomers” have – claiming the system will survive and, in the end, will be standing tall. I still believe that, but I expect our IMPEACHED so-called president to pull out “all the stops” in order to avoid facing our legal system once he’s out of office. To me, he’s nothing but a cheap wannabee mob boss who bullied, LIED, manipulated, and, yes, CHEATED in order to fool MILLIONS of Americans into voting for him. After all, you’d think his “Christian” base wouldn’t be too happy with someone who admitted to being a sexual predator right before the last election. Yet, they voted for him anyway!

You’d think it would be hard to find ANY American who would be OK with individual 1 paying off two women he had illicit affairs with right before the election so his “Christian” base wouldn’t know about this – and, of course, the affairs were while his present wife was bearing his last son which, to me, makes it even worse. And, of course, you’d think it would be hard to find ANY American who would be OK with a politician encouraging Russia to help him “win” the election. I bring this up because of the three Fox “news” viewers I’ve conversed with of late, two of them had NO idea about any of this. One even said, “I believe those are conspiracy theories.” Nice guy, but he reminded me of when individual 1 said, “I love uneducated voters.” Yikes! I taught my sixth graders to process information better than that.

Look, I was NOT a Joe Biden supporter during the primaries, but I understand why the democrats ended up choosing him – the NUMBER ONE goal of the democrats is to IMPEACH individual 1 for good because the republicans failed to convict him when they had the opportunity after his FIRST IMPEACHMENT. I was hoping a strong, young progressive would emerge who could appeal to those of us in the “middle” who understand the word “conservative” has been twisted into “knots” over the past 40+ years in this nation. The “trickle down” economic scam pulled over “we the people’s” eyes, originally, by Ronald Reagan has morphed into the politics of GREED where those who don’t “fit the mold” are simply “collateral damage.” I’m a Christian who believes Jesus was EMPHATIC when he said, “What you do to the least of these, you do to ME.” As a people, we’ve lost sight of that message.

“Trickle down” economics was simply a mechanism allowing the wealthiest Americans, including multi-national corporations, to FLEECE the American taxpayers of TRILLIONS of dollars – money which COULD have been spent on rebuilding our infrastructure to world class standing – instead of letting our roads and bridges crumble. Money which COULD have been invested in our people, lowering the cost of higher education for our young people or providing retraining for those who have lost their jobs because of corporations choosing China’s workers over America’s. (And, of course, then these corporations do everything they can to avoid paying a cent in American taxes)

Again, today, as MILLIONS of Americans are facing evictions, being unable to pay their basic bills, and likely losing hope Wall Street continues to march upward. As I’ve been trying to point out lately, the disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street has NEVER been more evident. That is bound to change soon because of the lack of a “deal” in Congress – and, don’t tell me it’s the fault of “both sides.” That’s an absurd argument! The “HEROES Act” has been sitting on Moscow Mitch’s desk for over three months now. It was the “gift from above” by the democrats to the republicans in the face of the upcoming election and, still, they don’t “get it.” It’s as if the republicans WANT people to be suffering because they believe that will cause them to either NOT vote or to vote for them – as if individual 1 is “good for the economy.”

Actually, one of my friends I mentioned above actually said that is why he supports individual 1, the economy. I said, “Do you believe the economy is in good shape right now?” And, of course, he answered, “Yes.” I said, “Do you understand there’s maybe as many as 30 MILLION Americans unemployed right now, Depression numbers?” And, he answered, “I don’t believe that.” All I could say was, “Man, you’ve got to stop watching Fox “news.” This is a clear failure of our “liberal media.” Individual 1 inherited a healthy economy and is going to pass on an economy in a depression – yet, the polls agree with my friend. People, somehow, believe individual 1 would be better for the economy than Biden. The only words I can pull up: “Only in America.”

I keep thinking about people like Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, and others in the upper echelon of America’s wealthiest people seeing their net worth this year rise dramatically, I can’t help but think of how this nation’s economy worked when I was a kid – the Eisenhower, Kennedy, LBJ years. Top earners, in those days, paid 90% of their earnings above and beyond a certain point – which I believe, in equivalent dollars, would amount to around a few MILLION dollars today. I fully believe we need to return to something similar to those days. A way to discourage GREED and encourage corporations and their executives to reinvest excess profits back into their companies or communities or workers. Corporations really do have a responsibility to the communities in which they’re located – just as they have a responsibility to their workers – who, of course, could be the recipients of some of that excess at the top.

I certainly don’t know how those who are raking in the BILLIONS manage to avoid paying taxes, I just know they pay a lot of money to the top accountants who are able to figure out how to get around the tax laws. When Hillary Clinton pointed out individual 1 hadn’t paid taxes for something like 15 years, his response wasn’t “no, you’re wrong,” it was “That makes me smart.” When the person at the top is openly CHEATING the system why would we expect anything different from other top earners. It’s been reported, for example, that Jeff Bezos has had his “net worth” increase by $68 BILLION the last time I checked, THIS YEAR and that was a month or two ago. I’m afraid to ask what it has risen to since.

CEO’s shouldn’t be able to hide their income in stock options or in places like the Cayman Islands in a tax “shelter.” There’s NO corporate tax there, so many American corporations and/or corporate executives locate their “corporate identity” in a PO Box in the Cayman’s and end up paying no tax. I’m not sure if that’s how Amazon did it, but it’s obscene to me they are paying NO taxes AND looking for HUGE tax breaks as they pit one American city against another for the next distribution center while they are profiting in the BILLIONS. This is what happens when you have a political party which is afraid to regulate business so that the American workers and the American infrastructure where the businesses operate are protected. It’s almost as if corporations “bleed” one location dry and then, after depreciating their assets, simply pack up and move to a new location to start the process all over again.

And, we keep falling for it – allowing ourselves to be convinced republicans are better able to manage the economy. This actually flies in the face of the empirical evidence. Bush/Cheney left a potential return to a “Great Depression” – they had inherited a booming economy from the Clinton/Gore administration. Al Gore “lost” the election in 2000 because Bill Clinton couldn’t keep his pants zipped up AND, of course, because republicans CHEATED and got the Supreme Court to stop the recount of the votes where the CHEATING took place.

Well, I guess you could say “deja vu all over again” considering individual 1 inherited an economy which had been gaining “steam” for OVER 6 straight years and it ONLY took him two and a half years to turn it into ANOTHER possible “Great Depression.” Of course, as I’ve said, the people at the “top” (of the “food chain”) like Bezos, Zuckerman, Bloomberg, and others are getting RICHER by the minute despite the appearance individual 1 will be passing on an economy, once again, in “tatters.” This time could be really BAD, because I believe, for example, Mr. Powell can only “pump” so much money into Wall Street before it collapses and then we’ll all know how serious the situation individual 1 is leaving us really is.

I’ve been suggesting for a couple years now, to anyone interested in better understanding what is going on behind the scene at the “top,” for people to read “The Family” by Jeff Sharlet. There’s a group of people who believe those who are the most wealthy and powerful SHOULD be ruling the rest of us. Every time I try to understand who is behind the support individual 1 is getting I keep thinking of this group. They kind of go hand in hand with the dominionists. “We the people” aren’t smart enough to “self rule” they believe – these people HATE anything approaching a democracy. Many of their members, at the time Sharlet wrote the book – he managed to infiltrate the organization – were republican members of Congress who lived together in a house on “K Street” in Washington DC. These are the people who started the national prayer breakfast and, lest you get the wrong idea, they invited people like Indonesian mass murder Suharto to their meetings – despite the FACT he authorized the MURDER of half a MILLION Indonesians – he was considered a “strong ruler.” Sound familiar?

My point in all of this is, if you believe the American economy is “strong” right now, well, I’d say you’re dead wrong. I believe the foundation of sand, on which the economy sits, is about to erode in a significant amount. I certainly hope I’m wrong – because, I don’t believe “we the people” are going to vote in numbers enough for our IMPEACHED so-called president to “win” no matter where the economy is – and, of course, my other point is, Wall Street is NOT the “economy.” We are witnessing the epitome of income inequality – which, as I remember reading Marx back in my college days (obviously, many years ago) – this is how, theoretically, a capitalist economic system would collapse. I hope we don’t choose to go to that extreme.

Our traditional – and, of course, I’m talking about what I grew up with – combination of capitalism AND a social safety net type of government – what Bernie Sanders calls “democratic socialism” is what I hope ends up “ruling the day.” Should “we the people” fail to remove individual 1 from the “White House” – no matter how he might CHEAT in order to “win” – for example, we KNOW right now he’s still working with the Russians – our system of government, as we’ve known it, will likely collapse. The wealthy few in this nation must understand they CAN’T continue FLEECING our taxpayers indefinitely. They’ve been doing this since 1981 and “enough already.” More and more of them are realizing, for example, the didn’t need – nor warrant – the previous tax scam of the republicans. It’s time to return to the days of tax policy prior to Reagan’s initial tax cut to the top rates which started this massive almost encouraging America’s wealthy to embrace their GREED! To me, that’s not something to be encouraged!

And, it appears fleecing Americans of their tax dollars isn’t good enough for individual 1’s version of the republican party. Just the other day, Steve Bannon and three of his buddies were arrested and indicted on a scheme where they’ve allegedly raised MILLIONS from unsuspecting “dupes,” ie their “uneducated voters,” as if they would pay to build the wall – on people’s private property no less. Well, it appears, these MILLIONS of dollars coming from their lowest level of supporter have been merged into the private accounts of Bannon and his friends to fund a very LAVISH lifestyle. This fraudulent use of privately raised funds the supporters intended to help run the campaigns appears to go way deeper than the scam Bannon was arrested for. Some of the “Super PAC’s” are funding other leading republican grifters in ways I can only hope become exposed once this criminal organization is out of the “White House.” Americans of all “stripes” are suffering but, it seems, that just makes them more of a target for this administration!

Final Thought: If you don’t believe the attack on the Postal Service is serious and might actually allow individual 1 to succeed in STEALING another election the only evidence I have is based on my personal experience selling items on Ebay which get sent all over the country. I only sell a few items each month but, starting a little over a month ago I started noticing my packages, which I follow closely via the tracking system, have been arriving anywhere from one to three days LATE. Obviously, this could create a situation come November where MANY MANY voters could find their votes arriving at the polls LATE. I hope that doesn’t happen to anyone, no matter who they’re voting for. Of course, the data would suggest MOST people who are wanting to “vote from home” are affiliated with democrats. The latest package I’ve been tracking is NOW 5 days LATE and won’t be delivered today!

Individual 1 and his band of cowardly cronies, as I’ve said, will – and, now are, throwing everything INCLUDING the “kitchen sink” at his unsuspecting “base” to convince them if he loses – which, it appears if we have a FAIR election, he will – the election “was rigged.” Of course, he was saying the exact same thing four years ago – also refusing to say he would accept the results when MOST people thought Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 election. I have to add, Nate Silver at Fivethirtyeight.com works in percentages – ie he’s now saying individual 1 has a 27% chance to “win” based on all the polling and research he does (and he’s very good). Four years ago he was giving individual 1 a 29% chance to win at about this time and it was his website I was watching during the final days, after Comey’s now infamous “intervention” in the process, where they were showing the surge in the polling away from Clinton toward our now IMPEACHED so-called president.

That’s just one more reason for democrats to remain diligent right up until election day, but today when I read about Putin’s nemesis in Russia, Alexei Novalnay, who is lying in a coma fighting for his life as I’m writing this, I couldn’t help but think of what individual 1 would prefer America to be like. That is, Putin just has his opponents jailed or, if that doesn’t work, they mysteriously become poisoned. There is so much evidence suggesting Putin has the “goods” on individual 1, also called “kompromat,” that I’m just struggling to understand how any American could choose to vote for someone this deplorable. As responsible citizens we are (SHOULD BE) required to educate ourselves prior to voting and, as I’ve said, watching Fox “news” is NOT educating yourself. Cross check the information with actual facts – they really are out there. Individual 1 is attempting to STEAL this election “in plain sight” and it boggles my mind he conceivably could get away with it. I’m VOTING EARLY and making sure my ballot reaches the location where it will be counted! That’s the least I can do for my country!