March 15, 2020
OK, I promise I’ll never ask for feedback—or poll for opinions—again! If I learned anything from asking my blog list members to tell me their picks for a President and Vice President capable of leading our country through a combined financial Depression and Pandemic, it would be that they didn’t understand the question or that Donald Trump hasn’t ‘united’ or ‘ignited’ anything in this country other than inflammatory discourse. I am sorry to admit I also learned that 90% of my list members either have no opinion or, if they have one, have no interest in expressing it in my very limited but ‘public’ forum. Less significant to my list members (but of real importance to me) is that I learned that several of my list friends are really excellent communicators and totally unafraid of putting their well thought-out opinions or rational for their political beliefs, in print. My sincere thanks to all of you who responded—in any way or form— and my apologies to any of you whose ‘delete’ key crashed in their computer due to overload last Sunday.
And—now it’s time for ‘Little (not-so-super) Tuesday’ when only six states and the ‘Democrats Abroad’ get to express their much-more-restricted choices for the Democratic presidential nomination candidate. If the polls are even close to correctly forecasting the results, it looks like this evening will be another five or six shots of adrenalin for Uncle Joe. I’m probably wasting my time feeling sorry for him having to take on the DNC’s assigned job of preventing Bernie Sanders from winning the nomination contest. It’s just that I’m afraid that Joe might not have the energy to go the distance in a campaign against a candidate who can shout louder and is willing to die trying to win. I just wish that Elizabeth, Amy, Pete and even Michael were still in this race. They would have made it much more interesting. So, now I’ll turn off my computer and go play bridge. I don’t think I’ll even watch the election results tonight.
It’s now Wednesday morning and I’m feeling a bit like Rip Van Winkle. I pick up the morning paper and it reads like the Democratic primary election is over—done—finished! Maybe they won’t even bother to have a national convention? Less than half of the states have voted and the DNC is declaring Joe Biden the winner? Bernie Sanders isn’t even talking—much less shouting. Elizabeth Warren hasn’t said a word—yet. Yang, Booker, Harris, Bloomberg and Klobuchar have all endorsed Joe Biden and Donald Trump hasn’t tweeted anything significant in days. Perhaps Bernie and Elizabeth are waiting for words of wisdom from AOC before deciding what they will do or if they should even try to stop the Biden steam roller? Could it possibly be that the evidence of a financial panic triggered by a raging pandemic caused the candidates to pay attention to reality? Stay tuned! As said by my favorite Italian philosopher, “This game ain’t over- ‘till it’s over!” I’m going to bed, very early, this evening!
In my previous blog (#58) I ‘supposed’ a market drop of 2% per day to get us into depression territory by the end of this month. Unfortunately, the daily drop is now averaging 4% per day and the market is very close to having lost almost a third of its’ value in about two weeks! And now today, Thursday, March 12, at 10:00 AM, the market is down almost 10% so far, for this single day! If the market condition is any indication of Donald Trump’s political life, I’d say he’s one sick puppy!
It has been very reassuring to hear his daily claims that the corona virus isn’t real and it will be “all over” in a matter of days. Perhaps he meant to say that the medical crisis would spread ‘all over’ the world in a matter of days? It has taken a viral pandemic to reveal the dangerous level of debt in governments, institutions, industries and individuals, world-wide, that is the accelerator of today’s financial pandemic.
I believe it is ‘good news’ that Bernie Sanders isn’t quitting the race–yet. His presence in the forthcoming debates should give our electorate the chance to properly evaluate—not Bernie, but—Joe Biden, as the person to lead the United States of America through the next four years of chaos. I’m already ‘on record’ in saying and writing that, although he is a reasonably honest person, I think he is too old and infirm to take on that enormous task at this point in his life. And—I sincerely hope— that this time of no debate audiences and only one opponent will give Bernie the incentive (or reason) to stop shouting and begin to explain, carefully and honestly, how we are going to pay for the changes his platform proposes. If Elizabeth Warren would be on the stage, I’d ask the same of her.
This nomination contest could really get interesting if she developed an ‘alliance’ with Bernie. However, if she is going to do that she should do it now, I mean today, not sooner or later! That would give credence and substance to a ‘left’ side expansion in the Democrat party. You, also, should remember what I’ve written a long time ago about what I would really like to see—a new party called—the “Socially Responsible Democratic Party”! Because I’m an idealist and also a realist, I really don’t think that will happen.
So far, nobody in the Democratic Party wants to be ‘Responsible’. However this contest turns out, I want you to know that I believe it is time for our American electorate to wake up and realize that our country is at the crossroads of potential greatness or chaos. Unfortunately, it may be hard to wake up a stupid and lazy electorate. I really, really, want to believe I’m wrong. We’ll see if I am right or wrong in the days ahead.
Lou
Copyright, March 15, 2020, Louis J. Christen