We Deliver for You

 A few years back, while on our way to Idaho, we were driving thru Montana on I90.  A more desolate road I had never seen.  Miles and miles of nothing but pronghorn antelope and an occasional road sign warning of cattle on the road.  Now and then there would be a driveway that seemed to lead to nowhere.  as far back as you could see on the flat prairie there was nothing, but where the driveway met the highway, there was a mailbox.

When we stopped for lunch, I made mention of that to our waitress.  She gave me the strangest look.  "How would folks get their mail elsewise?"  she replied. "there's no post office 'cept in town twenty miles away."  We were surprised to say the least.

At the time a stamp probably cost thirty-two cents.  That meant I could drop a letter in my mailbox on the street corner in Chicago, and someone would deliver it to a mailbox on I90 in the middle of nowhere.  That was a real bargain, and it still is even though the cost a stamp has gone up twenty cents.

But in fact the Post Office is not in the business of making money, although contrary to popular opinion it does pay its operating expenses.  But due to a ridiculous law imposed by Congress in 2006, the Post Office has to pay into a $72 billion fund for post-retirement health care 75 years into the future.  No other organization, public or private has to meet such a requirement.

There are over 630,000 employees at the United States Postal Service (USPS), and they handle over 146-billion pieces of mail every year.  If you look at the USPS as a retail operation, it is larger than McDonalds and Walmart combined.  Their network stretches across the country from New York City to a mailbox in the Alaskan backcountry, and Hawaii too.

Of all the government agencies the Post Office ranks highest in approval ratings. 91% of Americans approve of the job that it does.  But numbered among its fans is not the president, Donald J. Trump.  Trump's dislike of the Post Office borders on obsession.  it all begins with his dislike of Jeff Bezos and The Washington Post.  Can't make the connection ?   Well, one of the largest users of the postal service is Amazon.   Amazon's CEO is Jeff Bezos, the company has made Bezos the richest man in the world.

Donald Trump despises anyone who is a genius with business acumen, the one thing he said he was, and the one thing that he surely is not.  To say nothing of the Post's unrelenting criticism of Trump's presidency.  To assuage Trump's ego, aides told him that the reason that Amazon is doing so well, is that Bezos made a sweetheart deal with the Post Office.  With no data to back up that allegation, Trump demanded that the Post Office double its rates.  When he was told that he would need Congress to approve that, and that regardless, the contract with Amazon would still stand, Trump began his backdoor attack on the USPS.  

Trump badgered the Postmaster General, Megan Brennan - who began her career as a mail carrier and was the first woman to hold that position - until she announced her resignation. Trump then appointed Louis DeJoy to her position.  DeJoy's greatest qualification for the job was that he had contributed over two million dollars to the GOP since 2016. 

On the premise of streamlining the USPS, and increasing profits, DeJoy began dismantling it.  Guess no one told him that the Post Office was a service of the US government and not a business.  DeJoy began replacing the top executives who had been with the service for years and who knew how to oversee the day-to-day operations.  He reduced or restricted overtime hours, removed postal drop boxes, and was about to begin dismantling a number of the giant mail sorting machines.  Mail carriers were also instructed to leave excess mail at the distribution centers.    An unintended consequence to crippling Amazon deliveries, was Trumps other bug-a-boo, mail-in voting.

For whatever reason, Trump feels that stopping or massively slowing down of absentee ballots will give him a better chance of winning in November.  I guess Republicans only vote in person.  Many of the primary elections this spring exposed the problems of in-person voting during the pandemic.  Many people were afraid of going to the polls, and many of the polls, especially those in predominantly black and poor neighborhoods were closed causing long lines that prohibited social distancing.  Consequently, many people turned to mail-in ballots.  

When the Post Office Centers began sending letters to several states saying that there would be a delay in processing absentee ballots, there was a hue and cry and not just by folks who wanted to vote by mail, but from ordinary citizens who depend on the postal service for delivery of their medications, and Social Security checks.  The VA sends meds, via the mail, to veterans who desperately need those prescriptions.  And wonder of wonders the administration decided that perhaps this wasn't the time to cut services.  Even Trump felt the blow back.   

And now lets go one step further, in addition to protecting the integrity of the Post office, let's expand the USPS mandate.  Let's consider resurrecting postal banking.  Until 1967, the Post office offered limited banking services.  I can remember buying 'war stamps' at the post office, I believe they were twenty-five cents and when you filled your book with stamps you could turn it in for a 'War Bond'.

The Post office offered a savings program also, but the greatest asset to Postal Banking is there will be no need for the predatory "payday lenders".  There are more than 17,000 post offices where there are only one, or no, branch bank locations.  This would give people who currently do not have a bank account, access to banking services; such as direct deposit of their Social Security checks and check cashing capabilities. Today, many countries including France and New Zealand offer postal banking services.  Let's face it, the Post office is the US government's best functioning agency, I think it's time to expand on it.

                                                             I'm just sayin'  

Another day, Another meeting

 Yesterday I had a meeting, it matters not where or about what, because they all start  the same.  Five or six people sitting around a large table, wearing an assortment of masks and observing our social distancing .  This, at least, is better than the usual Zoom meetings of late.  Though both start pretty much the same way.  In days past, and if I try hard, I can remember those days, conversations usually started with a comment about the weather, or the traffic, for lack of anything new to talk about.  Not now!  I miss those days. I miss a lot of things, and that brought up a whole new topic.  What do you miss in these days of COVID-19?

I miss going to the airport, well not actually going to the airport, I miss being able to fly somewhere, anywhere, I don't care where.  If only there were somewhere where I could go. I don't care where.  Somewhere where they would let me in, where they would welcome my money like they used to. But there is nowhere.

I miss going to the door and going out and doing stuff , you know just stuff.  Going without thinking about my mask and my hand sanitizer and my Clorox wipes, and whether this trip is actually necessary. Just what is necessary anyway?  Is saving my sanity necessary?  It didn't have to be necessary before this, I could just go out and then come back, and then go out again.

I miss planning, planning next week, next month, next year.  Writing dates and things to do on my desk calendar, in my phone, on my tablet, and jotting a note in my old fashioned personal date book.  We were so naive when there was a future, when today didn't look like yesterday and yesterday look like tomorrow.  Next year I'm going to.....

I miss elevators, I never take elevators unless my destination is over five flights.  I don't like elevators, I don't like sharing a closed space with strangers, now the thought terrifies me.  If I were on the elevator and some one else got on, would they feel bad if I got off?  What if I were on the tenth floor?  What if there were no empty elevators?  Would I be like Charlie on the MTA?  Unable to ever go home again? Maybe I don't miss elevators.  

I miss public transportation; I don't ride public transportation anymore.  I used to ride it every day.  But if I had to ride it again, I would miss it.  I would miss being jammed in a train, or the 'L' or the bus and not having a seat, and having my nose five inches from the armpit of strap-hanger next to me.  I would miss the groping hands of some pervert whose face I cannot see, just a disembodied hand reaching out to touch someone.

I miss climate change; oh, climate change is still here but no one talks about it anymore.  I miss commiserating on how hot it is, or why we don't get ten feet of snow every winter anymore, or why the butterflies are gone, or why the polar bears don't have enough to eat.  I used to worry about climate change, I miss that. I can't worry about climate change anymore, I don't have time to worry about it, even though all I have is time.

I miss buffets, even though I never went to buffets.  The food looks so good in the ads. But buffets are giant petri dishes of germination, growing bacteria here-to-for never know to man.  I think COVID-19 was hatched, not in the live market, but in a Chinese buffet.  The hot salads are warm, and the cold salads are warmer, and they never tell you what kind of meat is in the casserole.  I don't think buffets will ever come back and I shall miss them.

I miss the time when shopping at the mall was not a safari into unknown territory, and infection and disease weren't lurking in the changing rooms.  Changing rooms were bad enough before, when you risked picking-up a fungus when taking off your shoes to try on a pair of jeans.  I miss not thinking about keying in my pin number after that suspicious looking woman keyed in hers.  When was the last time she washed her hands?

I miss the grocery store where I am always going the wrong way down the aisle, like a salmon swimming upstream.  Why do grocery store now have to have one-way aisles?  I miss smelling the produce to see if it smells like strawberries or smells like cardboard.  You can't smell anything thru a mask.  I miss buying one lemon, instead six in a bag, who needs six lemons?  I miss talking to the checker face to face, but she can't see me smile because I am wearing a mask, and standing on my 'X' six feet away. 

I miss sitting in a bar, not three stools away from anyone, not sharing a laugh, because nothing is funny anymore.  And no one else is allowed in because there are already 25 people in the bar. I miss not checking my glass for spots but then I drink my beer from the bottle, no missing that.  I miss picking a restaurant for the menu and the food, instead of picking one with outside seating.

I miss hugs, at least hugs from family and from friends, and celebratory hugs when your team scores the winning run.  I miss hugs where I don't have to think about who was last hugged by this person.  I never was a hugger, everyone who knows me knows that, but now I miss something that I always took for granted

I miss so much I took for granted, I miss my old life, I miss school, I miss travel, I miss days without a mask, I miss all the little things that made life so beautiful.  But I know one thing, if this horrid thing ever goes away, and life comes back to normal I won't miss a thing.  Until I do.

                                                             I'm just sayin'  

Lies, Damned Lies, and Donald Trump

                                              This true liberty when free born men

                                              Having to advise the public may speak free.

                                              Which he who can, and will, deserv' s high praise

                                              Who neither can, nor will, may hold his peace.

                                              What can be juster in a state than that?

                                                                                       Euripides

This was the opening quote from John Milton's November, 1644 piece, Areopagitica,

which he presented to Parliament in defense of free speech.  It has been quoted many 

times by our Supreme Court in defense of the First Amendment.  Free speech is the

bedrock of the United States, the subject of the First Amendment to the Constitution.

But what good is free speech really?  As of June 1, 2020, our president, Donald Trump,

has told 19,127 lies.  That put him on track to surpass 20,000 lies by the end of his  

term in January 2021.   

In today's 'cancel culture' so many people attempt to shut out speech that goes counter

to their beliefs.  In answer to that, some 153 writers, academics, and journalists signed 

a letter published in Harpers online magazine  denouncing the current climate of

"...intolerance of opposing views".   But tolerance of free speech is great until it comes

up against Alex Jones and his ilk.

Last week the PBS Frontline program dedicated the entire hour to Alex Jones and his media

empire InfoWars.  Beginning with his childhood in Texas, where young Alex was known

as a trouble maker, through his years on a late-night public-access cable TV show, and his 

rise and fall and rise again.  The show opened up with Jones and Roger Stone gleefully 

celebrating Trump's presidential victory in 2016, and taking much of the credit for it.  

Which indeed they had a right to.  

It was Jones and Stone who perpetuated the "pizzagate" conspiracy.  They asserted that 

Hillary Clinton and John Podesta, her campaign manager, were running a child abuse 

ring out of the basement of a pizzeria in Washington D.C.  So convincing was Jones 

portrayal, that one of his faithful followers went to Washington, with a rifle, and fired

numerous rounds into the restaurant.  As incomparable as this may seem, there is a 

history of conspiracy theories that go back to the time of Gilgamesh, of powerful people

gathering in secret to sexually abuse children.  Seems there is nothing new under the sun.

Even before the election, Alex Jones had used his media platform to among other things;

disavow the 9/11 terrorist attacks saying that they were a government 'inside job', spout 

conspiracy theories that there are 'lizard people' walking among us, and that the government

is controlling the weather, and it is using chemicals to turn people gay.  His syndicated  

radio show is popular with young men, unemployed and unemployable, as part of what 

is called 'dude radio'. 

Jones has become very rich mainly from the ads on his programs which generate millions 

of hits and from the sale of a multitude of snake oil quackery lotions and potions, and 

sundry other cheap merchandise made in sweatshops.  But he reached the depths of 

depravity when he went after the families of the Sandy Hook massacre.  Sandy Hook was

the elementary school where 26 people, 20 of them young children, were slaughtered.

Jones claimed it never happened and that it was all a government hoax to impose strict

gun laws on the country, and that the families were actors employed by the government.

This was a bridge too far for even some of his employees who begged him to back off.

His wife divorced him suggesting that he was mentally unstable. His continued hounding

of the mothers and fathers drove some of them into hiding, and destroyed families and 

marriages.  Eventually one father fought back and took Jones to court. and though Jones

pleaded mental illness he lost the case.  The notoriety drove the father into hiding for fear

of his safety.  Despite it all, Jones has retained his celebrity. He is still a powerful influencer,

that was what Roger Stone recognized when he began using Jones as a vehicle to get Donald

Trump elected.  And Donald Trump went along, praising Jones for his support.

It can be accepted that Alex Jones has a dangerous impact on the presidency.  He has 

influenced both Fox News and Donald Trump, much of Trump's veering from one

unsupported claim to another, can be traced back to Jones.  And now the president is

retweeting claims made by the dubious 'doctor' Stella Immanuel, insisting that al- 

though he knows nothing about her, he tweets that she is "very respected".  This is the

same doctor that claims that hydroxychloroquine can cure COVID-19, despite proof it

does not and is dangerous to use without medical supervision.  She also claims that doctors

are using alien DNA to treat patients, and that researchers are developing a vaccine to stop

people from becoming religious.

Because of the 'bully pulpit' both Jones and Immanuel are in a position to cause irreparable

harm to millions of Americans.  Should these persons, and others like them, be tolerated and

be allowed to keep promulgating their dangerous and ignorant views? If we object vociferously

are we demonstrating an 'intolerance of opposing views'?  Is this what the First Amendment 

was written to protect?

                                                            I'm just sayin'

    

Conservative is Not a Dirty Word

I know that conservative is not a dirty word because I am one.  Oh, not a
Goldwater - Bircher conservative but more a Roosevelt conservative.  Yup,
an FDR conservative. the one who believed in a balanced budget and a
hands-off government. It puts me in league with Republican "Never Trumpers",
and those who worked for past Republican presidents; David Frum, Bret Stephens,
and columnists like George Will, Jenifer Rubin and David Brooks.  They don't
moralize as the left does, they can see Donald Trump for what he is; vulgar, coarse,
and far from the conservative he claims to be.  They can see perhaps more than the
far-left, the dangers that this man poses to the nation.

Donald Trump is not a revolutionary, he is a cynic who is bent on destroying the
norms and foundations of government, for his personal gain.  Trump is just a
symptom of what has gone wrong with American Democracy, which for years
has been slanted to the rich, the white, and the male. And activists who rail against
its racism and sexism are to be applauded for working to correct these iniquities.

The liberal Democrats see these problems, but they are less effective at the
propaganda from those on the right.  Liberals, by nature, are more inclined to
compromise, to reason, and to place the good for all before self-interest.
However, a well-reasoned argument is useless against Trump and his minions,
they fail to see, or choose not to see, his failings.

But the convergence of events since the beginning of 2020 has brought Trump's
incompetence to the forefront.  More now than ever, Trump's erratic behavior is
on display.  Lately he is coming to the realization, perhaps at the urging of his
campaign, that the pandemic is not going away, the economy is faltering badly,
and that demonstrations in the major cities are turning the tide against him.

Of all of the three problems plaguing the president, the greatest and most lasting
will be the economy.  The country, and perhaps the world, has been in recession
for the past two months, and as the virus is still running rampant in the United
States, our country is at the brink of a full-blown depression.  The longer the
pandemic is allowed to go on unabated, the closer we come to the precipice.

As of today, July 26, there are 100 days to the election on November 3rd.  The
question now is, can the coalition between these disenchanted Trump voters of
2016 and the Democrats, who are moving to the left, hold long enough to unseat
Trump by a margin great enough to insure a peaceful transfer of power in January?
Will the movement be a tidal wave sufficient enough to take out the Republicans
in the Senate also?  Without that victory, a Democratic presidency will be hobbled
for the next four years. 

Ultra-conservative voters, and I am not one of them , might resist the Democrats move
to European-style social democracy; national health care, progressive taxation, and
an end to social inequities.  But the Never Trumpers may be able to take the party back
from these destructive nationalist zealots.  A coalition of Social Democrats and true 
conservatives is what is needed to return the country to normal.  But what is normal?
When the depression comes, and it is coming, what America will need is another FDR,
a pragmatist, not a left-wing idealist.  Someone who understands that the government is
not the problem but the solution.

Joe Biden has put forth an agenda that incorporates some of the ideas from FDR's New
Deal, principally; strengthening labor unions, large infusions of money for infra-
structure repair and replacement, stock market realignment, and continued monetary relief.
To accomplish this 'wish list' he will need the backing of the Congress.  The current
Republican Senate, led by Mitch McConnel, would stymie any progressive legislation
addressing these programs and much less likely, would be any chance for gun control,
health care, and immigration reform. 

To gain control of the Senate, the Democrats need to gain three or four seats, which at
this time does seem likely.  There are 35 Senate seats up for grabs in November, of
these, 23 are currently held by Republicans and only 12 by Democrats.  Most of the
Republican seats are in safe red states, but there are some Republican seats that are in
play, among these are; Colorado, Arizona, North Carolina, and Maine.  Also, quite
possibly in the mix are Georgia, Montana and Alaska.  The Democrats appear to be
in control of their seats, with the exception of Alabama, where Doug Jones won a
special election only because he was running against Roy Moore, but now must face
Tommy Tuberville.

The Democrats in the House of Representatives should have no problem retaining
their majority, and may even post gains.  Given the state of the country right now,
a Democratic rout looks likely.  But that could turn on a dime; an early vaccine
roll-out, say September or October, a marked recovery in the stock market, a big dip
in unemployment, a gaffe by Joe Biden, or the dreaded October surprise could swing
the election overnight.  Any one of those things could re-energize Trump's base, but
just as likely are Trump's uncontrollable, off-the-wall ramblings casting doubt on
his fitness to serve a second term.

The year 2021 may be the year when a socialistic government may have to step in
again to save capitalism.  The Never Trumpers may reluctantly come to that
conclusion, and neither they, nor the Bernie backers would be happy with that outcome.
And in the long run that may be the best argument for it.

                                                     I'm just sayin'

 

So Much to Choose, So Little Time

I remember when I was young, life was so much simpler.  There were three
channels on the television, the programming came on about 4pm and went
off at midnight.   The rest of the time there was a test pattern on the screen.
The news came on during the dinner hour and the local news came on at 10pm.
The newsmen were consummate reporters.  They reported what had happened
without hype, and people trusted what they said; Huntley and Brinkley, Cronkite,
Douglas Edwards.  They had gravitas.  Every home had their favorite news
channel; ABC, NBC, or CBS.  In our house it was CBS and Walter Cronkite.

Shopping was easier also.  In our neighborhood there was an A&P, and a National
Tea, of course we only bought canned goods there, as the rest was purchased at
the bakery, butcher shop, and the green grocer.  Shopping was an all day affair.
What ice cream?  There was a soda fountain in any drug store or, my favorite,
the ice cream parlor.  There they scooped ice cream out of huge tubs and into a
cake cone, or into a cardboard container to take home.  There were three flavors
to choose from; vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.  That's it!  The biggest choice
I had as a child was at the penny candy counter.  There was so much to choose
from, with a nickel you could fill a small, white paper sack with enough sweets
to rot your teeth through the newsreel, the coming attractions, the movie short, the
cartoon and the feature film, longer if you bought a jaw breaker.

My life was so innocent then, or perhaps I just thought so because in my childish
mind my life was idyllic.  Even though we seemed to go from one war to another.
We had hardly returned to normal after WWII when we were embroiled in Korea.
That endless slog culminated in a truce, and lead into the Cold War.  My life went
from coupons for meat, shoes and gasoline and saving string for the 'war effort' to
hiding in a bomb shelter my senior year in high school.  Then there was Viet Nam
and after that the Iraq war which continues still today.  In endless succession the
crisis came and went.

Perhaps I was more resilient all those many years ago.  Because today I feel as though
I am being crushed under the weight of all that is occurring.  The television news is
on twenty-four hours a day and all of it is depressing.  There are only two choices;
news slanted to the right or news slanted to the left.  I solve that problem by watching
the BBC and PBS.

It seems like there is a new emergency every day.  Just when you think it can't get any
worse, when the night is the only refuge you have left, when you can close your eyes
and pretend that everything is alright; you awaken the next day to worsening news.

This has not escaped the notice of certain Washington operatives of both political
persuasions.  They are playing 'war games' with a different scenario each time.
Players in these games, besides the political hacks, are constitutional lawyers and
certain journalists.  Each plays a role in the opposing campaigns. Biden's and Trump's.
And there are roles for the election officials and court justices.  There are several
outcomes to the November election; too close to call on election night, a Biden
landslide, a very narrow win for Biden, and Trump winning the electoral vote but
losing the popular vote by a huge margin.

Trump has already said he will not accept the results of the election if he feels it is
fraudulent in any way.  And Donald has a lot of ways to find fraud and challenge
the vote count.  This will not be the Bush/Gore election.  The Democrats will not
go quietly into the night as they did before.  And Trump's supporters will not stand for
a court decision giving the election to Biden.  The best we can hope for is a land-
slide by either side.   

Even with a decisive win, the economic picture is bleak at best, and that is an optimistic
projection.  Joblessness will probably remain above 10% thru 2021.  The GDP won't
climb back into positive territory until the second quarter of 2021.  And even when the
economy is on a sound footing, it will not be the same as it was in January 2020.  But
if you're a betting man, the market will continue to post unsupported gains, until the
bubble burst that is.

So, if looking at the economic landscape isn't depressing enough, we have the
pandemic which continues to flourish unabated.  And the CDC says this isn't even
the second wave, it is still the first wave.  The president continues to ignore the virus
in the hope that one day it will go away, like he promised, he will eventually be
right.  Trump is playing a game of what I don't know cannot hurt me.  It's a little
like playing peek-a-boo with a toddler.  But it can hurt me how am I supposed to
know how many people are ill and where are they located.  How can we protect
ourselves without information?

As though this is not enough, there are still protest marches nearly every night.  They
are growing and expanding, as varied as the injustices which cry out for redress.  The
marchers are  peaceful, calling attention to the problems of racial injustice and economic
disparity.  These marches keep the problems front and center and give a peaceable outlet
to those who feel that they are being ignored by their elected officials.  But that is not
sitting well with the 'law and order' president.  He has ordered federal marshals in
unmarked cars and in uniforms without insignias to break up the peaceful demonstrations.
Violence begets violence.  It is playing well to a certain audience, but that audience is
getting smaller.

I try when I write this meaningless bit of fluff, to keep the topics current and relevant. 
There is usually something of interest that I can pound out nine hundred to a
thousand words about.  But lately I am inundated by things happening in this country
and around the world so that I find it difficult to pick just one.  Its a lot like when
I was that little girl in front of the candy counter,  and I get the same bellyache from both. 

                                                 I'm just sayin' 

The Beginning of the End or the End of the Beginning

Last week the United States of America celebrated the 244th anniversary of
the Declaration of Independence; when a delegation of stalwarts proclaimed
a ragtag group of colonies independent and free from the influences and
restrictions of the King of England.  It took an additional ten years before
the Constitution was signed, the document that we live by still.  And another
five years before the first ten amendments were drafted to that Constitution
which are called the Bill of Rights.

Since that time the prophets of doom have been predicting the downfall of the
United States.  As proof, we weren't so united in 1861 when eleven states
proclaimed their independence and fought against the Union for four long years
before being defeated in 1866.  None of those who fought on the side of the
Confederation were prosecuted as a traitor, because preserving the Union meant
more than retribution.  There are those who say, because of that we are still fighting
the Civil War. 

Yet another war, this one lasting twenty years from 1955 to 1975, drove a  wedge
into the United States.  There were riots and protests in the streets, and the outcome
of those bitter times was the destruction of two presidencies.  But still the Union
persevered.  America has faced many perilous times since the Civil War, but we
have become a 'self-defeating prophecy'.  The more the geniuses predict the end
of  'the greatest test of democracy', the more we have proven them wrong.

But this time feels different.  The political polarization has risen to heights not
seen since 1861; add to that climate change, income disparity, racial inequality,
now an epidemic.  A virus that has killed over 133,000 and sickened over
three million people in this country alone.  It has shuttered economies across the
globe.  To this tinderbox strike the match of perceived police brutality.  We now
face a worse outbreak of social instability since the 1960s.

We have a federal government that seems to take particular pleasure in causing
division between its people.  Instead of calling for unity to overcome the invisible
enemy that is sickening forty thousand plus Americans a day, our President is
fomenting instability between his so called base and the rest of the country.  It is
the same tactic he used in 2016, but these are different times.

Then he ran on the premise of them versus us, even though the 'us', in this case,
was actually 'them'.  Trump played on the one issue that touched a nerve in those
who believed that everyone was out to get them, particularly the federal government.
Even though reports show that many of these 'poor' states receive $12 - $20 back
for every dollar that they send to Washington.

During the past forty or so years, while the economy has grown substantially, wages
of most Americans either stayed the same or in many cases they declined.  The median
wage that the typical worker earns, when adjusted for inflation, has fallen to a historical
low.  Not only has the economic picture been dim, but the life expectancy in large
sections of the country have started to decline also.  This economy has created five
times more millionaires and billionaires.  This would have been fantastic if that wealth
had been the same across the entire sector of the workforce.  But it has not.

One other problem with the concentration of wealth, is many of those with it have
decided to convert economic power into political power.  Either by running for office
themselves or financially backing a candidate who they feel will help their cause.
However, since there are only so many positions open in the political realm,
someone has to lose.  More players, more losers.  This dog-eat-dog environment
corrupts the co-operation needed for societal coexistence.  That environment also
increases the number of those left behind, and when they can't get power by legal
means it increases their feeling of abandonment.  They often become radicalized  and
work to overthrow the government.  JFK said it best when he said: "All Americans are
granted rights to peaceful protests.  Those who make peaceful revolution impossible,
will make violent revolution inevitable."

There is a field of study called Cliodynamics, which researches integrating cultural
evolution, economic history, and macrosociology to create a model of history long
term and then construct and analyze a historical database.  Thus, treating history as a
science, and using theories to model the rise and fall of governments, economic booms
and busts, and the propagation of religions.  Scientists can then develop models which
can be tested against the database to create a basis of historical information.

Using the information in one such database, predictions show that the U.S. is getting
close to where another civil war or revolution becomes probable. It is showing up in
situations where police departments are refusing to enforce state mandates regarding
steps to be taken to prevent the spread of the pandemic.  These police departments
have taken it upon themselves to interpret the First Amendment.  Businesses have
refused orders to close down and have dared the government to act.  Mobs in the street
are getting bolder, refusing to disperse, and threating civil unrest if they are challenged.
And most un-nerving is the threat by the president to use federal troops to restore
'law and order'.

Shooting incidents are becoming common in cities where there has never been a 'gun
problem' prior.  And in larger cities that have experienced gun violence, shootings
and gun deaths are rising at alarming rates.  There are more guns in circulation in
 America then the population of men. women, and children combined.  It is becoming
the norm to see civilians in military garb, armed with assault-style weapons.  A solution
to this unrest will be a chaotic election this November.  I fear both sides will refuse to
accept the will of the electorate, unless there is a decisive mandate.  But even then I
fear the rift in America will take years to heal.  I do know one thing for certain, four
more years of Donald Trump will end in tragedy for this country and mark the
beginning of the end of this great democratic experiment. 

                                                             I'm just sayin' 

Hang on It's Going to be a Bumpy Ride

That queasy feeling you have in the pit of your stomach isn't
the Corona Virus, its that darn old 'V' shaped recovery.  You
know the one that can't make up it's mind from one day to the
next.  You can get whiplash watching the market's wild swings.
It doesn't take much to make the market plunge 700 points on
Tuesday only to rise 750 points on Wednesday based on some
bizarre rumor or flimsy news of an uptick in consumer spending.

What planet do these market strategists live on?  Do they ever
leave their computer screens long enough to see what is happening
out on the street?  It is not a pretty sight.  If you want the one
snapshot of America in the grips of the pandemic; it is the line
of cars, 10,000 long, waiting for free groceries in San Antonio.

Thanks to the billions in liquidity the Federal Reserve has
provided, you can get a new car loan by just signing on the
dotted line.  But you can not pay your rent or feed your
family because your job, like millions of others, has
disappeared.  A while your student loan, mortgage, and
medical bills are piling up, a new wave of pandemic is
sweeping the country.  Assuring that you new car will be
repossessed before you are evicted, leaving you with no
place to come in out of the rain.

The economy is cruising toward a depression if the infection
rate and the body count keep rising and the states must lock
down their economies again.  The economy never fully  
recovered in many places after the 2008 recession, and now
these cities and towns are facing a triple whammy, being asked
to close their doors once again.  Adding to the stress on families
already having difficulty just treading water; you have the Trump
administration's effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act in the
middle of the pandemic.

This new face on an old system is called precarity capitalism.  It
is not division by inequality of income or wealth, but by security
and self-confidence.  The minority is settled in safe, well-paying
careers, while the majority lives in persistent anxiety of the rising
cost of living and the reduction of public services that used to be the
standard of the middle class.

The most prevalent indicator of this type of capitalism is the wild
swings in the stock market. The increase in stock price is not tied to
performance or profitability of the company, but to the machinations
caused by market analysts for their profit.  It's a nice gig, traders buy
and sell the same stock over and over again, pocketing the profit - they
hope - and score short term capital gains on a few thousand dollars a day;
which is taxed now as regular income.  It's Vegas on steroids!  Most of
the traders are through by noon, they fold up their lap-tops and enjoy a
celebratory drink with lunch.

When Trump points to the stock markets performance as an indicator of
a great economy he is simply reinforcing the divide.  Thirty percent of
Americans missed housing payments - mortgage or rent - in June.  Every
bit of economic data; GDP (Gross Domestic Product), consumer spending,
employment, and household income, fell by rates not seen since WWII.  The
IMF, International Monetary Fund, has lowed it's U.S. GDP forecast for 2020
to -8%.  And Aprils predicted GDP is expected to be -4.5%.  This morning
Canada announced that its GDP for April was an astonishing -11.6%.


Trump's relentless optimism about the economy has not lessened the pain most
families are facing, even though he has said that the economic recovery is
like "a rocket ship"  not just a 'V'.  Most of the PPP - Paycheck Protection
Plan - is scheduled to run out in the middle of this month  When that happens,
businesses will be forced to lay off employees just to keep from going bankrupt
themselves.  And the supplemental unemployment support will stop at the end
of July.  There is no indication that these programs will be extended.  If they are
not the economy will take another lurch downward.

The American family is the big loser in this mess, it will take massive intervention
to keep the recession from sliding into a depression.  But a depression might just
be what is needed to get us out of this precarity capitalism malaise.  Many
economists said that the recession of 2007-2009 was the impetus we needed to
change, but change did not come about.  Will this financial crisis finally make
us realize the need for a vast reorganization of not just the economy but of
society itself?  Can we bring about real change; a livable minimum wage, health
care for all Americans, affordable college tuition, and an end to racial disparity?

Or will it be business as usual, relying on bailouts and stimuli, believing that the
shattered economic bubble can be re-inflated in just a few months.  Will we keep
believing in growth without equity, increased stock prices without value, or will
we finally end the nightmare of  Precarity Capitalism?   We have a say in the
matter come this November.  Let us hope it is not too late by then, to save what
is left of the American Dream.

                                                       I'm just sayin'