From a Bernie supporter to everyone who isn't one:

[snot]

Last edited Sun May 22, 2016, 02:47 AM - Edit history (8)

Warning, this is more of a rant than I've ever done before. That said . . .

I hope that at least some Hillary supporters will recognize that I've supported the Clintons in the past, and really have no vendetta against or irrevocable allegiance to anyone; but am just trying to figure out what would be helpful to most of us, and how to further that.

That said . . . if you actually care about trying to persuade Bernie supporters to vote for Hillary, fwiw . . .

. . . in response to any DU’er’s actually inclined to believe things like, "Of course there will always be a permanent underclass of minimally compensated workers. But those workers are free to leave at any time for higher paying jobs "
{you seriously believe that????}
. . . I'm going to go ahead and get more personal than usual.

I and my significant other average ca. 60 yrs. old.

We’ve both worked hard and paid taxes since age 16. We’re smart and well-educated – I have an advanced degree; my significant other has an undergrad degree – our degrees being from good schools – plus we both self-educated in tech-related skills before those were taught in schools.

We avoided all debt, other than the mortgage on our home, which we’ve paid off; and bought our home in an area likely to appreciate. We’ve lived modestly, and we didn’t have kids, so we didn’t have the expense of kids.

We and nearly everyone we know have been independent contractors for most of our lives, usually not by choice.

And we and nearly everyone we know saw a dramatic drop in our incomes ca. 2009 - 2010. We’ve done better than many of our friends, but we've had little or no earned income since 2011, and have had to prematurely draw down our retirement savings.

And we and nearly everyone we know have not been eligible for any kind of unemployment benefits or other assistance, other than the Obamacare subsidies (thankful for those. But if you still work at a company that provides health insurance, please know that what's available to you {because you're working for the Man} is probably far better than what's available on the Obamacare Marketplace at any price).

And we and nearly everyone we know have been scrambling for years to get any kind of paid work we could find.

And we live in an area that is supposedly doing well compared to other regions.

Meanwhile, most of the costs that are hardest to forego – food, healthcare, et al. – have climbed steeply.

We were flooded ca. 2006, though we’re not in a flood zone, because the City had neglected the flood control system; and the storm that triggered it was presumably made more severe by global warming. Since we weren’t in a flood zone, we had no flood insurance. We lost a lot during that episode.

We were nonetheless more or less on track to be able to retire at the usual age without having to reduce our standard of living; then, a full quarter of our life’s savings was vaporized in the 2008 crash.

We’re back on my college budget (beans and rice, washing plastic bread bags so we don’t have to buy bags, etc.). Because we did manage to save what we did, I think we’ll be ok, unless the economy crashes again – which it seems very likely to do.

What kills me even more, is seeing other friends I love, who also did most things right, but had a kid or two, so their expenses were much higher; and now they are in total f*cking financial crisis. 50 - 60 -yr.-olds, who worked hard and lived prudently all their lives, and are now on involuntary weight-loss programs.

There are reasons the suicide rate is up.

And, meanwhile, I’m hearing/reading/personally experiencing EVERY DAY new hosts of BASIC things our government USED to provide without any particular strain – well-designed and -maintained roads & bridges, safe drinking water, healthcare for vets, disease control, public education, critical social work such as child protective services, national park maintenance, and on and on and on and on – a daily litany of things that have been underfunded for DECADES, and they’re now all reaching the breaking point . . .

PLUS, global warming, because we’ve allowed the 1% to externalize costs for decades, etc. . . . .

And everyone’s like, w.t.f.? And Congress is all like, the only thing we have to fear is taxes on the 1%, or anything else the 1% doesn’t like. And abortion, and gayness (aimed at the sexually distractible).

Among the political class, nearly NO ONE BUT BERNIE (and Liz Warren {omitting Dennis Kucinich, John Conyers, and other worthies, but they’re not very visible lately) seem to understand the obvious cause:

That we have under-regulated and under-taxed most of the 1% for AT LEAST THREE DECADES.

After the 1929 crash, SERIOUS financial reforms were instituted, which successfully prevented crashes for decades, in one of the longest periods of economic growth and stability seen in human history – until those reforms were dismantled under Bill Clinton and his successors.

After the 1929 crash, SERIOUS economic stimulus was implemented, which employed millions to rebuild infrastructure, which employees spent a considerable portion of what they earned, thus effectively restarting the economy; and the results of their work enhanced all our prosperity and quality of life for decades, in the form of essential infrastructure, great public parks, inspiring public art works, and other stuff that makes actual human progress possible . . . .

But under Obama, most of the stimulus went to the 1%, and surprise! It’s never trickled down. The theory was, the banks will have more money to lend. But few can afford to borrow – or, to the extent they do, their ability to repay is shaky.

We’ve given the bank to the banksters, and instead of spending the money in ways that might create jobs or otherwise help anyone, they’re “investing” in more of the same kinds of unproductive speculation – credit derivatives – that caused the 2008 crash – knowing that when it all comes tumbling down again – and it will come tumbling down again – they’ll walk away unscathed and with big bonuses to boot, just like after 2008.

Meanwhile, during this three decades of under-regulation and under-taxation of the 1%, guess what? The 1% have amassed huge wealth and power – and just about everything for the rest of us has gotten worse and worse. This, despite the fact that, during that same time period, our actual productivity literally DOUBLED!

Greater productivity should mean that we can all make enough to enjoy the same standard of living we had in the 70’s, while working less hours. But instead, all that under-regulation and under-taxation enabled the 1% to scrape off and capture ALL the benefits of our doubled productivity.

So, yeah . . . now the 1% are intensely rich, rich beyond what most of us can comprehend, and seriously, the math has been done and if they could be divested of any substantial part of that wealth, a great many of the world's problems really could be solved . . .

. . . and of course the 1% have used part of their wealth to buy most of the media and our government (what’s the point of achieving world domination, if you don’t have the means to keep it?) . . . along with many of our essential services (if you like monopolies, you’ll LOVE owning services people literally can’t live without); as well as private security services, ranches in Paraguay, etc., to remain safe while the whole, eviscerated system implodes . . . .

And since the 1% own the media, we’re hearing Trump 24/7 while Bernie has to pay dearly for every nanosecond of coverage. The 1% may not have been wild about Trump, but they’re terrified of Bernie.

So yeah, that’s a rough take on how I see all that.

Now, I was never a big fan of Bill Clinton, but I considered the impeachment proceedings a ridiculous and outrageous witch hunt/fishing expedition/wasteful distraction. And that episode actually started me following politics more closely and being more active politically; and for a while, I liked Bill better and felt a lot of sympathy for both the Clintons.

But I happened to write a paper on the repeal of Glass-Steagall, and as time went by I became aware of more and more aspects of Clintonian economic policy that didn’t make sense to me.

And by now . . . I’m not sure whether the Clintons don't understand or just don't care about my little struggles, but their actions through the years have made it clear that I should not trust them to look out for me or my friends; and I don’t. It’s not a matter of their intentions, at this point; they may think they have good intentions and that they know what's best for the rest of us; but I disagree. I.m.h.o., either they don’t understand (or care) how hard it is out here, and/or notwithstanding Bill’s slogan, they don’t get the economy – and ditto Pres. Obama.

I’m no economist, but the views of people like Joseph Stiglitz, Robert Reich, Yves Smith, Sheila Bair, and William Black seem to me to make more sense, and to have been proven right more often, than those peddled by Goldman alums and their ilk. Yet the Clintons and Obama seem totally hooked on Wall Street’s economic kool-aid.

So the 1% are quite comfortable with Hillary, thank you; and they’re working on getting comfortable with Trump, in case Hillary can’t beat him, after all. Like I said, the only one they really, really, don’t want is Bernie.

And sorry to say, I’m really not sure Hillary would be any better than Trump. The results of Hillary and Bill’s actual deeds have been, for me, not good. As for Hillary's words, she and Trump both seem prepared to say whatever it takes to get elected; beyond that, Trump at least seems capable of independent thought. No, I don’t want Trump; but I really don’t want Hillary, either.

Peace out.