I hope at least the Kool-Aid tastes good in Deplorable thoughts

The trumpists are crowing.
They are completely unconcerned that the man lies,
doubles down on his lies,
and has his spin meisters spewing “alternative facts”
as though facts are subjective.

People I know and thought intelligent are crowing about the stock market.
They think that it’s a very good thing indeed,
an affirmation of the wisdom in hiring a businessman as president.

Here’s the problem with that.
The stock market is rising because the president is promising to remove regulations. It’s rising because business believes, rightly, that the new president is pro-business and that’s very good for them.

He is a businessman. He sees regulations as a totally unnecessary evil.
They just get in the way, so, he says, he’s going to get rid of 75% of regulations.

Wonderful.
Business loves that.
The stock market soars at the very promise of an unfettered marketplace.
And those who believe are thrilled
because he knows what he’s doing
and it’s good for the country.

Except…

Does anyone remember the subprime mortgage crisis?
I don’t know much about finances,
but it does appear to me that that particularly devastating situation
was brought on by mortgage companies basically out of control.
Seems like the greed of the mortgage companies and the banks
Harmed a whole lot of people just trying to buy houses
And led to a fairly rancid economic downturn for the entire nation.

But what’s good for business is good for the country!
It didn’t work out exactly that way in this case.

Well, that was just one instance.
Okay, does anyone remember the s & l crisis?
Amazingly, that was a situation which closely followed
the lifting of regulations on how s & l’s were allowed to lend out money.
The fallout from that fiasco was a staggering blow to the economy.

As I said, I don’t know much about finances,
but I know enough to know that
businesses DO NOT usually police themselves.
That’s not the business of business.
The business of business is to make money,
any way that they possibly can.
Their job is most decidedly not to take care of the best interests of the country
or even the people who work for them
(those very same people the billionaire president swears
he is there to promote and protect).

But the president knows what he’s doing.
He’s a businessman and he’s working for the good of the nation,
of the people,
His people.
Trust him.
Look at the stock market.

Hmmm…
This is a man who profited from going bankrupt – six times.
Walking away better off financially
(through eighteen years of not having to pay taxes)
by losing massive amounts of OTHER people’s money.
(Can you say con man?)

This is a man whose “university” was basically a milking shed
to divest people (who could ill afford it)
of their savings and their credit (putting them into ongoing debt)
so that he could profit from their belief in him
and their attempts to better themselves.
(Can you say huckster?)

This is a man who repeatedly makes money off of companies
by not paying them what he contracted (promised) to pay them
for services they have already rendered.
(These are those people, small business owners, he’s looking out for, aren’t they? )

But that was in the past, he’s not going to do that now.

Unfortunately the man did not change one iota when he became candidate.
The latest lawsuit against him
stems from him not paying an electrical services company.
He needed the company to have its workers put in
large amounts of (expensive) overtime in order for his D.C. hotel to meet fire codes
so that it could open in time to be used as a backdrop for his campaign.
Then he bragged that the hotel was proof
of what “great” businessman he was
because he got it opened ahead of schedule and under budget.

Of course it came in early if he contracted with the electrical company
to put in a lot of overtime.
That’s just good business to get what you want when you need it.
Of course it came in under budget if he refused to pay for the services he contracted for.
That’s also just his special brand of good business,
to screw lesser companies and lesser people,
to profit from their faith in believing your word is good.
(Just as with not paying his fair share of taxes,
I am certain he believes “That makes me smart!”)

He’s a hell of a negoitiator that way.

So Trump the businessman couldn’t be trusted to profit anyone but himself
And Trump the candidate couldn’t be trusted to honour his promises.
Does anyone (other than the alt fact accepting Kool-Aid drinkers)
believe that Trump the President will be any different?

And, by the by,
With all the television he watches,
does he not have a clue that the whole world is watching and judging him?
Does he not realize that his lack of character,
his general untrustworthiness,
and his inability to accept actual facts
is not going to help him in negoitiations with foreign governments?
Why would anyone in their right minds go into a deal of any sort
with this man?
How could anyone accept his word, believe that this blatant
and wholely unrepentant con artist would honour any deal?

I can only conclude that he either does not know
Or he does not care
Or both.

As for the stock market,
The market is up today
but that is no guarantee that it will stay up.
When the next economic crisis is triggered,
When some newly unregulated business or banking practice
goes viral through the nation
and a whole bunch of extremely wealthy people shift
a whole lot of wealth from those people who have the least
(Trump’s promised to be not forgotten people),
The stock market will go down again, way down.

Trump will be safe
as he always is when he gambles with other people’s money.
And I don’t worry about the billionaires
because they will have already gotten theirs.

Me? About me I have to admit I am a bit worried.
My retirement is going to be funded by my 401k and social security.
My 401k is tied to the vulnerable and volatile stock market and
My social security fund is now in the hands of a president and a party
who give lip service to taking care of the people
but have a history of shearing the sheep
and leaving really ugly wounds as they do it.

I am new to thinking about politics.
I wish I could go back to my previous naïveté.
I used to sleep much better.

Last updated January 31, 2017