Tom Toles for March 03, 2020

Wall $treet bank$ters losing money in the Trump Slump?

Corporate welfare and tax giveaways for the few richest elites.

If working people people get sick and die? Give more money to those at the top who already have the most.

Medicare? Cut it.

Medicaid? Cut it.

Trump has already called, for the fourth time, for cuts to Social Security.

The only thing standing between Trump and his precious war on working people, including the vast majority of his gullible suckers, is Nancy Pelosi and the threat of a Democratic president being sworn in come January 20 next.

This would be no surprise. Remember GW? Got a budget surplus? Get a tax cut. Running a deficit? Get a tax cut.

Next he’s going to tell us that all the deaths caused by the corona virus due to the lack of pandemic response leadership and all the CDC cuts, are simply the next phase of his “job creation program”.

“See? Now there are all sorts of available jobs that weren’t available until those people got sick and died!”

He’s not really a one trick pony. He has two tricks…

Trump and his people dismantled all the structures extant for dealing with epidemics and pandemics because they all had the “stench” of Obama attached. Of course, now that he’s actually faced with a pandemic, he can’t fix it by blaming someone ELSE for it (though GOD knows, he’s tried) and he and his bully boys haven’t a clue as to start addressing the situation.

(of course, the Dow has started climbing again so perhaps Trump figures the “problem” has gone away!)

Someone got the word out and pumped 1300 points of life support into the stock market. I wonder how long that will last?

An Ancient Rationale for Low Taxes – {limerick}

To fend off disease they used leeches.

So think of our plutocrats as leeches: -

- We need ‘em to thrive

so we ALL can thrive.

So don’t tax away our leeches.

… { Memo to the Muse: – Give me some

rhyme-words for “leeches” and “thrive”.}

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Is this “trickle down” health care like the voodoo economics of the Saint Reagan the great communicator Era? That worked so well.

{Off-topic:}

Merely a Hoax??!! – {4 beats/line}

The Donald is calling the virus a “hoax”!!

The laws of biology he thinks he revokes

by declaring it “hoax!!” when a victim croaks.

{We wonder what kind of smokes he tokes.}

. . . . . . . . .

Imitation of “In a Time Of Pestilence” (Apology to Thomas Nashe)

“In a Time of Pandemic”

Despite his wealth, power, and florid speech,

Despite his towers and media reach,

The rich man who wields a well-known name

Can get sick and finally die, just the same.

Death comes to all, from it none can fly.

Though a man is rich, he still will die.

.

While more live now a hundred years,

And the old ways to die are lesser fears,

If one has access to the boon of wealth,

That boosts one’s likelihood toward good health,

Finally there’s just so much that gold can buy

Though a man is rich, he still will die.

.

Through enclosed air or by mere random touch,

Care can be taken, but only so much

Can be done to avoid contamination

As microbes march from nation to nation,

Unless one builds a sealed bunker in which to lie.

Though a man is rich he still will die.

.

If a microbe rep could communicate,

Give a network interview at some future date,

It might declare its fairness policy to be,

“Billionaires and bums taste ‘bout alike to me.”

No matter what means that he might try,

Though a man is rich, he still will die.

.

Profit from an epidemic is in bad taste;

To grab at gross advantage is greedy waste.

What use money when at life’s end of journey

One lies on his back on a coroner’s gurney,

By a plain sheet concealed from the public eye?

Though a man is rich, he still will die.

Continued in the next Comment

Continued…

“In a Time of Pandemic”

.All things of beauty — art, music, sexual joys —

Are bygone treats, vain discarded toys

In the larger cosmic scheme of things.

They are not possessions a dead man brings

Past a point; thus at death’s portal they lie.

Though a man is rich, he still will die.

.

The body once so dressed with ostentation

Is on a slab stripped for examination.

Or maybe a sample is rudely taken

Because death’s cause is not mistaken.

And then … the corpse is burned in flames set High.

Though a man is rich, he still will die.

.

And all the property the rich man acquired,

And all the material glitter once desired

Are passed on to heirs; and being burned,

His dusty last estate is bagged and urned.

Whither unencumbered his soul doth fly?

Though a man is rich he still will die.

.

President Trump: When we have control again…

Covid-19: You never had control, that’s the illusion! You were overwhelmed by the power of this place. But you made a mistake, too. You didn’t have enough respect for my power and I’m out now. I’m out there where people are dying.

(Dialogue adapted from Jurassic Park screenplay by Michael Crichton based on his novel – 1993.)

If and when a vaccine is developed, don’t worry, the Trump health care plan won’t include it.

Why is it that both parties seem to cater to the 1%? I don’t think it has anything to do with protecting an under-represented minority that has no voice in governing.

If Covid-19 becomes endemic in the U.S., it’s worth remembering that the chance of dying from it goes up dramatically for older people, and that being around a lot of people increases the risk. Trump (73, I think) is going to well-attended rallies, and Sanders (78) has even bigger rallies. Biden (77?) and Bloomberg (78) should be safe.

You’ll know that the situation is serious when Trump stops attending rallies.

Medicare for All is socialist. Public schools, roads, mail service, etc are socialist. Anything the government does to serve the people is socialist. Socialism is a scary word for Republicans. It is necessary for Republicans to use scary words to convince their base that they should remain loyal, because if they actually understood that they are voting against their own best interests they wouldn’t be Republicans. They have been taught that socialism is scary. 1%er owned news outlets have been telling them so for about 40 years now. So, if they are told someone is socialist, they don’t educate themselves to find out exactly what they are supposed to be afraid of. It’s a pretty shaky system and it’s amazing that people have fallen for it long enough for the country be in the condition it is, but they have.

Covfefe runs unchecked through the U.S. body politic.

Well, the Fed took a hatchet to the prime rates, which will screw my savings again in order to protect the stock market. We’ll see how well that works.

[being an off-topic psuedo-sonnet I wrote a few years back]

These Dow Jones gamblers never are distinct

A crowd of bulls or bears each in their turn

They travel in a flock of herd instinct

And drink their tea and fiddle while we burn

And while our backs were turned the brand-new Standard

Has made us Poor: we can’t afford farm ponds

The housing bubble and the dot.com dastard?

The fault, dear Brutus, lies in our junk bonds

But now these Dow Jones lemmings head for cliffs

Computer sell-off programs join the fray

And I am far too gloomy for jazz riffs

Though possibly wise heads will win the day

Behold, thou: though economy is crass

Thou needs must know that even this shall pass

What the Fed just did was cave to Trump’s unsupported bias with respect to interest rates. But then Trump also thinks we’re going to have a vaccine and a cure for COVID-19 in 3 months…

“At issue is how much this inoculation can protect the economy and support the financial markets from a public health crisis and supply constraints radiating out from China,” Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst and Washington bureau chief at Bankrate.com, said in a statement on Tuesday. “Lower interest rates do little to make consumers and businesses feel substantially more confident about the future when a health crisis is spreading around the world. It also cannot address the hobbled supply chains, including manufacturing capability in China and South Korea. Still, the Fed is doing what it can to try to keep the economy out of recession.”

https://www.usnews.com/news/economy/articles/2020-03-03/federal-reserve-issues-emergency-interest-rate-cut-on-coronavirus-fears

The Virus Named After Trump – {3 beats/line}

We’ve caught the virus named Trump.

Just hear us gripe and kvetch

that we need a stomach pump:

it makes us vomit and retch.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Republicans- Like losing gamblers who keep doubling down on a bad bet. Tax cuts will never bring prosperity but the short term rush feeling keeps them going back.

{Off-topic:}

A Prez Who’s Rather Odd – {3 beats/line}

Quite odd was the previous election

of a rogue with an orange complexion

and a toupée which oddly swirls, -

- and a tongue which oddly unfurls

without making a sensible connection

with his semblance of not-quite-a-brain.

{So he says stuff oddly inane.}

. . . . . . . . . . .

Oh Lord… https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2020/03/03/pat-robertson-people-with-a-healthy-gut-dont-have-to-worry-about-coronavirus/?