SunSeeker
SunSeeker's JournalI was the 1968 version of a Bernie Bro. I still regret it.
I am trying to remember the person I was in 1968. I was 22 years old and a recent college graduate. I was angry, infuriated by the war in Vietnam and racial segregation. It was my first chance to vote in a presidential election. I was living in New Jersey — very briefly — and I voted for Dick Gregory, the brilliant comedian running as a write-in candidate, instead of Hubert Humphrey, the Democrat running against Republican Richard Nixon. It was a protest vote, obviously. I regret it to this day.
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We also knew what the 1968 versions of ourselves had learned in the 50 intervening years. We had learned the importance of stability, especially in a democracy. In Beirut in 1978, I had seen a sophisticated city ripped to shreds by tribalism … and had learned how fragile a civilized society can be. We had both learned how hard it is to make a difference, that the best change comes incrementally and only with a national consensus. We had both learned that idealism needs to be enhanced by civility and some institutional memory.
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My question to young voters is this: If Sanders loses the nomination to Biden, will you be as stupid as I was in 1968? Will you allow the country — the federal government, the Environmental Protection Agency, the judiciary, the diplomatic corps — another four years of President Trump? Are you entirely sure we can survive that?
I am not trying to persuade young Sanders zealots that they should cast a vote for this year’s version of Humphrey. Not yet. In any case, they’re not going to listen to a geezer like me. I understand their impatience and anger, even if I don’t understand why a 78-year-old man insists on the puerile offensiveness of calling himself a “socialist” when the countries he purportedly admires — the Scandinavians — are bastions of free enterprise tempered by a robust welfare state. Perhaps Sanders needs to grow up a little, too.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/04/i-was-1968-version-bernie-bro-i-still-regret-it/
Stocks Fall Sharply Despite Surprise Fed Rate Cut
Source: Wall Street Journal
Dow closes nearly 800 points lower; Treasury yields drop again despite Federal Reserve move. Many money managers had been looking for the Fed to do exactly as it did Tuesday. They argued that the worsening epidemic justified the Fed taking action before its scheduled policy meeting—something that hadn’t been done since the financial crisis in 2008.
The Fed’s move sparked a frenzy of trading. Stocks initially shot higher, propelling the Dow Jones Industrial Average up more than 350 points. But within 15 minutes, stocks’ initial gains gave way to jerky up-and-down trading action—with the blue-chip average and Treasury yields tumbling after Fed Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged the limits of the central bank’s actions in a press conference.
“We do recognize the rate cut won’t reduce the rate of infection,” Mr. Powell said., though he added that he believed the move would “provide a meaningful boost to the economy.”
“Cutting interest rates isn’t going to make someone take a flight to Italy if they’re too scared to do it,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stocks-gain-on-stimulus-hopes-11583206230?mod=mhp
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Gender: Do not displayHome country: USA
Current location: Southern California
Member since: Sun Mar 20, 2011, 12:05 PM
Number of posts: 51,797
