| By Bill Bonner Monday, October 12, 2020 – Week 31 of the Quarantine The president is, shall we say, in an altered state right now. – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Fresh out of hospital last week, POTUS called off negotiations on a bailout bill. This surprised us. We figured the Trump team would no more want to stand between voters and their free money than they would between a hungry Doberman and a greasy steak… But by Wednesday, Trump’s craven ministers had spelled it out for him: “Hey, you’re behind in the polls.” Within hours, the president was tossing out the meat. He said he was “ready to sign” a giveaway to the voters of $1,200 each. Total Fraud As a “stimulus” measure, this is a total fraud. All it will really stimulate is the Robinhood traders, neighborhood drug dealers, web-based retailers… and inflation. But the false money, delivered under false pretenses, may give voters a false sense of prosperity. And then, economists will look at the spending that will inevitably follow – which they say makes up 70% of GDP – and say: “Wow… What a recovery!” But if you really could “stimulate” growth by dropping money from helicopters, the skies would be full of them. Even as a “relief” measure – to the poor, “hardworking” Americans, who have lost jobs and income in the COVID shutdown – “stimulus checks” are a fraud. The official unemployment rate is only 8%. If that is true, it means that 92% of the workforce is still working. And yet, Mr. Trump is proposing to send out 160 million checks – with his name on them. In other words, The Great Benefactor would send $1,200 each to about 150 million people who still have jobs. As an emergency relief measure! Do You Know About "Tech Royalty" Investing? Bombs Away But the president didn’t stop there. He also proposed to immediately give the airline industry some $25 billion. Why? Because the big four U.S. airlines – American, Delta, Southwest, and United – are holding about 50,000 employees by their heels… threatening to drop them. With the collusion of their unions, they say either they get money from the government… or it’s bombs away. The last time air transportation workers blackmailed the government was back on August 3, 1981, when the air traffic controllers went on strike. They wanted more money, shorter hours… the usual things. Instead, Ronald Reagan gave them 48 hours to report for work. Those who didn’t – 11,000 of them – were fired. Not furloughed. Not slapped on the wrist. They lost their jobs – permanently. No muss. No fuss. Planes continued flying. New air traffic controllers were hired. Problem solved. This time, no problem will be solved. The president didn’t defy the blackmailers… He gave in to them. | Recommended Link | | This is why you'll never retire rich...
Have you been following the same old tired advice that's been dished out for decades? Like: "Buy and hold stocks and bonds and you'll be rich by the time you retire…" Or "Mutual funds and ETFs are the way to go… " Or even better… "Cash is king! Just save 50% of your income in high-yield accounts and cut your expenses…” The problem with every one of these strategies is you have to sacrifice right now to enjoy your retirement later on… But what if you didn't have to? It's called the Money Multiplier... And it's a way for you to generate an extra $1,400... $5,420... $7,470... in a matter of weeks — from the comfort of your own home. | | | -- | Real Threat Of all the dumb things that have been done with the public’s money, this has to rank as one of the dumbest. But it is a natural and inevitable phase of late, degenerate capitalism. First, the government destroys real capitalism. Then, it supports an ersatz version. Business… government… leaders and followers – all are altered by a new reality. Together, the big four U.S. airlines earned about $37 billion in free cash flow during the last six high-flying years. You’d think they might have held on to a little of the money… just in case they ran into some headwinds. Nope. Instead, they spent every penny, and – their reality altered by the Federal Reserve’s ultra-low interest rates – borrowed $14 billion more in order to buy their own shares (thus rewarding their shareholders). And now, short on capital of their own, they look to the feds for a bailout… and threaten to throw their employees out of the cargo door if they don’t come through with the money. The One Big Threat You Face on November 3rd. Real Loss But why should the public pay for more employees than the industry needs? If you pay money to someone to do something with no real value – say, run a poverty program… attack Iraq… provide PR services for a senator… attend a climate change symposium… hand out loans under the Paycheck Protection Program… serve on the Federal Reserve board – you might just as well throw the money away. But wait… the money is counterfeit anyway. What difference does it make? Well, yes… But even counterfeit money can be used to buy things. Money is just the measure of the loss. The real loss is the time, food, fuel, parking places, machinery, and all the other things that are used up. Those are real… and they can never be recovered. Time goes by. It doesn’t come back. Let’s suppose you work for the federal Economic Development Administration (which the Government Accountability Office recently found to be completely useless)… or for a company such as Uber, that loses money year after year. You drive your car to work… park… sit at a desk… use electricity… eat lunch… go to a meeting… go home. Everything you do, everything you touch, everyone you talk to – all of it makes the world a poorer place. Money just tells us “how much.” | Recommended Link | | Study this photo – it could change your life “What you see in this photo costs just 10 cents to produce. It's no bigger than a grain of rock salt. And yet… this same tiny discovery could soon remap the U.S. economy… create millions of new jobs… and make millions of regular Americans very, very rich. This is such a breakthrough, I've actually written to the president to request a meeting. I think I'll get it too. What makes me so sure? You need to read my letter to Trump to find out.” – George Gilder | | | -- | More Giveaways But as the week bumbled along, the altered state became clearer and clearer. Nobody in government – neither Republican nor Democrat – cares about wasting money… time… or anything else. Instead, all seem intent on squandering the last of the nation’s solvency. On Thursday, Trump’s man at the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, said he was willing to increase the amount of the giveaway. And it was worth letting the Democrats win this round, he seemed to say, if it got the money to the voters before November. And then, on Friday came more thick steaks from POTUS himself. Here’s Bloomberg: Trump Says He Now Wants Bigger Stimulus Than Democrats Offering “I would like to see a bigger stimulus package, frankly, than either the Democrats or the Republicans are offering,” Trump said on Rush Limbaugh’s radio program, saying he’s going in the “exact opposite” direction from his earlier stances. “I’m telling you something I don’t tell anybody else because maybe it helps or maybe it hurts negotiations,” Trump told Limbaugh. “I would like to see a bigger package.” Wow… What a guy! What a week! What a hopeless mess! Regards, Bill
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Bill may not be heavily invested in the stock market, but many of his dear readers are. If that’s you, you probably know October can be a rough month for stocks. Here’s how you can ride the ups and downs… without losing your cool... MAILBAG On dear readers’ minds today: Donald Trump, U.S. election polls, and COVID-19 outcomes by country… I liked the idea almost four years ago of Donald Trump “draining the Swamp.” What I now know (and have come to loathe), is that the Swamp is being run by a reptile who will stop at nothing to achieve his egotistical goals. America is his gameboard and we are merely pawns. I am a war veteran, and I am grossly ashamed of our government at every level. – Terry W. People interpret (confuse) polls with a popularity contest. Since very few people actually like Trump, he scores low. In the age of the internet, people now say whatever they want with few consequences. When answering a poll, they don’t even take their own answers seriously. Voting is slightly more serious, so therefore, it has the potential to change their answer. At one time, there were serious consequences for what you said. Now, it is trendy to say something bad about Trump. People say anything they want, and it has little relationship to who they will actually vote for. And the polls are almost exactly where they were at this time in the last election. You know what happened then. – Steve W. Last week, I looked up COVID-19 deaths as reported by the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 website. It turns out that Sweden – a country that did NOT lock down its businesses and schools – has suffered 575 COVID deaths per million residents. But Sweden’s surviving residents are enjoying the lifestyle that Americans were enjoying a year ago. Lockdown-USA, on the other hand, has suffered 600 deaths per million, high unemployment, and a miserable lifestyle, i.e. alive but not really living. So who says that lockdowns save lives? Nonsense. Further, Sweden isn’t worried about if/when a vaccine will appear, because its populace is now mostly immune. While other Europeans are now being assaulted by a second wave of the plague, Swedes remain largely unaffected. For even lower death rates, look to non-communist countries bordering on China, like South Korea. South Korea has only suffered 7.5 COVID deaths per million residents. The South Koreans did not lock down their businesses and schools, or quarantine most of the population to “flatten the curve.” Their economy is forecast to contract by less than 1% this year – without reckless spending and helicopter money. When the virus surged in South Korea six months ago, the country quickly began massive viral testing, contact tracing, and selective and temporary quarantines. It also converted residential dormitories into makeshift, non-ICU hospitals. Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore reportedly have pursued a similar strategy, with excellent results. – Rich B. Do Americans confuse presidential election polls with popularity contests, like Steve says? Why didn’t the U.S. pursue widespread testing, contact tracing, and temporary quarantines to control COVID-19, as other countries did? Write us at feedback@rogueeconomics.com. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT… Buffett Dumps $800M Of Apple, Buys This Instead! Through Berkshire Hathaway… Warren Buffett recently dumped $800 million of Apple stock… And bought this instead! He's now moved $3.8 BILLION into a tiny niche of the tech sector billionaires are flocking to… See full story here… 
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