Trump or Clinton: What's Your Fallback Plan?
If Trump wins, Bryan Cranston thinks America is broken bad. He says he will move to Canada.
George Stephanopoulos' wife says they will start looking at real estate in Australia. He has neither confirmed nor denied.
Good for them. They are verbally serious. Maybe they won't actually move. They would be walking away from tens of millions of dollars. But at least it sounds impressive. They have a plan. Well, maybe George doesn't. Maybe he is biding his time. Maybe it will lead to "My Big Fat Greek Divorce." But she has a plan.
If you think that it makes a serious difference which of these candidates wins, then you should have a fallback plan.
I think it will make a difference in 2020 and thereafter. I think the winner's party will be swept out of office in 2020. We will get a one-party government. We may even get a Senate in which the losing party does not have 10 votes to sustain a minority filibuster. Then it will really hit the fan.
I think this election is mostly about 2020.
I want gridlock. The thought of a unified government in the middle of a deep recession scares me. I don't trust either party.
If I had my choice, I would choose the Republicans. The Democrats will repeal ObamaCare and substitute a national health insurance program paid with premiums paid by the federal government. They will increase federal regulation of the economy. They will run massive deficits.
We are in the hands of the Federal Open Market Committee. We always are. That is not an invisible hand.
The thought of what the FOMC has prepared for us is bad enough. I am preparing for a 25% to 30% fall in my income before 2020. The problem is, what comes after? How long will this last?
If the Democrats are in power, who will be President in 2021? Will it be a Bernie Sanders wanna-be? This is possible.
It won't be a Jim Webb wanna-be. I could live with that. What I really want is President Webb and a Republican Congress. I don't think it's likely.
Back to my original question. What's your fallback plan? Anyone who is not thinking about this is not serious about the outcome of this election. He has not thought it through.
Millions of people think that this election is crucial. They are roused up. This is not a replay of Obama vs. McCain or Obama vs. Romney. This is serious.
How serious? Bryan Cranston serious?
In two weeks, this fever will have broken, assuming that we don't get a replay of the 2000 election: hung up on hanging chads. I wrote a poem in December of 2000 about that election. You can read it here. The final stanza:
The nation now has dynasties that offer us our choices.
The Bushes, Gores, and Kennedies: they speak with solemn voices.
And maybe now a new one, for a public so benighted,
Assuming he stays out of jail, and she won't get indicted.
She still may get indicted.
I am hoping that the results will be in on November 9. Those who voted for the winner will console themselves that the opponent lost. This will be the subdued joy of not having lost. Those who voted for the loser will think: "The winner will not be re-elected." The odds are strongly in favor of this hope.
The sure winner is Janet Yellen and her colleagues. That is why we are the sure losers.
I wish there were a national election to shut down the Federal Reserve. I could get excited about that election.