Ok, you all should know about blood transfusions. Watch any of the hospital shows on the boob tube and see how, in dire emergencies, they rush to do blood transfusions. Well, guess what? The depression level financial crisis for us working stiffs is here. Now, many of you still do not feel it, and thank goodness for that. Others among us are feeling it… in spades! Rents and mortgages cannot be paid on time, or at all! People are laid off or furloughed for brief periods. Mom and Pop shops are closing or ready to go under. Food banks reflect the same lines as in 1930, coincidentally 90 years ago. Suicides are climbing, especially among our young citizens. I am sure, and I do NOT need the figures to prove this, that alcohol and drug abuse is skyrocketing along with spousal and child abuse. As we used to say in my Brooklyn neighborhood, the SHIT HAS HIT THE FAN! All the pandemic has done is to speed up the process of a dying Capitalist Empire.

Just as with the past presidents, regardless of party, NOTHING is going to be done to curtail the bleeding! Why should they? Remember the 2008 bubble burst? All the sorry assed politicos did was create tons of electronic money giveaways to Wall Street (TARP my ass!) and did nothing for us suckers who have to punch out the hours each day… IF we still had hours to punch out. The Bush/Cheney Cabal and the ‘Hope and Change’ Obama crew did not put any more money into the hands of hundreds of millions of us. They bailed out the mortgage predators and even allowed them to breathe a bit and then reconvene their vampire economics. We all saw how the Orange Crush didn’t drain the swamp… he filled it to the brim! Trump did what one of his hypocritical predecessors, Ron the Actor, did so well: Cut taxes on the super rich while throwing a bone to the rest of us. Shades of the Gilded Age as we are seeing more and more billionaires to go along with ever increasing evictions and foreclosures.

Sadly, this writer has heard SQUAT from all the so-called progressive Democrats that we have relied on recently to be the voice of working stiffs and the poor. Reinstituting better food stamp programs and keeping Obama Care is all fine and dandy, but it is not enough to make that financial tourniquet work well. What must be done NOW is the introduction of a UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME. Imagine if each of us received a check each month for anywhere from $1200 to $2000, with each child (up to 2 per family) receiving an additional 50%. This bleeding may be stopped until we demand other innovative changes to the current system. Yes, that UBI could stimulate this economy as never before. I could afford to get my upper teeth pulled (approximately $5000) and dentures made (approximately $2000). Others in more dire situations could pay the (outrageous) rent due, or mortgage owed. People currently with lousy health coverage would at least be able to get better health care …of course the only remedy still needs to be MEDICARE AND DENTAL CARE FOR ALL. Small businesses would stay open, as customers would flood the market, ready to buy buy buy. Restaurants, even in this pandemic, would see a slew of takeout orders each day. Of course, the large corporations and predatory absentee landlords would love to get their money from UBI recipients. It is a Win-Win for most of us.

Finally, I do not wish to hear the BS about how ‘We cannot afford it’. Well, it is funny how the empire was able to afford making money from the ethers in 2008-09 to the tune of over a trillion dollars! The choice will be this for the Super Rich who run things: Food riots, gasoline riots, chaos within communities OR harsh fascistic police state tactics to finally turn us into a BANANA REPUBLIC! Wake up folks and ‘smell the sewer’!!

PA Farruggio
November 30th 2020