Despite my efforts to deflect the politically charged environment in which I move, it caught up with me. In another world I could have been a Trump supporter. Except for my understanding of the How and Why they came to be. So what does a person in the midst of low grade depression do? Drink sugary soda. Caffeine. Boxes of Hot Tamales. Rent movies. Why Rent? No internet or cable or satellite. No Netflix or Hulu or YouTube so I’d never have to leave the apartment except to work to pay for it all. Who needs felsh and blood friends. Virtual masks of people around the world. So ride my bike over to Family Video. Car is mechanically unsafe to drive. Then the next problem pops up?

What to watch? Having selective taste is a limiting factor. Foreign movies with subtitles? Not the market in my town. Newest movies? Gotta be in the mood for it. Check your brain at the door. Same script recycled to a younger market. I do seem to be drawn to the English crime genre. Guy comes out of prison. Did the time for the Firm. Expected to pick up his old life. Except he was the smart one of the group. In other circumstances he would have been a successful business owner. In a respected position. Wants it to happen while still in same neighborhood and associates. The stupid violence kills him in the end. Smart writing. Deeply flawed interesting characters. Non medicated sociopaths and limited opportunity locals. Lite viewing. Of course I rented one.

The other? The Big Short. Wanna understand Trump. Watch it. The unvarnished story of the massive hubris driven greed of colossally amoral people who didn’t understand the matches or fuse they were playing with. In the movie, dialogue exposes them all. There are no knights in shining armor in the end. The good guys are morally conflicted. In others words real life.

But it exposes the lies the American public built their lives on. I’ll be able to retire like my parents did. The 401(k) floating on the psychological Ponzi scheme that is the modern stock market. Plans no one understands. Or wants to. Like Health Care options. If I can get my kids in a more stable environment than mine growing up, The American Dream. Move to where there are better schools. IF I work hard and pay my taxes, Everything will workout. Things will be tight but the economy’s good. One day I’ll be mine own boss. Greatest con job in the world.

Here’s the difference between the wealthy and the workers. We work for a paycheck. One that a budget is based on. A set sum of money after taxes. Run short? Who doesn’t get paid this month. The Elites worry about servicing their debt. Cash flow. Need extra money? Take out a loan from one of your companies. All tax free. Monthly payments paid back that show up has a operating lose to be written off. Private banks that cater to the ultimate Insider club. Money becomes markers in a massive poker game played with other Elites. They marry. Consolidation of wealth. Live in the same zip codes. Consolidation. Network. Business deals. Insider trades. Pool money to buy influence in political system. Michigan Republicans must get the blessing of the DeVos family to be successful. National candidates. Koches and Sheldon in Vegas. Consolidation of 90% of America’s through the inevitability of compound interest. Millions become multi-millions. Which morphs into Billions. Go to the library and read the first five pages of Blackwater. The Elites manifesto is there. How they gather out of the public eye. ALEC has been exposed. Old hat for these folks.

The ending of the  movie talks about the bankers going to jail. The banks to big to fail being broken up. New regulations to prevent it happening again. Yeah right. A House of Cards that insiders knew the government would bail out. Two minutes explains the Tea Party. Trump. Bernie. The populist anger for anything Establishment. The danger is the damage to the basic institutions that form the pillars our experiment in Democracy support.

If you think the the Trump train will disappear after the election, Think Again. He’s creating a Brand.  Glenn Beck called him a shallow thinker. A famous face surround by very deep thinkers with a definite national agenda backed by an ocean of Dark Money. The whack a mole Michelle Bachman, Sarah Palin or Ann Coulter are distractions. The real money buys are at the state level. Kansas. Hence a extended period of low grade depression where the only choice is being hermit in the mountains. Unless that mountain has valuable resources. Then it fuck off. Get out. North Dakota access pipeline. The rules only apply to Us.  Is it November 9th yet?