I was told I could be President. I learned that in first grade. I could see the opportunity, the trajectory, we were all starting from the same line. Now, who would want to be President? Certainly not me.

I was told if I worked hard I could be wealthy. They called it the American Dream. There were hoops to jump through. Mostly dealing with education. And if you reached the brass ring…you were comfortable, you didn’t have to worry about money, you could do things other couldn’t.

They never told us you would do things that were completely separate, that the rest didn’t have access to. You could fly in the front of the plane, you could fly as much as you wanted, but the idea of having your own jet? That was an incomprehensible fantasy. Owning your own island? None of these were possibilities, even on the radar screen until the eighties, when those who’d professed love for everybody in the sixties got greedy.

But then came private equity. And Bill Simon’s leveraged buyout of Gibson Greetings for $80 million. In only eighteen months the company was taken public with a value of $290 million, Simon’s $330,000 investment yielded $66 million. Wow!

And you might not have been paying attention, then again if your goal was to make it, to be rich, to win, the line of scrimmage had been moved way down the field.

So when the dotcom era happened at the turn of the century, the hoi polloi wanted in, and they lost their savings in the financial whiplash. And then their houses in the 2008 recession. It was worse than not succeeding, you were losing, going backwards.

And you were told the banks must be saved, Wall Street was made whole and beyond and no one was thinking of you.

To keep you distracted you were sold entertainers. Who had been as rich as anybody back in the twentieth century, but no more. You just couldn’t make a billion dollars playing music. Sure, today you can argue McCartney is a billionaire, but it took him a very long time to get there. As for Taylor Swift, kudos…but as much money as she’s got, she’s got nowhere near the assets of the techies, who used borrowed money to play in the casino. Not everybody won, but a bunch did.

However, we got computers, iPods, smartphones, MySpace, Facebook, and then we started to realize all this money was being made on our backs. That without our participation, these internet companies were worthless. But we were told their CEOs were He-Men of the Universe, and entitled to every buck. Sans a customer you’re broke, doesn’t anybody realize this?

And then we got Citizens United and those with money had political power beyond what we’d ever seen previously.

But we were told not to complain, after all, we had cable TV on a hi-def set. Things were better than they used to be. Wake up!

As for the rich… We were told they were the innovators…then again, why did CEOs of public companies end up with so much money? It’s one thing if you started the enterprise, if you still owned it, but if you got the public to invest, was anybody worth that amount of compensation? We were told they were.

So Elon Musk takes Tesla public. He makes bank. But now he wants a trillion dollars. Cathie Wood and the rest of the myopic financial world says if he’s successful it lifts all boats, investors win. But last I checked we were all part of a society, and once again, the company is worth nothing without customers, and we’re the customers.

Start a new company with your own money Elon and bank the winnings. Kudos. But now you’re playing with the public’s money, you’ve got a responsibility to us.

But no, that’s not how the game works anymore.

Never mind taxes…

We keep hearing that the rich pay the lion’s share of income taxes. But the bottom line is the hoi polloi are paying taxes all day long…on food, gasoline and so much more. They may not be paying income taxes, but those are not the only monies the country runs on.

But the myth continues. Our country needs this cadre of men to succeed, to be profitable, we must let them run unfettered. Marc Andreessen has actually said this!

Now wait just a minute, if you’re rich the rules no longer apply? That was not the American Dream I signed up for and believed in. Once again, we were all in it together, responsible to each other, but no more!

Scratch the surface and it gets even worse. The private equity majordomos whose vast incomes are taxed at capital gains rates. The fact that through financial planning a lot of these billionaires will never pay any estate tax.

And when things were good, people just buried their heads in the sand.

But in truth, things haven’t been good for the general public since the nineties.

The entire country is run like a movie deal. You’ve got a profit percentage, but the film is always in a negative position, even if it’s grossed hundreds of millions of dollars. You can’t beat the system.

The system has lost touch with the general public.

And whenever the general public rises up and says so, people are accused of being socialists! People don’t want the end of capitalism, they just want a level playing field.

But the game is rigged right down to education. The poor get poorer and the rich get richer, unless you’ve got parents with money and experience good luck lifting yourself above your station. And, it’s not only about education but relationships…that’s what you make at an elite institution, who you know becomes more important than even what you know.

But now they keep sticking it in our face. They don’t even bother to hide it. They figure we’ve been somnambulant so long that it’s de rigueur, that we accept it. That this is the new normal. And anybody who wants to upset the apple cart, who wants change, is un-American.

Meanwhile, you’re  having trouble making ends meet, getting ahead, and all you’re told is it’s your fault, that if you just worked harder…

But you’re working a service job at minimum wage, in a nation where forty hours a week at this rate doesn’t come close to paying your bills. But those who own the businesses have convinced politicians, i.e. paid politicians, to not raise the minimum wage, forecasting disaster, when the truth is at worst they’ll make a little less money.

There can be no change.

For a minute there you could file your federal tax returns for free, via the IRS Direct File program…but that’s gone, got to keep the tax preparers in business, after all they pay the politicians, what have you got?

And there are people who don’t feel this way. Mostly those who are already wealthy. Used to be that many broke Americans didn’t want rich people taxed because they planned on becoming rich too, and when they did they didn’t want to be taxed either.

But now even if you’re on television, on a reality show, everybody might know your name but you’ll still end up broke, living back in Poughkeepsie.

You could become a professional athlete… But even the college stars don’t make it to the pros.

So the doors have closed. But it’s even worse, those who’ve passed through the gates are now pissing on the rest of us, with impunity.

And it doesn’t feel good.

I started reading the new Pynchon book. It got good reviews and I love him in principle, he’s disconnected, he’s a writer, he doesn’t need the penumbra, the media profile. Then again, I bought “Gravity’s Rainbow” and never made much headway, never mind “The Crying of Lot 49.”

So I’d just finished this book “The Wilderness,” by Angela Flournoy. I started to love it, but then it became a bit tedious, hard to stick with, although I did. It’s the story of young Black women and their friendship and it’s a great insight into Black culture, even hip-hop and the clubs, and I loved the choices and personal relationships, but then reading it turned into work, so I didn’t tell you about it.

I am telling you about Joan Silber’s “Mercy.”

After I finish one book, it’s hard to get into another. Even when I try. I guess if I read a book all the way through I’m connected to it, I’m invested, and it’s a rare book that hooks you immediately, so I try a new one and am disappointed and end up surfing the web on my iPad or catching up with print periodicals and I feel guilty that I’m wasting time, especially as the Grim Reaper comes into focus on the horizon, but even if I force myself, I just can’t stick with a new book.

I tried with Pynchon’s “Shadow Ticket” but it was so dense, it was hard to figure out what was going on.

And then I read a few pages of “Mercy,” and the main character was talking about his relationship with his daughter and I thought it was another family drama, and I like these, but it only had three and a half stars on Amazon, and shouldn’t I be reading the Pynchon anyway?

If it’s got less than four stars, be wary. But with days passing when I couldn’t get into a new book I decided to give “Mercy” another try, because unlike “Shadow Ticket” it cut like butter, it was easy to read.

And it wasn’t what I expected whatsoever. Yes, there is a reference to Ivan and his daughter on the very first page, but not long thereafter it goes into Ivan’s life, his history.

Not everybody is going to set the world on fire. And not everybody is a member of the underclass. Some go to college, fumble and find their way, maybe get married and have a couple of kids and before they realize it, they’re at the end of the road.

Ivan starts talking about going to Europe with his buddy Eddie, and being in search of dope.

O.K. They’re in Amsterdam.

But they come back to America and…

This is where the book becomes riveting. Ivan is driving a cab but he lives for extracurricular activities. Eddie is tending bar. But he’s got this girlfriend Ginger, is she into him or not? And they all get together one night and…

It all becomes vivid and real and I’m not going to tell you what happens but it certainly isn’t a domestic story in the suburbs.

And I like to read a story totally blind. I want to be surprised 100%. Just like I see no need to view a movie more than once. The surprise is what gets me, the new, it’s part of the essence of the experience.

So… I thought the book would be all about Ivan, but then it switched characters. Yes, I’m telling you this. Because it’s so hard to get someone to read a book, and I’m really recommending this one.

What we’ve got here is multiple lives, which intersect a bit, but everybody lives out a story and it is delineated. These are not the stories of the so-called “Greatest Generation,” these are the stories of boomers, which include divorce, multiple partners, job-hopping.

As for your friends…you maintain contact with some, but others can be incredibly close for a while and then you lose touch. But how do you feel about them?

One of the amazing things about the celebrities is how they jump from one person to another, multiple marriages and… I don’t get over people that fast. I wonder if you ever get over people. Or maybe I don’t and others do. Or maybe those celebrities don’t have deep relationships. But this concept is addressed in this book:

“I’d been so interested in all of them—now they were residents of another segment of time, though I was still attached. They belonged to me. I didn’t forget.”

Can you?

I could see myself in this book, my inner feelings. I don’t need that to enjoy a book, but when done right it both spooks me and makes me feel warm inside.

And part of my identity is my wariness, my judgment of those who are insecure and need to burnish their image based on who they know:

“They narrated their lives by citing any known figures they’d had any ties to or even just met, as if familiar names were needed to anchor stories and give them meaning. As if someone else’s glory was a credential.”

You can be in a tent in the Alaskan wilderness, or off the grid in North Dakota, and still someone will reference a famous person they know…

As for telling your story at all:

“He reacted very badly to a lack of enthusiasm for things he felt strongly about…”

Actually, in the book, this is about someone who always needs listeners to agree with them, to hang on every word and not challenge them. But for me…if you don’t show even a modicum of enthusiasm, I find I can’t tell the story at all! I just fade out, I stop.

As for that friend you had contact with that you no longer do…

“He never did have a friend like Ivan again. He was very glad for the years he hung out with Nathan—they had great talks and could happily chew over any world question. But the two of them didn’t persuade and tempt and corral each other into further adventures, pushing the proverbial envelope.”

You’re surprised to find that you connected best with a friend from long ago. You thought you’d have that connection with someone in the future, but you never did. And that resonance, that identification, when you click and can talk forever…that’s very hard to find.

And…

“A woman who went to award dinners in a long, spangled gown with a train. Of course she was still Ginger underneath that.”

People don’t really change. Or should I say underneath the trappings they’re still the same old no one from nowheresville. Some try to cover it up, with airs, emanating fabulousness, but in truth…even life at the top ain’t so fabulous, and you always want someone to understand you.

I still don’t think I’ve made clear what “Mercy” is about, but…

If you’re interested in the stories of people, not only their inner lives, but their choices, the unfolding of life…wow, I couldn’t put this book down. It was easy to read, but unfortunately it was short, I could have read a couple hundred more pages!

Kenny Chesney has a new autobiography, “Heart Life Music.” Kenny is open, honest and forthright…not fake humble or self-deprecating, he owns his hard work and success. I loved talking to him and you’ll love listening to him!

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kenny-chesney/id1316200737?i=1000735543040

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/99f43d7e-077a-4af5-aa4c-7f7f04fdf1f1/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-kenny-chesney

The story for me is how out of touch the press is.

The right said Trump had a mandate.

The left said the party had to run to the center.

And everybody in the pundit class, everybody in D.C., seemed to have no understanding of the mind-set of the people. And the question arises, if the press is wrong on this, what else are they wrong on?

If you’ve made it all the way to TV or Congress you’re pretty self-impressed, you ran the gauntlet and emerged victorious. But did you know that the median age of an MSNBC viewer is 72? This isn’t even your parents, this is your GRANDPARENTS! And this is my generation and I’ve got to tell you, it’s as baked into its ways as the generations before it. We thought it would be different for boomers, after all they had the greatest number of people and changed the world, but not anymore.

The world runs on tech, the internet, yet Andrew Cuomo spent double-digit millions on TV ads. Do you know anybody under thirty who watches traditional television, whether it be network or cable? Most don’t even have access, and they don’t care. If there’s a show worth seeing, and there are very few, it’s on a streaming outlet. As for the news, it’s at your fingertips online! As for the cable channels themselves, good luck finding one that has in excess of a million viewers, in a country of 340 million, a lot of these outlets don’t even have 100,000 people watching at one time. But because they’re part of the cable package old schoolers think they count, when they don’t. YouTube and TikTok count much more.

After the last election cycle, AOC told the Democratic party to give her their campaign funds, that she knew how to spend them, unlike the establishment. She was talking about online… And two years later it’s even more clear. It’s nearly impossible to reach anybody and if you want to make contact at all, you’ve got to do so online.

And if it’s not reported on Fox or in the “New York Times,” that does not mean it does not matter. Those outlets are still operating on the old paradigm of if they don’t report it, it doesn’t exist. We no longer need the imprimatur of an authority for a story to have legs, it can spread like wildfire without even making it to the so-called mainstream.

Sure, Mamdani had innovative policies that spoke to the issue of affordability, but his roots were planted online, with limited merch and gamification and…until the primary last June, the mainstream had no idea of the size of his following. It’s about getting people excited with honesty and credibility, such that they will spread the word. Your only hope is virality. I don’t mean going nuclear, although that’s great, but engendering any word of mouth at all. If people don’t want to talk about you and what you’re doing, you’re dead in the water. The days of a media outlet shoving something down the audience’s throat to the point of success are done. Gatekeepers are history. You go directly to the audience. It’s a whole new ball game, one oldsters are not prepared to play, never mind that they don’t want to believe change has happened and they’re out of date.

As for affordability… That’s all I heard on the cable channels today, both MSNBC and Fox. As if this were a revelation. Been to a grocery store recently? That’s all you’ve got to know. But if you’ve got enough money not to look at the receipt…you’re one of the chosen few, the masses are positively stupefied. Sure, inflation has calmed down, but grocery prices keep going up, it’s harder to make ends meet, and all we’re getting from both parties is platitudes, which the consumer can’t understand and don’t move the needle anyway.

D.C. is the land of no. Not only is there gridlock, no one wants any innovative legislation or action, they don’t want to take a risk. They believe in the status quo. But out in the hinterlands, the status quo went out the window long ago. Furthermore, change keeps happening, faster than ever. You might not be able to keep up, deciding you want to turn off the smartphone and see people face to face, but that just means you’re missing out, you’re losing touch with the pulse of the nation, what are the odds you’re hanging with those who have opposite opinions anyway?

As for the last election…

Can the Democrats just admit they f*cked it up? That Biden was too old and hung on too long and the only people who wanted Harris anointed without a primary were Joe and Kamala herself? Democrats felt ripped-off. They may hate the Democratic party, deservedly, but that does not mean they’ve given up on Democratic VALUES!

Immigration was a problem that the Democrats didn’t adequately address. The educated know that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than citizens and they oftentimes do jobs citizens are unwilling to do. But that doesn’t speak to the UNFAIRNESS! The public is sick and tired of the rules being bent for everyone but them, they’re saying NO MAS! Which is part of what they said yesterday.

The media underestimated Trump’s power, his acolytes, his total vote in 2024 and they underestimated the margins of victory of Democrats yesterday. They’ve got their heads so far up their asses that they can’t see the truth, never mind that horse races get good ratings and they don’t like perceived in advance blowouts…who’s going to tune in for that?

Meanwhile, the right wing media machine convinced Democrats that they should operate from the back foot, play defense, that the Republicans were in charge of the agenda.

No one likes taxes. But people hate income inequality even more. And Trump is busy giving the rich breaks, never mind all the corporate titans coming to kiss the ring. As if one corporate titan equals a hundred thousand votes. These CEOs are no longer adored, they’re seen as whores ripping off the nation…and if you think they’re in touch with the nation… Zuckerberg may control Facebook, but that does not mean he’s knowledgeable about the conversation on his platform. Never mind everybody knowing the algorithm is f*cked, and showing you inflammatory stuff to keep you on. The public is not as stupid as you think.

But not everybody is informed. More people know more than ever before, as a result of the internet, but most people don’t get in the weeds, they vote on personality, on broad issues. But Biden and his ilk were wonks. Just make my life easy enough so I don’t have to think about you, so I can live my life without worrying about what is happening in government…that’s what people want.

So the lunatics have lost touch with the asylum. Yes, the elected officials, the government industrial complex, and the media enthralled to it. Want to know what is going on in America? You must be online hours a day, like youngsters. And if you decry this, you’re as out of touch as your parents who hated the Beatles.

Can an aged congressperson play a video game, do they even know the names of them? Video games are bigger than movies, but all we’ve got is all this press about films whose grosses are declining.

I’d say it’s a disinformation campaign, but it’s really a misinformation campaign, reporters have no idea what is really going on! One fat cat opinion writer after another sits on his or her high horse and tells you what’s going on because they spoke with insiders…how about speaking with OUTSIDERS, you’d learn more, know what is going on more!

Then there’s this story:

“There are no hip-hop songs in the US top 40 for the first time since 1990”

https://www.nme.com/news/music/there-are-no-hip-hop-songs-in-the-us-top-40-for-the-first-time-since-1990-3905278

Now the “Billboard” chart itself is flawed, but we’re constantly told we live in a hip-hop nation, that rap rules. but it hasn’t meant this little in thirty five years!

Just like the press tells us all about the antics of Taylor Swift when the truth is most people just aren’t listening to her and just don’t care. And they’re listening to nobody more, except maybe Morgan Wallen, but this narrative doesn’t fit with the media’s agenda… The music scene today is more steel wool than clear windowpane. It’s messy, hard to decipher…but they keep anointing the past.

As for the new…

The media completely missed Zach Bryan on his way up.

So you have two choices. Either keep your head in the sand, believe in everything you were into previously, refuse to question your preconceptions or…dive in knowing there are no clear answers, but he or she with the most information has the best understanding of what is happening in America, however flawed their viewpoint might still be.

I’m not saying to expect free and fair elections in the future, I’m not saying Trump’s march towards authoritarianism won’t proceed, but to think that the public is asleep and/or okay with the trajectory of our nation is just plain wrong. The public has been taking it up the a*s since the eighties, when tax rates were lowered and boomers became greedy. And they’ve been punched in the face multiple times thereafter, especially in 2008. People are both angry and disillusioned. They don’t care which party it is, neither is in touch with their feelings. Some will vote so the other won’t get power, but most people no longer believe in government, have no hope, in a completely changed world.

It’s not very complicated. The evidence is in plain sight. All you’ve got to do is connect with the great unwashed, who the rich and those in power have contempt for. People believe in America, just not this America, they want CHANGE!