Let them eat cake

Big corporations like Apple and General Motors weren’t the only victims of last week’s stock market crash ignited by President Trump’s reckless tariffs which upended the world’s economy. The effect of Trump’s folly is being felt by millions of average Americans — like yours truly.

Since 1984 we’ve been putting a few dollars every month into mutual funds, working to build a retirement fund to supplement Social Security as we navigate old age. That time has come. I turn 75 next month. (I’m not allowed to divulge Mary’s age. She won’t even tell me how old she is.)

After a lifetime of work and saving we were able to cobble together a “fortune” of about $154,000 in a couple of conservative mutual funds. Until last Thursday and Friday, when Trump’s rash actions against friend and foe alike caused our retirement funds to drop $24,000 in two days.

While Elon Musk can afford to lose $24 billion and not miss a meal, $24,000 is big money to us and millions of other middle class Americans who have worked their entire lives to save a few bucks.

Donald Trump inherited $400 million from his old man and made a billion in New York real estate at a time when any fool could do well there.

All we Cullens got from our folks was a good name and an expectation of keeping it that way. Today I wouldn’t trade it for Donald Trump’s $400 million. His name is tied with lying, stealing and cheating his way to wealth. He’s a convicted felon, 34 times over. Found by a jury to have sexually assaulted a woman and then defamed her, he was ordered to pay her over $80 million in damages. He stiffed contractors, architects and lawyers. He’s had numerous affairs during his three marriages. He and his father were fined for discriminating against minorities at their rental properties in New York. He ran a crooked charity that was shut down by New York State. He had to pay $25 million to people he defrauded in his Trump University scam. And six of his businesses went bankrupt, including a gambling casino in Atlantic City.

So it’s no wonder that this “business genius” trashed our economy in less than a week with his idiotic tariffs.

Now the question is, who’s going to pay for his mistakes?

The federal government has said it will compensate farmers hurt by Trump’s economic policies that are killing our ag exports. How about compensating those of us whose savings are also being wiped out by these same policies?

Will Senators Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst, and Congressman Randy Feenstra — who have backed Trump 100% so far — reimburse us the $24,000 that we’ve lost because of their failure to check Trump’s ill-advised decisions? They can certainly afford it. They’ve become millionaires during their stay in Congress with their $174,000 salaries and generous benefits.

They make more in a year than we’ve saved in a lifetime of work because running a rural community newspaper isn’t nearly as lucrative as hanging out with well-heeled lobbyists in DC. It took us 40 years to build our nest egg, and while it isn’t completely gone yet, it will take us years — if we’re lucky — to make up for that money lost in two days last week.

Having said all that, there’s no need to worry about the Cullens. We’ll be ok. No need to have a benefit pancake dinner at the community center for us. We own our house free and clear, raised two kids through college and still have a few bucks stashed away. But I do worry about millions of Americans who don’t have any savings, living paycheck to paycheck, with children to get through college or pay for elderly care.

In the meantime, we’ll have to rely more on Social Security to get by until they privatize that. Trump and his followers would like to turn Social Security — which provides a guaranteed income — into private investment accounts dependent on the whims of the stock market. Which means that the $2,000 we receive one month might only be $1,200 the next month if Tesla stock tanks.

Last week Trump said “I couldn’t care less” if his tariffs cause the price of cars to jump by thousands of dollars. He’s out of touch with reality, much like queen Marie Antoinette said before the French Revolution in 1793 when told the people couldn’t afford bread.

“Let them eat cake,” she infamously replied.