I have a dream today. Do you?

​In a small Michigan city, about 40 years ago, I stood on stage at Ricker Junior High School and recited Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech.

After weeks and weeks of researching, reviewing, rehearsing, and practicing the speech, I was finally onstage in front of the entire student body, selfless teachers, doting parents, and district administrators.

My rendition of the speech came at the conclusion of an afternoon drama-club performance dedicated to many of the major events of the Civil Rights Movement, as well as the great historical achievements of African-Americans.

Several of my classmates took turns representing various well-known activists such as Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, Jesse Owens, Ruby Ridges, Hank Aaron, Thurgood Marshall, George Washington Carver, and Jesse Jackson, among others.

               In reality, I did not actually recite the speech.

Despite my best efforts at learning, memorizing, and practicing the speech, as I stood on stage during the final moments of that Black History program, my mind went totally blank after delivering the first eight lines.

               But then, something truly incredible happened.

The words flowed from my lips as if I were a magic marionette... my voice, my body, and my very soul seemed to be manipulated by the strong, magnificent strings of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. 

As I stood onstage in front of hundreds of students and teachers, I felt powerlessly authoritative, helplessly confident, and amazingly lucid as I delivered Dr. King’s historical crescendo of words.

In a veritable trance, I was mesmerized, paralyzed, and paradoxically invigorated by the words as they flowed from somewhere within my temples, my soul, and the physical synergy of everything happening at that moment.

There was no pre-thought… no recall-then-repeat… no actual recollection of words.

There was only the speech. Each word flooded the stage as if it were my own.

And today, in complete homage to those words, that man, and that mighty time in history… once again… I give you his valid, vivid, and visionary words:

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Lincoln Memorial
Washington D.C.
August 28, 1963

​~ 57 years ago from the date of this post ~

U.S. Representative John Lewis, another great icon of the civil rights movement who passed away earlier this month, also spoke that day as the president of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Of MLK, Representative Lewis said, “Dr. King had the power, the ability, and the capacity to transform those steps on the Lincoln Memorial into a monumental area that will forever be recognized. By speaking the way he did, he educated, he inspired, he informed not just the people there, but people throughout America and unborn generations.”

With such a grand dream, many parts of which have come true at some point or another since the death of Dr. King, I have but one question to ask you…

What’s YOUR dream?
​
Accept. Adapt. Achieve. ®

{ See video of Dr. King reciting this speech }

​​John H. Clark III is an optimistic realist.

What do you know...?

​What a strange country in which we live!

I'm an optimist.  But I'm also a realist.

Thus, I am an optimistic realist.
 
When the state is on the cusp of what will likely be one of the most austere and financially challenging times in the state’s history, decisions are complex.

​
In a state where literally thousands of residents depend on the tourism industry for their livelihood, the COVID pandemic has had… and will continue to have… a devastating effect on residents who will have to make a decision as simple as “Do I pay the rent… or do I buy groceries?” 

​This is not rocket science.

And this is definitely not pono.

Here’s something I bet you didn’t know:
 
The Federal Reserve said it is buying exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track the corporate bond market.  This is an unprecedented action for our economy; this is a first for the U.S. central bank.
 
I realize many people are trying to make sense of far too many things, and the Fed is literally the farthest thing from most people’s minds right now.
 
But it shouldn’t be.  And here’s why…
 
Have you taken a look at the stock market lately?
 
Over the last few weeks, the stock market has literally reached record highs.
 
How can this be?
 
In an economy where many businesses have been closed for a while… and where many of those same businesses will soon close forever, the stock market is still cresting over the previously set high.
 
What a strange country in which we live!
 
The number of unemployed citizens has reached staggering heights. And, though the numbers of new filers for unemployment has begun to slowly decrease over the past few weeks, no one seems to be aghast at how or why the stock market continues to belt out fabulous prices per share.
 
Well, neighbor, when the Federal Reserve starts buying Exchange Traded Funds, they are quite literally, propping up the stock market.
 
What Is an ETF? 
 
An exchange traded fund (ETF) is a type of security that involves a collection of securities—such as stocks—that often tracks an underlying index, although they can invest in any number of industry sectors or use various strategies. ETFs are in many ways similar to mutual funds; however, they are listed on exchanges and ETF shares trade throughout the day just like ordinary stock.
 
Some well-known example is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 Index. ETFs can contain many types of investments, including stocks, commodities, bonds, or a mixture of investment types. An exchange traded fund is a marketable security, meaning it has an associated price that allows it to be easily bought and sold. (from Investopedia).
 
Moreover, the Federal Reserve is also purchasing Corporate Bonds, a type of debt security that is issued by a firm and sold to investors. The company gets the capital it needs, and in return, the investor is paid a pre-established number of interest payments at either a fixed or variable interest rate.
 
Essentially, by buying Corporate Bonds, the Federal Reserve has become the largest lender to corporate America, skipping banks and all of the United States' programs that were set up to help businesses in desperate times.
 
And, make no mistake, these are desperate times.
 
…but only for SOME people.  (read more details at the bottom of this page)
 
For other people… 
 
For example, those employees of the State of Hawaii...
 
…and especially those people who have the power to borrow money at borrowing rates near zero…
 
…there is a massively massive mountain of money being created right now.
 
And guess where that ETF and Corporate Bond spending money came from (?)
 
ANSWER: The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
 
That’s right: our Federal government is using COVID funds to prop up the stock market.
 
I will re-state the previous sentence for clarity:
 
The Federal government of the United States of Americ is using COVID funds to prop up the stock market.
 
It gets “better.”
 
To be eligible to sell the corporate debt directly to the Fed, companies must have a rating that is at least Baa3 (from Moody's) or BBB- (from Standard & Poor's).  Just so ya know - that’s barely investment grade.
 
In other words, the companies’ debt can be rated as “just above” junk bond status.
 
*THIS*, ladies and gentlemen, is why the stock market is soaring while the nation seems to be hurtling towards one of the worst recessions we’ve seen in a very long time.  

At some point, all of this debt will become payable and due.

And, much like the buzzing commuter trains along the subways of New York City, the slide in the market will become unstoppable.  Many economists agree with me.  On the other hand, there are some economists who don't quite agree; but they don't disagree either.

Why?

Because...

THIS HAS NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE!

Accordingly, no one knows what will really happen. 

​Now…
 
I’ve explained why the stock market is insanely high, despite some serious business headwinds. 
 
The preceding paragraphs, though somewhat convoluted, “clearly” explain how this is happening.
 
As for the raises for Hawaii’s state government workers, there simply is no justification.
 
But remember, Hawaii: you put these folks there; you literally gave them the power to make decisions FOR you. That was the deal when you voted them into office.

But there was never a caveat that they had to make GOOD decisions.
​
​​That was not part of the deal.
 
And the lawmakers know it. 
 
And now you do, too.
 
~ Aloha ~

How the rich get richer... using YOUR money:

​As reported by Markets Insider in late June, the Federal Reserve purchased $428 million worth of corporate bonds in response to the coronavirus, including companies like Coca-Cola, AT&T, and Berkshire Hathaway.
 
Think about this fact for a moment:
 
In February of this year, the stock of Coca-Cola was trading near $60 per share. This past Friday (August 14), the price was $48.45.
 
Likewise, earlier this year, the stock price of AT&T was near $40 per share; it closed Friday at just over $30 per share.
 
But get this:
 
In late February this year, the stock price of Berkshire Hathaway was… hmmm… actually Berkshire Hathaway Energy is a PRIVATE company.  Forget the fact that the stock prices of Berkshire Hathaway’s other PUBLIC companies (BRK-B) sells for $210 per share; and (BRK-A) sells for (wait for it…)  $316,251.00 per share.  

That’s right, folks… your government is spending COVID money to prop up the share price of a slice of a conglomerate that has a share price of over three hundred thousand dollars!
 
Barely a week later, on July 7th of this year, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., announced that it had “executed a definitive agreement to acquire Dominion Energy’s natural gas transmission and storage business.”
 
If you have ever wondered how the rich get richer, consider this small subscript in history, as the Federal government uses YOUR money to prop up stock prices.
 
Dominion Energy is an American power and energy company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia that supplies electricity in parts of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina and supplies natural gas to parts of Utah, West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Dominion also has generation facilities in Indiana, Illinois, Connecticut, and Rhode Island (from Wikipedia).
 
Again… this is how YOUR money – OUR money is being spent (via money lent to the Federal Reserve).
 
Other corporate stock purchased by the Fed include:
 
$16.4 million dollars of AT&T debt;
$7.6 million dollars of Boeing debt;
$6.6 million dollars of Coca-Cola debt;
$5.1 million dollars of Exxon Mobil debt;
$7.9 million dollars of Ford debt;
$8.7 million dollars of Walmart debt; and
$6.2 million dollars of Philip Morris International debt.
 
Worst of all, when Congress initially "allowed" this purchasing of corporate debt, the related businesses had to have significant U.S. operations and a majority of its employees in the U.S.

As the funds began to flow, that requirement was dropped.

So now, the CARES Act is not about "saving American jobs and American businesses."

But boy, oh boy!  Look at that stock market go!

The news is not all bad, though.

After slumping to a seven-year low in April, retail sales bounced back to their pre-pandemic level in just a few months. As of July, they were at their highest level on record.
 
But let’s not remove those sad-face masks just yet…
 
The retail rebound has been driven by a few strong categories.
 
According to the latest data, “compared with July last year, sales were up 24.7% at ‘non-store retailers,’ a sector that includes ecommerce platforms. Sales were also strong at building and garden supply retailers, grocery stores and stores that sell sporting goods, hobby supplies and musical instruments.”  Of course, these sectors are expected to do well amidst a pandemic, when most Americans are at home, purchasing over the web, and initiating home-improvement and self-improvement projects. 
 
Meanwhile, the report showed gas stations, department stores and clothing retailers are still operating far below normal.
 
Here in service-heavy Hawaii, the numbers remain absolutely appalling.

...which makes those pay raises for Hawaii State workers look absolutely ridiculous.
 
~ John H. Clark III