Be Careful Backing a Loser

Did you know that Bernie Sanders was a bum?

I know what many of you are thinking: Of course I did. I’ve been watching (or avoiding watching) him talk for months now.

Only I don’t mean it in those terms. Plenty of politicians have been called bums in the past.

When I call Bernie a bum, I mean it in the literal sense.

Bernie Sanders was a bum — a jobless, unemployable, living-in-improvised-quarters individual whose only consistent pastime was what it apparently still is today: whining that some people make more money than others.

A recent article making its way across the Internet for the last several days has opened many eyes to the fact that one of the top three contenders for the presidential elections didn’t have a steady job at all until he was 40 years old — when he was elected Mayor of Burlington, Vermont.

Prior to that, Bernie’s employment history read like the thought patterns of a schizophrenic: disjointed, directionless, and ultimately a zero-gain prospect.

He was a part-time Head Start teacher and an occasional carpenter (one so bad that he had no chance of ever supporting himself on the trade, according to those who knew him).

He worked on the campaigns of several other like-minded political figures, which consisted of shouting during “covert” meetings, agitating crowds into anger, and composing rhetorical arguments for the upheaval of a proven yet imperfect system in favor of a proven failure.

Today’s Revolutionary: Complaining From the Couch

And of course, as could be expected, he did his requisite time as an “artist,” writing articles and making movies, all left-wing radical in nature (and therefore completely devoid of any commercial/practical value).

At least Robin Hood rode a horse and shot arrows at things… Bernie, it seems, rode the gravy train of a capitalist society, shooting nothing but his mouth off, complaining about how it wasn’t quite gravy enough.

This commitment to not participating in the modern economy brought with it the expected fruits.

His first wife had the honor of cohabitating with the future hope for a better America in his dirt-floored maple sugar shack, an honor that didn’t last long before she vacated the premises and his life.

His friends from those days in the ’70s and ’80s described him as “always poor” and having “his electricity turned off a lot.”

In a Joan of Ark-esque demonstration of political defiance and backbone, when the going got really tough, Sanders even stole electricity from his upstairs neighbor using an extension chord.

I think the argument there would have been that said neighbor would have suffered more in the long run had Sanders folded and taken a job to support the old, white plutocracy.

Stick It to the Man, Man

Despite a prestigious University of Chicago education, which should have at the very least made him a candidate for gainful employment, Bernie decided to protest modern society through non-participation…

Non-participation and constant criticism of the system that allowed his parasitic existence to go on for decades.

He believed then, as he does now, that the rich were stealing the nation’s wealth… that redistribution was the only way to go. He believed that more spending by the government and less financial freedom for corporations and banks was crucial to establishing a superior society.

He broadcast these beliefs despite the fact that his practical understanding of finance, as measured by his own ability to effectively manage it, was clearly nonexistent.

The biggest item on his list of assets, even later in life when he was a fully-fledged senator, wasn’t an asset at all, but $65,000 in credit card debt.

So why, then, does this bum get the sort of support he does today?

Why do his beliefs — which, admittedly, he’s never violated by doing something like holding a real job, starting a business, or maintaining a positive net worth — resonate so strongly with millennials today?

And more to the point:

How could a human being who lived, perfectly content in a state of destitution, despite clearly possessing the ability to function to as a productive member of society, be reasonably considered as viable contender to manage trillions of dollars of public funds?

Jerry Sandusky Looked Like a Trustworthy Grandpa Too

A lot of people think they know the answer to these questions, too:

Millennials are lazy… they’re spoiled… they just want free stuff… they’re all bums just like him…

Well, I disagree.

Most of the millennials I know aren’t lazy. Most millennials I know are gainfully employed, in fact, and not by the government, but in the far more demanding, competitive, and uncertain environment of the private sector.

Most millennials I know aren’t irresponsible with their money, either.

Yes, most are saddled with debt bigger than they imagined it would be, but most are also are trying to work through it.

They’re saving. They’re learning to invest. They’re denying themselves certain luxuries but, at the same time, working hard and taking pride in being able to afford others.

Millennials, in short, are no different than any other generation. You can’t broad-stroke them with statements like “they’re all just like him” because actually, very, very few are.

When Sanders was in his 20s, as the bulk of millennials are today, he was proudly penniless and only a few joints short of the ultimate ’60s cliché.

Most young people today are juggling more responsibilities and stressors than Sanders has ever known, and yet they flock to him mindlessly, like moths to the bug zapper.

I think the reason behind this support is rather basic: the millennials suffer from the same condition that all generations did at one time or another.

They harbor unreasonable hope that the solution to their problems is clear and singular and will succeed if only given a chance to shine through.

And I find it hard to blame them in the slightest for their drive to find that solution.

They feel cheated and lied to, having spent the bulk of their lives working towards college, only to see the result of their efforts lead to financial hardship and sparse employment opportunities.

Anybody from any generation would find this situation frustrating… as frustrating as the millennial response to it is predictable.

They helped to elect Obama, after all, only to see him do things such as expand federal wire tapping and data collection; extend and expand the National Defense Authorization Act (a reviled Bush-era artifact that, among other things, allows for more military-to-civilian gun sales); radically increase the rate of covert drones strikes; bailout big business, and a laundry list of other items that no progressive 20-year-old would ever stomach.

Hindsight is 20/20, but back then, they thought Obama was a cool, chill dude with some fresh ideas. In the end, he turned out to be exactly what he was… an Ivy League-educated lawyer with ambitions to match his ego but no real direction as a leader.

Today, they think the same thing about Bernie.

If a 30-year-old Bernie ever showed up to a millennial house party, they’d be hiding the beer and the pizza for fear that he’ll just get drunk, eat everything in sight, monopolize the conversations, and eventually pass out in a puddle of his own urine.

A 74-year-old Bernie, however, who’s outspending Hillary in commercial ad space yet preaches on about destroying that very mechanism of corporate profitism once he gets into office, they find to be “refreshing.”

The mental gymnastics required to logically justify any of his rhetoric would be impressive, if only those who choose to engage in it didn’t do it with such kamikaze conviction. 

His Act Isn’t New… It’s Just Updated for the Snapchat Generation

We’ve seen it all before. 

83 years ago, a generation that has since passed into history embraced another firebrand president: Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Back then, it was the Great Depression… a crisis that FDR used masterfully to get himself into office and get his “New Deal” policies passed in short order.

Aside from increasing public spending, the New Deal also put a slew of new restrictions on the financial markets… specifically on investors.

In an ironic twist of fate, it was one of the laws within the Securities and Exchange Act that came to define and widen the chasm between rich and poor.

It was a rule designed, on the surface, to keep “unqualified” investors from taking on unacceptable levels of risk.

Short and to the point, this rule, known today as the Accredited Investor Rule, or Rule 501 of Regulation D, states that in order to participate in private equity investing (by far the most lucrative and also riskiest form of investing), an individual needs to either:

1. Have earned an income equal to or greater than $250,000/year for at least two consecutive years, or
2. Have liquid assets (excluding homeowner equity) equal to or greater than $1 million

Boiling it down, it means that if you want to get rich — and I mean really rich — you need to already be pretty rich.

Seems confusing, right, that an icon of 20th century progressivism was the one to create a law that only reinforces the premise that “the rich get richer.”

Despite this treachery, and despite the fact that his tax hikes, public works projects, and fireside chats did nothing to help the U.S. economy recover (it took World War II to do that), the blindly hopeful voters of the 1930s put FDR into the White House not twice but three times.

A Politician’s Only Necessary Skill is Knowing What You Want to Hear

That’s the power of self-delusion, folks.

But hey, at least Roosevelt had a real job before running for office. He came from a prominent family, was a nephew of Teddy Roosevelt, and still worked his rear end off his entire life to get to where he was going.

Today, Bernie Sanders tries hard to evoke images of FDR in his own rants.

He even quoted the famous “nothing to fear but fear itself” line in a recent speech.

So that much hasn’t changed.

Another thing that hasn’t changed is that no matter how much Bernie or his glassy-eyed supporters scream and yell, the only way to really be “taken care of” in this world is to do what Bernie has never done…

Take care of yourself.

And the best way I know to do that is to become independent of the financial constraints plaguing most people today.

The Accredited Investor Rule, which FDR gave us to save us from ourselves, stands as one of the biggest obstacles to financial independence for individual investors today.

It effectively cuts off their access to investments that bring professional investors hundreds of billions in annual returns.

All those fund managers, venture capitalists, and angel investors you see on TV in their boats, jets, and multimillion-dollar beach houses… they all made their money on the exact sort of investing you’re most likely legally barred from ever doing.

But don’t expect ole Bernie to help you out there. Chances are, if he had his way, the only accredited investor remaining would be Bernie himself.

To help yourself, you need to find a way around this rule. You need to seek out wealth-expanding investing opportunities that the mainstream ignores, and you need to pull yourself up to the next rung.

Nobody will do it for you.

But to get going, you need to know where to start.

I recently published a presentation that details how everyday, middle-class investors can sidestep the accredited investor rule and get on the road to making retirement-caliber wealth with minimal risk and minimal initial investment.

At no time in recent history has it been more important to be less dependent on government and shysters like Bernie Sanders for your future financial stability.

So before it’s too late, learn how people just like you are taking matters into their own hands.

Fortune favors the bold,

Alex Koyfman

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His flagship service, Microcap Insider, provides market-beating insights into some of the fastest moving, highest profit-potential companies available for public trading on the U.S. and Canadian exchanges. With more than 5 years of track record to back it up, Microcap Insider is the choice for the growth-minded investor. Alex contributes his thoughts and insights regularly to Energy and Capital. To learn more about Alex, click here.