Toppy Tuesday – Here Come Those Tears Again at S&P 3,000

"Baby here we stand again

Where we've been so many times before

Even though you looked so sure

As I was watching you walking out my door

But you always walk back in like you did today

Acting like you never even went away

Well I don't know if I can

Open up and let you in baby

Here come those tears

Here come those tears again" – Jackson Browne

Trump says there's a vaccine?  

Seriously, that's why we're rallying?  How many times does Donald Trump have to lie to us before we stop believing him?  We WANT to believe there's a vaccine, we WANT to believe that a Hydroxycloroquine a day will keep corona away but we KNOW (at least most of us do) that that is bat-shit crazy – yet that's what Trump was promoting yesterday – along with his miracle vaccine.

“My concern would be that the public not hear comments about the use of hydroxychloroquine and believe that taking this drug to prevent Covid-19 infection is without hazards. In fact, there are serious hazards,” said Dr. Steven E. Nissen, the chief academic officer of the Miller Family Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute at the Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. Scott Solomon, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said Mr. Trump’s decision to try the drug was up to him and his physician. “But what is irresponsible is the example he is setting,” Dr. Solomon said.

This is just madness folks!  I would joke that I came home last night and while I was drinking my Clorox after my Lysol injection I started wondering if they make hydroxychloroquine in chewables yet but I am told up to 1/3 of my audience might take that seriously because – WTF???  I mean really, has our education system gone that far off the rails that even people who are smart enough to have accumulated enough money to be able to invest in the markets are still taken in by this complete nonsense?  While I don't really believe that – I can't risk the joke….

And this is going on right after Dr. Rick Bright's testimonies to Congress about how he was removed from his role heading up the Federal development of coronavirus vaccines because he wouldn't direct funds to hydroxychloroquine, which he called "One of several potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections.”

Last night the President not only promoted the drug but also said he was taking it. And he made it clear that his decision was based on trusting anecdotal evidence, and his own gut, over the warnings of the government, or any data.  “I take it because I think I hear very good things,” Trump said, citing a letter he received from an unnamed doctor in Westchester, N.Y., promoting the use of hydroxychloroquine.

Neil Cavuto, a rogue Fox Host, reacted to the President’s announcement with a grim warning that once might have shocked his network’s viewers. To anyone with pre-existing conditions, he said: “It will kill you. I cannot stress enough. This will kill you.”

WTF people?  Is this really what we've come to?  We can't agree on basic science and facts anymore?  America is hurling back to the Dark Ages at an alarming pace!  All this is, however, a marvelous distraction from America's 1,500,000th virus infection as we are officially at 1,508,957 infected Americans this morning – 5 TIMES MORE than the next leading country, which is now Russia (144M people) at 290,678 but, like the US, Russia doesn't have adequate testing so we have no idea what the real numbers are in either country.

We're also rapidly approaching our 100,000th death at 90,369 as of this morning, so we'll certainly hit 100,000 by the end of the month – probably by the weekend and Monday is, appropriately, Memorial Day – a good time to reflect on the fact that in 20 years of Vietnam, "only" 58,318 Americans died – we've blown through that total in less than 3 months and it's rising with 20,000 new cases each day and the President has declared victory and the stock market is acting like it believes him.  Do you?

I'm sure the stock markets rallied when Neville Chamberlain came back from his meeting with Hitler and declared "Peace in our Time" in 1938 – we fought that war for another 7 years, mostly because acting as though we had won lost the allies their opportunity to press their advantage at the time.  Pretending we have vaccines or cures and re-opening the cities too soon is the same thing – it's declaring victory while your enemy is still gathering forces and waiting to strike you again…

The US has, along with the UK and Italy, an inadequate amount of hospital beds for it's population in a health crisis so more so than other countries, we can't afford to make a mistake and I do think we're making one now.  As I noted yesterday, my daughter drove down to see me and, since it was raining and I saw the restaurant down my block was empty, I decided eating dinner out for the first time in 3 months would be nice.  

On the whole, it was fine, there was only one other occupied table 20 feet away from us and we were eating outside under an awning but, unlike delivery service, we came into contact with two waiters and a busboy (all with masks) and the hostess on the way in – all closer than 6 feet.  I'm pretty sure another guy laid out the plates before we sat down and maybe another guy did the water glasses and then there are the dishwasers in the kitchen and, as my gilrs got up to go to the bathroom (as girls are wont to do), I took note of the fact that they brushed past 8 tables each way that, had the restaurant been occupied, would have put them in close proximity to 16-32 more people – all in one meal!  

And what about people going to the bathroom past my table?!?  You have to think strategically when you go out to eat now…  How is opening up NOT going to lead to a rise in infections – it makes no sense to believe that!  So, once again, the market is getting ahead of itself, celebrating "Peace in out time" long before the real war has even started.

Be careful out there!