Letter to the editor: The Bloomberg factor

If you haven’t seen a political ad promoting mega-billionaire Michael Bloomberg yet, just hold on — you will. Bloomberg suddenly prefers to be called “Mike,” I guess to appeal to the working class. Reminds us oldsters of the 1970s comedy character Raymond J. Johnson Jr., best known for Miller Lite beer commercials, whose catchphrase was, “You can call me Ray, you can call me Jay, you can even call me R.J.J. … but don’t call me Johnson.”

Bloomberg proclaims he will spend $131 million to highlight his ideas so he can be the Democratic presidential candidate. For us non-billionaires who try to make ends meet on monthly checks, that seems like an enormous amount of money, and it is. For “Mike,” it represents less than 0.25% of his estimated wealth! Imagine telling your church or favorite charity that you are “all in” for that percent of your $50,000 annual earnings. That would be about $125. Not so impressive, is it?

So you can call him “Mike,” maybe Mikey, perhaps even Mikey-Mike, anti-gun advocate, radical environmentalist, social equality (socialist) candidate — but don’t call him super-capitalist Michael Bloomberg.

Makes me thirsty for a Miller Lite.

Ed Klein

Shanksville