We haven't seen his name in any of the polls in the first four states, but this is about to change; and I am, of course, talking about billionaire and presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg; the latter has a chance to win the presidency, because his net worth is more than $ 60 billion. The annual return to his wealth is about $ 2 billion, which is the amount he wants to pump to get the most important position in the United States.

Encouraged by the mysterious results achieved by the Iowa poll, and the lack of enthusiasm for Joe Biden, Bloomberg decided to double his spending on television advertisements, on all platforms he is currently announcing, and to increase the number of field officers in his campaign campaign to more than 2000.

He does not compete in the first four states, with caucuses and primaries, but instead focuses on the March 3 date. The so-called "Big Tuesday" will be more important than ever, because it now includes: California, Texas, Virginia, Minnesota, North Carolina and Massachusetts.

The billionaire said: “Going to big states is much more effective than going to swing states.” He continued, “Others chose to compete in the first four, because they wanted to do that, and I think part of that is because conventional wisdom says that it cannot Win without it. ” Later, he commented, "These are old rules."

Sumptuous spending

In January alone, Bloomberg spent more than $ 300 million on advertising in his campaign. This is more than what Hillary Clinton spent on advertising during her entire campaign, in 2016. It is twice the amount that all other Democratic candidates, including another billionaire candidate, Tom Stair, have spent. The essence of the Bloomberg campaign's message is that he has enough money to defeat Trump.

America is currently a divided nation, ruled by an angry and out of control president, while the White House remains besieged by lies, chaos, and corruption. And if Trump's tweets are the standard, then Bloomberg's tactics bother the president. According to one of Trump's advisers, the latter “believes that money can achieve what a person wants”, and those who believe that Bloomberg has no hope of winning, “they underestimate him.” Another consultant says that Trump "takes the money seriously, he is a businessman."

Bloomberg has some attractive policy ideas, including arms control, that he wants to reverse the climate change trend, in addition to a plan to collect about $ 5 trillion in new tax revenues from high-income earners and companies, and a new "additional fee" of 5%, Income exceeding five million dollars annually.

Conversely, the billionaire fortune is mysterious, like Trump, and during his 12 years as mayor of New York, Bloomberg refused to reveal his federal taxes. Even as a presidential candidate, he was not given an appointment to disclose it. And let's not forget that he is trying to buy the presidency.

America had some very talented and empowered presidents, who were extremely wealthy, such as Franklin Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, and John Kennedy. The problem lies in the relationship between wealth and power, as those with great wealth use it to gain more influence, and in this way the "rule of the elites" destroys democracy.

Since 1980, the share of the 400 richest Americans has quadrupled, while the share of half of Americans in the lower class has declined. The wealth of the richest American families (about 130,000 families) is equal to that of 117 million American families combined. Bloomberg is the eighth richest man in America.

As power and wealth moved to the top, everyone, both the old and the old left, became disadvantaged and less secure. Currently, the big gap is not between the left and the right, but between democracy and the ruling elites.

Bloomberg is undoubtedly part of that elite, and this does not mean that it does not automatically qualify, but we must give warnings. And if the only way we can get rid of a non-social "tyrant", called Trump, is to use a rich man called Bloomberg, we'll have to choose the second. However, I hope we won't get to this. And ruling elites are better than tyranny; but neither is better than democracy.

Robert Reich: Former US Secretary of Labor and Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley.

Since 1980, the share of the richest 400 Americans has quadrupled, while the share of half of Americans in the lower class has declined. The wealth of the richest American families (about 130,000 families) is equal to that of 117 million American families combined. Bloomberg is America's eighth richest man.