Germany is out of the World Cup tournament, which is a matter of some interest to the German princesses that I live with.

Our daughter, in particular is enjoying the tournament, although sometimes I suspect that she is more interested in avoiding chores than in watching the actual games. But she is learning about soccer, which is good because she didn’t have the opportunity to play youth soccer, unlike most of the other kids in the town where we live.  Of course, youth soccer bears the same relationship to professional soccer that T-ball bears to professional auto racing, so her lack of experience hasn’t diminished her appreciation for the game.

These low-scoring games are pretty intense, which is part of the appeal.  I can understand, though, that some people might prefer a higher-scoring, faster-paced contest.  I guess that’s why they invented hockey (…Eh, what if we make the field smaller, flood it, freeze it, put the players on skates, give them sticks because some of them don’t skate that well, and instead of that clunky ball we’ll use a hard plastic disk that no one can actually see… That ought to speed things up… But we’ll need better dental insurance.”)

June 27, 2018

Running the bases today… (Photo: Cleveland Indians / https://www.mlb.com/indians/fans/kids/kids-fun-day)

On summer Sundays the Cleveland Indians allow kids to run the bases at Progressive Field following Tribe games. This is pretty popular, as kids and their parents start lining up under the stands in the middle of the 7^th inning.  Like so many kids’ events today, the whole experience is well-organized by adults and requires little initiative on the part of the kids.

It wasn’t always that way. There was a time when you’d have to plan your journey around the bases on your own.  At age ten or so, sitting at the game with your dad, you might look up at him and say, “Hey, Dad, wouldn’t it be great if I could run on the field and slide into second base?”

And he’d say, “Sure, you’ll probably be on TV, but they’ll throw you out of the game.”

CLEVELAND, OH – JUNE 4,1974: Members of the Texas Rangers take down a drunken fan who ran onto the field during a game against the Cleveland Indians on June 4, 1974 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. Texas was awarded a win by forfeit 5-5 when the game was called by the umpires, due to fans storming the field during 10 cent beer night. (Photo by: Paul Tepley Collection/Diamond Images/Getty Images)

You’d note that getting thrown out might not be such a bad thing. “We’re losing by fourteen runs and it’s only the third inning.”

Dad would nod his head slowly, think for a moment and say, “Good point. Well, you’ll have to get past that usher, but it looks like he’s asleep, and when you get down to the front row, make sure the cop sitting there is looking the other way. You could use a diversion, but I want to finish this beer, and it doesn’t look like he can run very well, anyway. Better have a sip of beer first.”

“Thanks, dad.  See you later.”

“See ya. Make sure to touch first base on your way to second. I’ll meet you at the police room. And don’t tell your mother.”

June 17, 2018

On Flag Day, let’s recall that one of the things that makes America great is that you don’t have to fly the flag if you don’t want to.

This isn’t the Third Reich.  It isn’t even North Korea.  There is no penalty for being insufficiently patriotic (unless you play in the NFL, but that’s another story), and no one is going to knock on your door in the middle of the night and ask where your flag is.

So, if a person chooses to display a U.S. flag outside, it is a completely voluntary act.  Unfortunately, like many other voluntary acts – voting comes to mind – some people do it surprisingly badly.

You can walk around any town in America and see tattered and torn flags caught up on gutters or trees, advertising signs demeaning the flag, and ‘proud’ Americans wearing flag-patterned hats, jackets, shorts, and bathing suits. Please note that the U.S. Flag Code states that the flag should never be displayed in a manner that permits it to become “torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.”  The Flag Code also prohibits use of the flag for advertising purposes or as apparel.

So, if you are inclined to fly the flag every day, please do so properly. Take care of the thing, and show it the same respect that you would show a pair of socks or a Grateful Dead T-shirt.

Here are a couple of images of the U.S flag being “proudly” displayed.

Flag Apparel photo:  https://itsaperfectmess.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/4th-clothes-1.jpg

Flag Advertising photo:  https://forgottenhistoryblog.com/use-of-the-flag-in-advertising-is-illegal/

June 14, 2018

Photo of tanker “Sea World”: www.aukevisser.nl

With elections coming up in the fall, we are hearing a lot of talk about the U.S. economy. Here are four things voters should know about economics.

1. Nobody fully understands or controls the U.S. economy. It is as complicated as the earth’s climate, with millions of actors and millions of inputs. There is no control panel and there are no obvious pressure points.
2. Presidents do not have reliable tools for managing the U.S. economy. If presidents could manage the economy effectively, we wouldn’t have recessions. There are a handful of tools (tax cuts, stimulus packages, monetary policy, wage and price controls, etc.) that over time have been suspected of having a measurable impact, but the American economy responds to inputs from Congress, other nations, businesses, nature, and consumers. The link between economic policy and jobs is especially tenuous.
3. The economy is cyclical, and will go up and down over time even if no policies are ever changed in any way.
4. Both political parties have the same basic economic policy. Changes in economic policy from administration to administration are generally modest and any impact of those changes will not be measurable for years.
5. Supply-side economics really is Voodoo economics. Tax cuts for the highest earners and for businesses do not cause wealth to “trickle down” to the majority of taxpayers, nor do they increase government revenue through greater economic growth. Instead, unless they are paired with spending cuts, they boost the deficit and any impact they have on economic growth is marginal and temporary. The best way to stimulate the economy is to give the largest tax breaks (or, better yet, cash payments) to the lowest earning citizens. They will not use the extra money to buy back shares, pay dividends to shareholders, or give bonuses to highly-paid executives. They will spend it on necessities, thus stimulating the economy. Ultimately, the best way to grow the economy is to expand the middle class.

Think of the economy as an enormous supertanker, making its way ponderously across the sea. The Master sets the course and speed, but the actual movement of the ship is determined by the combination of engine speed, rudder placement, ship’s displacement, wind, waves, currents, bottom geography, storms, and other factors that neither the Master nor the crew fully understand, let alone control.  Stop the engines and the tanker might stop five miles from here. Turn the rudder and you might see the course change in two miles.

June 11, 2018

Was out running errands the other day and I had about 15 minutes to kill before I had to pick up my daughter at school.  Since there was a drugstore at the shopping center where I happened to be, I went in to take a look around. Of course, since I am an old white guy, no one at the store followed me around, no one told me to buy something or get out, and no one called the police because they thought I didn’t belong there.  Also, since I can’t speak another language, no one yelled at me to get out of their country and no one said they couldn’t sell me a product because their religion wouldn’t permit it.  Since I am not a woman, I didn’t need to take any special steps to protect myself from sexual assault.  I didn’t carry my keys like a weapon, or avoid eye contact with men in the store, or hold my cell phone in my hand.  And finally, since they  didn’t play the national anthem, no one threatened to fire me if I didn’t stand.  Just a regular day.

For an eye-opening and widely shared post on how women must constantly guard against sexual assault, see the following by Jackson Katz: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/905315-i-draw-a-line-down-the-middle-of-a-chalkboard

June 10, 2018

It is sadly apparent today that the guiding philosophy of the modern Republican Party is, “I’ve got mine, screw you.”

Look at any current political issue and ask yourself, ‘what would my position on this issue be, if my guiding philosophy in life was “I’ve got mine, screw you?” Invariably, your answer will be the Republican position.

• Health care?  “I’ve got health care, screw you.”
• Immigration? “I’m already here, screw you.”
• Gun violence? “I own three guns, screw you.”
• Public schools? “The schools in my neighborhood are good, and I can afford private school for my kids, but I wouldn’t mind having poor taxpayers toss a few bucks my way in the form of school vouchers. Screw you.”
• Opioid addition? “I’m not addicted, screw you.”
• LGBT rights?  “I’m straight. Screw you.”
• Abortion rights? “I don’t need one, and if I, or any woman in my life, ever wants one, we can afford to obtain it safely and discreetly. Screw you.”

Of course, as a philosophy, ‘I’ve got mine, screw you,’ is neither illegal, immoral, nor even unethical.  It might be a little short on compassion, but there’s nothing in the Constitution about being compassionate or even being considerate of fellow Americans.  After all, that compassion nonsense is just church talk, and it’s not like Republicans claim to be defenders of Christianity or anything.

But though wildly popular among Republicans today, “I’ve got mine, screw you” has not historically been the guiding philosophy of the GOP.  For many decades, Republicans actually supported federal government efforts to address large-scale problems like poverty, environmental degradation, racial discrimination, economic inequality, and other social ills that were clearly beyond the ability of state and local governments to correct.

• Republican president Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation and Republicans in the Congress passed the 13^th amendment, outlawing slavery, and the 14^th amendment, which guaranteed equal protection under the law and other rights of citizenship to all citizens.
• Republican president Ulysses S. Grant deployed federal law enforcement and military forces to break the power of the Ku Klux Klan.
• Republican president Theodore Roosevelt supported stronger consumer protection laws, stronger regulations on business, and conservation of natural resources. He created the U.S. Forest Service and established five national parks, 51 bird reserves, and 150 national forests.
• Republican president Dwight Eisenhower deployed federal troops to enforce school desegregation, reduced defense spending, and warned of the dangers of an unconstrained military-industrial complex.  He also had a 90% tax rate for the super wealthy and a huge infrastructure program that pumped billions into the economy to create jobs.
• Republican president Richard Nixon created the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He also signed legislation creating the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act, the 1973 Endangered Species Act, and the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act.
• Republican president Gerald R. Ford supported the Equal Rights Amendment and signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, which established special education throughout the United States. He also signed the Helsinki Accords with the Soviet Union, which reduced tensions between the Soviet bloc and the Western democracies and pledged all participating nations to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms.
• Republican president George H. W. Bush raised taxes to reduce the federal deficit, signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) with the Soviet Union, and built a 34-nation international coalition to militarily oppose Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.
• Republican president George W. Bush started the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief Program (PEPFAR), which saved an estimated 5 million lives in developing countries. He also signed the Medicare Act of 2003, which added prescription drug coverage to Medicare and he urged Congress to allow more than 12 million illegal immigrants to legally work in the United States under a temporary guest worker program.

June 5, 2018

As surprising as this may sound, not everything on the internet is true.

And one of the untrue things that I am really tired of seeing is the repeated claim that members of Congress get their full pay for life and that they have some kind of fabulous, free health care option that the rest of us don’t have.

Twenty-five seconds of research can dispel either myth.  Here are a few facts.

1. Members of Congress (Representatives and Senators) qualify for pensions based on their age and years of service, just like any other federal employee. Their system is generous, but they absolutely DO NOT receive their full pay for life, as some social media posters apparently believe.
2. To receive a pension, a member of Congress must serve at least five years. To collect their full pension, members must be at least 62 years of age, or be 50 with 25 years of service.
3. Vesting after five years is not uncommon in public sector retirement plans. With only five years of service, the member can’t collect anything until age 62, and then will collect about 8.5 percent of their final pay.
4. Since 1987, Congressional pensions have been managed by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) which covers, unremarkably, most federal employees. FERS is comprised of Social Security, basic annuity, and a Thrift Savings Plan investment account.
5. The actual calculation of a member’s annuity is based on the average of the highest three years of the member’s salary, which is multiplied by 1.7 percent for each year of service. (1.7 percent for the first twenty years, 1.o percent for any additional years.)
6. Pensions are capped at 80 percent of a member’s final salary, regardless of the number of years of service.
7. Members of Congress are required to purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
8. Their employer (the taxpayers) pays 72 percent of the cost. The members pay 28 percent.
9. They can choose from the same plans as anyone else in the capital region.
10. Unlike you, however, after paying an annual fee, they can visit the Office of the Attending Physician.
11. Also unlike you, they can receive free care from military medical facilities within the capital region.
12. If the Affordable Care Act is repealed, members of Congress will be enrolled in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), which covers nearly 4 million federal employees and is itself a pretty good plan.

With the possible exception of the military care option, Congressional pension and health care benefits are very similar to the benefits other federal employees and employees of large private sector firms receive.  They have a good deal, but it is nowhere near as good as some people apparently believe.

June 1, 2018

As the NBA Finals approach, the home-town Cavaliers are an epic underdog, which, if you know anything at all about their season, is totally unsurprising and spectacularly well-deserved.

So in the event of the expected outcome – a crushing Cavaliers defeat – we should at least be spared the tiresome spectacle of newly-minted champions puffing up their  victory with the standard “Nobody expected us to be here” trope.

It is apparently a requirement that after every professional sports championship, at least one member of the winning team has to call out the doubters – and there are always doubters – with some champagne-soaked spiel about how nobody believed in them, nobody thought they could win, nobody expected them to be here, blah, blah, blah.

For some folks winning the title isn’t quite enough.  They have to inflate it with some nonsense about how they overcame historic difficulties and obstacles, even if their team was heavily favored and they enjoyed huge advantages in in resources, star players, and history.

May 29, 2018