2017 Fini

We complete another year of Rink Rats with our thirty second blog of 2017 on this last day of 2017. 

We are in Michigan bringing in the New Year with family, in I might add sub-zero temperatures.

As the year draws to a close, it’s time to look back at the moments that defined 2017.

ME TOO - Among the most important developments of 2017 was #MeToo: the renewed determination of women to stand up to sexual harassment, and the new willingness of (some) institutions and corporations to take action. Although the movement itself started several years ago, it has gained a new urgency since October, when the New York Times and The New Yorker reported on appalling allegations against the film producer Harvey Weinstein; since then, the wave of repercussions has grown, and it has yet to crest.

DIVERSITY FATIGUE - For many, the rise of Donald Trump was a manifestation of this long-brewing and ideologically varied skepticism toward diversity. On the right, it was a backlash against things changing too fast, and too much. And, for some on the left, the success of Trump-style populism suggested that liberals had focussed too much of their energy on multiculturalism and identity. Over the last couple of years, this skepticism has rippled outward in bizarre, troubling ways. For decades, diversity was generally accepted across the political spectrum as a common goal, something that at least merited lip service. In Trump’s wake, it’s become increasingly mainstream to question the concept’s very legitimacy. When the Iowa congressman Steve King tweeted that “diversity” was not a “strength,” a politician who once embodied a nativist fringe seemed to speak with renewed purpose. Diversity was recently included on a list of words that officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were discouraged from using, perhaps, according to one sympathetic account, “so as not to raise red flags among Republicans in Congress.”

Diversity is increasingly the scapegoat when something old and reliable begins to falter. This year, the supposed overemphasis on diversity was invoked to explain everything from ESPN’s falling ratings to the middling quality of U.S. soccer, from flagging enthusiasm for the Star Wars universe to a dip in comic-book sales. (A recent MarketWatch piece wondered if the increasingly diverse world of Marvel superheroes—which included “Afro-Latino Spider-Man, a Muslim Ms. Marvel, a female Thor, a gay Iceman, a Korean Hulk, an African-American female lead in Iron Man, and a lesbian Latina America Chavez”—had alienated “traditional” fans.) Perhaps, some suggested, we simply need to disrupt our conventional views on diversity. This spring, the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg spoke of the need for “ideological diversity,” particularly among his closest advisers. He was defending the presence of the Trump adviser Peter Thiel on Facebook’s board, and sidestepping criticisms of the minuscule size of his company’s black workforce. But Zuckerberg was also trying to spin diversity in a way that could make a wider swath of Americans feel included—except, perhaps, those who were once central to the diversity debates. The Times invoked a similar principle—a “diversity of views”—when they were criticized for publishing the dubious claims of a recently hired conservative Op-Ed columnist.

Diversity has become a worn and misapplied term partly as a result of its messy origins. The term as we use it today first emerged in 1978, as part of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in University of California v. Bakke. The court struck down quotas but upheld affirmative action, allowing an applicant’s race to factor into college-admissions policies. It was a divisive case, which resulted in a total of six opinions. The judgment of the Court was written by Justice Lewis Powell, who argued that the state had an interest in maintaining a “diverse student body.” Powell’s rationale differed slightly from the rest of the majority, who predicated their support for affirmative action on an acknowledgment of America’s legacies of discrimination and inequality. From the very beginning, then, there was something vague and ahistorical about diversity, particularly in the context of higher education. Rather than a means of historical redress, it was meant to be useful.

Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that diversity’s most enthusiastic proselytizers are in the world of business. In 2008, Scott Page, a professor of complex systems, political science, and economics at the University of Michigan, published “The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies.” Drawing on empirical research, and also the wisdom of Ben & Jerry’s, Douglas Adams, and “Seinfeld,” Page argues that “cognitively diverse societies, cities, and teams perform better than more homogenous ones.” This fall, Page amplified his pro-diversity argument with “The Diversity Bonus: How Great Teams Pay Off in the Knowledge Economy.” His rationale isn’t moral—this would make it easily susceptible to cynicism, or bad faith. Instead, he points to the bottom line, offering a series of case studies where individuals with different backgrounds, skill sets, or forms of expertise came together to illuminate new solutions to old problems.

The true casualties of “diversity fatigue” are the ones who never feel entitled enough to complain about it. We’re living in a time when those drafted in the name of a more diverse society have new ways to speak for themselves, and, in many cases, a different perspective than the trailblazers of previous generations. As the past few months’ stories about sexual assault and harassment in the workplace suggest, just being present is not sufficient. There’s a familiar refrain to so many of these stories, as women entered into spaces previously closed to them and then underwent a kind of hazing. They’re stories of diversity told from the inside out, by people who were assured that this is the way it is because this is the way it has always been: a boys’ club, business as usual.

“We’re hearing a lot about diversity,” the filmmaker Ava DuVernay said last year, in the wake of the #OscarsSoWhite social-media campaign. “I hate that word so, so much.” She explained that there was something “medical” and cold about diversity, and that speaking of belonging or inclusion seemed a more accurate way of describing what long-marginalized people actually wanted. Progress isn’t just a seat at the table anymore but the ability to command it, too. This week, Time magazine features Storm Reid, Reese Witherspoon, Oprah Winfrey, and Mindy Kaling, the leads of DuVernay’s new film, an adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” on its cover. Witherspoon said that she’s “never seen somebody demand inclusiveness” the way DuVernay did, casting a film with black, brown, and white leads. Belonging and inclusion will probably seem like old, useless buzzwords someday, too. But that’s the point. Images like these still matter, in small, mysterious ways that won’t be grasped for generations. It’s just a movie, ultimately. But it’s also a fantasy, a version of the world that was once unthinkable, which will produce new people and new languages.

MARKET YEAR - Stocks could ride a tailwind into 2018, bolstered by the best annual gains in four years and the promise of a generous earnings boost from corporate tax cuts.

With the holidays over, it's time to get back to work quickly in the four-day week. December's employment report looms Friday as the first major economic report of the year. There are also ISM manufacturing and monthly vehicle sales data on Wednesday.

The minutes from the Fed's December meeting will also be released Wednesday afternoon, and that could provide some important clues as to Fed thinking on inflation and interest rates. The Fed has forecast three rate hikes for 2018, and some economists are now expecting four. Inflation, which has been lagging the Fed's target, could be the deciding factor in how aggressive the Fed will be.

Strategists expect 2018 to be another up year for stocks, but with smaller gains than 2017 and most forecasts falling between 2,800 and 3,000. The S&P 500 finished Friday at 2,673, slightly lower on the week but up 19.4 percent for the year, its best performance since 2013. The Dow was down 0.1 percent for the week at 24,719, but saw a gain of 25.5 percent for the year. The Nasdaq was down 0.8 percent for the week, at 6,903, but scored a gain of 28.2 percent, also the best year since 2013.

"Barring any surprises, I'm hoping for new money for the new month and the new year," said Art Cashin (Rink Rats reader), director of floor operations at UBS. He said he's also watching the first two trading days of the year, to see if they are positive. If they are and the S&P 500 is higher when taken together with the past week's performance, that would be a positive "Santa rally" period. The Santa rally period is the last five trading days of the year and the first two days of the new year, and if the market is higher, the odds are better for a positive year.

Market milestones for 2017 include a return to higher oil prices, with West Texas Intermediate futures closing Friday above $60 per barrel, for the first time since June 2015. That has helped drive a more than 6 percent gain for energy stocks in the past month, even though the sector was down 3.8 percent for the year. The best performing sector was tech, up 37 percent for the year.

The dollar continued its yearlong slide in Friday trading, with the dollar index ending the year down 9.7 percent, its worst performance since 2003.

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 2.409 Friday afternoon, just slightly under the 2.43 percent level where it started the year. The 2-year yield meanwhile rose from 1.19 percent at the start of year to 1.88. The two yields are getting closer together, or flattening, and are now at the "flattest" in a decade. Some investors worry that's a sign of economic weakness ahead.

Washington will also be a focus in January as it now gets down to business on spending issues, after the White House and Congress delivered a big tax cut package reducing corporate taxes to 21 percent from 35 percent, just before the holidays. But in 2018, the political scene promises to be more difficult, with potential fights over the debt ceiling and other issues ahead of key midterm elections.

Dan Clifton, head of policy research at Strategas said there are other issues that could also emerge early in the new year. "Goodbye tax, hello trade. That's the start of it, right there," he said, with news on the administration's review of potential steel and aluminum tariffs expected in January.

"I'm just outlining that there's a little bit of risk now," he said. The administration could decide tariffs are warranted on aluminum for national security reasons. "This is a brush fire, not a forest fire."

Some strategists believe there are good odds that the negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement could fail, threatening the trade agreement. NAFTA is being renegotiated by the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Traders have been concerned about Trump's potential to be protectionist, and whether he would really take action.

NEW WORLD ORDER - China eagerly and systematically asserting itself as a global force with trade deals, investment and posturing. The nation, despite all its flaws, is rising.

Trump abandoning the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the multinational trade deal, gave China huge political and economic openings in its neighborhood.

Trump eagerly and systematically shaking up U.S. engagement overseas, and attacking the U.N. and other institutions that helped hold together a post-World War II world.

Germany, France and Britain, hammered by surging populism similar to the disruption that hit U.S. politics, are increasingly looking inward, and away from a unified European voice. Europe's influence is on a clear decline.

L.A. Times correspondents interviewed leaders, diplomats and scholars around the globe, and found other powers eager to fill the void as the U.S. retreats: "On a range of policy issues, Trump has taken positions that disqualified the United States from the debate or rendered it irrelevant."

"China has now assumed the mantle of fighting climate change, a global crusade that the United States once led."

"Russia has taken over Syrian peace talks, also once the purview of the American administration."

"France and Germany are often now the countries that fellow members of NATO look to."

While Trump sucks up a lot of attention and blame, a lot of this change was set in motion before he arrived. The combo of social media + identity politics + fake news has resulted in less legitimacy for most, if not all, Western governments.

BEST BOOK - In a year that too often seemed like fiction, my favorite novel was one that felt utterly true to life: “Conversations with Friends,” by the Irish writer Sally Rooney. It tells the story of Frances, a watchful, sharp-witted college student in Dublin and her best friend, Bobbi, who together fall into a risky intimacy with Melissa and Nick, a couple in their thirties with glamorous artistic credentials and a fraying marriage. Like the best coming-of-age novels, it captures the beautiful confusion of being an intelligent young person with lots of ideas about the world and no clue how to live in it. This is the first novel that Rooney has written; I was so engrossed in its world that when I finished it, I flipped back to the first page and read it straight through again. I hope her next book comes soon.

BEST TV SHOW – “Big Little Lies”

Gorgeous, sensual, and seductive, beautifully directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, with perfect, slow-build pacing, this beachside murder mystery was the year’s best surprise. Among an A-list cast of movie stars, Nicole Kidman stood out, playing a woman struggling to admit the truth about her abusive marriage. By the final episodes, the plot became a wrenching exploration of the hidden bonds between women who have been hurt, a #MeToo thriller with the rare finale that satisfied on all levels.

BEST MOVIES –

1. “Get Out” (Jordan Peele)

In his horror comedy, Peele uses familiar devices to convey philosophically rich and politically potent ideas about the state of race relations in America.

2. “A Quiet Passion” (Terence Davies)

Davies’s Emily Dickinson bio-pic is an absolute, drop-dead masterwork.

3. “Good Time” (Josh and Benny Safdie)

“Good Time,” starring Robert Pattinson, streaks and smears and shreds the screen with a sense of furious subjectivity.

4. “A Ghost Story” (David Lowery)

The movie’s dramatic power is inseparable from its quiet, sensuous splendor.

BEST PODCAST - “Ways of Hearing”

The way we listen has been revolutionized by digital technology, which in turn has transformed our world, including podcasts. “Ways of Hearing,” hosted by Damon Krukowski and based on his excellent book “The New Analog,” is about listening. (It’s the first of a series of podcasts in the Radiotopia show “Showcase.”) Krukowski makes complex ideas delightfully accessible, and in audio form he’s able to include wonderful sounds: street noise, song bits, chitchat at a record shop. Krukowski, the drummer of the great band Galaxie 500, illustrates points in Episode 1 with gorgeous strains of “Tugboat.” Krukowski is a fantastic observer; I often think of the ideas he articulates in “Ways of Hearing,” and I feel like I perceive the world a little more acutely because of listening to it.

TOP GOOGLE SEARCHES OF 2017 –

Hurricane Irma

Matt Lauer

Tom Petty

Super Bowl

Las Vegas Shooting

Mayweather vs McGregor Fight

Solar Eclipse

Hurricane Harvey

Aaron Hernandez

Fidget Spinner

How to buy Bitcoin

How to freeze your credit

INEQUALITY REPORT - New research from the Ford Foundation and Thomas Piketty with the World Inequality Lab is "is the first research study to comprehensively examine wealth and income inequality trends across developed and emerging countries over approximately 40 years."

Among the findings: "Globally, few are enjoying the benefits of economic growth. The richest captured most of the growth, as those who are enjoying the growth are the top 10 percent, with an exponential growth for the top 0.1 percent. The global top 1% earners captured twice as much income growth as the 50 percent poorest individuals.

"Global wealth and income inequality will steadily rise, if countries follow the trajectory they have been on since 1980, notably in the U.S. Though, if all countries follow the moderate inequality trajectory followed by Europe over the past decades, global inequality can be reduced.”

CALIFORNIA HERE WE GO - For many of the state’s residents, one question is omnipresent: Is this worth it?

The threat of earthquakes, annual wildfires and high taxes have contributed to a net outflow of residents for more than three decades.

Still, the wrath of God has failed to deter companies from thinking this is a great place to be, although it is expensive and crowded.

MICKEY FOX - Walt Disney Co. has signed a deal to acquire a large piece of 21st Century Fox Inc., ... in a pact that could help the entertainment giant accelerate its ambitions in streaming media, shore up its television business and grab hold of lucrative movie franchises.

Why it matters: Most of the assets Disney is buying would be put to use in Chief Executive Robert Iger's quest to transform his company into a streaming-video giant that can go head-to-head with rivals such as Netflix.

Mr. Iger wants Disney to have its own relationships with consumers and a broad array of content to offer them online.

P.S. Layoffs likely in Disney-Fox deal," per an L.A. Times A1 teaser: "Substantial job cuts in Southern California could result." “The companies have many overlapping departments and Disney would look to wring savings."

TRUMP’S ECONOMY - President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are about to own the U.S. economy in ways that could revive their party's brand or make the next three years a political nightmare. The president and GOP leaders were all smiles celebrating passage of a giant tax cut bill that will slash corporate rates and offer more limited relief to individuals. They are counting on the widely unpopular measure to produce a series of economic benefits including faster growth, fatter paychecks and a bigger, more productive labor force. ... Essentially, Republicans are betting they can take the fairly strong economy Trump inherited from President Barack Obama and fix the remaining broken parts, which include a shrunken labor force, limited wage gains and stalled worker productivity. If they succeed, the GOP could start to reverse their big polling disadvantages in the 2018 midterm elections and set Trump up to win reelection in 2020 if he can somehow navigate the Russia investigations and avoid major foreign policy disasters.

POTUS 101 - Peter Baker puts on his historian's cap for his installment in the N.Y. Times series, "Trump's Way" ... "A Year of Reinventing the Presidency ... Under Trump, a Once Unimaginable Presidency Becomes Reality":

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly: "I'm not put on earth to control him ... But I have been put on earth to make this staff work better and make sure this president, whether you voted for him or not, is fully informed before he makes a decision. And I think we achieved that."

Kelly on POTUS: "He remains fairly unconventional ... But as I point out, he now is fully briefed on the issues and the pluses and minuses, pros and cons."

Ron Klain, a White House official under Clinton and Obama: "It's a presidency of one person ... That's really kind of a stunning thing. There is no Trump doctrine. There is no Trump plan. There is no Trumpism. There's just Trump."

Peter notes that Trump has referred to his targets as "crazy," "psycho," "short and fat," "crooked," "totally inept," "a joke," "dumb as a rock," "disgusting," "puppet," "weak and out of control," "sleazy," "wacky," "totally unhinged," "incompetent," "lightweight" and "the dumbest man on television." (BTW, that was CNN's Don Lemon, and Trump often watches.)

Under Mr. Trump, it has become a blunt instrument to advance personal, policy and political goals. He has revolutionized the way presidents deal with the world beyond 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, dispensing with the carefully modulated messaging of past chief executives in favor of no-holds-barred, crystal-breaking, us-against-them, damn-the-consequences blasts borne out of gut and grievance.

"He has kept a business on the side; attacked the F.B.I., C.I.A. and other institutions he oversees; threatened to use his power against rivals; and waged war against members of his own party and even his own Cabinet. He fired the man investigating his campaign and has not ruled out firing the one who took over. He has appealed to base instincts on race, religion and gender as no president has in generations. And he has rattled the nuclear saber more bombastically than it has been since the days of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"The presidency has served as a vehicle for Mr. Trump to construct and promote his own narrative, one with crackling verve but riddled with inaccuracies, distortions and outright lies, according to fact checkers. Rather than a force for unity or a calming voice in turbulent times, the presidency now is another weapon in a permanent campaign of divisiveness. Democrats and many establishment Republicans worry that Mr. Trump has squandered the moral authority of the office."

SCIENCE - The Moon shines brightly among our 2017 highlights. Whether it was blocking out the Sun during one of the most-viewed events in U.S. history, or reinvigorating our human space exploration plans.

MORON OF THE YEAR – “In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Year’s Eve on record. Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against. Bundle up!”

Guess who????

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to Richard Chute…famous Claremont, CA resident; Sean Hannity (56) Alexandria, VA.; Donald Trump, Jr. (40) New York, NY.; Meredith Vieira (64) Scarsdale, NY.

ON THIS DAY – December 23, 1947: 70 years ago, at the end of a miracle month of breakthroughs, John Bardeen & Walter Brattain demonstrated the first transistor to colleagues at Bell Labs. It's been described as one of the most important inventions of the 20th century.

STATISTICS OF THE YEAR:  Americans killed annually by

All Islamic jihadist terrorists 9

Armed toddlers 21

Lightning 31

Lawnmowers 69

Being hit by a bus 264

Falling out of bed 737

Being shot by another American 11,737 

CASHLESS - As 2018 looms, the dawn of a cashless society feels at hand. Don't believe it? Try throwing a couple $20 bills on the table next time you're splitting the check. Or better yet, ask anyone not standing behind a cash register to break a $10 bill.

While the rise of Venmo, Uber, Seamless and Bitcoin et al have made it practically gauche in certain circles to flash a wallet thick with bills, there are many urban workers for whom the shift away from cash represents a serious financial problem. Doormen, elevator operators, manicurists - any employee who relies on small, spontaneous cash tips - are finding themselves left out in the cold by an increasingly cashless world.

SPOTTED – Avid Rink Rats reader and former Claremont, CA. resident, Tom Playford at Heroes (131 Yale Avenue) in Claremont. Tom is fighting the battles of Trump in Durham, North Carolina these days. 

2017 TOP SPORT STORIES –

NFL kneeling.

College basketball comes under the microscope after a federal investigation reveals recruiting corruption.

Houston Astros win their first World Series, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7 to lift the spirits of a city devastated by Hurricane Harvey.

In a season that included his four-game suspension for "Deflategate," Tom Brady engineers a record-breaking comeback as the Patriots defeat the Atlanta Falcons in first-ever Super Bowl overtime.

The president of USA Gymnastics resigns amid a sexual abuse scandal that includes some of the sport's biggest stars.

Russia is banned from the Winter Olympics for a massive doping scheme at the 2014 Sochi Games.

Clemson mounts a last-second comeback to beat Alabama for college football's national championship.

The U.S. fails to qualify for soccer's World Cup for the first time since 1986. Four-time champion Italy also fails to qualify.

New acquisition Kevin Durant leads the Golden State Warriors to the NBA championship over the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers.

Mixed Martial Arts star Conor McGregor steps into the boxing ring to face undefeated champ Floyd Mayweather Jr.

JOHNNY BOWER – Old Time Hockey, end of an era.

It was 1963 or '64, but Mark Howe is pretty sure it was 1964. The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final, and in the handshake line at Maple Leaf Gardens, Maple Leafs goaltender Johnny Bower traded sticks with Red Wings forward Gordie Howe.

Before each series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Gordie would ask his son Mark, "When the series is over, whose stick do you want?" That time, Mark had said, "I want Bower's."

"I still have the stick to this day," Mark said Wednesday.

Bower died Tuesday at age 93. He played on the Maple Leafs' last four championship teams, in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1967; was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1976 and was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players presented by Molson Canadian on Jan. 1.

SWAMI’S WEEK TOP PICKS –

NFL Football Pick of the Week – Sunday 12/31, 4:25 PM EDT, Fox: Carolina Panthers (11-4) vs. Atlanta Falcons (9-6). Plenty of playoff implications in this one, Falcons win 24 – 17. (Season to date 9-7).

College Football Pick of the Week – Monday 1/1, 5:45 PM EDT, ESPN: Bowl Season, Rose Bowl from Pasadena, CA: #4 Alabama Crimson Tide (11-1) vs. #1 Clemson Tigers (12-1). Alabama seeks revenge from last year, they get it 38 – 35.   (Season to date 9-7)

College Hockey Pick of the Week – Monday 1/1, 6:00 PM EDT FoxDetroit: the 52^nd edition of the Great Lakes Invitational tournament, Bowling Green University Falcons (8-6-6) vs. University of Michigan Wolverines (7-7-2), we like the Wolverines 5 – 3.  Season to date (6-4)

NHL Pick of the Week – Monday 1/1, 1:00 PM EDT, NBC: Another edition of the Winter Classic, this years’ game is at Citi Field in New York. New York Rangers (20-13-5) vs. Buffalo Sabres (10-20-8). Not an attractive game, Rangers win in a romp, 7 – 2.  Season to date (8-2).

NBA Pick of the Week – Monday 1/1 7:30 PM EDT, FSWI: Milwaukee Bucks (19-15) vs. Toronto Rapters (24-10). Raptors have a solid club this year, they win this one 101 – 92.r4 (season to date 1-0)

Season to Date (98 - 72)

Next Blog: 2018 What Next?

Until next time, Happy New Year

Jackson, Michigan

Temperature at edit: 0 Degrees

December 31, 2017

#VIII-21-363

CARTOON OF THE WEEK – 2017