Sabbatical

Rink Rats has been on sabbatical.

The Sabbatical is over (thank God) after two months and we are back: refreshed, confused, irritated, and ready to go.

Plenty has happened since our last visit. I have attended funerals, voted in a Presidential primary, witnessed numerous meetings and Perry Mason episodes, the cheating scandal in major league baseball, the impeachment trial of our 45^th President, the rollercoaster ride of our financial markets, the demolition of our local Marie Callender (the end of strawberry-rhubarb pie, as I know it), watched in amazement the a claim or dispute brought to a court of law for adjudication, and the demise of Detroit sports; Tigers, Lions, Red Wings, and Pistons – all stink.

My alma mater opened a new and improved hockey arena (Appleton Arena Part Deux). I still to this day reminisce about Ronny Zamboni and his brother, from the old days of Appleton Arena. My New Years’ resolution was to be “anti-social”, I have yet to accomplish this resolution, probably for the best. I purchased a new suit, trust me, a major development in this writer’s life.

But there still has been some routines continuing into 2020: no socks, no reply all emails, I still love newspapers (actually reading of news on paper), lent is here and thus no Coca Cola for forty six days, the best part of my day remains being with family, working with students, very rarely having to put on an overcoat or boots, and being with my homies.

So Twentysomething we begin – I am glad you all are here for the ride.

COLLEGE CHRONICLES – Education Department Investigating Harvard, Yale Over Foreign Funding: The Education Department opened investigations into Harvard and Yale as part of a continuing review that it says has found U.S. universities failed to report at least $6.5 billion in foreign funding from countries such as China and Saudi Arabia, according to department materials reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The investigations into the Ivy League schools are the latest in a clash between U.S. universities and a coalition of federal officials including law enforcement, research funders such as the National Institutes of Health, and a bipartisan group in Congress that have raised concerns about higher-education institutions' reliance on foreign money, particularly from China.

The Chair - Academics channeled their inner screenwriter this past weekend after the news broke that Sandra Oh would be starring as a department chair at a major university in a coming series on Netflix.

It wasn’t immediately clear what, if any, university would be depicted in The Chair, which will feature Oh, the star of Killing Eve, as chair of an English department. The series — written by the actress Amanda Peet with Annie Julia Wyman, who earned a Ph.D. at Harvard — as a “dramedy.”

Academe quickly took notice, with some wondering why it had taken Hollywood so long to “mine that rich field for comedy.”

Boy could I write a few screenplays on this topic.

POLITICS 101 - Donald Trump: I Won’t Be Releasing My Tax Returns  

Bernie Sanders: I Won’t Be Releasing My Medical Records

Joe Biden: I Won’t Be Releasing His Son’s Travel Schedule

ON THIS DATE - After a 19-year run, Walter Cronkite was seen for the last time as the main anchorman of the CBS Evening News on this date in 1981. The end of real network journalism.

MARKET WEEK - Energy: Oil dipped, dived, and dodged after OPEC and its buddy Russia couldn’t agree to a production cut that would prop up oil prices during the coronavirus epidemic. Low oil prices are generally good for consumers but bad for producer countries.

U.S. markets: You’ll never believe it, but stocks actually ended the week slightly higher—strong February jobs numbers didn't hurt. The bond market continued to sound the alarm, though, as 10-year Treasury yields dipped below 0.7% for the first time.

Fun with numbers: Up 1,293, down 785, up 1,173, down 969, down 256. The Dow point moves this week.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage dropped to 3.29% this week, its lowest level on record. Maybe it’s worth dropping by an open house after all.

What’s going on: We’re seeing the power of a Fed rate cut in action.

30-year mortgage rates have no free will—they move in lockstep with 10-year U.S. Treasuries.

Treasury yields were already at all-time lows because of concerns the coronavirus would hit future economic growth. Investors buy Treasuries when they want to play it safe, and yields move inversely to prices.

In an emergency move this week, the Fed cut interest rates...sending yields even lower. The 10-year yield dropped under 1% on Tuesday, a milestone that was unthinkable last year.

What does this mean in real life? With borrowing rates underneath the basement, homeowners are racing to lock in cheaper loans.

A refinancing bonanza:

Mortgage refinancing applications are up 224% from the same week last year, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.

And industry records are being shattered, reports Bloomberg:

The country’s No. 1 mortgage lender, Quicken Loans, said Monday was the busiest day for mortgage applications in its 35-year history.

Also on Monday, United Wholesale Mortgage approved a single-day record of $2.5 billion in preliminary loans.

The thing is, to process this flood of applications you’re going to need a lot of people. So the mortgage industry is on a hiring spree to take advantage of the gold rush.

“If you’re not making $1 million this year as a loan officer, you’re grossly incompetent,” a Gold Star Mortgage Financial exec explained.

JPMorgan Chase shifted some of its home-equity employees to the mortgage division last week, per the WSJ.

Looking ahead...we’re about to enter the busy spring season when lots of homes trade hands. While low mortgage rates offer enticing financing opportunities, they also spur more demand. In some U.S. cities, higher prices and a lack of inventory have led to an affordability crisis.

Finally, a reason to sing happy birthday that has nothing to do with hand washing. The longest-ever U.S. bull market in stocks turns 11 today, but the coronavirus presents an existential threat no one saw coming.

Oil futures fell an incredible 30% last night in their biggest plunge since the Gulf War in 1991.

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to Alex Ball ….famous political operative, Michelle Graves …famous public servant, Alley Krich ….famous ULV football fan, Jack Nicholson (80), Silly Putty (70).

WOMEN IN GLOBAL BOARDROOMS - Female representation on corporate boards around the world has doubled in the last decade. But board members — who play a big role in corporate decision-making and earn big money for their labors — are still much more likely to be male.

Sunday was International Women's Day, and — despite unprecedented pressure from shareholders and others to diversify boardrooms — the prospects for gender parity there are bleak.

Researchers say it could take another 25 years before there are just as many women as men in boardrooms worldwide.

Last year saw the biggest annual gain in global board seats held by women since 2009. California's boardroom law — which mandates that all California-based companies must have at least one female director — deserves part of the credit.

Outside the U.S., a number of countries, like Belgium, Norway and France, require that companies have a certain number of women on boards.

Shareholder pressure may also be pushing companies to act faster.

There's progress outside of the corporate world:

Take the Federal Reserve. One of the most influential economic policy bodies in the world has taken a lot of flak for being too white and too male. But now, per a Reuters analysis, white men hold fewer than half the board seats at the Fed's 12 regional banks for the first time in its 107-year history.

Christine Lagarde became the first woman to head Europe's central bank last year, and Ursula von Leyen is the first to lead the European Commission.

While all-male boards are becoming more rare, they're still dominated by men.

The typical S&P 500 board seats four men for every woman, according to Bank of America.

FINANCE 101 –

Dow Jones Industrial Index:

2017 - 19819.78

2018 - 23,062.40

2019 - 28,583.44

- Gain of 44.2%

Median Household Income:

2017 - $62,626

2018 - $63,179

2019 - $63,688

- Gain of 1.6%

Minimum Wage:

2017: $7.25

2018: $7.25

2019: $7.25

- Gain of 0.0%

POTUS WEEK AHEAD - President Trump’s schedule, per a White House official:

Monday: Trump will participate in a roundtable and speak at a fundraising lunch in Longwood, Florida.

Tuesday: Trump will present the Medal of Freedom to retired Gen. Jack Keane.

Wednesday: ??????

Thursday: Trump will meet with the prime minister of Ireland and participate in the Shamrock Bowl presentation. However, he’s expected to skip the annual St. Patrick's Day lunch in the Capitol, one of Washington's oldest time-honored bipartisan traditions.

Friday: Trump will attend a fundraiser in the Denver area for Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, per the AP.

ST. ELSEWHERE –

COVID-19 Prevention Tips / California Department of Health

-          Wash hands with soap and water

-          Avoid touching eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands

-          No reply all emails

-          Avoid close contact with people who are sick

-          Stay home if you are sick

There are lots of scary coronavirus scenarios that are pure speculation. But we don't need to go down that road: There are already enough grim changes to daily life that we know are coming.

Here's what to expect in the weeks and even months ahead:

More cases: As testing improves, the number of new cases may seem like an explosion because we are more likely to be catching cases that we previously would have missed.

More deaths that don't fit the pattern. At a White House press conference Feb. 29, Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health noted that most deaths will be in the high-risk groups — senior citizens and people already in bad health. But every once in a while, he said, "you're going to see a 25-year-old person, who looks otherwise well, that's going to get seriously ill."

More isolation: Austin's South by Southwest festival was the latest huge event to be spiked — and it won't be the last. This week's AFL-CIO Presidential Forum, a major energy conference, a Federal Reserve event, the Milken Institute Global Conference and others have been called off or postponed.

More school closures: A Seattle-area district closed its schools. As more cases are discovered, expect other schools to shut down. Yours truly is ready to transfer to online course teaching at a moment’s notice.

More disruption to religious services.

More remote work: Companies, including Starbucks, are moving shareholder meetings online.

More economic interruption:

More home cooking: More people stocking up. And takeout delivery could suffer as fears grow of contamination among food-prep workers who can't take sick days.

More flight cancellations: But the industry recovered quickly after 9/11 and the 2003 SARS epidemic.

More movie industry losses: It's not just that you'll have to wait longer to see that new James Bond film. The whole industry is bracing to lose billions of dollars.

WORD OF THE MONTH - retrospection

[ re-truh-spek-shuhn ]

Noun: the action, process, or faculty of looking back on things past.

Retrospection, and the slightly earlier noun retrospect, are based on retrospect-, past participle stem of New Latin retrōspicere “to look,” based on Latin adverb retrō “backward, back, behind” and specere “to look (at).” Retrospection, then, is the act of looking back, as many do when reflecting at the end of the year. The stem retrospect– may be partly based on (pro)spect, from Latin prōspectus “outlook, view,” composed of prō “before, in front of, for” and the same specere. Latin specere is the ultimate source of many English words involving various senses of “looking”: aspect, circumspect, expect, inspect, introspect, spectacular, and suspect, among many others. Retrospection entered English in the early 1600s.

“He was roused from the reverie of retrospection and regret produced by it …”

JANE AUSTEN, MANSFIELD PARK, 1814

LAX - From 1978 to 2009, five schools — Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, North Carolina and Virginia — won every Division I men's lacrosse national championship. Since then, they have won just three.

Meanwhile, four first-time champions were crowned last decade — Duke, Loyola (Md.), Denver and Yale — and three of the current top 20 teams — No. 2 Penn State, No. 7 Maryland and No. 19 Ohio State — play in the Big Ten, a lacrosse conference that didn't even exist until 2015.

What's happening: Lacrosse has been the fastest-growing high school team sport for the past two decades and has expanded far beyond its east coast roots, but the number of men's D-I programs has remained relatively flat, especially compared to the women's game (75 men's D-I squads vs. 118 for women).

"With a larger talent pool to draw from and a similar number of programs competing for recruits, a lot more teams are now landing what used to be top-10 talent. It's kind of flattened that pyramid at the top and allowed programs like ours to climb the ladder."

— Mike Murphy, Penn men's lacrosse coach

While football powers like Florida, USC and Oregon have added women's lacrosse programs in recent years, they haven't added men's teams partly due to Title IX.

Vast football squads, without any female equivalent, must be balanced with several women's teams; creating another men's team only makes the math more difficult.

Michigan, Utah and Marquette are the only three big-time athletic programs that have gone D-I in men's lacrosse this century, but as the sport continues to grow in popularity, more could follow their lead.

SWAMI’S WEEK TOP PICKS –

College Hockey Pick of the Week – Saturday 13/15, 5:30 PM (EDT), BTN: Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals; University of Michigan Wolverines (18-14-4) vs. #11 Ohio State Buckeyes (20-11-5). I smell an upset in Columbus, a tall order but it can be done – Blue  5 Woodys 3.  (Season to Date 3-0)

NBA Pick of the Week: Sunday 3/15, 6:00 PM (PDT), ESPN: Denver Nuggets (42-12) vs. Los Angeles Lakers ( 49-13). Possible West semi-final matchup, Lakers had a big weekend beating Milwaukee and the Clippers. We like the Lake Show 105 – 100.

NHL Pick of the Week – Saturday 3/14, 7:00 PM (EDT)), HNIC: Toronto Maple Leafs  (35-25-9) vs. Boston Bruins (43-14-12). Bruins are too good for the overrated Leafs, B’s win 5 – 2.  (Season to Date 2-1)

NHL Stanley Cup Favorites:

East – Boston Bruins (by far the best team in the league thus far this season)

West – St. Louis Blues or Colorado Avalanche

2020 Season to Date (2-1)

Next Blog:  Sabbatical Part Deux

Until Monday March 23, 2020 Adios.

Claremont, California

March 9, 2020

#X-14-403

2,586 words, ten minute read

CARTOON OF THE WEEK – M.E. McNair, The New Yorker

RINK RATS POLL – NEVER HAVE I EVER

Give yourself 1 point for each thing you haven’t done:

1          1.     Skipped School           2.         Broken a bone

3,   Fired a gun                  4.         Done drugs

5.   Been in a limo             6.         Gotten a tattoo

7.   Ridden a horse           8.         Sung karaoke

9.   Gotten a ticket            10.      Been arrested

11. Gone zip lining           12.      Been on TV

13. Been on a cruise         14.      Gotten a piercing

15. Smoked                         16.      Met a celeb

17. Been skydiving            18.      Had a 1 night stand

19. Skinny dipped             20.      Been drunk

Rink Rats = 6

QUOTE OF THE MONTH – “Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.”

—    Lao Tzu