Weekend Edition
BUENOS DÍAS good
Saturday morning.
Covid-19 is a wake-up call for the West,
especially for its elite. This year could mark a reverse in history. Five
hundred years ago, Europe was a bloody backwater while China was the most
advanced country in the world, with the world’s most sophisticated civil
service, selected by rigorous examination from across the whole country. The
West overtook the East because its leaders mastered the art of government,
producing a succession of powerful innovations—the nation-state, the liberal
state, the welfare state—while the Chinese state ossified, its Mandarin elite
unaware that it was even in competition with anyone else. By the 1960s, America
was putting a man on the moon while millions of Chinese were dying of
starvation.
Since the 1960s, however, this process has been
reversed. Led by Singapore, Asia has been improving its state machinery while
the West has ossified. Covid-19 shows just how far this change in the balance
of competence has gone. Countries like South Korea, Singapore and even China
have done far better at protecting their citizens than either the U.S. or
Britain, where governments have conspicuously failed to work. Been to a Supreme
Court nomination announcement lately?
But the biggest change that is needed is a
change of mind-set. Unlike the dead aristocrats in the churchyards, the geeks
who run Google and Facebook have no sense of guilt to give them pause and few
ties of blood and soil to connect them to a particular patch of land. They
believe that their fortunes are the product of nothing but their own innate
genius. They owe the rest of us nothing.
This needs to change. Over the past decade both
the Democratic Party and the Republican Party have been shaken by the forces of
populism. The shaking will only get worse if the elites don’t play a more
active role in politics. Since the Covid-19 outbreak, we have been reminded
that good government can make the difference between life and death. Look at
the two cities where the Western elite feel most at home: New York has lost
more than 20,000 people, London 6,000 (at times the mortality rate was higher
than the Blitz). By contrast, in Seoul, a bigger city with subways, nightclubs
and everything else, only around 30 have died.
We live in a knowledge economy. For elites,
exercising social responsibility should mean more than giving away money,
though that is an admirable thing. It should mean sharing your brain—serving,
not just giving. Michael Bloomberg did that as mayor of New York during the
difficult decade after 9/11, and Bill Gates is the greatest philanthropist of
his time not just because of the amount of money he has spent but because he
devotes so much time to designing and driving his philanthropic work.
DEAR RINK RATS:
In response to the pandemic, the U.S. government
gave employers the option to defer their employees’ Social Security
contributions. I just got a notification from my employer that they will not be
deferring my contributions, even though I could certainly use the extra money.
Why did my employer choose not to defer my payroll tax?
Regards,
Paul A.
Badwater,
California
DEAR PAUL,
Though deferring your Social Security
contribution gives you extra income now, it is not free money. It’s more like a
loan from the government, and at some point in the not too distant future, you
will have to make up the payments you skip. The risk of payroll tax deferral is
that employees will feel richer and increase their spending, leaving them
unable to pay their taxes when they come due. For this reason, I think the
program will leave most people worse off in the long term, so while your
employer may be depriving you of a benefit now, it is actually helping you
avoid financial hardship in the future.
Sincerely,
Rink Rats
JACK ASS OF THE MONTH – Plenty of
candidates for this month, ranging from political, sports, entertainment, and
higher education. Speaking of higher education, in May, John Jenkins, the
president of Notre Dame wrote an op-ed in The New York Times titled, “We’re
Reopening Notre Dame. It’s Worth the Risk.” In the piece, Jenkins also wrote
about the challenges that athletics present in the wake of the pandemic but
said that, “We believe we can, with aggressive testing, hygiene and careful
monitoring, keep student-athletes safe.”
The president of Notre Dame has tested positive for Covid-19 nearly a week after he attended a White House event where he was spotted without a mask.
Fr. John Jenkins tested positive and is now
isolated with mild symptoms, according to a message from the school sent to
members of the Campus Community Friday afternoon. This comes nearly a week
after Jenkins attended the announcement for the White House Supreme Court of
the United States nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett.
He was seen at the announcement shaking hands
and not wearing a mask.
On Monday, Jenkins wrote a letter to his
students titled "I regret my error of judgment in not wearing a
mask," in which he apologized and said he would quarantine out of an
abundance of caution in accordance with university protocols.
"I know many of you have read about the
White House ceremony I recently attended. I write to express my regret for
certain choices I made that day and for failing to lead as I should have,"
Jenkins said in the letter.
Fr. John Jenkins tested positive and is now
isolated with mild symptoms, according to a message from the school sent to
members of the Campus Community Friday afternoon.
"My symptoms are mild, and I will continue
work from home," Jenkins said in the press release. "The positive
test is a good reminder for me and perhaps for all of how vigilant we need to
be.”
Americans have been living a grim reality for
seven months -- a sheltered and lonely existence tainted by disease, layoffs
and general malaise.
But the political class in Washington has been
chugging along as if little has changed. Congress comes into session nearly
every week without an institutional testing mandate -- thank the bipartisan
leadership for that. President Trump holds mostly maskless rallies -- and, for
good measure, this week his out-of-town event was matched with a Trump Victory
watch party at the Trump Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, where lawmakers mingled
with one another. And Congress and the administration have been unable to notch
a Covid relief agreement for months.
Reality has suddenly intruded on the capital
city.
We certainly wish Fr. Jenkins good health and
recovery. But his irresponsible personal handling of COVID-19 is one of the
main reasons the virus is still haunting America. As an example of our leader’s
poor management of this virus Fr. Jenkins is this month’s JACK ASS.
BIRTHDAYS
THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to Karen Ball ….famous
sister, Jeff Bracken …famous southern California rancher, Devorah Lieberman …
POTULV, Karla Suffredini …famous sister.
MARKET WEEK - The U.S. economy added 661,000 jobs last month,
and the unemployment rate dipped to 7.9% from 8.4% in August.
The rate of the recovery in the labor market is slowing down. This
was the first jobs report since April that showed net hiring below 1 million
new jobs.
The slowdown is not exactly a surprise. Economists know the
unemployment rate is a lot like your gym routine—easily knocked off track and
sluggish to return to full strength. Take these stats, for example:
More than half of the jobs lost in March-April have now been
recovered, but that means there are still 10.7 million fewer people with jobs
than before the pandemic.
At the current rate, it would take 16 months to recoup all those
jobs...but as we just mentioned, the hiring pace is slowing down.
This jobs report capped off a week in which big corporate names
announced drastic reductions to their workforces:
Disney cut 28,000 workers at its slumping resorts.
United and American Airlines began to furlough 32,000 employees
after stimulus discussions stalled.
Other blue-chip companies, including Allstate and Goldman Sachs,
also announced layoffs.
These moves show that the coronavirus is still crimping growth
nearly seven months after initial shutdowns. With most of the emergency aid
from March spent by now, businesses will increasingly look to the government to
ensure the recovery doesn’t completely stall out.
TOP THREE – Rock Bands of all time:
1). The Beatles
2). The Rolling Stones
3). Led Zeppelin
THE SWAMI’S
WEEKEND PICKS –
NFL Football Pick of the Week –
Sunday 10/4, 1:25 PM (PT), CBS: Kansas City Chiefs (3-0) vs. New England
Patriots (2-1), Two words – Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs win 38 - 21 . (Season
to Date 3-0)
College Football Pick of the Week –
Saturday 10/3, 12:30 PM (PT), CBS: South Carolina Gamecocks vs. #3 Florida
Gators, it has been awhile but the Gators are legit, 40 - 20. (Season
to Date 2-1)
MLB Pick of the Week – Saturday 10/3, 5:07 PM (PT) TBS: Game one of the
American League Division Series (Best of Five), New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay
Rays, we like the Yanks in this series (3-2) and in this game, 7 - 4. (Season to Date (3-1)
English Premier League Pick of the
Week – Saturday 10/3, 9:30 AM (PT) NBCSN: Leeds United
(2-0-1) v. Manchester City (1-0-1), Man City wins 3 - 2. (Season to
Date 1-2)
2020
Season to Date (21 - 15)
Next Blog: “Time”
Until
Monday October 12, 2020 Adios.
Claremont,
California
October
3, 2020
#XI-12-418
1,689 words, five-minute read
CARTOON OF THE WEEKEND – Cat Calendar
RINK RATS POLL – Mail or
in-person vote this election?
___ Mail
___ In Person
___ I am not voting
QUOTE OF THE MONTH – "Forget it’s five o’clock
somewhere. It’s 2020 everywhere, drink when you want." – Danica
Patrick
Rink Rats is a blog
of weekly observations, predictions and commentary. We welcome your comments
and questions. Also participate in our monthly poll. Rink Rats is now viewed in
Europe, Canada, South America and the United States.
Posted at Rink Rats The Blog: First Published – May 3, 2010
Our Eleventh Year.
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