Weekend Edition
Welcome to March! Baseball is being played! COVID numbers are
(for now) dropping. Hope is real.
Happy March, and happy Women's History Month! If your 2021
resolutions vanished faster than scented spray-on hand sanitizer from Trader
Joe's, this first week of March could be a good chance to reset.
The uneven economic recovery in the U.S. is a cruel outcome of
the pandemic and systematic inequality. Millions of Americans remain
unemployed, and the systems we have in place to help have failed many of them.
But if you squint, there is a silver lining for some: More Americans have been
able to save money and pay off debt since lockdowns across the country have
meant less travel, less entertainment and less dining out.
For those lucky enough to be in such a position, possibly even
for the first time, the next question is: What should I do with it, especially
once life has returned to “normal”?
“Money is just like math, in that there is a good way to
proceed to get the answer right in the long term with your personal finances,”
said Brian Preston, certified public accountant and host of the YouTube channel
and podcast “The Money Guy Show.” “This is the best time in history for a
person who just has a few thousand dollars lying around.”
The big secret to being good at money is that there is only a
small handful of things you really need to know.
“Learn the fundamentals,” said Tiffany Aliche, a.k.a. “The
Budgetnista,” and author of “Get Good with Money.” “In a world that’s obsessed
with bitcoin, shorting and trading options, the financial fundamentals are
often passed over.”
She added: “The fundamentals ensure that you have a soft place
to land in challenging times and a strong place to build from in abundant
times.”
Here are some ideas on getting that financial education
started if you were fortunate to have socked away a little extra money, roughly
in the order that works for most average Americans.
Create an emergency fund
First, fortify your finances to make sure you’re prepared for
a disaster. Even before paying down high-interest credit card debt or chipping
away at student loans, if you’ve been able to put away a little cash over the
last year, your emergency fund should be your top priority, according to
experts.
Tackle high-interest debt
This isn’t the most glamorous path, but it is the one that
will offer by far the highest returns. After padding your emergency fund to a
comfortable level — around six months of expenses, give or take — consider
putting any extra money you were able to save toward debt with interest of
around six percent or higher.
What to do if you still have a little left
If you’re in the position to have a little cash left over at
this point, a lot of options open up.
The best explanation of how to handle money I’ve ever come
across is this flowchart from the Personal Finance subreddit. In clear,
unambiguous terms, it shows you what you should do with your money depending on
where your finances are, and how to plan for the steps to come. It generally
mirrors what a good book on the subject will tell you and what most advisers
would recommend.
You may also be wondering, given all the recent coverage of
“meme stocks” like GameStop and AMC, if you should invest in individual stocks.
Time and time again, all the data show that investing is low-cost index funds
is the surest path to financial independence. It is not the most exciting way
to invest, but it is, in the long run, the most reliable. (That said, if you
want to gamble a few bucks you’d be fine losing, have at it. Just never gamble
more than you’re OK losing.)
WHAT’S ON MY iPHONE PLAYLIST THIS FIRST WEEKEND IN
MARCH? -
1). “Our House”, 1970: Crosby, Still, & Nash
2). “China Grove”, 1973: The Doobie Brothers
3). “Rednecks White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer”, 1973: Johnny
Russell
4). “Grazing in the Grass”, 1968: Hugh Masekela
5). “Danny Boy”, 1945: Bing Crosby
TEX AND BALANCES – I am going to start
with a pretty controversial statement: Wearing a mask is really not a big deal.
I don't get why that comment is controversial, but it is. And now, with our
race against Covid-19 at a key point of inflection, Texas is opening. Everything.
"It is now time to open Texas 100%," Governor Abbott said to cheers
and applause at a restaurant in Lubbock. "Everybody who wants to work
should have that opportunity. Every business that wants to be open should be
open." This is exactly the right message, but it is being delivered
several weeks too soon. And when it comes to Covid-19, timing is everything. It
is mind boggling that science has given us several effective vaccines in such a
short time. More mind boggling that some
politicians are determined to punch that gift horse in the mouth.
We're so friggin close... U.S. will have enough COVID-19
vaccines For all adults by May.
Preliminary studies suggest that the variant that swept
through the city of Manaus, Brazil is not only more contagious, but it also
appears able to infect some people who have already recovered from other
versions of the virus. And the variant has slipped Brazil's borders, showing up
in two dozen other countries and in small numbers in the United States. And so
it goes.
All three COVID vaccines authorized in the U.S. — Moderna,
Pfizer/BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson — have high rates of preventing
hospitalization and death.
But there are key differences:
The most obvious is the dosing. J&J requires only one
shot, although a second booster dose is being tested. Pfizer and Moderna’s
vaccines require two doses, a few weeks apart.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been more effective than
the J&J vaccine in clinical trials at preventing any symptomatic disease.
Some experts quickly point out that the vaccines weren’t compared directly
against one another, so the differences may be on paper only.
But on paper, those differences appear significant: The Pfizer
and Moderna vaccines offer protection of more than 90%, while J&J’s efficacy
against symptomatic disease is 66%.
Yours truly has vaccine number one this Friday March 5.
COVID-19 UPDATE - A 57-year-old Santa
Clara woman died on February 6, 2020. We didn't know it at the time, but she
was the country's first Covid-19 death. Since that day, we've lost more than
500,000 Americans to the pandemic. So
much of this carnage was avoidable. The Capitol insurrection was a visible
crime. The COVID lies were a crime against humanity.
U.S. SCHOOLS - Most of the schools
that went virtual-only after the winter COVID wave have returned to in-person
education.
The U.S. is seeing an almost-universal return of schools that
were in-person as of November.
Some districts that have been closed since March 2020 are also
reopening.
Elementary schools in Ohio, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington,
Tennessee, Virginia and Maryland started in-person classes this week.
With proper precautions, the CDC said it will be possible for
schools to conduct some form of in-person learning even with various levels of
community spread.
SPAC ATTACK - Let's talk smack about the
pack with a knack for being in the black chasing after the latest SPAC like it
was crack, ignoring those giving them flack for being off track with the latest
financial hack. SPACs, or Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, are everywhere
these days. On the most basic level, they offer a more simple way for companies
to go public. Should we be worried that celebrities are getting in on the SPAC
game? Anyone Who's Anyone Has a SPAC Right now. Sturgeon's law, coined by
Theodore Sturgeon, a science-fiction writer, it holds that '90 percent of
everything is crap.' A handful of SPACs performed really well over the last two
years. That doesn't mean the Shaq SPAC will, too. 'What always happens with
investors, no matter the asset class or the decade, somebody hits the lottery
and everyone else piles in ... The SPAC enthusiasm is just investor behavior.
People look at these as lottery tickets, and very often they're not." (I
like to think of SPAC's as a great tool for people who need more action but
don't understand bitcoin...)
In simpler times, famous-people-turned-entrepreneurs bought
wineries or invested in car dealerships — or simply created
multi-billion-dollar lifestyle companies on the strength of their family brand.
But in the pandemic economy, there’s a new way for the rich
and recognized to flex their status and wealth: through a SPAC. Jay-Z is involved with one. Shaquille O’Neal
has one. Ciara Wilson (who?) sits on the board of one, as does Serena Williams.
MARCH-A-LAGO – The Thing emerged at
CPAC on Sunday past ready to let loose. Here is what we learned from his first
big post-presidency speech:
1) He’s not letting go of the “big lie.” The Thing spent the
first part of his speech blasting Biden — which is what his advisers were
hoping for. Just when they might have breathed a sigh of relief, The Thing went
on a tear about the 2020 election being “rigged” and claimed he won — the very
falsehood that led his followers to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The irony of this quote is mind-blowing: “We can never let
this or other abuses of the 2020 election be repeated or happen again,” The
Thing said. “We need election integrity and election reform immediately.
Republicans should be the party of honest elections.”
Republicans in Washington let out a collective groan. It puts
them right back in the position of rebuking The Thing or looking spineless. Not
to mention they think the stolen election claim hurts GOP turnout and is a big
reason the party lost in Georgia.
2) SCOTUS: From greatest accomplishment to top target. Once
upon a time, The Thing touted the filling of three Supreme Court vacancies as
perhaps his greatest accomplishment. On Sunday, he attacked the conservative
court as “cowards” for refusing his bid to overturn the election results.
“They should be ashamed of themselves,” he said. “They didn’t
have the guts or the courage to make the right decision.” (Someone check Senate
Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL’S blood pressure.)
3) The Thing wants revenge. His advisers got him to clarify
that he does not want to start a third party. He called such reports “fake
news” and claimed the GOP was united. But The Thing also couldn’t resist naming
each Republican who voted to impeach him, including several who are already
facing primary challenges. “Get rid of ’em all!” The Thing said.
This is problematic for House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY:
He’s going to have to choose between his own incumbents and the ex-president,
who’s great for grassroots fundraising.
The Thing did go easy on McConnell. The crowd booed when The
Thing mentioned the Senate GOP leader, but Trump moved on quickly.
4) The Thing wants Republicans to donate — to him only.
“There’s only one way to contribute to our efforts to elect America First
Republican conservatives and … to make America great again,” he told the crowd,
“and that’s through Save America PAC and TheThing.com. … We need your help to
win.”
The line was notable because, as NYT’s Maggie Haberman pointed
out on Twitter, he seemed to imply Republicans shouldn’t give to other entities
like, for example, the RNC.
5) Transgender rights are the right’s new culture war. While
many CPAC attendees privately said The Thing’s speech was ho-hum, with his
standard-fare mentions of windmills and socialism, the former president did
stir the crowd with anti-transgender rhetoric, particularly about women’s
sports. As WaPo’s Dave Weigel noted on Twitter, The Thing curbed transgender
rights with executive orders but didn’t often talk about the issue at rallies.
That changed Sunday, days after House Democrats passed the Equality Act.
6) Let the 2024 games begin. The Thing teased another run for
president, offering a taste of potentially years of will-he-or-won’t-he
speculation he’s all too happy to stoke. The other 2024 hopefuls will have to
get used to it. “Who knows?” The Thing said of a potential sequel.
Surprisingly, only 68% of CPAC attendees said in their straw poll that they
want The Thing to run again, though 95% said they want his platform to remain
the GOP’s.
A BIT OF THE IRISH –
President Biden’s proclamation as March designated Irish-American Heritage
Month references his own Irish ancestors: “the Blewitts from County Mayo and
the Finnegans of County Louth.”
“My grandparents AMBROSE FINNEGAN and GERALDINE BLEWITT met
and married in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and passed on to my mother, CATHERINE
EUGENIA FINNEGAN BIDEN, a pride and a passion that runs through the bloodstream
of all Irish-Americans,” he wrote.
COLLEGE CHRONICLES - The
American Arbitration Association ruled this week that the Ithaca College
Administration unjustly disciplined Tom Schneller, a contingent professor in
music and a leader of the IC Contingent Faculty Union (SEIU Local 200United),
for engaging in legal, protected union activity.
At issue was an open letter to tenured faculty titled
“Solidarity in a Time of Crisis: A Plea from Your Contingent Colleagues” that
was written and signed by the union leadership and posted by Schneller to an
electronic bulletin board for the IC community on May 6. The
statement described the “harrowing anxiety” of contingent
professors facing imminent layoffs “about being able to pay rent, heat their
apartments and feed their kids come fall when they are unemployed and
potentially ineligible for unemployment insurance.”
According to the union, the message was intended to foster a
sense of community among faculty and encourage voluntary mutual aid.
In response, the Ithaca College administration accused
Schneller, as the individual posting the statement on behalf of the union, of
violating the no-strike clause in the collective bargaining agreement and
threatened him with potential future discipline “up to and including
termination,” union officials said. The administration also sent two messages
to the chair and vice-chair of the union demanding a public retraction by the
union of the open letter.
To protest, the union filed a grievance, which was denied by
Provost La Jerne Terry Cornish. In consequence, the union took the matter to
arbitration with the American Arbitration Association, which this week ruled in
favor of the union.
The arbitrator found that the college failed to prove that the
union violated the collective bargaining agreement, that there was no conduct
on the part of Schneller that would warrant a disciplinary warning, and that
the discipline was therefore “without just cause.” Ithaca College has been
ordered to expunge the disciplinary warning from Schneller’s personnel file.
BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEKEND –
Birthday wishes and thoughts this weekend to Bryan Cranston (65), Peter
Jacobsen (67), Allison Krich …famous Jayhawk fan, Alan Greenspan (95),
Catherine O’Hara (67), Shaquille O’Neal (49).
WEEKEND RINK RATS QUIZ - The
Grammys are approaching — which former president is a three-time Grammy winner?
John Kennedy
Theodore Roosevelt
Jimmy Carter
Barack Obama
(Answer is at the end of the blog.)
ZOOM FATIGUE - The constant stream of
eyeball-straining, headache-inducing, don’t-get-caught-yawning Zoom calls are
having a tangible effect on our brains, according to a new study from Stanford
researchers.
The study, which is the first peer-reviewed article to look at
the psychological consequences of spending so much time on video calls, highlights
how stressful it is to stare at our co-workers on such a frequent basis.
“When someone’s face is that close to ours in real life, our
brains interpret it as an intense situation that is either going to lead to
mating or to conflict,” according to a news release from Stanford.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Investors are maybe feeling some Zoom fatigue, too. Shares of
the company are down around 16% in the last 10 days after exploding 443% in
2020. Zoom reports Q4 earnings this week.
PICKLEBALL - Pickleball has emerged as the
fastest-growing sport in America, with more than 3.5 million players across the
country.
Birthed in the 1960s, the game combines elements of ping-pong,
badminton, and tennis. It’s become a trendy way to get exercise as people seek
alternatives to closed gyms.
From 2016-2019, pickleball’s participation rate increased by
9.7%, with people 65 and older accounting for one-fifth of all players. Numbers
from 2020 are not yet released.
Pickleball has gained enough momentum to attract endorsers and
broadcasting contracts.
Last year, the Professional Pickleball Association announced
an agreement with ESPN, which will see the network air all of the league’s 2021
tournaments.
In 2018, racquet maker Selkirk Sport signed Tyson McGuffin,
the world’s top-ranked pickleball player, to an endorsement deal. Terms were
not disclosed.
The accessibility of pickleball has made it attractive to a
broad swath of the public.
“Pickleball still has that backyard, beer-drinking sports
feel,” said McGuffin. “Coming from playing college tennis and pro tennis, it is
so much more enjoyable.”
The final match of the World Pickleball Championship aired on
CBS Sports on Sunday February 7. It was the first pickleball tournament with
$100,000 in cash prizes and generated an estimated $1 million for the local
Punta Gorda, Fla. economy.
OUT AND ABOUT – Another Zoom-A-Thon
this past week of Scotty Graham’s “Hockey Old Bastards” group. After the wine
was poured, Dave Yoshida (Dryden, Ontario) (St. Lawrence ’73) was the surprise
guest. “Yosh” our former RA (Resident Assistant, Sykes 2nd Floor) brought us up
to date regarding famous “St. Lawrence Legends of Hockey”: Tim Pelyk, Mike
Shannon, Al MacCormack (he still has not picked up a dinner check), Gary “Nic”
Webb, and Mike Kennan. All are doing well. Yosh lives in Florida most of the
year, he is still hiding the money from the government for his clients on their
tax returns. These “Hockey Old Bastards” Zoom sessions are so much fun, they
certainly keep us young in spirit.
ON THIS DATE - 146 years ago today
(March 3, 1875), the first organized indoor ice hockey game took place at the
Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal.
Prior to moving indoors, ice hockey was a casual outdoor game
played on frozen ponds, with no set dimensions or number of players per side.
The Victoria Skating Rink was snug, so teams were limited to
nine players each.
The hockey "ball" was replaced by a square, wooden
disk (puck), which was easier to control and safer for players and spectators.
The "father of ice hockey": The game was organized
by Montreal resident and future McGill University law student James Creighton.
In 1877, Creighton published the rules of the game, known as
the Montreal Rules.
That same year, he became the captain of the first organized
ice hockey team, the McGill University Hockey Club.
Hockey, traditionally played on grass with a stick and a ball,
traces its roots all the way back to ancient Greece, Egypt and Persia. It
remains popular in this form, now called field hockey.
Here is a picture of the Ithaca Stars back in the 70’s, 1970’s
that is….
SWAMI’S WEEKEND TOP PICKS –
NBA Pick of the Week –
Thursday 3/4, 7:00 PM (EDT), NESN:
Toronto Raptors (17-17) vs. Boston Celtics (18-17). As the NBA heads
into the All-Star break two hot and cold teams meet. Celtics win this one 98 –
95. (Season to date 2-6)
NHL Pick of the Week –
Saturday 3/6, 6:00 PM (PDT), FSWEST: St.
Louis Blues (12-8-2) vs. Los Angeles Kings (9-7-4). Kings are beginning to look
like a playoff club, Dustin Brown (Ithaca, N.Y.) is at the top of his game.
Kings win 4 – 3. (Season to date
5-1)
NCAA College Hockey Pick of the Week – Friday
3/5, 7:00 PM (CDT), ESPN+: #7 Michigan Wolverines (13-8-1) vs. #3 Minnesota
Golden Gophers (14-5-0). A huge Big Ten (14) conference game, Big Blue pulls an
upset at 3M Arena 5 – 4. (Season to
Date 5-2)
Season to Date (16-10)
WEEKEND RINK RATS QUIZ ANSWER - JIMMY CARTER has won
three Grammys — one for his autobiography “Faith: A Journey For All” in 2018;
another for “A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety” in 2015; and another for “Our
Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis” in 2006.
Next Blog:
Dear Rink Rats, I miss movie theatres, nap time.
Until Monday March 15, 2021 Adios.
Claremont, California
March 4, 2021
#XI-28-434
3,485 words, six-minute read
CARTOON OF THE WEEKEND - Zoe Si
RINK RATS POLL – How many cups of coffee
do you drink each day?
___ None
___ One
___ Two
___ Three
___ Three +
QUOTE OF THE MONTH: “The
best teachers are also leaders, and the best leaders are also teachers.” - Professor
Thomas DeLong
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.
www.rhasserinkrats.blogspot.com
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