If

 

BY RUDYARD KIPLING

 

If you can keep your head when all about you  

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,  

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;  

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

 

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;  

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;  

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;  

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,  

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,  

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,  

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,  

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

 

One of my favorite poems. Happy Father’s Day to all.

 

WELCOME BACK KOTTER - Teaching has become one of the most draining jobs in America.

Today's teachers are navigating school shootings, a pandemic and intensifying political interference in their lesson plans — all while their wages remain stagnant.

Teachers are asking whether the burdens are worth it. Experts warn of a coming staffing shortage.

Teaching has long been an underpaid profession. But in the last two years, America's demands on its educators have mounted.

When the pandemic hit, teachers were asked to take on virtual instruction overnight — a task many felt unprepared for, both in their own skills, and the technology available to them and their students.

When schools reopened, teachers became essential workers who risked infection — and their lives — to come into classrooms.

They feel unsafe in a country that has already seen 27 school shootings this year.

And their classrooms have become political minefields, as lawmakers dictate what they can teach, what students read and what programs are offered to help kids with their social and emotional needs.

In the 1970s, the U.S. minted roughly 200,000 new teachers a year. That has fallen to below 90,000.

An NEA survey found 55% of educators are considering leaving the profession earlier than they planned.

😎 Schools are still filled with passionate teachers who care deeply for their students.

Sari Beth Rosenberg, who teaches high school history in New York City, said: "Classrooms might be our last great hope in helping this generation come up with solutions to fix these crises."

 

2024 WATCH, GOP EDITION — The Thing may be teasing a comeback bid, but he hasn’t scared others off: No fewer than 15 Republicans are testing the waters for a 2024 presidential campaign. Mike Pence is eyeing South Carolina and the DEVOS family. Florida Gov. RON DESANTIS will use his reelection margin as a metric. MIKE POMPEO contacted CHARLIE KIRK. Some donors and activists are urging the party to move on from The Thing. Yet he still remains the frontrunner for now.

Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.), an erstwhile Thing competitor and current Thing ally, doesn’t sound worried: “The day that The Thing makes it clear he’s going to run — it would be a mountain to climb to beat him … If it’s a policy election, he’s in good shape. It’s his primary to lose.”

 

POTUS ABROAD — A controversial trip by President JOE BIDEN to Saudi Arabia will be announced as soon as Monday, as one leg on a Middle East expedition that will also include Israel. The much-ballyhooed meeting with authoritarian Crown Prince MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN is currently on the agenda. Biden told reporters earlier Saturday that he hadn’t made a decision yet about Saudi Arabia, but that any trip there would encompass more than just energy discussions. (The pressure to lower gas prices via more Saudi oil output is, of course, a major piece of the relationship.)

 

JACKASS OF THE MONTH – Speaking of the Saudis, this leads us to our Jackass of the Month.

After months of speculation, LIV (LIV stands for fifty-four the number of holes played in each event) Golf finally teed off this past week in London. We may be witnessing the dawn of a new era, or maybe just the early days of a well-funded startup doomed to fail. Either way, men's professional golf has changed forever, and there's no going back.

LIV is highly controversial, partly due to conflicts with the PGA Tour and partly because of where the money is coming from: the Saudi Arabian government.

LIV is funded by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, and critics allege the country is using golf to boost its global image (aka "sportswashing").

A huge part of LIV's appeal is money. The Saudis have pledged $400 million for this season, with $225 million going toward prize money. They're also giving top players guaranteed money just to join.

Each LIV golf event has a $25 million purse, and the winner gets $4 million. There are no cuts, so even last place earns $120,000. The season finale has a $50 million purse.

By comparison, the 2022 Masters had a record $15 million purse, and winner Scottie Scheffler pocketed $2.7 million. The 39 players who missed the cut went home with nothing.

LIV Golf, fronted by Hall of Famer Greg Norman, Rink Rats Jack of the Month, can play favorites, and is promising life-changing money. Norman tried something similar in 1994 with the World Golf Tour, but the PGA Tour shot it down (then basically stole the idea). How will it play out this time?

LIV is here, and it will likely be here for a while. The question is what it ultimately becomes: A PGA Tour competitor that demands attention, or a glitzy sideshow that never truly breaks through?

Greg Norman is another fine example of an egocentric narcissist who bullies and intimidates those whom he does business with. BTW he is friends with The Thing.

As professional golf spins towards chaos, we thank Greg Norman for leading the way. Rink Rats Jack Ass of the Month.

 

PAST PERFORMANCE / REAL ESTATE – Ron Herrera (RR reader) this is for you.

If you invest in a stock fund, you will be told something along the lines of: “Past performance is not indicative of future results.” The Securities and Exchange Commission actually requires this type of disclosure.

The words are a cliche at this point, but they’re useful in investing and real estate, too. Just because a home sells for 20% more than it was worth a year ago does not mean its value will soar another 20% during the next 12 months. In fact, it might mean quite the opposite.

On the other hand, looking back at historical price trajectories can actually be a useful clue that a market is overvalued. But beyond a gut feeling that things are heating up too fast, how is a homebuyer or seller supposed to know the trends in their market?

I really like this tool from Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University. It compares the current average home price in the 100 largest U.S. markets to what the price would be if historical trends continued.

 Prices are currently above trend in every market analyzed. The biggest gap is in Boise, Idaho. Buyers there paid $516,548 on average in April. The expected price? Just $299,202 — or 73% less.

“If we’re not at the peak of the current housing cycle, we’re awfully close,” Ken H. Johnson, an economist in FAU’s College of Business, said in a news release. “Recent buyers in many of these cities may have to endure stagnant or falling home values while the market settles — and that’s not what they want to hear if they had planned to resell anytime soon.”

 

MARKET WEEK – We've seen this stag film before... "The global economy may be headed for years of weak growth and rising prices, a toxic combination that will test the stability of dozens of countries still struggling to rebound from the pandemic, the World Bank warned Tuesday. Not since the 1970s — when twin oil shocks sapped growth and lifted prices, giving rise to the malady known as 'stagflation' — has the global economy faced such a challenge." WaPo (Gift Article): World Bank warns global economy may suffer 1970s-style stagflation. (Can we at least also have the 1970s quality of music and movies to go with it?)

INFLATION NATION — With less than five months to go before the midterms, Americans still haven’t gotten relief from high prices at the pump and the supermarket — just the opposite. The new inflation report out Friday morning shot past expectations: Consumer prices in May leaped 8.6% year over year, the highest jump since December 1981. They increased a full 1% from April. More details from the NYT

Everything from food to energy to cars to rent saw continued price increases last month. The “core” measure of inflation, which sets aside food and energy, leapt 6% year over year and 0.6% month to month. U.S. stocks plummeted on the news.

It is particularly dispiriting news for struggling Americans and policymakers because some indicators in the past few weeks had suggested that the U.S. might have passed the inflation peak. Economists and Biden administration officials had been hoping for a decrease. “We are looking to inflation moderating in the months ahead,” a White House official told reporters Thursday, per Eleanor Mueller.

 

Meanwhile, average gas prices sit at $4.99 as of today — just a tick away from a $5 threshold that will surely unleash a wave of bad headlines. To state the obvious, President JOE BIDEN’s foremost economic challenge doesn’t look like it’s fading anytime soon. Biden acknowledged in a statement today, “we must do more—and quickly—to get prices down here in the United States.”

The bad inflation news will likely embolden the Fed to continue on its pathway of raising interest rates, even as the central bank tries to walk a tightrope of not cooling down the economy too much. The report raises the odds that the Fed will push through yet another half-percentage-point increase in September, following expected raises this month and in July, WSJ’s Nick Timiraos reports.

An American household now has to pay an additional $460 every month to buy the same things they did a year ago.

 

 

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to Marv Albert (81), Elizabeth Hurley (57), Joe Montana (66), Dick Vitale (83).

 

SUMMER MOVIES - Here are the top movies — a mix of franchise films and new concepts — premiering this summer:

"Top Gun: Maverick" (May 27)

"Jurassic World: Dominion" (June 10)

Pixar's "Lightyear" (June 17)

"Elvis" (June 24)

"Minions: The Rise of Gru" (July 1)

"Thor: Love and Thunder" (July 8)

Jordan Peele's "Nope" (July 22)

 

CHRONICLES OF HIGHER EDUCATION – Piedmont University (Demorest, Ga.) provost Daniel Silber resigned abruptly on Tuesday in protest of proposed budget cuts and faculty layoffs, which the Board of Trustees was set to vote on this week.

In a highly critical email to colleagues announcing his departure, Silber wrote that the proposed budget cuts—which would be the second round this year—were “morally wrong" and that the budget process “failed to be properly inclusive.” He also argued that notifying faculty that they were being let go after the end of the academic year didn’t give them enough time to find new employment for next semester.

“I refuse to be a party to terminations that are carried out in such an unethical manner,” wrote Silber, who also served as senior vice president for academic affairs. “Now that this draconian measure is being implemented, I have no moral choice but to leave the institution.”

Steve Nimmo, dean of the school of arts and sciences, will take over as vice president for academic affairs on an interim basis. Piedmont has yet to name an acting provost.

Silber’s resignation comes just a month after the Piedmont Faculty Senate issued a vote of no confidence in university president James Mellichamp, in part over “mismanagement” of the school’s finances and a lack of budgetary transparency, according to the faculty resolution. The Board of Trustees dismissed the faculty call for Mellichamp’s resignation, expressing “complete confidence” in the president.

Piedmont cut 8 percent of its faculty in February and has yet to give any of its current faculty contracts for next academic year.

After a meeting to discuss the initial round of budget cuts in February, administrators promised there would be no more faculty reductions. But in April, the Board of Trustees rejected the budget that Mellichamp submitted for the coming academic year. Mellichamp announced that further cuts would have to be made—including 15 additional faculty positions.

“We are approximately two months away from the fall semester,” he said. “Telling a longtime faculty member, ‘You don’t have a job’ and leaving them with no hope of finding one for next year because everybody has already filled their positions, I think that is not morally defensible.”

In an email to faculty and staff on June 8, Mellichamp pushed back on the picture Silber painted in his resignation email, pinning the university’s budget shortfall on external circumstances.

“Our budget has been impacted by the pandemic, declines in graduate enrollment, volatility in the stock market, and overall economic uncertainty weighing on prospective students and their families,” he wrote. “Under these conditions, we have had to make difficult decisions as we chart the institution’s path through the pandemic and beyond.”

President Mellichamp’s justifications are only a small part of the story behind Piedmont’s financial troubles, which he said stem from mismanagement by administrators and the board.

“This is not because of the pandemic. The finances of the school have not been handled properly for the past three years. Because of that, we find ourselves in a difficult financial situation, and the administration wants to balance that budget by eliminating faculty positions.”

In their no-confidence resolution, the Piedmont faculty cite unforced budgetary errors and expanded “real estate ventures” as reasons for the budget shortfall.

According to the resolution, Mellichamp and other senior administration knew about the university’s “dire financial situation” for many months before faculty were made aware. This lack of communication is part of the problem that led to both the no-confidence vote and Silber’s resignation, and that the continued uncertainty has led remaining faculty members to consider looking for other work pre-emptively.

“I’ve got a number of faculty members who tell me they are actively searching, because they don’t want to be left in the lurch. “It is not good news for the university that we’re in this situation … Every day that this drags on there’s the potential we lose good faculty members.”

The saga at Piedmont—from the initial budget cuts to the vote of no confidence to Silber’s resignation—points to a failure of communication among the Board of Trustees, the senior administration and the faculty.

“The real story here is about shared governance. “For a college or university to succeed, there has to be a synergy among the three groups, there has to be transparency and there has to be a willingness to engage in a dialogue that doesn’t turn public and ugly. And it looks like Piedmont failed on all those counts.”

Barbara Gitenstein, senior vice president of the Association of Governing Boards and a former president of the College of New Jersey, said that as the liaison between the Board of Trustees and the university’s internal constituents, senior administrators are responsible for informing stakeholders about financial issues early and having conversations with those whom budget cuts would affect.

“In any situation where you have to share unhappy news, earlier and more open conversations are always better and lead to healthier results,” she said.

 

DRIVING THE WEEK –

•             At least 20 million people watched the first televised hearing held by the House committee investigating the Capitol attack Thursday night—about on par with a major Sunday Night Football game.

•             Tesla filed for a 3:1 stock split.

•             US luxury home sales plunged in the three months through April for their largest drop since the pandemic began.

•             Microsoft’s Xbox TV app will go live later this month, which will allow 2022 Samsung smart TV and monitor owners to play games without a console.

House Financial Services Chair Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) speaks at the NCRC conference Tuesday … House Financial Services marks up legislation Tuesday … Senate Banking hearing on index fund voting process Tuesday … SEC Chair Gary Gensler speaks at a Wall Street Journal event about new climate disclosures Tuesday …

Federal Open Market Committee meeting Tuesday and Wednesday … Powell press conference on Wednesday … House Ways and Means hearing on working women and a stronger economy Wednesday … Senate Finance hearing on supply chain backlogs Wednesday … New York Fed conference on the international roles of the U.S. dollar Thursday and Friday.

Just before 2:30 a.m. on Nov. 4, 2020, then-President DONALD TRUMP went before a group of supporters at the White House and prematurely declared victory over JOE BIDEN in an election he ultimately lost.

Today at 10 a.m., that moment — and the avalanche of lies about the election that followed — will be front and center as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack (1) highlights the origins of the “Big Lie” about the 2020 election, (2) shows how it spread and (3) attempts to prove that in the weeks and months following Election Day, even as Trump continued to falsely claim that he’d actually won, he privately knew he’d lost — and that his public insistence otherwise led to the insurrection.

 

DAMN YANKEES - The Yankees are off to one of MLB's best starts in decades, sitting at 44-16 exactly one-third of the way through the season.

They are just the fifth team since 1985 to win 44 of their first 60 games and are just three games off the pace of the 2001 Mariners, who won an MLB record-tying 116 games.

Two of the previous four teams won the World Series (1998 Yankees, 2016 Cubs). The 2001 Mariners lost in the ALCS, while the 1998 Braves lost in the NLCS.

The red-hot Yanks are 9-1 in their last ten games,  38-10 in their last 48 games.

The Yankees' success has been driven by their MLB-best rotation, which has gone atomic during their current four-game win streak (four total earned runs). On the season, all five rank in the top 14 among the AL's ERA leaders.

 

LOS ANGELES DODGERS WHO IS BROADCASTING TODAY? – Many fans in Southern California are not happy these days about the revolving door in the Dodgers broadcast booth.

The days of Vin Scully doing a solo broadcast are gone. Joe Davis, Charley Steiner, Rick Monday and untold others is bush league. Baseball teams need chemistry to succeed. The same applies to the broadcast booth. Ernie Harwell I miss you!

 

LIGHTNING STRICKES THRICE – The Tampa Bay Lightning are four wins away from hoisting their third straight Stanley Cup, a feat that hasn't been accomplished since Ronald Reagan was in the White House.

Three-peats aren't just rare in the NHL. Only eight franchises have gone back-to-back-to-back in the history of the four major North American sports leagues, and it hasn't happened in 20 years.

 

🏒 NHL: Three teams on five occasions — Maple Leafs (1947-49, 1962-64); Canadiens (1956-60, 1976-79); Islanders (1980-83).

🏀 NBA: Three teams on five occasions — Lakers (1952-54, 2000-02); Bulls (1991-93, 1996-98); Celtics (1959-66).

⚾️ MLB: Two teams on four occasions — Yankees (1936-39, 1949-53, 1998-2000); Athletics (1972-74).

🏈 NFL: There have been no three-peats in the Super Bowl era. (The Packers did it twice in the earlier years: 1929-31 and 1956-67.)

The Stanley Cup Final (Lightning vs. Avalanche) begins Wednesday in Denver. We'll break down the matchup in the days ahead. The Swami likes Colorado in six games.

 

THE SWAMI’S WEEKEND PICKS –

MLB Game of the Week – Saturday 6/18, 4:10 PM (EDT), FS1: Chicago White Sox (27-31) vs. Houston Astros (37-23). Could be Chicago Manager Tony LaRussa’s last weekend managing. As he has been under fire recently for a number of bad in-game decisions. Astros win 5 – 3.

U.S.G.A. Open Golf Championship – Thursday 6/16 – Sunday 6/19, NBC Sports: Our top three picks for the U.S. Open:

1). Justin Thomas

2). Sam Burns

3). Rory McIlroy

Season to Date (10 - 6)

 

OLD GLORY – Tuesday June 14 is Flag Day, commemorating the adoption by Congress of the red, white, and blue flag with 13 stars on June 14, 1777. President Harry S. Truman designated the day as National Flag Day in 1949.

The American Legion, founded in 1919 after the conclusion of World War I asks people to remember the following:

•             When hoisting or lowering the flag, salute or placer a hand over your heart.

•             The flag should not be displayed on rainy days, unless it is an all-purpose flag.

•             When lowered, the flag should never toucvh anything beneath it.

 

Next Blog: How the pandemic has change colleges

Until June 27, 2022, Adios.

Claremont, California

June 13, 2022

#XIII-3-449

 

3,768 words, six-minute read

 

CARTOON OF THE WEEK – Blondie, Dean Young & John Marshall

 

RINK RATS POLL - Do you plan on moving into a new home or apartment in the next six months?

____ Yes

____ No

 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK – “Now that we have learned to fly in the air like birds and dive in the sea like fish. Only one thing remains – To learn to live on earth like humans.” – George Bernard Shaw

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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