Climate Debate Debate Redux August 30, 2019August 29, 2019 Must see: This two-minute wind-power clip from Denmark. Wind is cheaper than coal. Danes are “blacked out” less each year on average than we here in the U.S. Entirely optional: The world’s 10 most dangerous airports. One more reason to stay home this weekend. And now . . . . . . circling back to the issue of whether to hold a single-issue DNC climate debate, Ed C. writes: “A Princeton professor said: ‘This past July was the hottest in human history. The temp reached 94 degrees in the Arctic Circle. Temps reached 114 in France. Temps in India reached 120. The crisis is not coming. We are here. It’s the most crucial question facing the human species. What is the DNC afraid of?’ Do you know the answer?” → The DNC is afraid of nothing that I know of, and, as I wrote last week, it shares our concern over the climate crisis. The professor seems to assume that changing the rules now to make an exception to hold a single-issue climate debate would meaningfully impact . . . what? Is it his belief that more people would watch a debate knowing it would be only about a single issue? Possibly true. But possibly not. Is it his belief that a DNC debate would change the minds of science-deniers in a way that dramatic images of the Paradise, California fire that destroyed 14,000 residences and killed 85 people could not? Is it his feeling that the best course for dealing with climate change will be better charted in two hours on the debate stage than by scientists and policy makers out of the glare of TV lights? Listen: I totally share the professor’s goals. I would have been fine with making an exception for this one debate topic only. To me, this little “process” issue — debates versus forums — is SO minor compared with winning everything next year so that we’re in a position to confront the crisis. It’s a mistake, I think, to make the DNC the enemy for sticking to its rules, when the DNC and all OUR candidates share the professor’s alarm . . . while the Republicans bring snowballs to the floor of the Senate and call the crisis a hoax. Want to help? Here’s the case for chipping in — and possible fodder for your own fundraising: OVERALL STRATEGY PUSHBACK – AND ANSWERS WHAT YOUR MONEY GOES TO FUND JUST VENTING HOW YOU CAN HELP Have a great weekend!
Ending Our Longest War — The War On Drugs August 29, 2019August 26, 2019 But first . . . the crime with legal drugs is that they cost so much. Check out Costco online (even if you’re not a Costco member) to see what you can save. For example, 30 tabs of Viagra list for $2,244 — but, at Costco, just $46 for its generic alternative. And have you got GoodRx on your phone? It found me the same 30 tabs at a nearby Costco for just $24, with a coupon . . . or $334 at the closest CVS or Target and $524 at the nearest Rite Aid. Shop around! And now . . . . Nick Kristof writes: My Sunday column is the Sunday Review cover and so is online early. It’s about a brave experiment unfolding in Seattle to decriminalize possession of heroin and other hard drugs, as a step toward ending America’s catastrophic war on drugs. In Seattle, a cop might confiscate heroin or cocaine but wouldn’t normally arrest an ordinary user; instead, that person might be referred to social services. I’m all in favor of this experiment. As I see it, America’s half-century war on drugs was a catastrophe: It resulted in mass incarceration and left as many Americans with arrest records as with college degrees, it accentuated racial inequity, it devastated America’s family structure, and it had no deterrent effect. One American still dies every seven minutes from a drug overdose, and 2 million American kids are living with someone with an illicit drug dependency. It’s time to stop dealing with narcotics as primarily a law enforcement issue and instead approach it as a public health problem. It’s a disgrace that only one-fifth of drug users get treatment, which pays for itself several times over. I have no illusions about drugs and have lost any number of friends and classmates to them, but we can’t arrest our way out of this problem. So bravo to Seattle for leading America to a more sensible approach that recognizes that we’re facing a massive health problem that needs to be dealt with as such. I hope the presidential candidates will endorse the Seattle model, and here’s my piece on why they should. No?
Your Lazy Grandmother August 28, 2019August 27, 2019 Michael Myler: “I’ve asked five conservative friends and all agree Trump is abhorrent — but then all add that all the Democrats want to do it give money to lazy people.” → Yep. Especially to the lazy mostly-white people of Mitch McConnell’s Kentucky. (“. . . In 2017, the state received $40 billion more from the federal government than it paid in taxes. That’s about one-fifth of the state’s G.D.P.; if Kentucky were a country, we’d say that it was receiving foreign aid on an almost inconceivable scale. . . .“) Michael goes on to say, “If a Democrat could find a way to dispel this notion, we’d be home free.” Maybe we could get “the explainer in chief,” Bill Clinton, to address this at next year’s convention. He could note that the overwhelming majority of federal spending goes to lazy old people on Social Security and Medicare . . . lazy Army veterans . . . lazy active military personnel (and contractors from whom we probably do buy too much stuff) . . . lazy workers who — because Republicans oppose unions and minimum wage laws — are paid too little to feed their kids without food stamps and school lunch programs and the Earned Income Tax Credit . . . lazy holders of the National Debt that Ronald Reagan sent soaring, as his initially-reasonable tax cuts for the rich overshot the mark in their second round, and that George W. Bush and Trump made worse still. And so on. If anything, Republicans are the party of the idle rich; Democrats, of the working poor. (By the way? I like rich people! By most definitions, I am one myself. We make a mistake when we demonize the rich, so many of whom are wonderful people. It’s just that ever since 1980, Republicans have relentlessly — and effectively — managed to shift the balance of power and wealth ever further in favor of the rich. And it’s gone way too far.) Want to help? Here’s the case for chipping in — and possible fodder for your own fundraising: OVERALL STRATEGY PUSHBACK – AND ANSWERS WHAT YOUR MONEY GOES TO FUND JUST VENTING HOW YOU CAN HELP
Thanking Taxpayers; Burning The Rain Forest August 27, 2019August 26, 2019 So it turns out I’m not the only one who’s had the idea of thanking taxpayers. My pal Richard Factor has given it a great deal of thought. Plus, he likes stroopwafels. Robert J. Samuelson writes: “The conspicuous cynicism of a president trying to buy his own reelection with the public’s money, especially when that money is borrowed, is stunning. Of course, self-serving efforts to boost the economy during an election year are hardly unique to Trump, but he has taken the practice to new lows.” If you read the whole column, note, that as the National Debt grows ever larger, Democrats are not blameless; that it’s fine to have it grow larger . . . but that it needs to grow more slowly than the economy as a whole (except during recessions), so that, gradually, over time — as between 1946 and 1980 — it shrinks relative to the ec0nomy as a whole (from 121% of GDP in 1946 to 30% in 1980, when Reagan headed it back up again). Do you know what’s causing “the lungs of the planet” to burn? Not forest fires — government policy. A Brazilian autocrat, Jair Bolsonara, in the mold of his pal Donald Trump. Watch it and weep.
The Climate Debate Debate August 25, 2019August 26, 2019 Bob: “I am angry, frustrated and bewildered by the terrible decision taken by the DNC stifling debate in our party regarding the climate crisis. With the Amazon burning, Australia digging for $20 BILLION of coal to burn in a $20 BILLION Indian electrical generating station, and a buffoon for President calling the climate crisis a ‘Chinese hoax’ … the DNC looks a lot like Nero fiddling while Rome burned. How can the DNC can be so weak? The fact is our planet is disintegrating before our eyes … and too many people are willfully ignorant as to its consequences.” → Hey, Bob. Is it better to have climate discussed at each of the next 11 debates (with possibly larger audiences than a single-issue debate might garner)? I don’t know. I think I’d have voted for a single-issue climate debate if only because we should never be seen “opposing” action addressing the crisis. I think the DNC should have made an exception to their decision not to have single-issue debates. (The thinking: what do you tell the criminal justice folks when THEY don’t get a single-issue debate? what do you tell labor when there’s no single-issue debate on wages and jobs?) Either way, the topic will surely come up at all or virtually all the debates; and DNC rules allow for an unlimited number of climate forums. The big picture is: you’d be hard-pressed to find a single DNC member . . . or Democratic candidate . . . who denies the climate crisis and doesn’t urgently want bold action to confront it. So the main thing, by ten thousand per cent, is ousting Trump and McConnell, and flipping state legislatures blue in advance of the 2020 census redistricting (and in time to possibly end-run the Electoral College for every race from 2024 on, via the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact). Want to help with that? Here’s the case for chipping in — and possible fodder for your own fundraising: OVERALL STRATEGY PUSHBACK – AND ANSWERS WHAT YOUR MONEY GOES TO FUND JUST VENTING HOW YOU CAN HELP
The World Happiness Report August 23, 2019August 23, 2019 Maybe Paraguay should build a wall to keep us out. Not long ago, my friend Kim Samuels asked in Canada’s Globe and Mail: The Economy Is On The Rise. So Why Aren’t We Getting Happier? How are you feeling? That question is more than just a reliable standby for small-talkers. It might be the most essential query that governments aren’t examining closely enough. The opinion research firm Gallup released results from an annual survey of 151,000 people in more than 140 countries asking that question, and based on responses to 10 questions about the emotions people experience on a given day, the survey reached some clear conclusions. While most people across the world thankfully report smiling, laughing and feeling respect on a regular basis, the trend line over the course of the 13-year-old research project shows a significant increase in negative experiences, including worry, anger, sadness and stress. In Canada, stress and anxiety are particularly serious problems, and over all, the global levels of negative emotions being experienced are at their highest recorded point. The findings raise a crucial question: In an age when the global economy keeps growing at a steady pace and poverty keeps falling, why isn’t humanity getting happier? Leading social scientists, including Nobel Prize winners such as Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton, have shown that the relationship between wealth and well-being is shakier than we might assume. While it’s crucial to meet basic needs and ensure time for leisure, growth in gross domestic product (GDP) above a relatively modest per-capita level doesn’t usually equate to more self-reported life satisfaction. Rather, once essential needs are met, it’s other factors, such as the strength of community bonds and social trust, that often matter most. Some observers, including the iconoclastic economist Umair Haque, believe it’s no accident Latin America scored the highest for positive emotions in the Gallup study. People in the region tend to enjoy high levels of social connectedness. In Paraguay – the country with the highest reported levels of positive emotions in the world – people customarily work from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., then go home to eat and relax with loved ones, and finish the work day from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Such social conventions matter. As Gallup’s Jon Clifton put it: Latin Americans tend to “laugh, smile and experience enjoyment like no one else in the world.” Policy-makers should take note. In Canada and around the world, projections of economic growth, as measured by GDP, tend to dominate official decision-making on matters from taxes to health care to environment. It’s an orientation that leaders across the political spectrum generally share. Yet, if the goal of government is to help meet real human needs and facilitate high quality of life – rather than simply optimizing a set of statistics – then policy-makers should be paying attention to what generates real human thriving. As people question the legitimacy of our prevailing economic and political institutions, it’s high time to start thinking about new ways of assessing social progress. Reimagining GDP has long been a priority for the political left, especially given the ways that standard measures fail to account for the full costs of pollution and inequality. But the issue now resonates across the political spectrum. Conservatives here and abroad have championed values of strong families and community bonds that GDP generally fails to reflect. The former centre-right French president Nicolas Sarkozy put it plainly: “We will not change our behaviour unless we change the ways we measure our economic performance.” Canada has led the way in the development of new measures of progress. For example, John Helliwell of the University of British Columbia has led the development of the World Happiness Report. Back in the 1990s, two Canadian economists, Lars Osberg and Andrew Sharpe, developed a brilliant Index of Economic Well-being that has become an inspiration for efforts around the world. And the Nova Scotia-based nonprofit GPI Atlantic has led the way with new local economic measurements and contributed to the development of the groundbreaking Gross National Happiness Index in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. But Canada, as a country, has yet to start thinking seriously about new benchmarks and measures. Following Europe-wide meetings more than a decade ago, the national statistical agencies of Germany, France and Britain started work on more holistic measures of progress. And American states, including Maryland and Oregon, have taken on reforms on a smaller scale. It’s time for Canada to expand and improve current measurement tools to look more systematically at what makes people happy. This isn’t an academic exercise. For instance, Statistics Canada can help set benchmarks for government agencies around self-reported human well-being and capabilities that can inform day-to-day policy decisions. Of course, it’s up to our political leaders to invest in measures and then take them seriously with respect to decisions on national legislation. Measurement matters. It’s a reflection of what we value as a society. Looking to the rising levels of anxiety and anger present in society today, it’s time to upgrade our tools of analysis. Let’s end our hyperfocus on economic prosperity and start paying attention to what matters to achieve prosperity of a more fundamental and emotional kind. Happiness, as I’ve long argued, is a matter of direction, not amount. If we had two families under the microscope — the first earning $30,000 a year but somehow knowing it was headed up to $100,000, the second earning $400,000 a year but somehow knowing it was headed down to $150,000 — I’d expect that first family — earning less than 10% as much as the second — to be happier. Why? Because things are looking up. Plus, as we all know, money can’t buy happiness. Though it sure helps. Kim’s point: social connections are a big part of it, too. Have a happy, healthy — socially connected — weekend! I’ve gone into the T-shirt business: A bunch of you liked Wednesday’s gun-safety suggestions. But it turns out there can be a good reason to buy a silencer (you don’t want to wake or alarm the neighbors when you’re shooting varmints in the back yard), so I have deleted #4.
Do You Make More Than $5 Million A Year? August 22, 2019August 22, 2019 Listen to Abigail Disney — the two New Yorks, in under two minutes. But I do think the tax authorities should send thank-you notes, and — if they give their permission — laud large taxpayers just as colleges do in their reports of annual alumni giving. Yes, paying taxes is required. But especially to those who could easily move to another jurisdiction, we should still say thanks. So excited was I by the prospect of solar roadways that — as thanks for my not entirely insignificant contribution — I have in my kitchen an octagonal solar roadway brick. It’s in the kitchen because (a) that’s where I open packages and I wasn’t sure where else to put it; (b) the kitchen is where my goose is cooked; (c) it now seems pretty clear solar roadways are not gonna happen. “Oh, well.” I’m not a manager and have no boss, so Nine Lies About Work would not ordinarily grab me. But a good friend’s review and the first few pages drew me in deep enough to suggest it to you. For all I know, unlike me, you actually do have employees or a boss, and a Human Resources Department somehow connected to your life.
A Well-Regulated Militia August 21, 2019August 22, 2019 Sensible solutions seem so simple: A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, anyone should be allowed to join the National Guard. Each free state’s National Guard should be well regulated. As a practical matter, even those who don’t join their state’s National Guard should be allowed to own shotguns and sporting rifles. But anyone who wants to own a weapon capable of avoiding airport security detection would have to apply for a permit explaining why — with said permit issued only if there were a good reason. (Can there be a good reason?) And anyone who wants to buy — or sell — cop-killing bullets would have to apply for a permit explaining why — with said permit issued only if there were a good reason. And anyone who wants to own a weapon capable of firing more than six rounds, or that can be reloaded with a magazine, would have to apply for a permit explaining why — with said permit issued only if there were a good reason. Likewise, hand grenades, bazookas, anti-aircraft missiles, tanks, or any other weapons of war. For a year, anyone turning in banned weapons or ammo for which they don’t have a permit would face no penalty and be reimbursed at fair market value. Thereafter, anyone voluntarily turning in weapons or ammo would face no penalty and get a thank-you note . . . . . . but anyone found to have unpermitted weapons or ammo, unless they could persuade a judge of extenuating circumstances (“we didn’t even know there was a floor safe under the rug when we bought the house!”), would be subject to a range of civil and criminal penalties proportionate to the circumstances. Hand guns and concealed carry would require licenses. Listen: if I can’t even install new windows without government inspection . . . well, you get the idea. Gloria Steinem apparently did not pen these words — but she likely agrees with them: How about we treat every young man who wants to buy a gun like every woman who wants to get an abortion — mandatory 48-hr waiting period, parental permission, a note from his doctor proving he understands what he’s about to do, a video he has to watch about the effects of gun violence, an ultrasound wand up the ass (just because). Let’s close down all but one gun shop in every state and make him travel hundreds of miles, take time off work, and stay overnight in a strange town to get a gun. Make him walk through a gauntlet of people holding photos of loved ones who were shot to death, people who call him a murderer and beg him not to buy a gun. It makes more sense to do this with young men and guns than with women and health care, right? I mean, no woman getting an abortion has killed a room full of people in seconds, right? Jim Burt: “More than one mass shooting per day since the beginning of 2019 (251 shootings in what is now 220 days of the year). This compares with an average of one every 200 days between 1982 and 2011. The availability of rapid fire, rapidly reloaded firearms is the sine qua non of these mass shootings — weapons that have no legitimate self-defense or sporting purpose. Indeed, Scalia’s opinion in Heller, which underpins the previously unrecognized personal right of self-defense firearm ownership, points to military style weapons as subject to legitimate exclusion. The only obstacle to a dramatic reduction in these incidents is the political refusal to ban and confiscate these weapons.” → See #1-#10, supra.
Amazing iPhone Tip: You Have A Free Scanner! August 20, 2019August 20, 2019 But first . . . Tamara Hendrickson: “This CNN quiz on combatting climate change is harder than it seems and I learned a few things.” → Me, too! Here I’ve spent half the summer plotting against the bamboo that’s overtaken my yard (imagining its skinny little leaves do little to eat CO2) and now it turns out this is exactly what I should not be doing. Also . . . I hope you’ve read Michael Lewis’s The Fifth Risk and Andrew Yang’s The War On Normal People, among other really important things this summer (the Mueller report!). But for pure end of summer fun and wonderful writing — even better listened to than read, because the reader does such a good job — I commend Eric Poole’s Excuse Me While I Slip Into Someone More Comfortable. And now . . . Why didn’t I know about this sooner? If you have an iPhone, open its NOTES app (likely in your Utilities folder; or search for “notes” and it will show up). Then touch the plus sign at the bottom of the screen. Select scan documents. Lay the document out on the table and take a picture of each page, as prompted. It scans them just the way your giant printer/scanner would and, when done, email or text the file to yourself or anyone else. Because it’s sent as a scan rather than a photo, it will be easier to read . . . and because you probably have a PDF reader on your computer, you can convert it to a Word document, in case (say) your goal were to insert excerpts from it into your next newsletter without having to retype it. (Thanks again, Brian.) While we’re at it (and in case you forgot) . . . if your iPhone ever suddenly goes black and won’t turn back on, even though you had battery life remaining, just briefly press the UP volume and then the DOWN volume buttons, then press and hold the on/off button for 10 or 15 seconds until the apple logo appears and you know you’re back in business. More iPhone tips if you missed them the first time. And don’t forget Mark Jansen’s hold-down-the-space-bar-to-turn-the-keyboard-into-a-trackpad tip.
400 Years Later August 18, 2019 Did you know Lincoln wanted to send freed slaves back to Africa? Or that the first man to die fighting for our freedom was a black man who was himself not free? Or how much of America’s success and prosperity rests on slavery? There is so much more to this story from today’s New York Times Magazine. No, I’m not for reparations — cutting checks to the descendants of slaves. But I’m sure for restoring voting protections, gutted by the Republican-dominated Supreme Court. And for a slew of other programs and policies that will help level the still-tilted playing field. (Criminal justice reform!) No, I’m not for involuntary bussing. But I’m sure for public schools like Success Academy that break the cycle of poverty, and for debt-free community college (and medical school). And lots of other solutions that will lean against inequality (higher estate tax rates for the mega rich with fewer loopholes; a freedom dividend that, though equal for everyone, will disproportionately benefit those at the bottom). But start with this story. It’s our story. We should re-read it every couple of years as we strive to attain a more perfect union.