Year: 2019

For Your Consideration

A Genuine Big Idea That Could Fix The Border Problem — and make the desert bloom.  I love this!

Memory Loss Associated With Alzheimer’s Reversed For First Time — with diet and exercise, in nine out of ten patients in this very small trial (and the tenth was much further along than the others).  I love this, too.

And this!

Adam Parkhomenko: “After the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby ended in some controversy Saturday, the president of the United States took to Twitter Sunday morning to blast the result, expanding the list of subjects he doesn’t know anything about to infinity and misspelling the word Kentucky at the same time. The unofficial winner, Maximum Security, clearly impeded the paths of two other horses, leading to its disqualification and making Country House, a 65-1 long-shot, the winner.”

 

Racing Through Italy

Some idiot once told me Milan is “the Pittsburgh of Italy — skip it” which, apart from being unfair to Pittsburgh, is just nuts: what a beautiful city!  Don’t miss the Fondazione Prada.

And Venice!  (And Murano, where we watched a master glassblower swiftly craft a vase and then a delicate glass horse.)  What an utterly impossible, yet impossibly charming, enterprise Venice is.

And Rome!

Tomorrow, off to Vico Equensa to the site of Mikey’s Last Breakfast and a boat ride to Capri and Positano.

Italy’s trains put ours to shame.

Everyone is so nice!

(Americans are nice, too.)

Did you watch Hillary with Rachel Maddow?  Here and here.

The thing is, we’re under attack from Russia; and far from doing anything about it — Nixon would have!  Ford would have! Reagan would have!  the Bushes would have! — this president does nothing but deny it’s even happening.  He takes Putin’s word — most recently, on Venezuela — over the findings of America’s intelligence community.

That takes only 11 words to say — he takes Putin’s word over the findings of America’s intelligence community — but think about it.

And the Republicans in Congress back him.

He is a constant liar and a sociopath.  (No, really.)

That takes only 8 words to say — he is a constant liar and a sociopath — but think about it.

It is kind of a big deal to be losing our democracy, beacon to the world, after 243 years’ struggle to create, preserve, and improve it.

But the market’s high* and unemployment low** and it’s fun, frankly, to make the well-educated squirm.***  So tens of millions of good people don’t see what’s happening and/or can’t much bring themselves to care.

We need to change that.

*Because he borrowed a fortune to slash corporation taxes, boosting after-tax profits; and stocks sell at a multiple of earnings.

**Obama brought it down from 10% to 4.9%; Trump, a little further.

*** “I love the poorly educated.”

 

Misfits Market and McConnell

Dave Burgess: “Have you seen MisfitsMarket?  One of my daughters just started using their service recently and was pleasantly surprised at the quality and variety of produce. Also reasonably priced. $19 for 10-12 lbs, includes shipping.  There is a larger option.  It is only available in the Northeast at the moment.”

> I love this idea.  Saves money and shopping time, cuts food waste.  That said, I haven’t tried it — so share your thoughts with us if you do.  Here’s their FAQ.

As posted last month, I a not a fan of Mitch McConnell.

Mike Martin:  “You write as if McConnell is just another elected official with a different point of view. He IS NOT just an elected official, he is an installed Russian agent funded in a corrupt system that has no allegiance to an elected constituency. Your version of facts reads like a Disney fairy tale compared to the reality we are confronting in this situation.  See:  Sanctioned Russian Oligarch’s Company to Invest Millions in New Aluminum Plant in Mitch McConnell’s State.  And:  McConnell Received $3.5M In Campaign Donations From Russian Oligarch-Linked Firm.”

> I don’t know that he’s “an installed Russian agent”; but I do know that he’s done tremendous harm to our country over the years.

 

 

A Novel Approach To Infrastructure

Glenn Price: “Our infrastructure is a scandal. This proposal is exquisite in its simplicity.”

From the indispensable New York Times:

Taxpayers Shouldn’t Have to Pay for New Roads
A tiny slice of equity from public companies could fund America’s desperate need for better infrastructure.

By Leonard S. Schleifer

April 23, 2019

Just a few miles from my office sits the Mario Cuomo Bridge, crossing a critical expanse of the Hudson River. The new bridge, which required a $4 billion investment, is a major improvement over the previous Tappan Zee and a safer, more pleasant journey for motorists. And it’s a boon for high-growth regional companies like mine: It supports the efficient movement of supplies and finished products, makes for a happier commute for our employees and can make a difference in recruiting key talent.

Despite this project and other long-overdue investments, such as the La Guardia Airport renovation, New York is still in dire need of repair. A recent study found that one third of New York’s major highways are in poor or fair condition, and that over the next 20 years, the state will need to spend $36 billion to upgrade and maintain our wastewater system.

Nationwide, we have an infrastructure investment gap over the next two decades of approximately $5 trillion, according to the American Society for Civil Engineers. This is a significant public health issue. Nearly 21 million Americans live in areas where community water systems fail to meet quality water standards, and some roadways are an imminent public safety hazard. It’s a serious economic handicap, too. American companies could lose $340 billion in sales through 2023 because of poor infrastructure, according to the American Public Transportation Association.

President Trump and members of Congress from both parties have raised the alarm. Lawmakers have floated the idea of an “infrastructure bank” to support investments. Despite widespread public support, the major stumbling block has been how to fund such an effort. Increasing personal or corporate income taxes or imposing “wealth taxes” on individuals has no chance of securing bipartisan support.

With so much at stake, it is time to consider a novel source of funding: Public corporations should step up and lead the way..

The solution is simple: Tap into businesses that stand to benefit from infrastructure improvements — and by extension their wealthy investors. I suggest that for each of the next three years, every American public company be required to issue 1 percent of its equity in the form of new stock to a newly formed infrastructure “bank.” Given that American public companies have a collective market capitalization of about $30 trillion, this would raise about $1 trillion in three years.

The corporate stock contributions would be based on the number of shares a company has outstanding, not whether it makes a profit. The $1 trillion in stock would form the capital of an infrastructure bank, which could in turn provide grants or loans to support worthy infrastructure projects. Although detailed mechanisms for issuing the stock and managing the portfolio would need to be defined, this plan should be more straightforward than an income tax.

Various models for an infrastructure bank already exist. It could operate much like a bank, making loans that must be repaid with interest, or it could be something like a university endowment or a foundation that might even liquidate itself once its infrastructure mission is accomplished. Whatever the operating model, it should be apolitical, so a bipartisan group of experts should oversee the disbursement of funds.

Although some companies and their shareholders will surely grumble, this would hardly be a burden, given that 1 percent represents a typical daily fluctuation in many companies’ stock prices. And last year American public companies shelled out about $800 billion just to buy back their own stock. That might turn out to be a good investment for some companies, but investing in infrastructure is a sure win. The White House Council of Economic Advisers estimates that gross domestic product would increase up to $13 billion a year for every $100 billion in infrastructure investment.

This small equity dilution of companies takes the financial responsibility for infrastructure off the backs of most American taxpayers. Instead, it would put the burden onto wealthy Americans and foreigners. Today, 84 percent of all stock held by Americans belongs to the wealthiest 10 percent of households, and foreign investors account for 35 percent of investment in American stocks.

But the benefits of infrastructure improvements would cascade to all Americans, and hundreds of thousands of jobs could be created by large-scale infrastructure projects. Moreover, the benefit can help put money back in the pockets of many Americans. Poor infrastructure costs the average American family an estimated $3,400 a year because of higher gasoline consumption, increased wear and tear on vehicles, and costs related to power outages.

Of course, the federal government should make infrastructure investing a priority. But corporations must also do their part. I look forward to the day when most Americans can point with pride to the new bridges, roadways, water systems and trains in their neighborhoods, which will ensure that our country remains a leader in innovation and economic growth.

☞  Leonard S. Schleifer is the chief executive of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and a former chairman of New York’s Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council.

The prior Republican president misled us to spend trillions in Iraq; the current Republican president misled us to borrow trillions to fund tax cuts for the rich.*  In between, we had a Democrat who called a joint session of Congress to call for a bill — blocked by the Republicans — that would have put millions of Americans to work at good jobs revitalizing our infrastructure.

It’s time to wrest leadership from today’s hard-right, Trump-enabling Republicans.  (Oh, to have Eisenhower back!  Or Teddy Roosevelt!  Or Abe Lincoln!!!  Or even, in many respects, Richard Nixon, Jerry Ford, or Bush 41.)

Click here.

*Cutting the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% mostly helped wealthy corporate owners and top executives who saw the value of their stock zoom.  Even most corporations didn’t think it was necessary to cut that deep.

 

Inside A TED Talk. And Not Just ANY TED Talk, Either.

Last week’s theme was Russia’s success subverting our democracy.

But before that, I posted a column that read in full (was I running to catch the last trayful of shrimp?):

Carole Cadwalladr – Facebook’s role in Brexit — and the threat to democracy.  Don’t miss this one.

Mike Martin: “[In light of that post], I thought you’d be interested in this: My TED Talk: How I took on the tech titans in their lair.”

☞ Indeed!  Not only does Ms. Cadwalladr offer a sense of what it’s like to give a TED talk, she gives you a sense of what it was like to give this one.  To call out people like Google’s Sergey Brin (who was in the audience) and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey (who spoke the next day) and Mark Zuckerberg (whose Facebook is one of TED’s sponsors).

. . . I did tell them that they had facilitated multiple crimes in the EU referendum. That as things stood, I didn’t think it was possible to have free and fair elections ever again. That liberal democracy was broken. And they had broke it.

It was only later that I began to realise quite what TED had done: how, in this setting, with this crowd, it had committed the equivalent of inviting the fox into the henhouse. And I was the fox. Or as one attendee put it: “You came into their temple,” he said. “And shat on their altar.”

I did. Not least, I discovered, because I named them. Because nobody had told me not to. And so I called them out, in a room that included their peers, mentors, employees, friends and investors. . . .

I use Facebook all the time.  As a user, I’m a fan.  And Google?  I would be lost without it.  I expect someday to have it implanted in my brain (finally to be a know-it-all).

What Carole Cadwalladr’s TED talk made stark was the downside to all of this . . . and how far short the founders are falling in making it right.

Read her piece!

 

A Powerful Case Against Impeachment

It’s hard, if you actually read the Mueller report — and are not Giuliani or Barr (or Sarah Sanders, who heard from “countless” FBI agents, which is to say “not one,” how happy they were Comey was fired) — not to want Trump out immediately.

For example . . .

Allen W.: “I downloaded the report and, despite my skepticism, found much was not redacted.  I’m an Independent.  I put a few hours into reading it but will never read it all because it sickens me.  My Republican friends must at least read as much as I have; but more important, they must be shocked and do something about him!”

Yes!  Impeach the sociopath!  (That’s not an epithet; it’s a diagnosis.)

Still, I would have to think long and hard before dismissing this argument, by former Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart . . . There’s A Bigger Prize Than Impeachment . . . which I commend for your consideration. (Thanks, Pete.)

I cede the balance of my time to the documentary and “60 Minutes” segment I offered yesterday, knowing that you had a busy week and may not have gotten around to them.  Please try.  We’re under attack.

Have a great weekend!

 

Russia’s Judo Master

Who knew, after we won the Cold War, it would be all about Russia?

Mueller confirmed the “sweeping and systematic” Russian interference in our democracy — a sneak attack, I argued earlier this week, that could ultimately prove to have hurt us worse than Pearl Harbor.

Yesterday, I offered this documentary detailing “Moscow’s decades-long campaign to tear the West apart.”

Moscow is winning.

(“In Vladimir Putin’s greatest triumph, Americans are using Russia’s playbook against one another without the faintest clue.”)

As “60 Minutes” made clear this past Sunday, Putin leads the Russian cyber-mob.

And not just in Nebraska . . . though as you’ll see, some of the story started there.

Do most Americans know we are under attack?  Putin — a black belt in the art of defeating a much larger opponent — hopes we won’t wake up to this.

Who has time to watch a 45-minute documentary or a “60 Minutes” segment?  Game of Thrones is back!

Mitt Romney turned out to be right about Russia.  The sociopath whom the Russians helped install as our president praises Putin publicly and meets with him privately, welcomes his people into the Oval Office and excuses his killing of journalists.

So many 2016 Trump voters are terrific people. I have to hope that some of them watch “60 Minutes” . . . and might watch the above-linked documentary . . . and come to realize — like those fans of the #1-rated restaurant in London that was actually serving store-bought frozen dinners — they’ve been had.*

*In the words of the prior Republican president, “Fool me once . . .“

 

Not A Hoax

The only world leader that Trump admires, meets with in secret, and will never criticize is Putin, head of the Russian cyber-crime syndicate. (As revealed on “60 Minutes” this past Sunday).

Here is a three-part (short!) documentary arguing . . .

Russia’s meddling in the United States’ elections is not a hoax. It’s the culmination of Moscow’s decades-long campaign to tear the West apart. “Operation InfeKtion” reveals the ways in which one of the Soviets’ central tactics — the promulgation of lies about America — continues today, from Pizzagate to George Soros conspiracies. Meet the KGB spies who conceived this virus and the American truth squads who tried — and are still trying — to fight it. Countries from Pakistan to Brazil are now debating reality, and in Vladimir Putin’s greatest triumph, Americans are using Russia’s playbook against one another without the faintest clue.

We reveal how one of the biggest fake news stories ever concocted — the 1984 AIDS-is-a-biological-weapon hoax — went viral in the pre-internet era. Meet the KGB operatives who invented it and the “truth squad” that quashed it. For a bit.

The Pizzagate playbook: same tactics, new technologies. How the seven rules of Soviet disinformation are being used to create today’s fake news stories.

Governments from Pakistan to Mexico to Washington are woefully unequipped to combat disinformation warfare. Eastern European countries living in Russia’s shadow can teach us how to start fighting back, but only if our politicians decide to stop profiting from these tactics and fight them instead.

Forty-five minutes in all.  Share with those who somehow think Trump has the vision and motivation to protect our democracy?  Or that he even cares about it?

 

Two Views Of Trump

These folks believe he’s God’s gift.  It’s worth watching, not least because when the camera pans out, you see it’s not a small audience.

These folks voted for him, but — blessedly — fall into the “fool me once” camp.  I hope their ranks swell.

In light of the “sweeping and systematic” Russian interference in our democracy — a sneak attack that could ultimately prove to have caused more lasting damage than the Japanese attack of December 7, 1941 — do we want a president who disputes and ignores the attack?  Who praises Putin publicly and meets with him privately?  Who welcomes his people into the Oval Office?  Who excuses Putin’s killing of journalists and sees our own Intelligence Community — not Putin — as his enemy?

The gay Ivy League pal I told you about last week — and of course Carl, who sends me an email every day to show me I’m wrong — still say yes.