Year: 2019

Here is the Carbon Dividend everyone would get . . . funded by the carbon tax we need to confront climate change.

I have a question: what are we waiting for?

Here is Students for Carbon Dividends. Know a student who might want to join?

Their effort supports the largest expression of economic expertise in our nation’s history — 3,508 U.S. economists, 27 Nobel laureates, 15 former Chairs of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, every single former Fed Chair.

Conservatives are for it!

Take a look?

(And for a thoughtful look at where well-intentioned environmentalists have gone too “us versus them,” see The Environment Is Too Important To Leave To The Environmentalists.  Though I still say we should eat less meat: better for our planet, better for our budgets, better for our arteries, better for the cows.)

From time to time I make the case that charter schools are like animals: some, like skunks, stink.  Others are our very best friends.  So to say you’re “for” or “against” charters schools — or animals — is not very helpful.  I mention this because I’m six months late in passing on yet another data point in the extraordinary track record of the now-47 New York City Success Academy public schools and their more than 17,000 students selected by lottery.  Most of them children of color; with a median household income about one-fourth and one-tenth of, say, the Chappaqua and Scarsdale median incomes.

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When last year’s state exam results came in, the Success Schools — larger than 95% of the school districts in the country (if, taken together, they were a school district) — were the highest-performing in New York State, “outpacing the most affluent suburban districts and even gifted-and-talented programs.”

There are 53,000 children on waiting lists for public charter schools in NYC. There are 100,000 empty seats in NYC school buildings. The math is simple, but Mayor de Blasio refuses to give parents and kids the space they need, the space Success needs to open new schools.

Only 1 in 3 students of color in this city, out of 750,000, are being equipped by their schools to read and do math. Parents and children are being failed. They know it. They feel it. Without the knowledge and skills that only a world-class education delivers, these children will be locked out of access to college and careers and the prosperity that brings.

Mayor de Blasio brushes aside these high stakes by arguing the city’s system is “steadily improving.” And maybe, based on this rate of improvement, it will actually be helping the families who need it most — in the year 2050. But every child deserves a high-quality education today.

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I’d love to see traditional public schools — all of them well-intentioned, for sure — adopt the Success Academy teaching methods that have been proven to work.  Even if it’s uncomfortable for some of their teachers and administrators.  To my mind, the kids have to come first. Do the mayor and City Council feel the same way?

“Charter schools” — like “animals” — are not the answer.

Methods that some charter schools have proven to work surely would seem to be.

(Since 1982 there has been a thing called the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program that last year named 349 “exemplary high performing schools” out of more than 132,000 public and private schools nationally — roughly 1 in 400 made the cut, just 9 of them in New York City.  Two were Success Academy public schools.)

(And no, it’s not true that once the Success students are chosen by lottery, all but the really smart ones are kicked out.  In a recent year, about 150 kids who transferred into Success public schools from the traditional NYC public schools saw their grade-level reading and math ability rise from 40% or so to 85% or so.  In a single year.  Can that REALLY be the result of cherry-picking?  How?)

(For more on all this . . . here and here and here . . . )

But first . . .

Have you ever thought of jumping off an alp aiming to rendezvous with a passing propeller plane?  It would not have occurred to me to attempt this.  (Thanks, Alan.)

Mike Gavaghan: “Thanks for the tip on looking up unclaimed property!  I tend to keep a close eye on my finances so I thought, ‘Nah, I’m not missing anything.’ But, holy cow! I now have $175 from two accounts coming my way from the State of Texas!”

And now, from the indispensable Washington Post (“Democracy Dies In Darkness”):

The GOP’s declaration of moral bankruptcy
By Max Boot

“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked.

“Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.”

That famous exchange from Ernest Hemingway’s novel “The Sun Also Rises” comes to mind when contemplating the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the Republican Party.

You can debate when the GOP’s road to ruin began. I believe it was more than a half century ago, when Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon showed their willingness to pander to racists to wrest the segregationist South from the Democrats. The party’s descent accelerated with the emergence of Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich and Fox News in the 1990s, of Sarah Palin in the 2000s, and of Ted Cruz and the tea party in the 2010s. There were still figures of integrity and decency such as John McCain, Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush. But the GOP evinced no more enthusiasm for any of them than it had for George H.W. Bush. With the election of Donald Trump in 2016, the party’s plunge into purgatory picked up momentum.

Republicans now found themselves making excuses for a boorish, ignorant demagogue who had no respect for the fundamental norms of democracy and no adherence to conservative principles. The party of fiscal conservatism excused a profligate president who added $2 trillion in debt and counting. The party of family values became cheerleaders for what Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has witheringly and accurately called the “porn star presidency.” The party of law and order became accomplices to the president’s obstruction of justice. The party of free trade did nothing to stop the president from launching trade wars. The party of moral clarity barely uttered a peep at the president’s sickening sycophancy toward the worst dictators on the planet — or his equally nauseating attacks on America’s closest allies. The party that once championed immigration eagerly joined in the president’s xenophobic attacks on refugee caravans. And the party that long castigated Democrats for dividing Americans by race pretended not to notice — or even cheered — when the president made openly racist appeals to white voters.

Faster and faster went the GOP’s descent into oblivion. Now its bankruptcy is complete. It has no more moral capital left. The Republican Party as we once knew it — as a party of limited government — officially ended on March 14.

That was the day that 41 of 53 Republican senators voted to ratify President Trump’s blatantly unconstitutional and transparently cynical declaration of a national emergency so that he can spend money for a border wall that Congress refuses to appropriate. This comes 16 days after 182 out of 195 House Republicans voted the same way. Only 13 Republicans in the House and 12 in the Senate dared to block this flagrant assault on the Constitution. So only 10 percent of Republicans in Congress have any — any — principles left. By an interesting coincidence, that’s also the percentage of Republican voters who disapprove of Trump. The party of Lincoln — the party that freed the slaves and helped to win the Cold War — is now devoted exclusively to feeding Trump’s insatiable ego and pandering to his endless lust for power.

And to think that some commentators hailed the Senate’s abysmal failure to muster a veto-proof majority as a victory for principle because, why, 12 whole Republicans dared to defy their supreme leader. There were indeed some pleasant surprises in that list, such as Roy Blunt (Mo.), a member of the Senate leadership, and Roger Wicker (Miss.), who typically votes with robotic predictability for whatever Trump desires.

But only one Republican who is up for reelection next year — Susan Collins (Maine) — had the guts to defy the president. Other senators stared into the abyss and blinked. Ben Sasse (Neb.), who prides himself on his devotion to the Constitution and his independence from Trump, was among the sellouts. No one should take his claims to be a serious person seriously ever again. So too supposed constitutional conservatives such as Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), Cory Gardner (Colo.) and John Cornyn (Tex.) revealed themselves to be rank hypocrites and craven partisans. We ask soldiers to risk their lives to defend the Constitution, but these cowards would not even risk their political careers.

Cruz (Tex.) was a particularly choice study in situational ethics. He thundered in 2014 that “it’s incumbent on Republicans in Congress to use every single tool we have to defend the rule of law, to rein in the president, so that the president does not become an unaccountable monarch imposing his policies.” But his devotion to the rule of law ended with the Obama presidency.

Somehow Thom Tillis (N.C.) managed the difficult feat of making himself even more ridiculous than Cruz. As recently as March 5, he proclaimed his intention to vote against the state of emergency. “It’s never a tough vote for me,” he said, “when I’m standing on principle.” Turns out reelection mattered more to him than any principle. Facing threats of a primary challenge next year, he folded like an accordion.

Trump won’t be president forever — he could be gone in less than two years. The GOP can always find a new leader. But where will it find new principles? Because it has none of the old ones left.

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But first (to lighten the mood):

The white supremacy threat. The very White Reverend Paul Brandeis Raushenbush asks: “What are white people doing about it?”  It’s time, he says, “to treat white supremacist terrorism as the global threat it is.”

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. . . Over the past few years we have seen white supremacist attacks in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, Charleston, South Carolina, Quebec City, Canada, Otoya Island, Norway, Pittsburgh, PA and most recently ChristChurch, New Zealand [among others] and yet the response is still piecemeal, treating each incident as somehow an aberration rather than manifestations of an ideology with objectives and violent strategies to achieve them.

The global rise of white supremacy must be confronted . . . with urgency and resources. The fact that this is not completely clear is evidence of how deep white supremacist logic is embedded in many western countries, including America. It is up to each of us to insist that this threat be taken seriously with immediate action, and make clear that silence can only be understood as acquiescence. . . .

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And from the Washington Post:

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The strongmen strike back: Authoritarianism has reemerged as the greatest threat to the liberal democratic world — a profound ideological, as well as strategic, challenge. And we have no idea how to confront it.

. . .  [A]uthoritarianism has emerged as the greatest challenge facing the liberal democratic world . . . with strong nations such as China and Russia championing anti-liberalism as an alternative to a teetering liberal hegemony. It has returned as an ideological force . . . and just at the moment when the liberal world is suffering its greatest crisis of confidence since the 1930s. It has returned armed with new and hitherto unimaginable tools of social control and disruption that are shoring up authoritarian rule at home, spreading it abroad and reaching into the very heart of liberal societies to undermine them from within. . . .

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And now:

Fonde Taylor: “Wish I had ‘invested’ in your book 30 years ago. My wife and I are already implementing some of your suggestions — we cut the cable and turned off our subscription to the local newspaper resulting in several hundred dollars saved for the year.  [Oh, God: I’m helping to kill local newspapers! Maybe sign up for the digital Washington Post?  Democracy Dies In Darkness.]   Meanwhile, I wanted to add a suggestion:   Some years ago I was helping my 80 year old father go through some financial things.  A friend had told me about ‘unclaimed property/money’ that the state treasury has.  I did some research and Dad’s name  popped up on about half a dozen items.  We filed the claims and he received a check for about $3000.   He was a retired doctor and it was from some patient health insurance payments that were returned to the insurers when he retired and closed his practice.  Apparently he didn’t leave a forwarding address.  The process for looking up ‘unclaimed property/money’ is fairly simple.  All you do is go to the web site for your State Treasurer and search for your name in the search field  under ‘Unclaimed Property/Money.’  I have since searched for family and friends and found claims for four of them.  I forwarded a link to each — one of them is always complaining about not having any money.  I told them how the process works and how simple it was.  And now for the punchline — to my knowledge, not one of them followed up on it and their ‘unclaimed money’ still sits in the state treasurer’s bank account.”

–> I just tried this — and have $279 heading back my way from some deposit ADT had not tried very hard to return to me.  Thanks, Fonde!

If some of my posts make you ill, here is a tool to help you find the best hospital.

And here are two Democratic dark horses who — like any of the better known candidates — strike me as a thousand times preferable to Trump: John Delaney and Pete Buttigieg. Watching either or both their town halls may give you hope that there are smart, sane, civil people eager to get our country back on track.

Who, if they won, would surround themselves with brilliant, competent, equally well-motivated women and men to help.

Exactly the opposite of the picture painted in Michael Lewis’s The Fifth Risk.

Edward Dougherty: “The Fifth Risk provides a terrific analysis of what can and has gone wrong.  I’ve been touting it to all my friends, even sent a few copies out.”

Mark Jansen: “Re The Fifth Risk . . . I recommend Lewis’ December 13th interview with Preet Bharara. It’s about as delightful as you can make this depressing Administration, where Lewis talks about the people who are actually working hard in government, for no praise and a fraction of the financial reward they would see in the private sector.”

Dan Feder: “Very happy you recommended The Fifth Risk.  I loved it.  It should be assigned to every high school student.”

–> Yes!  That’s a great idea.  College students, too. An awesome civics course all in itself.  It would inspire young people to consider public service — and to vote.

Have a great weekend.

But first:

Should we take partisanship out of the Supreme Court?

And give everyone a roughly equal say in its composition, rather than, as now, as much say to the 600,000 good people of Wyoming as to the 40 million good people of California?

One proposal would give each party 5 Justices and have those 10 choose 5 more.  This would not require a Constitutional Amendment.  Read about it here.

And now:

Have you read or listened to Michael Lewis’s The Fifth Risk?  It builds on Chris Christie’s account of Trump’s reluctance to do any transition planning in case he won (despite its being required by law) — nor even to look at the transition plan (the product of 130 serious people) after he won.

It turns out, there are disastrous consequences to being completely — willfully — unprepared.  And “you don’t know the half of it” — or at least, I didn’t.

Like all Lewis’s books, The Fifth Risk is a page-turner.

It’s also his most important yet.

Yes, Trump’s gotten you “great health care at a tiny fraction of the cost” and a massive tax cut and a $4,000 raise.  And, yes, he serves as a model to your children and a beacon to the world.  He’s stood up to Canada and denuclearized North Korea.  But much as you love him for all that, he’s ignored enormous risks.  For example, would your life be different without electricity?

(And then there’s this, from the Union of Concerned Scientists:  “Our latest report shows that the Trump administration has interfered with or sidelined science in 80 separate incidents over the past two years, demonstrating a pattern of hostility to facts—and posing a serious threat to public health and the environment.”)

Science, schmience.  Who’re you gonna trust — this guy?  Or “scientists?”

Pam W. from Texas: “Thanks for the Stacey Abrams link.  Her book — Minority Leader: How To Build Your Future and Make Real Change — is a great read, especially for teens. Consider gifting to a school library.” 

–> Great idea.

Mark Jansen: “My favorite iPhone tip, which gives me joy: When you’re editing text and need to move the cursor around, normally you stab where you want the cursor to go, thus covering up the very target of your stabbing, only to find the cursor has actually landed a few characters off from where you wanted. Instead…hold down the Space Bar for a moment. The ‘keys’ go blank and the keyboard becomes a ‘trackpad’ as you slide your thumb from the Space Bar up and around, moving the cursor precisely where you want.  It’s apparently been in iOS for years, but like your reboot tip is not well-documented.”

–> Who knew!

And here’s something else I finally discovered: the faster you talk, the less bad Siri’s transcription will be.  She’s a computer.  She doesn’t like it when you talk to her as if she were three.

Dennis H.: “How about a stock update?  BKUTK is up 36%.  GLDD and FANH are kicking butt!  We sold a few things in the fall so I have some cash.  What are you thinking these days.”

–> BKUTK remains undervalued but a very sleepy long-term play, with management more eager to be a community pillar than a shareholder delight.  (Along with its other merits, this approach doubtless inspires valuable customer loyalty.)  I’ve held all mine — not least because our shares sell for about 20% less than the voting stock (BKUT) yet give us the same dividend and, should the bank eventually be acquired, the same ultimate value. Last I looked, BKUT was $580; our BKUTK, $495.  So we get ours on sale.  I wouldn’t rush to buy more here; but would have tried to buy more when I saw it dip down to $420 recently, were it not that I have a lot already.

GLDD seems finally to have come into its own. Perhaps a good time to sell half?  And lament doing so if it ever hits $15?

I’ve likewise sold half my FANH. There’s a case to be made for a much higher price at some point — but also what appears to be a persistent short-seller claiming it’s all a fraud.

This may not be a bad time to be holding some cash for when the inevitable bear market hits — whether a few days or a few years from now.

Meanwhile, YTRA, suggested here January 1 at $4, got a buy-out offer Monday at $7.  It’s not final, and the market seems not to believe it will happen; but if it goes through, we will have made 70% or so in a few months . . . and might want to hold Ebix stock instead of cash if that winds up being the offer.  (I’ll write more about that if the deal materializes.)

Clemente Franco: “With all due respect, I think you fail to see the light.  There is a whole segment of the population that is pissed off at both the Democrats and Republicans, for good reason, and for whom Trump was a middle finger to both parties.  Albeit, many of these folks are racist, as is Trump, but the Democratic party lost them.  While Schumer was hanging out with hedge fund managers giving them a tax break (and what a break it was), he was losing a lot of people.  While  Clinton was out-Republican-ing Republicans on Welfare reform, he lost a lot of people.  When Gore chose Lieberman (really?), he lost a lot of people.  When Hillary called black kids super predators, she lost a lot of people. . . . Instead of thinking that people are stupid for not voting for the Democratic party or for not coming out to vote, own up to it and admit the Democratic party has failed to convince them to come back.  You are using the Naders, Perots and Schultzes of this world as an excuse for that failure.  You are out of touch. And for you to claim that Mr. Schultz’s desire to run is a disastrous idea is the height of arrogance.  To think that somehow you know more than he because you have been the party’s bookkeeper and raised money for them?  Please share more finance posts.  I usually agree with you there.  Thank you.”

–> There’s a lot here I disagree with, but I appreciate the feedback.

. . . or, instead, read The Uninhabitable Earth, as reviewed here (“apocalypse now”), and save humanity.

Do you switch off lights as you leave the room?  Have you cut down on meat? Do you keep the thermostat at higher in the summer and than the winter?

Or do you not worry about any of that because (a) you’re a selfish pig or (b) you’ve allowed people to persuade you it’s all a liberal hoax.

If the former, all I can say is: I agree.

If the latter, you owe it to yourself — and your kids and their kids — to read this book.

Of course, in your case and mine, to the extent we don’t do all we should, it’s likely neither (a) nor (b). It’s that — (c) — while we know humanity faces an existential crisis, it’s hard to get focused the way we do when a hurricane or wildfires approach.  We just can’t imagine that enough other people will make these sacrifices, so why should we be the patsies?  Hamburgers taste good!

All The Uninhabitable Earth asks is that we consider what lies ahead . . . and then, perhaps, reassess our response.

Spread the word.  Save mankind.

Seriously.  This is not a drill.

If you’ve been getting endless hang-up calls from Belarus, the British Virgin Islands, Slovenia — wherever — here’s why. (They hope you’ll call back and rack up phone charges.)

If you can deal with a heavy French accent, listen to Tina Brown’s conversation with Bernard-Henri Lévy about his new book, The Empire and the Five Kings: America’s Abdication and the Fate of the World.  It will redouble your commitment to saving democracy.

How — to take just one tiny piece of it — can we have abandoned the Kurds?  The exact sort of religiously tolerant, women-respecting democracy we hope all Muslim states might one day be.

And here’s another of Tina’s podcasts, her conversation last month with Hillary Clinton.  Whether or not you agree she would have made a great president, defending American exceptionalism and pushing back against the journalist-murdering autocrats Trump loves — and whether or not you can forgive her for not fully appreciating the enormity of Putin’s sneak attack that kept her from winning the popular vote by a wide enough margin to avoid the tragedy we now find ourselves in — her intellect and unique life experience may interest you.

But she’s not running for president again, not least because a majority of Americans don’t want someone in his or her seventies, they are looking for new leadership.  Stacey Abrams is probably not running for president either — Senate is more likely — but if you listen to this podcast with Chris Hayes, you may join her fan club, as I long ago did, and see one more example of youthful, sane, civil Democratic leadership.

I know three podcasts could take almost your whole day.  But desperate times call for disparate measures.*

*I know: doesn’t quite work.  But I couldn’t resist.