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Andrew Tobias
Andrew Tobias

Money and Other Subjects

Kentucky Derby, Redux

May 16, 2019May 15, 2019

But first . . .


Somebody finally got his money’s worth from this page:

Peter J.: “After reading your post about lost and abandoned property, I decided to search for my name with the Secretary of State of NH. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any money with my name on it.  HOWEVER, my wife did. She had two grand (TWO GRAND!) coming her way from an old, sold home’s escrow refund. For the LIFE of me I can’t figure out why it didn’t reach her 15 years ago when she sold the house. While it’d be nearly $4000 today had we conservatively invested it 15 years ago, it’s still money we didn’t have yesterday. We decided to give $1000 to Jay Knower’s campaign, as he runs to defeat Governor Sununu, as we dearly hope he will. The other half, we’re saving (for now).”


And now, the Derby . . .


Mike Martin: “You mentioned the Kentucky Derby in reference to Trump but I beg to differ. The quote, like most I’ve read about the incident, says that the winner “clearly impeded the paths of two other horses.” Oh my, those poor little horseys had some minor impediment. Except there is much much more to this incident. . . . Okay, you were in Italy and didn’t see the race. But this was as a group of horses went into the turn for home, which is where most races see the competitors increasing their efforts. At the crucial point of the race, where the horses necessarily must bunch to go around the turn, the horse on the inside began to be passed by a horse on the right. Admittedly, the horse on the right had just moved to where its forelegs were passing the rear legs of the leader, but this is crucially where the turn for home becomes important. All of the horses want to be on the inside of the turn to reduce the mathematical distance around the turn. Once past the turn it doesn’t matter where you are on the right or left. . . . However, at precisely this point IN THE TURN the lead horse moved to the right when there was a horse attempting to pass on the right. This didn’t just “impede the path” — it threatened to have the legs of the two horses become entangled and if you watch the actual video you can see that it was amazing they didn’t. Consider, then, what would have occurred if their legs had entangled: it is highly likely that one or both horses would have fallen while they were at the head of a group of horses. The highly likely result would have been several horses crashing into a pile of people and horses, some of whom would have died.  What bothers me is the notion that what occurred merely involved “impeding the paths” when the reality is that a major disaster was narrowly averted. This seems crucial to me: narrowly averting a disaster requires a massive response such as disqualification at a very minimum. . . . We already have examples of Boeing 737-Max aircraft that narrowly averted a disaster without any response until an actual disaster occurred. We live in a time where we cannot wait for disasters to actually happen before we respond, such as climate change. We have to use our intelligence to recognize when disasters are narrowly averted and respond NOW. . . . That is the true story of Trump: the Republicans are waiting until there is an actual disaster from his administration. The Mueller report cites several instances where others averted his orders and thus disasters didn’t happen. The Democrats, meanwhile, are saying wait for 2020 rather than confront Trump. The House Sergeant at Arms should be empowered to arrest and incarcerate Mnuchin until the tax forms are produced because the law is clear, the only question is whether the stewards of the Constitution will have the courage of the stewards at the Kentucky Derby to take unprecedented action to avert a disaster. . . . IMHO.”


(If you’re curious what a brutal sport this is for the horses, click here.  At Churchill Downs, 43 horses have died since 2016.  But even with a gentle sport — golf, say — there can be sharply political inferences to be drawn.  I care nothing about golf — but Commander In Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump is a complete page-turner.)

Click here.

 

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