Public Funerals

  

I’m working on posts concerning the Kavenaugh Supreme Court nomination, as well as the current sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic church, but in the meantime would just like to post a little comment on the recent public funerals of Senator John McCain, and singer Aretha Franklin, the “Queen of Soul.” 

I don’t like public funerals no matter how talented or great the deceased person was. In the first place, public figures get enormous recognition in their lifetime but death is the great leveler, and when death comes, we are all equal. Moreover, just being a leading politician or talented performer does not mean that you were any better than anyone else as a person. 

Secondly, I do not like it when speakers at these events, which often seem to be events rather than funerals by the way they are staged, often use them as a means to make political or cultural points that ultimately distract from the person they are supposed to be remembering. The comments often seem self-serving, petty, and bogus.

I would like to just contrast such eulogies with the words uttered by Phil Rizzuto, the legendary New York Yankee ballplayer and announcer, when he heard of the tragic death of Thurman Munson, the great NY Yankee catcher, in an airplane crash at the height of his career. On August 2, 1979, Munson died while piloting his private plane on an off-day during the baseball season. 

On the next day, Rizzuto spoke the following words during a pre-game show. In characteristic fashion Rizzuto messed up some of the words of the traditional Catholic prayer to a guardian angel but spoke simply and from the heart.

There’s a little prayer I always say

Whenever I think of my family or when I’m flying,

When I’m afraid, and I am afraid of flying.

It’s just a little one. You can say it no matter what,

Whether you’re Catholic or Jewish or Protestant or whatever.

And I’ve probably said it a thousand times

Since I heard the news on Thurman Munson.

It’s not trying to be maudlin or anything.

His Eminence, Cardinal Cooke, is going to come out

And say a little prayer for Thurman Munson.

But this is just a little one I say time and time again,

It’s just: Angel of God, Thurman’s guardian dear,

To whom his love commits him here there or everywhere,

Ever this night and day be at his side,

To light and guard, to rule and guide. 

For some reason it makes me feel like I’m talking to Thurman,

Or whoever’s name you put in there,

Whether it be my wife or any of my children, my parents or anything.

It’s just something to keep you from going really bananas.

Because if you let this,

If you keep thinking about what happened, and you can’t understand it,

That’s what really drives you to despair.

Faith. You gotta have faith.

You know, they say time heals all wounds,

And I don’t quite agree with that a hundred percent.

It gets you to cope with wounds,

You carry them the rest of your life.

A few days later, Rizzuto returned to the subject while broadcasting ad lib during the midst of a game in progress.

The Yankees have had a traumatic four days,

Actually five days,

That terrible crash with Thurman Munson.

To go through all that agony,

And then today,

You and I along with the rest of the team

Flew to Canton for the services,

And the family…Very upset.

You know, it might,

It might sound a little corny,

But we have the most beautiful full moon tonight

And the crowd,

Enjoying whatever is going on right now.

They say it might sound corny,

But to me it’s some kind of a…,

Like an omen.

Both the moon and Thurman Munson,

Both ascending up into heaven.

I just can’t get it out of my mind,

I just saw that full moon,

And it just reminded me of Thurman,

And that’s it.

(August 6, 1979 Baltimore at New York, fifth inning, bases empty, no outs.)

Note: These words and many others of Rizzuto’s can be found in a collection, O Holy Cow, edited by Tom Peyer and Hart Seely. The editors claim that Rizzuto’s words were truly poetic and have subtitled their collection, “The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto.

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College Sex Scene

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Recently, a young woman was convicted of filing a false claim of rape against two football players at a nearby university. She was given a relatively short sentence after admitting that rather than rape, it was a consensual sexual encounter that she later claimed was rape to somehow impress a potential boyfriend. 

After the trial the two young men claimed that their lives had been ruined by the woman’s accusation. They had been kicked off the football team and lost their scholarships. Actually, it would appear that the lives of the three participants in this act of consensual sex had all been damaged in one way or another. It’s also possible that the lives of the families involved had also been badly damaged.

However, the damage could have been even greater. A recent article in the Connecticut Mirror, an online daily news source, indicated that there has been an alarming increase in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in Connecticut and the nation over the past twenty years. The article referred to a study released by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) that showed that Connecticut’s problem was part of a nationwide problem. 

The state’s spike in gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia cases coincides with “steep and sustained” increases seen nationwide from 2013 through 2017, in an analysis released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Preliminary data indicates that there were 3913 cases of gonorrhea in Connecticut in 2017, an increase of 37% from 2013. In that same period the national count increased by 67%. Also, syphilis cases were up 76% nationwide and doubled in Connecticut from 56 to 110. Finally, reports of chlamydia, the most common STD were up 22% nationwide but 39% in Connecticut which still had a total of 17750 reported cases.

The CDC attributed more than 70% of syphilis cases to gay, or bisexual men having sex with other men. This would appear to be a new phenomenon. In Connecticut, for example, reported cases of syphilis among men and women in the year 2000 were relatively the same. But since then, the rate among men has “skyrocketed.” 

Chlamydia, the most common STD, is most prevalent in young people under the age of 25. Health officials are devoting most of their attention to education and screening in high school. Still, they admit that their resources are overtaxed by the sheer volume of cases. Complicating matters is the fact that the antibiotics used to treat these diseases are no longer effective as the various bacteria have developed resistance. 

The effects of STDs can be devastating both physically and mentally. They are highly infectious and easily spread by sexual contact. The results of these infections are more than painful. They can often cause infertility, and even when they don’t, a mother can spread the disease to her newborn baby. 

The CT Mirror article quoted a Connecticut medical official on the reasons why infected people are reluctant to come forward and seek treatment.

Some people might feel bad when they have an STD because it is perceived that they did something wrong or they had sex with the wrong person or it is their fault,” she said. “Instead of expecting people to come to us, we need to do a better job of going to where they are, both in-person and online, to provide them the knowledge they need so they have the best information to make informed decisions for themselves.

It is hard to know what to make of this well-meaning statement. I know that there is a new morality today, and that many young people are not very religious. But from a medical or scientific point of view those infected with STDs did do something wrong, they did have sex with the wrong person, and it is their fault.

What sane person would have any kind of sex with a person known to be infected with an STD, or known to have been infected in the past? Who would take such a chance? What kind of person infected with an STD would risk infecting someone else?

Isn’t it clear that the only real way to avoid STDs outside of sexual abstinence is a monogamous sexual relationship? Multiple sex partners dramatically increase the risk of infection no matter what kind of “protection” is employed. Maybe it’s old-fashioned but even if you’re not concerned with your spiritual well-being, your physical well-being might depend on waiting for the right person to come along.

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Trump Administration Progress Report

Shortly after President Trump’s inauguration I wrote:

The true test of the Trump administration will be on how much it can deliver. If President Trump can just deliver on a third of his promises, it will be a successful Presidency. Batting .333 is good in any league. I hope commentators will begin to focus on what the Trump administration is actually doing, and not on what they fear he will do.

Little did I realize how hard it would be to find out what the Trump administration has actually accomplished. The President’s constant battles with the mainstream media, unprecedented obstruction on the part of the Democrat opposition, and the never-ending Mueller probe of Russian collusion and anything else it can dig up have obscured the real achievements of the last 18 months. 

For example, a few months ago surveys showed that “consumer confidence” in this country had approached an all-time high. Consumer confidence is an economic indicator that indicates that rising incomes are encouraging people to spend and save. Nevertheless, the media outlets I follow hardly mentioned this good sign and certainly did not attribute it to the President or his policies. 

I did read that lame duck Democrat Governor Malloy of Connecticut attributed the rising consumer confidence in his state to his own measures despite the fact that he has one of the lowest approval ratings of any governor in the country. Malloy could not bring himself to give President Trump the least bit of credit for the rise in consumer confidence even though the President’s approval rating is close to a record 50%.

The other day I watched a former director of the Federal Reserve Board (the Fed) give an interview on the CNBC show “The Closing Bell.” He was asked his opinion of President Trump’s recent criticism of the Fed. He expressed puzzlement over the President’s remarks, and said that Fed officials should just ignore them. He was obviously not a Trump partisan.

Nevertheless, he did give the President a lot of credit for the current state of the economy which most commentators agree is booming. He argued that the tax reform legislation and deregulation measures pushed by the Trump administration were the two biggest drivers of the booming economy. In addition, he argued that the President was correct in his tough trade position with China which has continually refused to abide by prior trade agreements and rules.  

Maybe the President and his administration does not deserve all the credit for the booming economy, and the rise in consumer confidence but any impartial person would have to admit that President Trump would have been given all the blame if things had gone in the opposite direction.  We have to remember that just 18 months ago the political opposition and mainstream media were predicting doom for the country and the world. Only grudgingly have they been forced to admit some progress.

Earlier this summer James Himes, my representative in Congress, informed his constituents of the passage of a bill that he had sponsored to protect senior citizens from fraud and abuse. Himes is no friend of President Trump but he did note that the President signed this bill into law. 

You will be glad to hear that President Trump signed the Senior Safe Act into law this past May after it passed the House and Senate with bipartisan support. As states begin administering these important protections, be assured that I will continue looking for more ways to defend seniors from deceit and injustice.

Earlier in the year Democrat Himes had to admit that there were many good features in the huge budget bill that the President approved with bipartisan support. Recently a bipartisan defense appropriation bill was also promoted and approved by the President.

Measures like the above are just the tip of the iceberg but they and other accomplishments are largely going unreported. The national and local media complain the President Trump is attacking freedom of the press but in actuality the press in this country has long ago enslaved itself to ideology and money. 

Here is one final example of how the media have obscured some real achievements. A little noticed feature of the tax reform bill of 2017 eliminated the income tax credit for undocumented and illegal children, a measure that would save the Treasury billions. As usual, the media screamed that this measure was robbing the poorest of the poor to benefit the rich.

In reality, the income tax credit for illegal immigrant children had turned into a scam of massive proportions. People with earnings in this country but without Social Security numbers were still required to file tax returns. These tax returns listed numerous child dependents but many of these dependents did not even reside in the country. One return showed nine nieces and nephews with only one actually residing in the USA. The billions funneled out of the Treasury in this tax credit scheme did not necessarily go to poor children. Much of it might have ended up in the hands of drug lords or gangs.

Here is a link to an Indiana report done in 2013 detailing the tax-credit scam, or just click on the video below.

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Asset Inequality?

                                          

Fairfield Marina

Recent articles in the Wall Street Journal have argued that the income inequality bemoaned by progressives in this country is a myth. Statistical studies that demonstrate an increasing amount of income inequality apparently leave out over a trillion dollars of government income transfers to those in lower income brackets. These studies also do not take into consideration the substantial impact of an effective progressive income tax code on the highest earners.  

In an August 7 WSJ op-ed Bruce D. Meyer, a professor of public policy at the University of Chicago, and James X. Sullivan, a professor of economics at Notre Dame, claimed that “there is much less material deprivation than there was decades ago.” They cited a number of studies including the American Housing Survey that demonstrated the significant strides made in this country. They wrote,

The poorest 20% of Americans live as the middle class did a generation ago as measured by the square footage of their homes, the number of rooms per person, and the presence of air conditioning, dishwashers, and other amenities.

Unfortunately, studies that claim that America has reached an unprecedented level of income equality are questioned by politicians and advocates on both extremes of the political spectrum. Right wingers claim that the enormous sums spent by government social programs or income transfers have largely been wasteful and ineffective. Left wingers claim that they have not gone far enough and call for massive spending to finance free college education, health care, minimum wage increases and a host of other benefits. 

Left wing progressives also claim that studies that indicate income inequality are a politically biased attempt to roll back or eliminate the social service safety net. As a last resort, even if they grudgingly admit some measure of income equality, progressives will then raise the issue of “asset” inequality. Even if the incomes of the poor are improving, the gap in asset ownership is greater than ever before in history and getting wider and wider.

I know that there are incredibly wealthy people in the country today. Jeff Bezos of Amazon is reputed to be the wealthiest person in the world with a fortune of $157 Billion. But my own experience leads me to believe that the gap between the very rich in this country and the rest of us is no wider than it has ever been, and that more Americans share in the American economy than ever before.

When I started my career in the financial services industry as a mutual fund salesman in 1972, it quickly became clear to me that most Americans did not own a share in the American economy. The mutual fund business was in its infancy, and only a small percentage of the population owned shares of common stock. Moreover, there were no IRA or 401k plans with tax favored treatment of retirement savings. Many leading companies had pension plans but there was little in the way of profit sharing plans or employee stock ownership plans. There were, however, two tax-favored retirement accounts but they were only available to small businesses (Keogh plans), and school teachers (403b plans). The 403b plan was the granddaddy of these plans and it is still used to fund the retirement of most college and university professors today. 

In the past 45 years the growth of all of these plans has been phenomenal. More Americans now own tax favored retirement plans than ever before and most of them are invested in a broad cross section of the American economy. In addition to the tax advantages, most people could participate in these plans through payroll deduction, the best way to save. Incredibly, the huge amount that Americans put into these tax favored retirement plans does not count in official government statistics as savings.

When I started in 1972 the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) was about 1000. Today it is around 25000. The baby boomers who began saving in the 1970s have become the richest generation in history. On a recent visit to Alameda California, across from San Francisco Bay, I discovered that the modest homes there could not be had for less than $1 Million largely due to its proximity to trendy San Francisco. Although San Francisco is the bluest city in the bluest state in the country, most ordinary people cannot afford to live there.

Closer to home, my wife and I enjoy sitting at the marina near Fairfield beach and watching the boats, both large and small, go in and out. It is a constant parade. Fairfield is a middle class town but a good number of its people enjoy messing around in boats, and can afford to do so. 

But what about the lower classes? Although people living on welfare have very little in the way of assets, their guaranteed welfare income and benefits makes them virtual millionaires. For example, if someone receives a monthly welfare check, subsidized medical care under Medicaid, and housing and food assistance, they could easily have the equivalent of an income of $2500 per month or $30000 per year. At 3% interest it takes a million dollars of assets to provide an income of $30000 per year. 

Despite protests from both the left and the right, it would appear that the social safety net has been working in America. 

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