"A penny for your thoughts" is kind of insulting

Amidst the past week's chaos in the federal government -- clearly, our new normal for some time to come -- we were reminded that the cost to produce one penny is 3.69 cents. One nickel costs 13.78 cents.

Trump wants to mandate the elimination of the penny, and this is hardly something that hasn't been demanded for decades. I have no idea why he stopped with the penny, when the over 2020 million nickels in circulation cost nearly three times what they are "worth."

Dimes, quarters, and half dollars continue to be worth more than it costs to mint them. I guess that makes them a good deal? Honestly, who knows? Money, whether in coins or bills or crypto or other paperless exchanges, is whatever we all agree to think it is. 

Once upon a time, the U.S. claimed to back its paper currency with gold, though the total gold reserve in Fort Knox amounts to about $429 million. The U.S. is currently $36 TRILLION, so I hope we won't need to "buy back" any significant amount of that any time soon. 

I assume a large percentage of pennies and nickels (and probably all coins) are sitting in jars and coffee mugs and dresser drawers and automobile consoles. A smaller percentage is in coin collections. I used to pore over the change I received when I collected weekly payments for the Iowa City Press Citizen, squinting at dates and the names of mints and consulting price sheets and historical records. 

I would periodically collect enough coins that I would need to get paper "rolls" to stack them in neat groups to take to a bank to exchange them for paper. Fifty pennies would fit in one roll, for instance. I guess one roll of pennies cost $1.84 to manufacture, or they do today. 

It seems dumb to invest more in materials and the processing of coins than they are worth, but my sense is that our entire monetary system is just a series of interactions and spreadsheets and assumptions and, well, sheer faith that a penny is worth a penny... that a dollar bill is worth a dollar. 

Kathleen and I have a whole lot of money in Wells Fargo Bank but we never see it... and never have seen most of it. We do get checks in the mail from time to time, but it's rare. Most of our income is like most of our expenses: we use some sort of middleman to electronically receive money from, say PERA, and routinely use a credit card to pay for things. 

The economy is a giant math problem and when you start thinking about the $36 trillion that the federal government owes, well, somebody (maybe everybody), it all starts to seem like a game we can't win. 

Inflation (maybe?) made Donald Trump president again... and people HATE inflation. On the other hand, economies tank with no inflation (or, the horror. deflation). One dollar from the year 2000 is worth about $1.83 today. About half of what a dollar was worth then.

I paid $3.09 per gallon of gas yesterday (though I was able to take 80 cents off that thanks to our King Soopers points). When I was a kid (I know... long, long ago), there were regular "gas wars" where neighboring filling stations would compete for business by lowering the cost of gas. I distinctly recall 25 cents per gallon.

That sounds great, but I looked up what a dollar was worth in 1950... and that same dollar is now worth a bit over $13 today in purchasing power. So, is it more accurate to say that gasoline in 1950 cost the equivalent of $3.25 today? I mean, I did the math, multiplying 25 cents times 13 and there you go.

So are gas prices a crime today? Most of us can't be bothered to do the math but the internet can do all this for us... The answer has to be no. In fact, it might be a smidge cheaper than inflation would indicate.

By all means, let's work out a smart plan to retire the penny (and the nickel, while we're at it). But we do need to remember that a 1950 penny would have purchased 13 cents of goods in today's money. 

In other words, there is math involved. Some engineer or computer scientist will work out the hidden costs of gathering the estimated 116 BILLION pennies in circulation. My guess is that our "magic" system of assigning worth would not net the government (or us, as we turn them in) anywhere near the 3.69 cents each penny costs to produce.

Bottom line: Trump and his minions shouldn't spend a moment more on this idea. Like many of our new king's ideas, it's not worth it.

Tune in next week for "Jack noodles about tariffs..." 

Our "no nothing" leadership enjoys its moment

Among so many provocative and often simply off-the-wall social media posts from Trump in the past week was this one: He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” I have preserved his odd capitalizing of nouns that don't require such. 

I have no idea where he ran across this quote that is usually ascribed to Napoleon, which first appeared in a book written by Balzac in 1838, nearly two decades after Napoleon's death. Balzac was an admirer of the emperor and spent years gathering quotes about the man along with quotes from the man. 

I would be willing to bet serious money that Trump doesn't read old texts by Balzac and that this idea came from some bright young aide who regularly visits "famous quotes" sites. 

Unless firmly part of the Trump Cult, most people must see this as the rationale of a would-be dictator/emperor/king, staking a legal and ethical claim saying that mere laws should not apply to him. 

No one really knows if Napoleon said the quote (in French, his second language after Corsican Italian), but most scholars agree that it sounds like something he might have said. After all, he lived a life, for a time, that illustrated it.

If nothing else, the post from Trump riled people up and got some searching for whether the source was correct. 

These historical quotes that pop up regularly online as memes are always catchy and rarely verifiable, it turns out. 

In fact, the very first thing we should do when some catchy quote appears in our news feeds is to go to Snopes and see if there has been any verified research into its origin. It's quite easy but there is a good argument for not bothering. After all, social media is awash with lies, provocations, and hate. There is no harm in simply continuing to scroll.

My plan when Trump returned to the presidency was to sit back and watch as the cult inevitably attacked itself and his low-information voters began to realize that they had been bamboozled... again. Those things are happening but my plan is not providing me much satisfaction.

We have been spoiled as Americans, lulled by the relative success of our nation and our political systems over the past 70 years, at least. I'm afraid we are having trouble right now comprehending that we are in the grasp of stupidity. Musk appears brain-damaged by his ketamine use and the urge of unchecked power. Trump has always been a flim-flam man who combines luck and bravado to thrive.

Few Americans would argue that indiscriminate firings and deletions are the "smart" way to proceed in reforming government or schools or businesses... or anything. 

Americans have always been a bit "anti-intellectual" but the Trump Cult has gone all in on not knowing, and thus far only a few lonely judges and the governor of Maine seem to have called out the ignorance. 

For most of us, we wait for someone to save the day. 

A far-off death fires up the time machine in my head

A 92-year-old died Wednesday in a retirement facility in Coralville, Iowa and I just read about it on Facebook. His name was Audra "Bud" Williams and I honestly had no idea he was still living until Feb. 12. I can't recall the last time I saw him, but it must have been years and years ago. 

There is no practical news value in this information. A 92-year-old has certainly seen a lot and hung in there and lived beyond an average lifespan, but the news often will mark this sort of milestone. For me, I was suddenly time-traveling to Nov. 22, 1963, as I sat in Bud's history class at Central Junior High School as an 8th grader fascinated by the amount of white shin that was revealed when the teacher would lift one foot onto an empty chair while telling us a story. 

I do know that I avoided taking that sort of stance during my own teaching career, wanting to avoid that sort of display. On an unrelated note, seeing a fellow teacher who consistently wore a tie with a short-sleeved dress shirt made a similar impact. I vowed to never make that wardrobe choice unless under duress. Then again, I am the guy in church choir who wears a suit or jacket and tie every Sunday, stubbornly refusing to submit to the informal nature of Colorado church services. Plus, I own some decent suits, though all are over 20 years old.

On that November day, the school PA blared out a sudden announcement that school was dismissed for the day (and it was about 1:30 p.m., about half an hour after the news broke). President John F. Kennedy had been shot in Dallas and was dead. 

That was a long, trying weekend at our house. Lots of crying and being glued to the TV. It all seemed very strange to my 13-year-old self, that's for sure.

I had been in fifth grade at Roosevelt Elementary during the Kennedy-Nixon election and had been campaign manager for the eventual victor during our in-class election. I recall making quite a few posters and giving an introduction to whomever was playing Kennedy in the class debate. I remember precisely zero about that debate and wonder if that sort of "lifelike" experience happens any more in American classrooms.

After all, one false move, one provocative statement, and one surreptitious video shot by an enterprising student and shared with dad might end a teaching career. 

And those memories from my youth MAY have something to do with the disappointment I feel concerning Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and his nuttiness. That he is now Secretary of HHS seems like a joke missing a punchline. I guess it's not his fault that 45/47 decided that he would be a most excellent "troll" for those damn libs, preeminent among many such choices. 

Back to Bud, we were at City High together for nearly 20 years... he was Dean of Students and coached cross country and track. He coached Lesley in track, and I look forward to hearing some stories from her next time to get together. 

Bud was a character but he created a girls cross country program that drew as many as 100 girls to the team, despite only the top 6-7 counting in results of meets. Young women joined just to get in shape and to be part of mammoth pasta dinners put on by parents and generally be part of many state championships. 

I thought he was quite elderly in 1963, but it turns out that he was only about 36 at the time. He was from a different generation and from a northwest Missouri farming family, but somehow we became colleagues and friends. 

I have no memory of whether he was emotional on that fateful November day, but assume he held it together, whatever he felt. That's what a guy did. Maybe that's still what a guy does. 

Anyway, RIP, Bud. He was one-of-a-kind.

 

Having trouble sorting through the deluge of weirdness

The weirdness just washes over us these days... and it almost all comes through social media and TV. 

Just this week I saw that a Colorado legislator has introduces a bill to legalize concealed carry for anyone 18 year of age. He claims on his website to love the Lord, to value families and vehemently oppose abortion. He is a Second Amendment champion and (I guess) his idea to covertly arm America's youth is the logical extension of his faith in weapons.

This proposed law has no chance of even getting out of committee in Colorado. It's purely performative, and I get it: that's how politics works today. But I do wonder if he can actually imagine thousands of high school seniors packing heat as they head out to work at the grocery store or just to hang at the mall. 

Hey, I like 18-year-olds. I was one. But let's not arm them in the vague hope that "it takes a high school senior to stop a criminal." Actually, isn't that something all Americans could come together on?

Here's another post that caught my eye this week, this time from Colorado State University, where I continue to plague young writers who find proofreading to be an unfair burden (well, that's how it appears at times): A report claims that 60 percent of American college students "meet the criteria for at least one mental health problem." 

Hold on. I know there is a flood of transgender athletes ruining college sports but over half of all college students qualifying for mental health support? THAT seems like an alarming fact that we ought to think about. When 60 percent of a population has some form of mental health problem, it makes me think the following:

• We are defining "mental health problem" too broadly. 
• Is more education producing more mental illness? Or should we be surveying young Americans NOT in college to see how they are doing? 
• If everyone is in need of mental health services, how many mental health professionals do we need? 

I would never want to downplay whatever mental or physical challenges those around us are experiencing, and I accept that modern life and the pandemic and political and economic conflicts are difficult. But are they more difficult than, say, life during the Civil War? More difficult than penniless immigrants in the 19th century working dangerous and exhausting jobs just to eat? 

I realize I am indulging in 'whataboutism," but 60 percent??!! I have 30 in my CSU writing class. What do I do with the fact that I should expect 18 of them to be in need of mental health services of some sort? Will insisting on them reading the entire assignment prompt push someone over the edge? Should I avoid deducting points for late work because of the likelihood that their assignments were caused by a mental health crisis or, perhaps, a therapy appointment that went long?

Among many other examples of weirdness from just this week are the endless whining commentaries from the press on "what's wrong with the Democrats?" Why aren't they fighting (and winning)? And what about our Arab-American friends in places like Dearborn, Michigan suddenly noticing that the new president misled them? 

Oh, and then there is the 50 cent per egg Waffle House surcharge that made headlines. And Musk and "Big Balls," the online name for his 19-year-old engineer now combing through America's personal data. And $100 million in condoms for Hamas. And it goes on and on.

But, hey, Sunday is the Super Bowl, and we can enjoy TV commercials that cost $8 million for one spot, munch on over a billion chicken wings (could this be why there is an egg shortage?), and revel in large men beating the heck out of each other as pop stars cheer. 

On Monday we can make an appointment with our therapist or pharmacist. Let's enjoy the weekend.

The Law of Inertia rears its ugly head

Just look what the holidays and the political zeitgeist and the new semester and... well, everything can do to our best intentions: it's been two months since my last post on this blog. 

I could make excuses, including trying not to continually moan and groan about the latest outrage from the Orange One and his minions, but they remain excuses, and they are not that great. More responsible for my not posting is simple inertia. A body at rest tend to remain at rest. as Newton would say in his First Law. 

Still not a great excuse.

So, time to restart.

The first weeks of the Trump administration have been a blur of executive orders, bizarre public pronouncements, outright lying, half-truths, and ongoing outrage from the pundit class. In other words, business as usual in the world of Trump. 

I was not surprised to learn that there is a term for his strategy of  "flooding the zone," so to speak: distributed amplification.

Apparently, the phrase came into academic usage during the pandemic, when the deluge of opinions and information and disinformation, mostly online, left most of us puzzled, possibly afraid, and certainly a bit unsure of the truth about Covid and its effects. The term originated with electrical engineering, describing a method that expands the capacity of circuits to reach wider bandwidths (whatever that means).

A less academic-sounding concept that plagues us all right now is "telling the same lie over and over until an audience suspects there must be some truth in there." Interestingly, the bigger the lie or the more brazen the scheme, the more an overwhelmed public will believe.

I was thinking today about the tragic collision of a helicopter and an airliner over the Potomac and how it is inevitable that social media will quickly create conspiracies and bizarre interpretations of the event.

There were Russians on the plane! (There were: ice skaters and coaches.) The military helicopter was engaged in some clandestine mission! (Maybe, but more likely this was a routine flight from across the river.) Joe Biden orchestrated the crash as a way to embarrass the new administration! (Really?) The price of eggs will soar even more! (Can we stop with the egg prices?)

All this is to introduce what I hope will be a more regular examination in this blog of what most Americans want or share or believe, all from the point of view of this 74-year-old white male. 

Well, that's the hope. 

And I will try not to surrender to Newton's First Law again.

Are we really a sad, weak country?

I was somewhat surprised to see emails from both universities I teach for about meetings, seminars, counseling options, and suggested classroom strategies to support our damaged students post-election.

"Damaged" is the word I chose, just to be clear. There must be plenty of exceptions, based on exit polls, as to college students being shocked and despondent after Trump eked out a win a couple weeks ago. Some of that might be attributed to our silos ("I don't know anyone who voted for him!"), but the media's quick take on the results on the day after might have something to do with it.

We can expect a practiced liar like Trump to proclaim that his election was a mandate and "landslide," but the reality is that he received just under 50 percent of the votes cast. Statistically, this was one of the nation's closes elections. Reality never stops an egomaniac or a cult that revels in exaggeration and "trolling the libs," of course.

But now we are setting up program to support young people who appear (are?) fragile and naive. Oh, the poor things!

The many Muslim leaders and voters who chose to ignore all logic and experience and throw their support to the Orange One seem to be experiencing buyer's remorse. They are shocked that Trump nominated Mike Huckabee for Ambassador to Israel. He has said there is no Palestine, to start. 

"But he promised he would help us."

I mean... it's bad in Gaza. Worse than bad. Something needs to be done and most of the world is frustrated by the slaughter and stubbornness... and not just in Lebanon and Gaza but in Ukraine and Sudan. It's fair to ask why the most powerful nation on earth isn't putting a stop to it. But the world is way more complex than this simple cause and effect: U.S. says no, so we don't. 

It's tempting to think that those desperate and outraged Arab-Americans will learn their lesson once they see Trump throw all U.S. support to Israel. And, honestly, I guess that complete destruction is one way to end the war... just not the method most Arab-Americans would like. 

I remember reading that when the Romans finally conquered the Carthaginians, they not only slaughtered or enslaved everyone in the city, but they knocked down the walls and buildings and then salted the earth so nothing would grow. 

Man, those Romans knew how to end a conflict.

Teaching online gives me some separation from the raw emotions of my students, and that is a mixed blessing. I only know them from their writing. I don't spend much time contemplating "trigger warnings," though I try to avoid the most controversial and upsetting topics for writing assignments. 

I worry that some percentage of Americans become so easily upset by whatever latest outrage the world presents them. And the outrages are endless. And in our instant communications age, those outrages pour into our news feeds and our TV news. 

I'm part of the last generation to really live in an "ignorance is bliss" world, I suppose. Horrible things were happening during the 1950s but like the tree falling in the forest with noone to observe... was there any sound? 

I am not in favor of ignorance, but I am in favor of everyone having a bit more grit. Life rarely offers massive victories, but the next four years are a chance to pile up some occasional and even substantial wins that can lead to a less damaged world. 

Today, we celebrate the downfall of a cretin like Gaetz, but that is fleeting and unsatisfactory. 

Time to look for some ways to make positive change.

Let's all pretend that we are living in normal times

If there's one thing that is now clear about our national political system, at least to me, it is that the executive branch, specifically the president, has far too much power.

The latest trolling from the president-elect has him promising to declare a national "state of emergency" and to activate the National Guard and who know what other units to round up undocumented people. He also fairly shouts with glee: "And then to get them the hell out of the country." 

Leaving aside the somewhat unclear issue of whether x number of undocumented immigrants might be dangerous, this idea of using the military to enforce laws within our borders is a challenge to all. When autocratic rulers manipulate the military to do their bidding, it often leads to not just power imbalances but to outright dictatorships. 

Trump and his cult are claiming several things after his victory, starting with terming the results a "mandate." As of today, the popular vote totals are Trump - 76,536,315, and Harris - 73,916,618. The current percentages are Trump 49.96% and Harris 48.25%. A difference of 1.7% is only a mandate if we decide to claim it as such. The news media, apparently, has decided to let this latest lie or "stretcher" stand. Two other things that most Republicans suddenly are very enthusiastic about are the economy and the reliability of our voting systems. 

Winners get to gloat. Hypocrites who win never have to explain.

For Democrats, the results sting, of course, but check this out: while Trump gained 2.3 million votes over 2020, Harris received nearly 7.4 million fewer votes. 

The top vote-getter was "I don't care," with that group of eligible voters deciding to sit the whole thing out. I assume those "can't be bothered" folks will be fine however things go, and also assume that at least some of them will take a look around in two years and "surprise" pollsters by ending the Republican majorities in the next midterm. 

Trump of course, will still be there, firmly in lame duck status, over 80 at that point and doddering, and hankering for some rallies to attend, some cult members to excite, and more cash to extract.

I have read that many people around the world are wondering about the American psyche and the nation's ability to do all it can to disrupt its own success and to (apparently) abandon the rest of the world. It's embarrassing to be an American sometimes, though I am certain many of our neighbors are humming "Happy days are here again" as they celebrate the return of the Orange One. 

On Saturday, while driving home near a major intersection in Highlands Ranch, I was confronted with a couple dozen of our fellow citizens waving "Women for Trump" banners and hollering at passing vehicles as they went by. I guess they just wanted to bask in their glory for a few more days. 

In sports, we would call that bad sportsmanship. Athletes are properly taught to NOT rub it in unnecessarily, to not get too full of themselves. The worm always turns. The boastful always are brought down. 

But maybe Trump and his cult will manage to upset even that eternal truth of athletics. At this point, it's tough to root for an America that seems to have lost its way. 

Or maybe those potential voters who just couldn't choose (in Colorado, one of the highest voting states, each of the eight congressional districts totaled over 100,000 non-voters) are a looming sign that the American Experiment, as it is often called, is coming to an end.