Random #88
Hands-Free Georgia. Apple News. The Trade Deficit. France.
Hands-Free Georgia
Drive into Georgia and you’re greeted by signs announcing that this is a “hands-free state.” No, that doesn’t mean you’ll be arrested and fined for not using Tesla’s self-driving mode. It’s a warning not to hold your cell phone while you drive. But there’s good evidence that even passively listening to music or the radio can distract a driver—usually less than texting or talking on the phone, but it distracts nonetheless. Even hands-free conversations can slow reaction times. In other words, hands-free doesn’t mean distraction-free. I’ll admit that I listen to music when I drive around town, and on the highway I tend to tune in to games and sports talk. Invariably, I’ll realize I have no memory of passing a particular exit or landmark and wonder, “Wasn’t I paying attention?” Apparently not. Somewhere between the third-down conversion and the call-in guy who is certain the coach should be fired, I misplaced a county.
Apple News
In the mornings, after reading the print edition of the Wall Street Journal—yes, the one on actual paper, ask your grandparents—I check Apple News on my laptop. From the very beginning, I noticed a left-wing tilt in the stories and sources it picked, and over time I’ve blocked perhaps a third of those sites. At this rate, my Apple News feed will soon consist of the weather and a recipe for turkey meatloaf. The latest to get the boot is Sports Illustrated. Why, you ask? Because Apple News serves up very few actual sports stories from SI, and virtually every one it does show features a swimsuit model. Mind you, I’m not averse to looking at attractive women—just not when I’m trying to find out who won last night. Last I checked none of them were playing shortstop for the Braves. Meanwhile, the Media Research Center reports that under new Apple CEO John Ternus, Apple News has taken a “decidedly leftist turn.” Critics point to Lauren Kern, the app’s editor-in-chief, who previously served as executive editor of New York Magazine and deputy editor of the New York Times Magazine—a résumé that doesn’t exactly scream “fair and balanced.” But if Kern was already in place when Tim Cook was CEO, then the sharper turn to the left is on Ternus, not Kern.
The Trade Deficit
In August, the trade deficit widened as imports exceeded exports by $106 billion. I expect Trump will soon fire off a missive, likely in all caps, condemning all those importers who, in his words, are making us worse off. Why doesn’t he just ban imports altogether and be done with it? We could all go back to whittling our own smartphones. The data-center boom has been a major driver of this year’s deficit: imports of semiconductors, computers and computer accessories were up a combined $234 billion in the first eight months of the year compared with the same period last year. I can just hear the president: “What? Don’t we make that stuff here? Why do we have to import anything?” Well, electronics are largely exempt from Trump’s tariffs, which is convenient for anyone who enjoys posting on social media. It’s also interesting that crude-oil imports from Canada rose by more than 8 million barrels in August, and the monthly U.S. trade deficit with Canada jumped to $7.1 billion from $3 billion in July. Our polite neighbors to the north, it seems, are still politely taking our money – in your face Trump! U.S. exports grew in August too, just more slowly than imports. None of this squares with Trump’s mercantilist agenda. He must be furious—or more furious than usual.
France
France, with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 120%, can’t pay its bills, and what began as a protest by high school students has become something much bigger. Is this a preview of what may be coming to the U.S.? Perhaps—and we’ll discuss that at length later. For now, France is going through one of its periodic implosions. Most reports describe high school students rioting in more than 40 cities over cuts to education. Pardon me, but since when have high schoolers cared about education funding? When I was in high school, the only cut we would have protested was to the lunch period. It has always seemed to me that rioting is something of a French national pastime, right up there with cycling and wine. Reportedly, leaders of France’s left are now fanning the flames. The left, wherever it is, never met a riot it didn’t like. France’s Bernie Sanders, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of La France Insoumise and a candidate in next year’s presidential election, is deliriously happy. What better foil to push the left-leaning French even further left? France has long been the poster child for profligacy: spending like drunken (French) sailors, overregulating to the point of stifling growth, and borrowing to prop up unsustainable levels of spending. A President Mélenchon would make all of it worse. He says the central bank should simply forgive the French bonds it currently holds—a financial strategy some of us have tried with our credit card companies, with limited success. He has even accused the head of the French central bank of treason for suggesting spending cuts. Apparently in France, recommending a budget cut may now a wend one to the guillotine. He may think all this will get him elected, but he should look to his right—his far right—where he’ll find Marine Le Pen of the National Rally waiting with a smile. Of course, that assumes France holds itself together until next year’s election. And where are the yellow vests? Why aren’t they back in the streets protesting the cost of diesel?
By the way, all this somehow reminds me of Keb’ Mo’s “France” from his Keep It Simple album, which is advice the French government might consider. Personally, I’m no Francophile. I don’t even like French cooking—the heavy sauces give me gas. So, in my own way, if I ate blanquette de veau, I suppose I would end up protesting too.
