Author: haroldblackphd

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This essay and subsequent ones can be found at https://oll.libertyfund.org/page/liberty-matters-the-legacy-of-walter-williams#61

Perhaps the greatest compliment paid to Walter Williams is that Thomas Sowell considered him his oldest and closest friend. [1] Like Sowell, Williams used common sense – the basis of economics – to address contemporary problems.  Economics tells us that price controls such as minimum wages, rent control, and usury ceilings may help a few individuals but will harm many more. Such facts led both to embrace capitalism and free markets as the mechanisms best suited to improve the well-being of the poor. Both cited historic and modern examples to illustrate their points. Williams’ use of common sense was often devastating and generated the usual chorus of wails from those who disagreed. However, Williams could not have cared less. On issues such as education, limited government, democracy, income redistribution, welfare, and race, Williams provided wit, logic, and reason in areas where there was often very little. To the chagrin of his critics, they could do little to prove him wrong. 

When writing about the education of Black children and their tragic performance in reading and math Williams stated that such performance was not always the case. Citing Sowell, Williams reminds us that all-Black schools during segregation demonstrated academic excellence. [2] Frederick Douglass High in Baltimore, Paul Laurence Dunbar High in Washington, DC and my alma mater, Booker T. Washington High in Atlanta excelled in an era where Blacks were poorer and overtly discriminated against. Williams implies that the education of Black children did not benefit from integration, and the evidence supports him. The question is why? During segregation, school teaching was an honorable occupation when the only jobs available to college educated Blacks were in the government or self-employment. A high percentage of primary and high school teachers were men. Discipline was enforced. Times have changed. Williams contends that the modern education system is a failure in large part due to the laxity of discipline and lower academic standards. Today the educators and “elites” have replaced what worked with what sounds good. Williams once said he was 74 years old and was glad that he had received most of his education before it became fashionable for white people to like Black people which meant that he was obligated to live up to higher standards. [3] 

Williams would point out the obvious when the obvious was being ignored. He was a skeptic of “systemic racism” and stated that the plight experienced by many Blacks had little to do with systemic racism or with the actions of the police. He noted that in many of our major cities, Blacks control many of the elected positions, police departments, and school officials. These cities have dreadful schools and high rates of crime, especially murders. Williams asks where the systemic racism is when Blacks are in control? It’s a question that the left avoids answering. Williams also implies that the left and the mainstream media conspire to keep Blacks distracted from addressing the main sources of their discontent by focusing on subjects like shootings – however infrequent – by the police. A poll asked how many unarmed Blacks were killed by police in 2019. Twenty percent answered 10,000 or more! The correct answer was 13. [4] The situation is not helped when famous Blacks, like LeBron James, tweet “I’m so damn tired of seeing black people killed by police.” To date, James has said very little about Black people being killed by Black people. In Chicago alone there were 769 homicides in 2020. Moreover, record homicides of Blacks are being recorded in most of our major cities. Where is the outrage?

Williams was a fierce advocate of limited government and opponent of forced income redistribution. He famously stated, “Let me offer you my definition of social justice: I keep what I earn and you keep what you earn. Do you disagree? Well you tell me what I earn belongs to you – and why?” [5] He also stated “No matter how worthy the cause, it is robbery, theft and injustice to confiscate the property of one person and give it to another to whom it does not belong.” [6] As such, Williams added to the debate of reparations and paying one’s “fair share” and did it in a manner that was intentionally provocative. Williams’ prescription for lessening poverty was simple: “complete high school; get a job, any kind of job; get married before having children; and be a law-abiding citizen. Among both Black and white Americans so described, the poverty rate is in the single digits.” [7] A controversial statement in today’s “woke” climate but again one that cannot be proven wrong.

Although Williams was labeled as a “conservative”, he was even handed when it came to criticizing both liberals and conservatives in government. Both liberals and conservatives advocate the confiscation of one person’s property to give it to another. The difference was in who was to get the spoils. In essence, taxationwas theft, and since the government is essentially nonproductive, it has to seize the property of others to function and to reward its friends and not its enemies (which change with each election). To quote Williams, “The compelling issue for both conservatives and liberals is not whether it is legitimate for government to confiscate one’s property to give it to another, the debate is over the disposition of the pillage.” [8]

Williams loved America and warned about the dangers inherent in democracy.  In his “The United States is not a Democracy, Thank Goodness” [9] he liberally quotes the Founding Fathers arguing that democracy leads to the tyranny of the majority. A democracy is where 50+1 percent can confiscate the property of the other 49 percent. John Marshall noted that “between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos.”  Thus, Williams was an advocate for a limited federal government, individual freedom, the separation of powers, and institutions such as the Electoral College. For Williams, the Electoral College prevented national elections from being determined by a minority of states – those with large populations – and imposing their politics on the rest of the country.

Williams reminded us to weigh costs and benefits. During the COVID-19 pandemic Williams chided governments for often taking actions without the benefit of any scientific justification and with no consideration of costs and benefits. He quoted then New York governor Cuomo who said that any action is justified so long as it saved one life. As Williams said, “Cuomo knows that many Americans buy into such a seemingly caring statement that would be easily revealed as utter nonsense if one had just a modicum of economic knowledge. Prudent decision-making requires one to compare benefits to costs.” [10] The example he gives is clear. He notes that there were 36,120 traffic deaths in 2019. Most could have been saved if there were a mandated speed limit of 5 miles per hour. When the costs and inconvenience of such a mandate are considered, it is clear that the benefits of saving those lives are outweighed by the costs. The same can be said about the shutdowns and mandates during the COVID panic.

Lastly, Williams was a vocal skeptic of man-made climate change. He cited the numerous grossly inaccurate predictions of doom and gloom related to climate change that proved not to be true. Here, Williams is at his acerbic best, deriding those who say it’s “settled science.” [11] He stated that “mounting evidence suggests that claims of manmade global warming might turn out to be the greatest hoax in mankind’s history. Immune and hostile to the evidence.” [12] Williams points out that earth went through a period of global warming which ended the Ice Age. Although there were a few humans on the planet, Williams notes that the end of the Ice Age was not caused by “coal-fired electric generation plants, incandescent light bulbs and sport utility vehicles tooling up and down the highways.” [13] Williams further states “there is much at stake in getting people to subscribe to the global warming religion. There is so much at stake that some scientists, using government grants, are fraudulently manipulating climate data and engaging in criminal activity.” [14] Lastly, he states “The absolute worst case of professional incompetence and dishonesty is in the area of climate science.” Needless to say, such a statement did not go unchallenged. However, a careful reading of both Williams’ criticisms and the rejoinder show that Williams is not referring to all climate scientists but only those who have adopted climate change as a religion and as a vehicle for enriching themselves. Which side is right?  The important thing to remember is that Walter Williams loved to poke the bear and provoke controversy. He succeeded and he will be missed.

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[1] Sowell, “Walter Williams’ Memoir: Up from the Projects, The New American, December 8, 2010.

[2] Williams, “Black Education Tragedy is New” December 2, 2020, in Selected Syndicated Columns, walterwilliams.com.

[3] Williams, “Liberals Confuse Me,” The New American, September 29, 2010.

[4] Kevin Drum, “How Many Unarmed Black Men are Killed by the Police? Poll says Conservatives have the Best Estimates,” February 23, 2021, jabberwocking.com.

[5] Walter E. Williams (https://www.inspiringquotes.us/author/3104-walter-e-williams) 

[6] Walter E. Williams (https://www.inspiringquotes.us/author/3104-walter-e-williams)

[7] Walter E. Williams (https://www.inspiringquotes.us/author/3104-walter-e-williams)

[8] Walter E. Williams (https://www.inspiringquotes.us/author/3104-walter-e-williams) 

[9] Williams, Creators Syndicate, February 1, 2020.

[10] Williams, “Insane News Tidbits,” The Daily Wire, May 31, 2020.

[11] Williams, “Global Warming,” Town Hall, March 11, 2015.

[12] Williams, Climate Change Advocates Update and Invalidate Themselves,” Washington Examiner, February 23, 2010.

[13] Williams, “It’s Arrogant to Say Humans Cause Global Warming,” Desert News, January 13, 2010.

[14] Williams, ibid.

Knoxfocus.com

January 31, 2022

“One cannot hope to reason people out of those things they haven’t been reasoned into” – Jonathan Swift

After Joe Manchin said “no” to the Left’s latest attempt at transitioning the country to quasi-socialism, the Left lost its collective mind. Representatives, senators, the White House and their sycopaths in the media wailed that Manchin was a “threat to democracy”.  Biden was then implored to authorize as many of the “Build Back Better” provisions as possible through executive fiat. Huh? The Left somehow thinks that government through fiat is not a threat to democracy? Obviously, the Left must think that we all are stupid because they should know that the country is not a democracy nor was it ever intended to be one.

The Left is un-American. It wants to get rid of the foundations of the country and turn us into something different. Many of their number have advocated the following: abolishing the Senate, abolishing the Electoral College, packing the Supreme Court, federalizing elections, eliminating the filibuster and restructuring the House of Representatives to reflect one person one vote and abolish the Constitution. Doing any or all of these things will fundamentally alter how we are governed.

America is not a democracy and never has been. The Founding Fathers feared a democracy as much as they feared a totalitarian government. In fact, they stated – like Plato – that “tyranny arises naturally out of democracy”. The Founders feared the “tyranny of the majority” where the current whims of the majority could discriminate against the minority. Thus, they formed a government of checks and balances – a government that is a representative republic. It is significant that the word “democracy” does not appear in either the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. None of the three legs of government are the result of unfettered democracy. The judiciary is not elected but is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The president is elected by members of the Electoral College. The members of the House of Representatives and the Senate are elected by the people but neither body reflects one person one vote. In the senate, each state gets two senators regardless of population. In the case of Joe Manchin, the left wailed that he comes from a state with a small population and can stymie the wishes of fellow senators who hail from more populous states. However, he cannot do this by himself. I guess they don’t count the 50 republican senators who were also opposed. Doesn’t 51 and possibly 52 senators opposed outnumber the 48 senators who would vote for the bill? Even the House of Representatives is not equally proportioned. District sizes within states vary. In California the difference between the population in the largest and smallest district is 121,000, yet each elects one representative that gets one vote. Therefore, shouldn’t the Left demand that each resident of California be equally represented? Clearly if the Left wants a total democracy, then they should advocate the abolition of both the House and the Senate. 

However, no election reflects one person one vote. In any election, only a fraction of the population votes. In the last presidential election, 67% of all citizens aged 18 and above voted. While this was a record turnout, 33% did not vote. This means that 83 million eligible voters did not vote. Of course, state and local elections have much worse numbers. For example, Knoxville has a population of 186,000 and voter turnout in city elections is around a dismal 29 percent of those eligible, meaning that a mere 10,000 votes can determine the mayor and city council races. Is this fair?

It is evident that those who wish to destroy the foundations of the country are shortsighted. When the democrats changed the rules of the senate to allow more Obama nominated judges to be confirmed, they did not envision the election of Donald Trump and republican majorities in the House and Senate, resulting in the seating of three conservative Supreme Court judges. Despite evidence to the contrary, they think that the whims of the electorate will always be in their favor. At a minimum, the Left wants the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico admitted as states. Hawaii and Alaska were admitted together so as not to upset the party balance in the senate. The Left assumes that the two new states will always vote democrat assuring the party of a majority in the senate although the addition of two new representatives will not likely  affect the House. Nonetheless, the overall objective of the left is to blow up our system of government. Perhaps they are wishing for what is transpiring in Latin America where many of the democracies have elected leftists and are moving toward authoritarianism. Yet be careful for what you wish. To quote von Mises: “The worst thing that can happen to a socialist is to have his country ruled by socialists who are not his friends.”

I’m an academic – an academic who reads divergent viewpoints. In my doctoral classes I would have students read studies testing certain propositions and then compare them with contrasting studies looking at the same issues. I would then have them tell me which were the most plausible and why. I do the same with everyday events and not just academic esoterica.

Therefore, the censorship in social media of certain views claiming “misinformation” is disingenuous at best. What constitutes “misinformation”? Consider that social media is more likely to deplatform and censor conservative views while leaving misinformation on the left. Social media will censor Trump but not the Ayatollah. One of the latest dustups is the pressure on Spotify to oust Joe Rogan. Now I have never listened to a podcast and was unfamiliar with Rogan. From what I read, his sin is to present alternative views concerning COVID resulting in such faded musicians like Joni Mitchell and Neil Young pulling their music from the streaming service. As one wag wrote, at least Young has let us know that he is not dead. Spotify ditched Young as per his request because his music is long past popular while keeping Rogan. Take that! Of course if a truly popular Canadian musician (Young is Canadian) like Drake had pressured Spotify it would have been interesting to see the result. I never cared for the whinny singing of Young and was amused by his politically incorrect group Crazy Horse – which contained no Native Americans. I wondered why there were no protests. Certainly if the group were called “Aunt Jemima” there were have been indignant howls.

We don’t expect evenhandedness in today’s world, but if social media were so with “misinformation” it would deplatform and censor Anthony Fauci. He is the font of misinformation. He was against masks before he was for them. He calls himself the science while contradicting scientific evidence. He has steadfastly denied gain-of-function research funded by his agency at the Wuhan lab in the face of emails and correspondence to the contrary. He warned us not to celebrate holidays with family before changing his mind. He contended that the lockdowns saved “millions of lives” when there are over 60 studies showing that the lockdowns had no impact on COVID mortalies. I could go on and on. Remember “15 days to slow the spread?” Or “the vaccines will end COVID?” Or “No masks after vaccinated?” Or Biden’s ludicrous “pandemic of the unvaccinated?” Or perhaps the worse is assuring women that the “vaccines would not affect fertility” when there are studies that indicate otherwise.

For whatever reason, the media has bought into the “keep them scared” narrative when the evidence is to the contrary. Fortunately Americans are starting to tune out all the misinformation coming from the governments and their shills and moving toward adopting normalcy. The Canadian truckers are a case in point. While their media wants to paint them as extremists and potentially violent, the evidence is to the contrary. I feel sorry for the Canadians. Not just because I have had two moose hunts postponed but because they have abdicated their freedoms to the urban elites and to their haughty government. Maybe in all fairness, the Canadian government – as well as the CDC and Anthony Fauci – needs to be deplatformed.

Anthony Fauci is a Liar

Anthony Fauci is a liar but that’s to be expected since he is also a life-long unelected politician. Its getting so bad that the old adage applies to him: how can you tell if Fauci is lieing? His lips are moving. If you disagree I am open to arguments to the contrary. If you are convincing, I will issue a retraction. There was the denial of gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab. Fauci denied it. He lied. There are hundreds of pages of information from the NIH that showed that federal grant money was used to fund bat coronavirus research in the Chinese lab. One leading scientist has said that Fauci is a “serial liar.”

Then there are his recommendations. At the first he said Coronavirus is not a major threat and it’s not something the citizens should be worried about.” He once said that healthy people should not be wearing masks. He defends his past recommendations on the coronavirus arguing that science changes over time. Speaking of science, recall when he said that to criticize him was to criticize science? I wonder how he justifies saying that children 4-years-old and younger will likely need three shots of a COVID-19 vaccine to complete their regimen. Doesn’t the science say that there is no justification for masking children and for vaccinating young children? It makes me think that he is in the pocket of Big Pharma.

He is the grinch that stole Christmas, urging Americans once not to get together for the holidays and later saying that it is OK if everyone is fully vaccinated and masked. Get serious. Even my democrat relatives did not do this during the first year of Covid.

He also favored lockdowns and shutting down schools. My youngest granddaughter did not have a graduation or a prom. Even though her high school had a large footfall stadium and could have practiced social distancing, they opted not to do so. This isn’t really surprising since she lives in Northern Virginia at the epicenter of wokeness. Weddings were canceled as were vacations. She is now at my alma mater, the University of Georgia where last year she and most of her dorm were quarantined due to Covid. No one got sick. The only bright spot for me was that when I went to visit my mother in Atlanta and go to the family farm in central Georgia, I could drive through Atlanta at 75 miles per hour.

Fauci claimed that if we did not follow his recommendations that we were no better than a serial killer. Those that challenged him were attacked by social media and de-platformed. YouTube just permanently deplatformed Dan Bongino’s channel for his statement that masks were “useless”. Opponents were called racists – the new mantra of the left. You were supposed to wear masks indoors. Reports came in of people being harassed for not wearing masks outdoors even though the science indicated that it was not effective to do so. First the mask wearing was tied to the unvaccinated and lately they are saying that mask wearing should occur amongst the vaccinated. Go figure. That indicates that the vaccines are not actually vaccines. They do not prevent folks from contracting the disease. Rather, if they just lessen the severity of Covid, then they should be classified as therapeutics. 

Then there is the recommendation that people should use a self-test if they are going out in public. If you test positive, this means you have an infection and should stay at home. Fauci said: “One of the things you can do is try to restrict your activities to situations where you know the vaccination status of people.” Well I don’t understand the self-test. I found it somewhat amusing when I saw pictures of long lines waiting to be tested. Why? If you self-test positive and are nonsymptomatic what should you do? Surely you should not run to the hospital. If you test negative, just remember you have been standing in a line with hundreds of people and could be positive the next day.

Even Fauci now says that health care workers who test positive can end their isolation period sooner and get back to work if they don’t have symptoms and wear N-95 masks and other personal protective equipment. However, even Fauci cannot explain why health workers are not 100% fully vaccinated. What do they know about the vaccines that we don’t know? 

Fauci actually said that we may not need an omicron boost. “But I think it’s prudent to at least prepare for the possibility that this may be a persistent variant that we may have to face, even if it’s at a very low level.” 

One thing that I will never understand is the postponing of important medical procedures during Covid. How many died because of lack of diagnosis and operations? Twenty-eight million surgeries were postponed worldwide. Thirty-eight percent of cancer surgeries were canceled. Why was Covid deemed more important than cancer? Someone please tell me.

It’s taken a while but polls indicate that Americans have lost faith in Fauci who has a trust rating of only 30 percent. This means that at long last Fauci has fallen from sainthood and Americans do not trust what he says or the attempts by the media to ignore his lies and misinformation.

What happened to natural immunity? Remember when Fauci said that we would reach herd immunity with vaccines coupled with natural immunity. He is ignoring natural immunity and is going full bore with vaccinations – even for those who have already had Covid. This is despite the evidence that those with natural immunity who get vaccinated may have serious aftereffects. In fact, everyone I know who has had an adverse and sometimes life threatening reaction to the vaccines has previously had Covid. There is also evidence from Israeli studies that natural immunity is 27 times stronger and lasts longer than the vaccines.

There is considerable evidence – cited in the Wall Street Journal – that all of what we have been told and currently being told will actually prolong the disease and may strengthen it. These scientists are now recommend abandoning social distancing and masking. They also recommend against the vaccines except for the vulnerable – mainly the elderly with co-conditions. Since the dominant variant is omicron which is a mild Covid often likened to having a cold, the scientists say that the spreading of omicron will lead to a super immunity and we prevent it at our peril. To date I have not heard Fouci endorse this position but stay tuned.

Lastly, Fauci should be forced to resign. The bombshell report that Fauci deliberately lied to the public and under oath to conceal the origins of the virus leave no doubt of a coverup. Former congressman Jason Chavitz writes that leftist apologists from Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to scientific journals like the Lancet stifled valid questions, censored credible scientific perspectives, and prevented justified congressional inquiry. “Fauci himself was emphatic in his public comments. In October 2020, he told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulous that the lab leak theory “would be molecularly impossible.” Likewise, Fauci told National Geographic in May 2020 that the virus “could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated.” When questioned in Senate hearings, Fauci called his questioners morons and liars.” No Dr. Fauci, your questioners are no liars. You are.

I am not a gold bug. Sure gold has its uses but its just not to my taste. I don’t own any jewelry, I don’t collect coins, and my fillings don’t glitter. Today there are two issues: should I buy gold and should the US go on the gold standard? Should you buy gold? I don’t really care but I won’t. Gold has now ventured into the greater fool territory as in “I know the price is high but there is a greater fool than me out there who will pay more.” If that were not the case then no one would buy it – the old buy high sell low axiom. Sure gold was a good buy when it was $350 an ounce but at $1,832? Not a chance. Throughout my lifetime gold has proven to be a lousy investment. Its natural price seems to be below $400 an ounce so a buy and hold strategy is a losing one. People do not buy gold as an investment, rather they buy it as a hedge against inflation. Thus, knowing when to sell to that greater fool is as important as knowing when to buy. The key is to not be that greater fool. Personally I would rather buy a real asset as an inflation hedge. But do what you think is best but know that you cannot find any evidence that a buy and hold gold strategy is a good one.

Well what about a return to the gold standard? Those who advocate this argue that a gold standard would stop the government from controlling the money supply. All governments it is argued are tempted to inflate the money supply and cause inflation, devaluing the currency. If money creation were tied to gold, the argument goes, then there would be no inflation. Such an argument is naïve at best. Governments under the gold standard have always found ways to create more money. The easiest way is simply to change the value of the currency in terms of gold. Instead of a $1,000 an ounce make it $2,000 an ounce. Voila! The money supply is doubled! Governments have also debased the currency by adding lead to the coin or by decreasing the purity of gold coin. Where there is a will there is a way.

What is more curious is that most of the gold standard advocates profess to favor free markets – that is markets free from government interference. How they can reconcile a gold standard with that philosophy is beyond me. The government would have to artificially set a price for gold and then manipulate prices to maintain that standard. This is the antithesis of the free market. First, what should the price be? What about the market price? Well the market price is the price today. If we set it at that price, then what happens when the market price changes? Do we increase the money supply when the price of gold rises and then decrease it when the price of gold falls? What about economic growth? Historically the US economy grows at about 2 percent real GDP per annum. If the money supply grows at that rate then we have economic growth without inflation. The question is what is the growth rate in gold? It is around 50 million ounces per year. If the gold supply increases faster then we have inflation. If it increases slower then we have deflation. Do you really want economic growth dependent upon how much gold is dug out of the ground or that flows into the US Treasury? I don’t. Next consider that we set the price at around today’s price ($1,842 an ounce). The last time I looked, the US held a little more than 8,900 tonnes of gold (a tonne is 2,204 pounds). If my math is correct, then that would leave the US a money supply of $650 billion. Well currently M2 is $14 billion. US GDP is $20 trillion. This means that velocity is around 1.42. So under the gold standard with a money supply of $400 billion and velocity of 1.5, we would have to shrink GDP by around to around $650 billion. Say what? Moreover, there are around 140,000 tonnes of gold out there which means that US reserves are around 6 percent of the total. If you look at the amount of US debt held around the world, the top fifteen countries hold more of our debt than what would be the US money supply under the gold standard. Any of these countries and many others could show up and say “exchange your debt for your gold” any essentially plunge the US economy into depression. Then there is the famous Gresham’s law – bad money drives out the good”. Historically this is one of the biggest problems of the gold standard in that gold has a price as a commodity which is determined by the market and a price as money which is determined by the government. The two are only equal by happenstance. If gold is worth more as a commodity it flows out of circulation and the economy slows down and deflates. If it is worth more as money, then gold flows into circulation and causes inflation. Lastly, one of the largest private owners of gold lies with the enemy of the right – George Soros who could manipulate the US supply. Do we really want to turn over the fate of the US economy to George Soros. Hum. Maybe he is secretly financing those pushing for a gold standard.

The left is more adept than the right at getting its way with corporate America. Witness the spate of “wokeness” at the largest corporations and the kowtowing to threats by the left. Many large Georgia firms condemned the changes in the state’s voting law after being threatened by the left – even though some had previously voiced no opposition to the law. Consider also the number of firms that have incorporated Critical Race Theory into their training programs even though there is no evidence that such training changes behavior. America’s woke corporations read like a who’s who: Twitter, Facebook, Disney, Nike, Coca-Cola, the NBA, the NFL, PayPal, Starbucks and many others. Firms are advertising using transgender and homosexual themes. In a market-oriented economy, one would think that these ads must be directed at the entire market since so few people are either transgender or homosexual. The question is why? Perhaps it is because “discrimination” as a toxic concept has been thoroughly ingrained in our society’s psyche. Corporations do not want to be labeled as being discriminatory toward minorities. First this was racial minorities, then religious minorities and now sexual preference minorities. Being perceived as discriminatory is bad for business, so corporate America puts on a nondiscriminatory, all are equal, face even if it is a façade. Ask these corporations if wokeness extends to the boardroom or the C-suite or the workforce. Sure there will be some minorities present but are they in positions of power? Maybe but, in most firms, not likely. More fundamentally does wokeness extend to the leaders of the corporations’ personal life – their church, their neighborhood, the schools for their children? Again, not likely. Wokeness is do what I say – not do what I do. Wokeness is trying to impose changes on our language with pronouns being put under the signatures of many academic administrators, eliminating gender-specific pronouns and even trying to force Latinos to call themselves “LatinX’.

Another reason for corporate wokeness is that the “social justice” mantra has taken hold amongst the young, educated cohort with the most purchasing power. That group has embraced wokeness and has given it the appropriate clucking noises. Corporate America has listened and feels that showing social awareness is good for the bottom line. Why else has Nike embraced Colin Kaepernick? Nike obviously believes that it will gain more young customers than it loses in old fogies. It was correct. Marketing surveys report that the Kaepernick ads resulted in a net 28% positive impact on the brand. Michael Jordan once said in response to why he was silent on social justice issues that “Republicans buy tennis shoes too”. But since Jordan’s shoes are a Nike product, then Nike can have it both ways, with the young crowd buying Nikes and the older folks buying Jordans.

In our local Knoxville market, the loud left is grousing over the temerity of some prominent local businesses to actively promote more business-friendly elected officials. Knoxville’s left is advocating boycotting their businesses. The question they make the businesses cower. I guess they assume if they yell and whine loudly enough that they will get their way. As for me, I will patronize these merchants even more. But of course I gave up my membership when Costco canceled my favorite pimento cheese when its owner said truthful things about Black Lives Matter. I had no impact on Costco and hopefully Knoxville’s left will have no impact either. 

Warning: On this topic I am woefully ignorant. 

Vladimir Putin is threatening the Ukraine. What should be the US response? But first, I wonder if Putin would be doing this if Trump were still president? America is in disarray with a weak, incompetent, incoherent president. In the year since the election, the senate is split 50-50 and the House has a razor thin democrat majority. The economy suffers from inflation, supply chain issues, a self-inflicted energy crisis, humiliation in Afghanistan, distrust of our institutions and misinformation resulting in confusion over COVID. Why shouldn’t Putin (and China, Iran and North Korea) feel emboldened?

Again, what should be the US response? Our European allies are split. Britain is sending weapons to Ukraine. France is saying that it should negotiate with Putin without the US – likely because it is still fuming over the submarine deal with Australia. Germany has joined the side of the Russians and is no longer an ally in this space. Consider that Germany will not allow Estonia to supply Ukraine with German-made weapons. It will not even allow Britain to fly to Ukraine over German airspace. Why? The reason is simple and a warning shot to America regarding energy. Germany has made itself dependent upon Russian energy. The Germans are shutting down their nuclear plants and phasing out use of fossil fuels. As a result, despite subsidizing energy costs with over 20 billion euros a year, Germans pay the most for energy than any country in Europe. Russia is the primary source for German imports of oil and natural gas. Although Germany is coal-rich, it is cheaper for it to import its coal from China. Thus, Germany is also shutting down all its coal fired plants. “Renewable” energy constitutes around 50% of energy in Germany. These actions, overwhelmingly endorsed by the German government and its people, belie the old notion that Germans are smart people.

What should be done? Here is my admittedly naïve view. First, we should tell Putin that if he invades Ukraine, we will terminate all economic trade with Russia, impound all financial accounts and terminate Russian access to our markets including financial markets. Second, we should support Britain but make clear that no US ground troops will be deployed. Third, we should give Germany notice that if they do not support Ukraine then we will withdraw all US troops from Germany and permanently close our bases. On the other hand, if they support Ukraine then we will supply German energy needs via shipments and pipelines. Of course, this means that we will have to reverse the idiotic policies that are putting us on the same energy-dependent path that Germany is on. We must open up oil and gas leases, pipeline construction and the use of clean coal and nuclear power.

However, I do not expect our weak Administration to do any of these things. I doubt if it has the spine to confront Putin. I doubt it has the spine to flex its muscles in Europe and I know it does not have the spine to confront the Greenie Weenies on the Left. Let’s just hope that if the Russians invade the Ukrainians will defend themselves enough to make the Russians regret their decision.

The Winter Olympics are coming soon. I doubt if I will watch any of it – not because they are in China – but because I am not a fan of winter sports. Oh, I admire the amazing skill level and prowess of the athletes, but I am no fan of snow and ice. I have often said that I will never live in a place where the stores sell white camo and that I have redlined any place that does not have red dirt. Yet  several questions come to mind. First, when they do the medal count, do they count just one event or all the medals earned in that event (1 gold for women’s hockey or a gold for each team member)? Second, who is the greatest American Olympian of all time? The speed skater Apolo Ohno has been cited as America’s greatest Winter Olympian. He has 8 metals (2 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze). Personally, I think it’s interesting that a celebrated athlete is named “Ohno” but I disqualify him from being the greatest. If all his medals were gold, then he would at least be in the discussion. Some have touted Michael Phelps as the greatest Olympic athlete of all time. There is no doubt that he is most medaled swimmer and Olympian.  Swimming and gymnastics are sports with multiple opportunities to win medals with team and individual sports. Phelps has a remarkable 18 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze but he has the same number of individual gold medals as Carl Lewis (sprints and long jump). Lewis medaled in the 100, 200, 4×100 relay and the long jump in two separate Olympics. The great Jesse Owens (go Buckeyes!) won gold in the same four events in the Berlin Olympics. By going back-to-back, Lewis displaced Owens as the greatest American track athlete but Owens’ golds and the circumstances surrounding the 1936 Berlin Olympics keep him in the argument for greatest Olympic athlete of all time. The most gold medals were the 8 won by Ray Ewry in 1900 and 1904 in events no longer in existence (standing long jump, standing high jump and standing triple jump). I know that Usain Bolt won 8 gold medals and won gold at three consecutive Olympics, but Bolt is from Jamaica. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my favorite female athletes, Wilma Rudolph (Tennessee State), Wyomia Tyus, Evelyn Ashford and Simone Biles.

Speaking of Jesse Owens – whose name is actually James Cleveland (J.C.) Owens. Much is made of the fact that Adolf Hitler refused to shake his hand. But I thought that Hitler only shook the hand of German winners – so he would not have shaken Owens’ hand even if he were white. You can understand the snub – if there was one – but can you explain why FDR snubbed him? There was no commendation, no visit to the White House, no acknowledgement at all. Truman ignored him as well and it was left up to a Republican, Dwight Eisenhower, to finally honor him. This is just another long line in the irony of American politics where the democrats are the racists and the republicans (Lincoln, Eisenhower, Reagan (MLK birthday) are not and yet the republicans are branded as racists and lately white supremacists.  Go figure.

Our musical heritage is full of songs depicting the American love for the automobile. That love now seems to be gone. I remember when 4 on the floor made you the envy of your friends. Cars were jacked up. Cars were lowered. Accessories abound. Chrome trim, mag wheels were the rage. So I am wondering will the truly awful looking teeny cars, plug-ins and greenie weenie hybrids inspire the next generation of songs? “I’m gettin’ a jolt from my Volt” or perhaps “I plugged into my Charger into my charger?” Yes I know that Tesla owners constitute a cult. No car is rated lower in quality yet no car has a higher owner satisfaction. Hence, a cult is the only explanation for its owners fanatical love.

There is actually a website that lists the number of mentions of all car brands in the songs but not necessarily in the title. Mercedes has over 5,000 while Tesla has only 140 and most of those are either in German and/or parodies.

I have listed a few below songs with cars in the title in no particular order – I’ve omitted mentions such as ”drove my Chevy to the levy”.  I am especially fond of Maybelinne, Pink Cadillac, Freeway of Love and Mustang Sally. I’m waiting for a song about a lowered Tesla with mag wheels and the driver doing a gangsta lean.

What are your favorites?

Maybelinne – Chuck Berry

Freeway of Love (Pink Cadillac)- Aretha Franklin 

Little Red Corvette – Prince

Jaguar – The Who

Mustang Sally – Wilson Pickett 

From a Buick 6 – Bob Dylan

64 Chevolet Impala – Dr Dre 

Wild, Wild Mustang – The Del-Tones 

Little Deuce Coupe – Beach Boys 

Mercedes Benz – Janis Joplin 

Pink Cadillac – Natalie Cole

Trans Am – Neil Young

Little GTO – Ronnie and the Daytonas

Jeepster – T-Rex

I’m Changing My Name to Chrysler – Tom Paxton 

Chevrolet – ZZ Top

Long White Cadillac – The Blasters 

Who’s Cadillac is That? – War 

The left is making clucking sounds about equity. The Biden administration has wholeheartedly embraced the concept with virtually every facet of government being charged with furthering equity. The pivoting to equity from equality is another embrace of Critical Race Theory, postulating that whites have rigged the American system in their favor to the exclusion of minorities – especially blacks but not Asians.

Yes it is true that many blacks are successful but the equity crowd would posit that either they are the exceptions or they would have been even more successful had they been white. This is a throwback to the segregated South and Jim Crow days when there were racial silos, one white and one black. Those silos were both stratified by earnings and education. However, when placed on top of each other, the highest ranking black was lower than the lowest ranking white. 

As we used to say when we heard the Civil Rights anthem “We shall overcome,” white folks don’t mind us overcoming just so long as we didn’t come over. Martin Luther King led a movement to merge the silos, a movement for equality. 

Today’s left wants to have separate silos in order to addresses inequities through reparations. Statistics show racial income and wealth gaps (note that there is also a gender gap but that would mean paying reparations to white women so the left ignores it). If blacks and whites with the same education have different incomes and different wealth then the left posits that the differences are due to systemic racism and should be addressed via equity. This reinforces the notion of “separate but equal”. 

The problem is that giving remuneration to the lower earning group provides a disincentive to make oneself better off while providing a disincentive (and resentment) to achieve more for the group that is having its earnings taxed away and reallocated to the other group. Thus, a movement from equality to equity will foster an economic race war. 

The move toward equity rather than equality is at its roots an attack on the fundamental concept of American meritocracy. A basic tenet of our economic system is that merit is rewarded rather than birth. The American democracy was a rejection of the British system of aristocracy which was based on wealth and birth. In America, it was proposed that those who work harder will be rewarded more than those who are equally endowed but who choose to work less. The equity crowd would argue that two individuals who are equal in all aspects except for race are rewarded differently. A rejection of rewarding innate talents and hard work in favor of rewarding based on race is a rejection of basic American principles and a rejection of capitalism. 

Indeed, the proponents of Critical Race Theory state that capitalism is antithetical to equity. Thus, even though I have achieved virtually every goal I set for myself professionally, the equity advocates would argue that I would have achieved more had I been born white. There, of course, are exceptions but they are few and far between. Even Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Lebron James embrace Critical Race Theory. What the left doesn’t tell us is that Critical Race Theory and equity do nothing more than institute a rewards system based on their own tastes and preferences.