4/18/2023

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Grief? Death? How do we live in this world, when our lives are profoundly disrupted by the loss of a loved one? How do we lead a meaningful life when we know it will someday end? My buddies & I grappled with these questions last night as we mulled over the death theme in Don Delilllo’s novel, White Noise.

            I then watched the Kings beat the Warriors in a close game, with some amazing moves to the basket by both teams. Unfortunately, it was punctuated by an ugly scene between Domantas Sabonis (DS) & Draymond Green (DG) marring an otherwise fantastic game.

            Speaking of ugliness, how are we doing on the inflation thing? According to the WP, McCarthy (KOM) is using the wrong algorithm to compute its effects. Since the economy is a complicated system with various dynamic elements, it’s hard to assign a specific number to compare the economic status of a family today to sometime in the past. KOM is using change in purchasing power & change in borrowing power while your people prefer change in “real” disposable income per capita. His #s sound much worse than yours. Sadly, the average American can’t make sense of statements such as “the average wage went down because we were disproportionately adding more lower wage workers” so most voters will just believe whoever they usually believe. We need to do a better job teaching math!

            Thanks for using your executive office to do what you can about providing better childcare to our families.

Please also do what you can to help the people of Burma. An article in today’s G, quotes a Yangon resident as saying, “We used to go to big pavilions and party with our friends. Now our country is sick, & there is nothing to celebrate.” WINTA!

            BYBS,