The View from Right Field

You Aren’t Allowed to Know How Many Troops We Have Fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq

With everything happening, or not happening (in the case of the Republicans’ attempt to pass a new healthcare bill), in Washington, it is easy to miss things.  Here’s one from earlier this week. 

A spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, which includes the Middle East, announced that the Pentagon would no longer be announcing exact numbers of troops being sent into combat in Iraq and Syria.  Only general unit sizes would be provided.

The report didn’t give a reason for the change in policy.  Nothing was said, or at least reported, claiming the change was necessary for military reasons.  That can be true in some cases.  For example, during the 1991 Gulf War, the U.S. military refused to give out information on the deployment of our troops, especially where they were located.  The news media complained about it at the time, saying it was censorship.  But it was important to keep this information secret back then.  It is hard to believe today, but 26 years ago, Saddam Hussein really didn’t know where our troops were located.  His air force had been destroyed, and he didn’t have satellites or other ways to find out where they were.  (He also didn’t have anybody who would give him the information, but then George H.W. Bush knew how to organize a coalition.)  When the land operations started, our troops were able to surprise Saddam’s forces by moving around their right flank, ending the fighting in 100 hours.

Is It Secular Stagnation or Just A Lot of People Doing Their Own Thing?

In trying to explain our slow growth since the 2008-09 fiscal crisis, Larry Summers, among others, talks about “secular stagnation.”  The initial thought, after the 2008-09 crisis, was that

“[o]nce the banks were bailed out, the stimulus spent, and businesses had a few years to recover, the U.S. economy would return to its usual healthy growth.  Time, in other words, would heal the wounds of the subprime collapse and subsequent turbulence.”

It hasn’t worked out that way.  Growth has been slower than expected. Dr. Summers revived the concept of “secular stagnation” to describe what he said was “a kind of long term and sustained slow-down in economic growth.”  According to an article in Time magazine last year:

Donald Trump Meets Angela Merkel. Things Keep Getting Worse.

On Friday, Donald Trump had his first meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  At the press conference after their meeting, President Trump affirmed America’s “strong support” for NATO, though noting, as American presidents have for years, that NATO members need to “pay their fair share” of the cost of defense.

Then, Saturday morning, President Trump tweeted this (and here):

“Despite what you have heard from the FAKE NEWS, I had a GREAT meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Nevertheless, Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!”

The CBO and the “Give-Me-a-Number-I-Gotta-Have-a-Number” School of Decision Making

The Congressional Budget Office has issued its numbers for the Republican substitute for Obamacare – and the numbers don’t look good.  The Wall Street Journal editorial page has gone into some of the problems with the CBO’s numbers.¹  A lot of the problems relate to the strictures within which the CBO has to operate.  The CBO only looks at the next ten years.²  They have to assume programs will sort of actually work like they say they will work.  They can’t ignore provisions that are obviously never going to come into effect because Congress will change them.³

All of which reminds me of an executive where I used to work.  He would say to this one guy, “I need a number.”  The employee would give all kinds of good reasons why he couldn’t give him a good number.  He hadn’t inspected the property.  He hadn’t looked at the local market.  And so on and so on.  But the executive, who was actually the Executive Vice President, would yell, “I don’t care.  I need a number.  Give me a number.”  The employee would eventually give him a number.  And the Executive Vice President, even though he knew that the number was not based on good information and that he only got the number by yelling at the employee, would use the number in making his decision.

Neil Gorsuch Won’t Rule for the Little Guy (Apparently Regardless of the Law). So Democrats Don’t Want to Confirm Him.

The New York Times reports that Senate Democrats have decided how they will attack Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court: he sides with the big interests against the little guy.  If this sounds familiar, it’s because it is the much the same thing Senate Democrats said about George W. Bush’s nominations to the Supreme Court.¹ 

When it comes to Judge Gorsuch, according to Senator Patty Murray of Washington:

“You can find example after example of Judge Gorsuch siding against workers even in the most dire circumstances.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says this:

Disturbing New Evidence of Segregation in Oak Park

The Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest reported this week on new evidence of segregation in Oak Park, Illinois, and its neighbor to the east, the Austin neighborhood of Chicago:

“There are hundreds of different squirrel species worldwide, but basically two, fox (or Sciurus niger) and gray (or Sciurus caroliniensis) squirrels, call the Chicago area home. 

The fox squirrel, the largest tree squirrel in the country, is distinguished by its rust-colored belly and its tint that appears tanned orange.  The gray squirrel's belly is usually white and it typically sports a large, bushy tail. 

‘Austin is almost all fox squirrels, right up to the border in Oak Park, which mostly has gray squirrels,’ [Dan] Protess [, producer of WTTW digital series “Urban Nature,”] noted.

Bill Hands, RIP

Bill Hands passed away today.  Bill pitched seven years for the Cubs from 1966 through 1972, winning 20 games in 1969. 

Bill was traded to the Cubs, along with Randy Hundley, by the San Francisco Giants in December of 1965.  Obviously, one of the better trades in Cubs history.  Hands became a full-time starter in 1968 and won 66 games over the next four years.  He averaged 266 innings pitched over those years, and his ERA was never above 3.70.  (His career ERA was 3.35.)

Here’s a Solution for the Shortage of Truck Drivers: Pay More

An article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal talked about the shortage of truck drivers.  The American Trucking Associations¹ says there was a shortage of 50,000 drivers in 2015 and claims part of the reason is the grueling nature of the job.  The article², however, makes it pretty clear there is another reason.  The trucking companies don’t pay enough:

“Drivers typically receive training from big trucking companies or schools affiliated with them.  Those who become independent contractors sign lease-to-own deals to purchase their vehicles, often with those same companies.  But the terms are onerous, and drivers owe so much that they may end up working 70 or 80 hours a week just to pay back what they owe and cover expenses such as fuel and insurance. …

Donald Trump at Seven Weeks. This Is Not Working.

This is not going well.  The possible examples are many, but let me mention just one: President Trump’s tweet Saturday morning about President Obama wiretapping his phone at Trump Tower just before the election.  I don’t know if that is true, but I do know a couple of things.

First, instead of just tweeting it out, without any backup information, why didn’t President Trump find out if it was true and then announce it.  Announce it to the world with the facts.  That would have been much more powerful than just another unsubstantiated conspiracy theory.

Joe Maddon in Game 7: He Got It Right.

The Cubs won the World Series a little over four months ago, and the questions about Joe Maddon’s pitching moves in Game 7 started at the same time, if not a little bit before.  And they continue.  While Paul Sullivan’s article in the February 27 Chicago Tribune, "Cubs fans managing forgiveness" (in the words of the headline writer), mentions Game 6, most of the fans’ comments were on Game 7, especially pulling Kyle Hendricks in the fifth inning of Game 7.  In yesterday’s Tribune, Paul Sullivan talks about Kyle Hendricks having fans tell him all winter that he was pulled too early from Game 7.¹  I know how these fans feel – because I used to feel that way, too.  But looking back on it, I realize the decisions Joe Maddon made in Game 7 were the right ones to make at the time he made them.

Most importantly, though, I have realized that, in explaining his moves in Game 7, Joe Maddon has shown why he is the great manager he is.  Because in explaining why he took Kyle Hendricks out in the fifth inning, all Joe has done (at least as far as I seen) is talk generalities.  How could you not bring Jon Lester in?  He’s Jon Lester.  Etc., etc.  (See, for example, here.)