The View from Right Field

Break

We have a couple of things coming up, so I will be off for a month or so.  In the meantime, Go Cubs.  And, in honor of its 55th anniversary, here is "Hey Hey Holy Mackerel":

The Twins of Trade

The following appears in the Letters section of the Financial Times on May 20, 2024, under the heading “Chinese cars face a wall of protectionist measures”:

“Joe Biden has imposed 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese-built electric vehicles. Donald Trump says he will impose 200 per cent tariffs on Chinese EVs. With retaliation and knock-on effects certain to follow, one wonders: which one of them is Smoot and which one is Hawley?”

Ascension Day – In a Very Different Country at a Very Different Time

Today is Ascension Day, which commemorates Jesus Christ's ascension into heaven.  The date varies from year to year, because it is 40 days after Easter (counting Easter as day one).  It is, therefore, always on a Thursday.  And this year it is on May 9.

In some countries Ascension Day is a public holiday.  Germany is one of those.  Which brings back a memory from an Ascension Day 42 years ago.  We had been driving around East Germany for four days.  It was interesting.  As I said at the time, it was not really a vacation; it was an education.

Outlawing Noncompetition Agreements: How and By Whom?

A couple of weeks ago, the Federal Trade Commission adopted a new regulation which outlawed employee noncompetition agreements on a nationwide basis.  I don’t like noncompetition agreements, and I think that employers today are overusing them.  California has prohibited them since the 1800s, and it hasn’t hurt employers in California.  In fact, it may have helped.  The ban apparently hasn’t hurt Silicon Valley.

The question, however, I have with respect to the FTC’s action is whether the FTC has the power to do this.  There have been lots of articles in the media about what the FTC is doing and whether it is good or bad, but the articles I have read, particularly in The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, didn’t really talk about the basis on which the FTC is doing this.   But I think that is a real question.

Illinois State Employees Wrongly Claim Money Under Paycheck Protection Program and State’s Reaction Is: “Move Along. Nothing to See Here.”

The Chicago Tribune had an article yesterday about reports from the Illinois Office of Executive Inspector General detailing instances of state employees, especially in the Department of Human Services, fraudulently claiming money under the Covid era Paycheck Protection Program.

What surprised me, however, was that this report and the information about the fraud came from the Office of Executive Inspector General, instead of from the agencies themselves.  I would have thought the Governor and the agencies, including the Department of Human Services, would have been interested in whether the money they were distributing was going to the people it was intended to go to.  And that they would have wanted to stop this kind of fraud and report on their efforts, to let us know they care about doing their job.