Commodity Prices and Paul Krugman

In today's Charlotte Observer, Krugman’s thesis is that rising global prices for basic commodities is due, not to action by the Federal Reserve Bank, but to increased demand owing to a nascent middle class in emerging countries. Attributing the price pressure to increased demand from developing nations is plausible, but the tone of his article sounds more political than analytical.


He makes the point that the USA is a “price taker” rather than a “market maker” on the global exchange for commodities: oil, gold, cotton, wheat, copper, and so on. Again, a very credible view. However, his underlying purpose seems primarily to discredit anyone who accuses the Federal Reserve Bank of managing the money supply without due concern for the ensuing inflation. I am only mildly sympathetic to his goal of elevating the quality of public discourse – trying to counter non-productive partisan arguments in hopes of illuminating the genuine economic forces at work. My lukewarm feeling stems from the suspicion that the thrust of his argument is to deflect the criticism, thus creating room for the Fed to carry on with the status quo.

He stops short of mentioning substantive factors influencing prices: the crazy quilt of political structures and spheres of influence that impede efficient matching of demand and supply; goals for social justice and sustainable resources; and, the Fed’s monetary and fiscal policies that do influence the foreign exchange value of the dollar. A weak dollar makes dollar-denominated commodity prices higher.

Mr. Krugman, it would please me if you would carry on with commentary that is economic instead of political.

Lord of the Flies Redux?

What is My Response, My Civic/Social Duty?

The crescendo of news on adolescent bullying is hard to ignore.  To respond, several aspects come to mind:

• cultural change over the last 100 years
• how are we as a society using and losing with information technology
• considering the as-yet-immature capacity for judgment that teens hold, are they unable to take a perspective on what they are doing?
• if there were not Internet or cell phones, would the cruelty be prevalent but just in a different channel?
• what is the ache in the hearts of teens that motivates such cruelty?  Is it the same old bullying, just manifest in new channels? 
• are teens feeling greater pressure to get into college because of the global economy evolution, and thus feeling more performance driven than education driven?
• is any of this cruelty a trickle-down of the national mood from the recession?
• has this generation of parents over-functioned for their kids, thus depriving them of opportunities for learning from struggle, learning gratitude from serving others, and learning from consequences?
• are tweens and teens experiencing less supervision that the Internet seems to justify?

Knowing that, over the years, my children have bullied in one form or another, is there something about the home life of children in the 21st century that is deficient, viz. their ability to be nurtured toward emotional maturity?

Has the post-WWII prosperity in the United States affected us in such a way that we are motivated to be more eager consumers, but less of other qualities embraced in our previous mores?

After several years of having automobiles on the road, the body politic decided to prevent teens from driving until they were 16 years old.  Maybe in 20 years, the collective parenting wisdom will hold that the only computers or cell phones allowed for teens will be strictly limited to education or transportation needs until they are in college.

It is striking that, beginning in the 1960's, for the first time at a broad level, children had a manifest contempt for their parents.  For children in adolescence, this attitude is only increasing.  Curious that this occurs simultaneously with the acceleration of infomation technology, for which the kids are typically far more literate than the parents.

A minority of Americans have an active faith practice:  45% from the studies that I have read. 

Another itchy thing that has to go on the table is the issue of certain practices in secondary education classrooms.  Teachers do a great service for students by provoking them to have their own opinions which they can personally justify, rather than just parrot back what their parents say.  This is worthy, however, a casual student could easily interpret that broad, constructive message as encouragement to disregard their parents' opinions and view them as relics of another age.  In my own experience, my children have come home from school and have brought stories of how their teachers portrayed an issue in a very partisan light and often at odds with our family's values.  This is fine, because I should have done a sufficient job in rearing my child to inculcate whatever genuine values I represent.  I applaud teachers that encourage children to be able to examine and defend their beliefs.  Over the years, however, it is hard not to pick up the scent that "if your parents' values are conservative, break free of these blinders and come over to the enlightened side."  There is a difference in promoting original thought and demeaning the office that parents struggle to serve.

The issue of adolescent cruelty, as well as the gradual demise of the institution of marriage, are pernicious omens for American.  Stable families are the ONLY way to impart hope and self-respect in children.  Children without these qualities do not want to do their school work.  I see them daily in the high school where I am an assistant teacher.   That no one cares about the education of these children, other than some administrator compiling statistics, is a profound tragedy, and the number of such children is growing faster than the growth rate of the population as a whole. 

We Americans owe our children the benefit of parenting to adulthood.  We owe them physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual nurturance.  Pretending that the government is equipped to supplant the role of non-performing parents is cruel to the children, judging by the apparent fruits of its efforts thus far.  Therefore, the children are taking on the roles of the characters in "Lord of the Flies," which is one of the points made by Golding.  Children need supervision and nurturance, else the animal nature emerges to dominate behavior. 

It is hard to imagine that this adolescent cruelty is happening under the direct supervision of attentive parents.  Which is to say, let's admit that we can't supervise it, admit that it is a moral issue, and acknowledge that change is necessary in the triangle of parent : child : computer/phone if we want to redirect the outcome.

Dreams of Parent University

If there were a parent university, some things I would like them to teach, so I would not have to learn the hard way.

1. What to do when you know someone else's kid is doing something that they should not be doing. Problem: if you take the risk to tell the parent, even if it is your friend, they will be angry at you, no matter how you do it. Some people live in denial, alas, or they think you are being holier-than-thou or they think you are judging their kid.

2. What to do when you find out that your own kid is doing something inappropriate, but you cannot reveal your source.

• The counselor says you cannot tell your kid, for ex, that someone at school said they are bullying someone else. Your kid deserves to know whether it is malicious gossip or from a reliable source.
• If you find out your kid is doing something inappropriate at school, and you want the school to do something about it for consequences, the school cannot confront the kid unless you reveal your source, so that the school can tell the kid what the allegation is.

3. How to interpret adolescent emotions.......are they warning signs or are they just typical behavior for the age group.

4. How to avoid "trying to be your child's friend" while simultaneously maintaining a relationship with them with an open channel of communication.

5. When to intervene and when to let your child learn the hard way.

6. If they have some positive friends and some negative friends, how to avoid being autocratic about their social life while limiting their exposure to the negative friends.

7. [will update as needed.] 10/31/10

Miscellany

Random List.




1. I write a blog to cure my annoying habit of writing letters to the editor.


2. A good thing in my life is how much my siblings and I all love each other. It's really too good to be true.



3. I have a love/hate relationship with football spectatoring. I can't resist watching it, but I loathe the steroids and other enhancements. I can't stand it that QBs and WRs and RBs are called "skill players." I hope the dunces who use that lingo realize who makes them great -- it's the O Line, who by default are not called "skill" players. I love the circus catches and gadget plays and the times when defensive lineman intercept passes and lumber toward the goal line. My absolute recent fave was an NFL game when a RB was about to break the plane of the endzone. A defender hit him, and he did a front flip toward the endzone and nailed the landing for a TD.



4. Two of my favorite photographs: 1. Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet Premier, was lying in state after his death. His wife was photographed leaning over his body, looking at him in the eyes, as if she had not finished their last conversation, or had not started many of the conversations she missed the opportunity to have. 2. Joan Benoit was leading the women's marathon in the summer Olympics in the first time that the women's event was run separately from the men's. The announcers were commenting about the psychological difference in being the overall leader in a race compared to being the first woman in a combined event. A helicopter was following the race leaders since it was historic. Benoit came to a segment of the course that was very isolated, far from any fans or media, other than the copter that was very high above her. She had a substantial lead on other racers as she pressed forward, running her race physically and mentally, and in that isolated spot, she was even isolated from the other racers. The picture taken by the helicopter crew somehow captured her isolation, which made the point for me that you cannot run a race fueled by adulation; rather, in those unseen moments of conversation with yourself, you know that you must run the race fueled by your own constitution.



5. It is painful to admit when I have been influenced by Hollywood or Madison Avenue, because I see them as self-interested operators. Nevertheless, I confess that I was moved by "Saving Private Ryan." Seeing the reality of war, and knowing that my government could send my two sons to war, a switch flipped in my psyche that commanded me to be vigilant about my government and foreign policy.



6. I don't resent growing old, but it is a little bit hard to stomach how much daily maintenance one needs. Vitamins, meds, exercise (cardio, strength, balance, flexibility), planned nutrition/food, medical screens, and on and on. This is whining, so I apologize, but I am just surprised at the reality of all this. This line of thinking is a perfect example of when perception lags reality. Another way to look at it that I would just rather not spend all this time on myself because I have other things I'd rather be doing, and most of these involve doing things for other people, which makes me happier. It is just a darn shame to be a feeble mortal.



7. As a certified math and science geek, I have always loved science experiments or projects or any hands-on learning. For this reason, I love cooking because it feels like a science experiment. And leading scientists must replicate experiences of other scientists to corroborate original discoveries. This is tantamount to sharing a recipe. The best cooking fun comes from having the just-right gadgets for the job: a microplane, a cherry pitter, spring form pan, or gravy separator. Of course, the fun is tripled if someone else cleans up the mess, or, if the customers really like the work product. But untripled fun is acceptable for this auteur.

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