In Memoriam...

In Memoriam...

"In memoriam" is a preposition phrase requiring a following "of."  Whom are we remembering today?  Our focus is rightly on those who risked and gave their lives in answer to the our nation's call.  Families review photos and memorabilia, visit grave sites, pause and reflect and remember.

What of families in other lands?  Millions more.... Many have no grave stones to decorate, nor even know where to direct their thoughts.  But they  who suffered grievous loss do remember.  Let us be in memoriam of their soldiers, sailors, flyers, and marines-- enemies and allies alike -- as well as of our own:

                WWII    (000)                               Korea (000)                     Vietnam (000)                  

        Russian         8,700                    Chinese             ~600              North Vietnamese/VC     ~1,100

        Chinese       ~4,000                    North Korean      ~400              South Vietnamese             ~260

        German         3,900                    South Korean       217              US                                       58

        Japanese       2,100                    US                        36               South Korean                         5

        US                    407                   Turkish                    1

        British              383

        Yugoslavian     ~375

        Italian             ~300                                     Iraq(000)

        Hungarian       ~300                      Iraqi                         ~24

        French              200                      US                               5

        Canadian            45                      Coalition Allies           0.3

        Australian           40

An Open Letter to my Graduating Grandson

My Dear Peter:

I am writing this on a Saturday night, having relished a wonderful dinner of acorn squash, asparagus, and  a well seared, marinated sirloin accompanied by a 2006 Syrah and Rousanne blend, and now sipping a 1978 Sauternes I have had with me since the early 1980's, going back to Washington, D.C.  Which all means that I am very mellow and therefore likely to be very verbose and very boring.

Your generation has cheapened the word 'awesome', making a mockery of a very wonderful emotion felt by saints and sinners alike when confronting the ineffable.  A chipper and charming young junior at Hamilton College called recently to solicit an annual fund contribution.  She asked if my address was still 6240 89th SE.   "Awesome"  she enthused when I confirmed that I still lived where I had last year.  I then played the grandfather: "Jenny, are you really struck with awe that I haven't moved in the last 12 months?   Let me give you a piece of advice.  When you interview next year for a job or entry into grad school,  for God's sake, don't sound like an over-eager, ignorant chipmunk, brightly parroting  "awesome" every time the interviewer relates some pedestrian fact about the job or school.  Sound like the educated and thoughtful young woman that I am certain you are."  She thanked me... and undoubtedly told her telephone bank compatriots about the old fart she just had on the line..

All leading to what I wish to say, Peter.   I am in awe of your academic accomplishments: a BS in Chemistry with highest honors; a BS in mathematics with highest honors; publication in a peer-reviewed journal as an undergrad; and offers of fellowships from Berkeley, MIT, Michigan, Illinois, CalTech, Wisconsin and Scripps.  And I know you are no drudge, but have a social life as well as an academic one.  Your St. Olaf's career is awesome.

Hamilton is not unlike St. Olaf.   Our motto was "Know Thyself" -- not nearly as stirring as "Fram! Fram!" perhaps (Norwegian: "Forward! Forward!") and not followed by "Christmen" for our founders were non-denominational deists striving to educate the (First Nation) Indians.   But otherwise, not dissimilar.  My pre-med academics foundered on the rocks of organic chemistry and anatomy movies at which I passed out, having PTSD from stabbing my mother the summer after my freshman year -- but that's a separate story. 

At any rate, I did go on to HBS, which in those days, more than half a century ago, was for men with gentlemen C's who could not get into Law or Medical or Divinity schools and paid through the nose for the privilege.  No fellowships for us.

So here we are half a century later.  A grandfather upon graduation of a grandson -- regardless of how accomplished the latter might be and how much in awe the former might be -- is expected to pass on some advice.  Hmm....  

Well, one: choose to associate with good people.  I made the mistake of ignoring that advice from my first boss.  Bill Anklam said "it doesn't matter how you are organized" as we argued about centralized vs. de-centralized product development, "the most important decision in business [life?] is whom you choose to associate with."  Three times I ignored his credo and arrogantly presumed that I could rise above and overcome less than good people, and three times came a cropper. 

Second: teach and coach.  I know you were tempted by Scripps because they would have required no teaching duties and left you to wallow in your research.  But I hope Berkeley makes you teach, for teaching is the best learning there is.  I have learned so much more from my "students" here in the US, in Switzerland, in China, and from those I have coached, than I ever imparted to them.  I am in their debt.  Be a teacher regardless of what you choose to do.

Lastly: enjoy and thrive.  The Waller clock is ticking away in the background, 207 years now steadily marking the passing of time.  You will likely have children in 2020 or '25.  You may be a grandfather in 2045 or '50.  Those grandchildren will be coming out of college by around 2065 or so, assuming you and your peers muddle through and mitigate all the awesome grieves we are capable of inflicting on ourselves.  And the Waller clock, God willing, will still be ticking away, merely some 260 years old. 

You thanked Ann and me for contributing to your education.  You're welcome.  But we did little -- your parents and others did so much more -- you did most of all.  Give back by continuing to accomplish, by being a good person with whom to associate, by teaching and coaching, by enjoying and thriving.  Fram! Fram!  

A Day To Quaff

The rain left last week.  Sunny-bright-but-cool has kept the blossoms going -- on and on.  

From the lake, pink cherry against new lime green takes your breath;
impossible to keep your head in the boat.
Tulips abound.

Today, warmth flooded in to lift the soul.
Washed cars, like any red-blooded American teen;
washed winter off skylights,
lived with doors agape.

First patio dinner -- a lovely, summer caprese salad,
a good chardonnay, children's shouts of outdoor joy
carrying in clear evening air. 

We savored, pretending not to know inconstant May yet lurks,
waiting to tease.

Last Words on Student Loans

Elizabeth Warren is getting lots of ink for her bill to reduce interest rates on outstanding student loans.  This is putting a band-aid on a hemorrhage.  Our debt-burdened future leaders and otherwise big spenders (household formation, autos, clothes and such) would still be burdened with years of debt before beginning to spend their otherwise discretionary income to drive the economic recovery.  The Feds and State legislators must find ways to relieve this generation and their successors from this debt.  Their counterparts in Germany, England, China and Japan are entering the work forces with better educations and un-hobbled with debt.

Here is The New Yorker's last word on the issue:

 

And Yet More ...

My friend, JC, professor in the Univ. of California system and lecturer in Germany, writes:
"Fletch, thank you for your comments and passing on those of Hedrick Smith. The tuition fee at UC Berkeley is now $12,864 per semester for in-state students and $22,878 for out-of-state students. The other UC campuses are on the quarter system but the yearly tuition is the same.  In sharp contrast to the UC tuition fee are the fees or lack of them in Germany. In two German states (Bavaria and Lower Saxony) the yearly fee is 500 Euros; in the other states there is no fee."

And DS passes on this:

Fletch -- Read and weep, ...if you haven't already.   David

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-b-fishbein/9-striking-similarities-b_b_5062840.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

Yet More on Student Debt -- from Hedrick Smith and others

My friend Hedrick Smith (Who Stole the American Dream?) responded to my post this way:
"Hi Fletch,

       Thanks for sharing your student debt thoughts with me. 

       Couple of ideas pop up, which I may have missed, but did not see raised in your item:

     1-What portion of  the $1 trillion in student debt is generated for students in public state-run institutions across the country where most state legislatures have been cutting appropriations to their university systems, causing the institutions to raise tuition, imposing greater student debt burden on the millennial generation because our generation is not prepared to foot enough of the cost of higher education to keep it affordable for middle class  youth?

     2-Why don't we see the current generation of students as our nation's seed corn who are going to make our country more competitive in the decades ahead and are therefore worthy of an investment in their future?  China is investing in the STEM skills of its millennial generation, and the Chinese millennials will be eating our lunch unless we invest equally in our own young people. The economic future of the bulk of the millennial generation is far from assured, but if we help them do better by educating them better, they will become the generation that will be able to help pay for the retirement costs of the Baby Boomer generation, half of which is headed for poverty in their so-called golden years?

    3-The issue is: Do we think austerity or do with think Growth? So what about another GI Bill, in which we accept a public obligation to pay for a much larger part of the higher education - of kids who come from families which are getting priced out of the opportunity for higher education by our generation's refusal to keep the costs reasonable? 

      Conservatives keep talking about the fear of imposing debt on future generations - well, we are already doing that by refusing to pay the bill now and dumping it on these kids.

     Looking forward to seeing in three weeks or so - on April 21st and 22nd

    Cheers,

    Rick"

Hedrick Smith is speaking at Town Hall on the evening of April 21st; tickets are still available.

Another correspondent writes:

"Fletch,

Absolutely correct…  What about the 4 profit schools that suck money from the feds and give the student little or nothing?    The student can’t get a job to pay back the $ and they go bankrupt, but the loans haunt them for the rest of their life while the 4 profit schools get rich."

RC

More on Student Debt...

This from another correspondent, in response to the morning paper's article on $1 trillion of student debt burdening 37 million young Americans:

"..., to continue another conversation, there is an article in today's Seattle Times, page A12, headlined, "$1 trillion in student debt is weighing down 37 million," which outlines the staggering nature and consequences of this situation.  It also went on to say that out of 20 million students who attend college each year, an estimated 12 million (60%!!!) will incur student debt.**

"So this gets to the point of your question to me in Sun Valley about what I thought of your idea of simply forgiving the $1 trillion and having the US Government absorb this debt.  You didn't accept my response, that while it might benefit the 37 million and perhaps much of the rest of the economy by freeing the debtors to begin saving as well as buying, that it simply was not workable and inherently unfair to those who already paid their debt, those who are able to pay their debt, and all of those(**see above) who will start building that debt up again because they are now in school or will go to school in the future.

"However, you certainly are on the right track to be raising the question and pondering solutions, and the extent you encourage others to also ponder, and ultimately to come up with solutions will be the true benefit of raising the question.  I read some of the other responses you included on your blog, mostly saying why they also thought it was a bad idea, but here are a couple of ideas I have on your question:

• What are the causes and how do we address and solve the causes?  E.g. 
• Why have college tuitions gone up faster than the rate of inflation?  
• Are students really getting an education that will help them be productive and self-sustaining members of society?  
• Why aren't we as a nation creating jobs that require those college educated people to fill?

• How did this situation get to this level?
• What role have the banks played in enabling and/or promoting student debt?  How have government policies promoted student debt?
• Why are student debt interest rates so high?  Maybe there is a partial solution here, e.g. how about setting interest rates to zero?  In all cases of bad debts, the banks are lucky/grateful to get their principal back.
• Should all educational programs be "fundable" by debt?  Should a history/art/music/etc. degree be something banks should (be allowed to) lend money to pay for?  In a business loan, a bank will evaluate whether or not a loan is likely to be repaid.  With government protections, banks don't have to worry about the first source of repayment which is the job and the salary the borrower will get upon graduation as a source of repayment.
• As with all bank and credit card debt, the less likely the loan is to be repaid, the higher the interest rates the banks charge the borrower.  If the banks could only charge zero interest on defaulted loans, they would be less likely to make them in the first place.

• Other questions:
• What effect would less educational credit have on the situation?
• Would colleges charge lower tuition or make more of their endowment funds available to fund students' tuitions if the students had no other way to pay for their educations?
• Would businesses take up more of the burden of helping to educate the work force?  
• How do immigration policies affect this situation when Indian and Chinese college graduates who may have gotten a less expensive but sufficient education can come into America and take jobs that might otherwise go to American graduates?
• Many foreign students are educated in US universities, and then remain to take up jobs here.  How are their educations paid for - by their governments?  -by scholarships?
• How do government and tax policies encourage American business to export jobs to India and China, leaving many college graduates without a job?

"I don't know the answers, Fletch, but thank you for raising the issue.  Maybe with more conversation like you are trying to promote, and people actively working on real and long term solutions to all of these issues (and even others I haven't thought of),  we can find an answer to this really, really important disaster that is bubbling to a head.

"All the best,"

DP