Author Archives: clarkgriffith

Metrodome, Wealth Taxes, and Global Warming -Sunday Ramblings

Posted on by
Reply

This morning I am getting ready to attend my last baseball game at the Metrodome, that domed stadium in downtown Minneapolis that has served so well for three decades. The Metrodome replaced horribly inadequate Metropolitan Stadium in April, 1982. The Dome, as it came to be called, provided weather protection that is essential in Minneapolis. The Twins and University of Minnesota football teams now play in their own stadiums without such protection and that is starting to tell on fans. I am now hearing real concerns from friends who just don’t intend to go to Twins games until it warms up. This bothers me as that team need early attendance to have a successful season. This is because the stadium holds 39,000 seats, or an inventory of 3,159,000 seats for the season. Major league average attendance was 30, 895 in 2012, or 2,502,495 total. If early season attendance isn’t at capacity, it can’t be made up later as the 39,114 cap is there. So if attendance is off in April and May, it can’t be made up later. If the team languishes under the Major League average attendance, its competitiveness will be hindered as it is in the 15tth largest market and media revenues are proportionately average.

The Metrodome provided protection from the weather and early season attendance was always good. Fans in Minnesota got used to attending games in April and are only now catching on to the fact of climate reality after being sheltered for thirty years.

My last Metrodome baseball game will be between Dartmouth, my alma mater, and Utah as part of the Dairy Queen Baseball Classic, a tournament produced by the University of Minnesota baseball team, that go thrashed by Dartmouth in the first game Friday night 10-3. It had to be hard for the Big Ten Gophers to get beaten by a group of guys from the smallest of the Ivies, but Dartmouth is a baseball powerhouse, it seems.

Another rambling for this morning is prompted by The Star Tribune headline that most tax payers want taxes raised on the wealthy and not on them.  This is not shocking. We also hear Obama saying he wants to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Therein is the problem. Both here in Minnesota and nationally, Democrats want to raise taxes on the wealthiest but only want to tax income and not wealth.. (I had a Democratic friend once tell me that government had a lien on all income because it created the environment in which it was created or earned. This was an early “you didn’t build that” moment.)

Income is what is produced from labor or capital paid to individuals as compensation. Wealth is created from the appreciation of assets, (Microsoft stock, for example) Income that is retained (i.e. after tax) is often used to acquire assets or build businesses. Taxing income limits the ability of individuals to accumulate wealth. The proper tax system would tax wealth and not income. For example, if a billionaire was taxed at 1% on net worth, she would pay $10,000,000 in taxes. An average person, determining net worth for tax purposed, could deduct mortgage, and credit card debt and income would be taxed only as to the amount that is retained. I think Buffett, (Wealth at $45 billion?) would pay $450,000,000. He could afford that.

When a politician says he want to tax the wealthiest, ask her why she is not doing so with a wealth tax. At least ask why is it not considered. 

Finally, (I have to get to the game) I am pleased to note several posts indicating the end of the global warming hysteria. it was a scam from day one, but Al Gore and others have made billions of dollars scaring a generation of children. The so called “hockey stick graph” that was the iconic symbol of global warming, was so badly flawed as to be ludicrous, however, the media embraced it as true. Nevertheless, that fact Global Warming ended, if it ever existed, sixteen years ago is now recognized as true. In fact, we maybe heading for an Ice Age, but that’s where we were in 1972. Maybe Cooling will now have its day. The cure for Global Cooling? You guessed it, more co2!! But we know that doesn’t cause warming, so we need to wait on the sun. Cheers, Clark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Academy Awards, Spring Training

Posted on by
1

This is a Sunday Ramblings post in which I will just talk about news of the week. First, this is Oscar night. I was recently told that I have to submit a ballot for the party tonight. This ballot will detail my personal views that I try to enhance with what I think may be the political views of the actual voters. So my pure list, just my thoughts for best picture is Zero, Dark 30, Argo, Lincoln, Django. Zero is a great movie including captivating scenes of a real killing. The characters are wonderful, the action intense, and the same can be said of Argo.  Then Lincoln and Django deal with mid 19th century action, some real as in Lincoln and some totally improbable as in Django. Lincoln focused on our greatest presidents efforts to get the 13th Amendment passed. The characters were very well done and Thaddeus Stevens was brilliantly depicted. Django I liked for the action and it’s absurdity was its appeal. Come on, a Dentist/Bounty Hunter does all this stuff with whom? I pick Argo to win just because it is a cleaner story and does not involve torture and guns, which will numb the already numbed brains of the Academy.  Lewis wins best actor and Jennifer Lawrence wins best actress. Those are the awards that count, let’s see what happens. Politically, Lincoln, for reasons described before, may win everything.
This is also the time of Spring Training and the NFL Combine. For those of you who believe Spring Training is important, it is for the opportunity to get players in shape to play, but 90% of the team rosters are already set so don’t get excited when a fellow who played in the minors hits. 380 in the Spring. If he is not on the roster now, he won’t be in April. There are numerous reasons for this, the first is that Spring Training is the worst possible time to evaluate a player’s talent. First, he may be hot, in shape etc. and his opponents are minor leaguers or major leaguers not playing seriously. The games don’t count and the pitchers he faces are more concerned with throwing their sliders over the outside corner than they are with getting him out. Don’t get excited, in other words, with Spring success.
The NFL Combine is hard to figure out other than an effort by that league to take some headlines from baseball. If the teams haven’t decided who to draft by now, they don’t deserve their jobs. The same rules that apply to baseball spring training evaluation extends to combine evaluations. It is merely another NFL show to fill time after the Super Bowl.
On the political front, we are argung about this sequester issue. The sequester is being pumped up as the worst event in the history of the republic by the administrationn (who proposed it anyway). This is simply not true. It is a reduction of future exependitures that is a very small fraction of the total to be spent. The media, and I am starting to think there are no great intellects there anymore, simply repeats absurdities. This is lamentable, and it won’t change soon. The issue is how much damage will be done before the deal turns, as it surely will.
Finally, from Argo, is the famous quote, “If I am going to make a phoney movie, It will be a phoney hit.” I just love that attitude. Cheers, Clark

Drug Use and the Distance Runner

Posted on by
Reply

This may or may not be my first blog posting as I tried it last week and the post has not appeared anywhere, although I thought I had done all the appropriate steps to do so. So here we go again.
The most memorable item from the last week was an interview I did with the BBC on drug use among distance runners. The topic is relevant, said the interviewer, due to new interest in the subject. He didn’t say more. I mentioned that distance runners have the same needs cyclists have. These needs are stamina and lean body strength. So EPO, HGH, testosterone, some steroids and high altitude testing or use of high altitude tents would be the order of the day. I also mentioned that Jose Canseco said “that drugs are popular because they work.” 
Without getting into the many drug penalties assessed by USADA etc. over the decades, the most interesting aspect of this is that drug use has a very positive psychological benefit as well. The runner in a marathon goes through the “wall” better if he/she knows they are befitting from drugs. This also has an effect on the oppositon who feels unable to compete against a doper. This was the reason given for pitchers to use steroids when facing hitters who used the drugs. The pitchers needed to be enhanced as well.
This asks the question if drug use has a psychological benefit, wouldn’t placebo do the same? A trainer could give a player a tablet of milk sugar, tell them to use only one, never before sleeping, only four hours before competing, etc. and the runner/player would have all the benefits of placebo without the danger of being tested positive.
This is an interesting thought, and it is appropriate for a first blog because this is a subject that I enjoy writing about.