Dr. Riedy's Random Thoughts

 A bout ten days ago my wife and I felt greatly relieved as we drove out of the Petco Park parking lot in San Diego with little bandages on our arms for the second time in four weeks. We celebrated with linner (the combo of lunch and dinner, not a typo) on Harbor Island, enjoying a table on water's edge, and reflecting on how we were faring as (hopefully) the COVID-19 pandemic faded. We share your hope new variants will not replace COVID-19 as a devastating virus over the next 12 months. Whether or not we are being overly optimistic, only time will tell. Until I learn otherwise, however, I'll continue to mask but also begin tentatively returning to those "old normal" activities I enjoyed (seeing friends, hugging family, golf, travel and dining out, for starters.) My initial reaction to working on the final two essays of life during the pandemic was to drop them. This essay was (and is) on our spending cuts and the other on ways we interacted (electronically) with fri...

                                                     PANDEMIC SERIES, SIXTH ESSAY (The New Normal: 2/3 Old Normal, 1/3 New) As Americans we are an optimistic society. We don’t have a global lock on optimism but that’s not an issue. With respect to the end of the pandemic, we can feel it in the wind, can’t we? Maybe we cannot see its light at the end of the tunnel yet but we fully expect it is there. We can’t wait for the “2021 version of the good old days” to emerge. In a way, the concepts of savoring and then saving the “new normal” is like holding off on what you expect to be the best birthday/Christmas/Hanukkah/etc. gift to be opened. You do not know what it is, but anticipate it will be a good thing and are anxious to see it. Based strictly on observation and gut instinct, my best guess is that the “new normal” will consist of about two-thirds ...

  PANDEMIC SERIES,   FIFTH ESSAY (The DMV Story) After all the heavy stuff I’ve written about recently, this essay is intended to be light-hearted. Though it might seem trivial, for me one of the best outcomes of the pandemic grew out of its challenges to California’s DMV. In non-pandemic times my wife and I would have had to schedule appointments to visit the DMV during 2020, to take the written and vision exams as required to renew our driver’s licenses. Both had expired during 2020. However, due to complications related to the pandemic the DMV had extended expiration dates for us and many others by 12 months.   Nonetheless, with little but time on our hands, in early January we decided to face the inevitable. I requested a copy of California’s drivers manual, we studied it carefully, and tried to psych ourselves up to visit the DMV. To our great fortune, however, sustained pandemic-related restrictions ultimately forced the DMV to cut processing capacities and al...

    Critical Thinking, Open-Mindedness and Civility in America: Life Skills are Apolitical Those responding so quickly and passionately to “Apolitical in a Political World” were unanimous on two points: First, most every topic they could think of had become politicized within the last few years, making it increasingly difficult to have enjoyable conversations with others. (From a former schoolteacher: “If I were to be truly apolitical, it would be practically impossible to have a conversation! Even books need to be fiction—otherwise discussions become arguments.”)   Second, and the most universally expressed feeling I have ever received in my writings, I would paraphrase this way: anyone likely to weaken or end a friendship…based on another person’s opinions, points of view or political leanings wasn’t really a friend to begin with.   (From a Navy SEAL: “A true friend is a friend regardless of political affiliation or opinion on a social topic.   I…respect you...

 As I write this Congress and the Administration are debating the size and composition of the next $1,000,000,000,000+  Federal Government rescue package to offset some of the economic damage associated with the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and emerging variants thereof. This post examines the cumulative economic and financial implications of the Government's  trillion dollar-plus tax cut, tax deferral and expenditure programs approved in 2017, 2020 and expected to be approved in 2021.   PANDEMIC SERIES, FOURTH ESSAY (A trillion here and a trillion there eventually add up to trouble) It’s as if three extra zeros don’t matter. One billion dollars worth of anything ($1,000,000,000) was a big deal in the 1990’s.   Fast forward one generation, however, to the first quarter of 2020, when commercial banks in America took in $1.2 trillion more than they recorded in the fourth quarter of 2019 and more than $2 trillion ($ 2,000,000,000,000) in actual deposits....

 I decided to post the "think piece" shown below this note in response to a friend's cautionary note to me about the risks of becoming too political in writing this blog. I sent a draft to several friends for their comments, and the responses were so instantaneous and passionate it made sense to interrupt posting the Pandemic Series of eight essays about life during the pandemic to accommodate posting this piece on being apolitical in a political world.   If you don't care to provide a comment publicly feel free to email me directly at mriedy@sandiego.edu.  My next essay in the Pandemic series will be on "a trillion here, a trillion there, it all adds up to trouble", to be published within a few days. Treading Lightly on Politically Charged Topics in a Highly Politicized Society   I realize even though I am trying to remain apolitical in writing about trillion dollar Government rescue packages, Federal budget deficits, the coronavirus pandemic and interes...