Have you ever wondered why people work so hard and spend millions of campaign dollars to become a U.S. Congress member? A job that pays $174,000 per year. The answer might lie in this article from the NY Times.
Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama and a member of the agriculture committee, regularly reported buying and selling contracts tied to cattle prices starting last year, even as the panel, by Mr. Tuberville’s own account, had “been talking about the cattle markets.”
Representative Bob Gibbs, an Ohio Republican on the House Oversight Committee, reported buying shares of the pharmaceutical company AbbVie in 2020 and 2021, while the committee was investigating AbbVie and five rivals over high drug prices.
The timing of one trade by the wife of Representative Alan Lowenthal, Democrat of California, was especially striking: His disclosure statement said she had sold Boeing shares on March 5, 2020 — one day before a House committee on which he sits released damaging findings on the company’s handling of its 737 Max jet, which was involved in two fatal crashes.
These lawmakers — all of whom defended the transactions as proper — are among 97 current senators or representatives who reported trades by themselves or immediate family members in stocks or other financial assets that intersected with the work of committees on which they serve, according to an extensive analysis of trades from the years 2019 to 2021 by The New York Times.
The potential for conflicts in stock trading by members of Congress — and their choice so far not to impose stricter limits on themselves — has long drawn criticism, especially when particularly blatant cases emerge. But the Times analysis demonstrates the scale of the issue: Over the three-year period, more than 3,700 trades reported by lawmakers from both parties posed potential conflicts between their public responsibilities and private finances.
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During my years at U of M Hospital, the U.S News and World Report annual rankings were always a big deal, as U of M and many of its individual schools were some of the highest ranked in the country. Thus, I have always followed the report. It is for this reason yesterday’s article in the NY Times caught my attention, especially since Columbia University’s president is Lee Bollinger, who was the president at U of M when I was CFO of the Hospital. Here are excerpts from the article.
U.S. News & World Report likes to say that it is performing a consumer service when it puts out its annual college rankings. But on Monday, those ratings were again called into question after the publication demoted Columbia University to No. 18 from No. 2 in its newest annual list, after a monthslong controversy over whether the school had fudged its numbers. The drop suggests that the highly influential rankings — which have been criticized for having an outsize influence on parents and college admissions — can be easily manipulated, since they rely heavily on data submitted by the universities that directly benefit from them.
Columbia’s No. 2 status was not questioned until one of its own math professors, Michael Thaddeus, in a February blog post, accused the school of submitting statistics that were “inaccurate, dubious or highly misleading.” Last week, the university said in a statement that it had miscalculated some data. Columbia’s public humiliation raises questions for many parents and educational policymakers: Can the quality of a college be ranked by a single number, the way critics rate movies with stars? And should students choose where to go to college based on what has become a proxy for prestige?
Dr. Thaddeus said he would not draw conclusions about the quality of a Columbia education from the rankings, whether the No. 2 or the No. 18 spot. “The broader lesson everyone should keep in mind is that U.S. News has shown its operations are so shoddy that both of them are meaningless,” Dr. Thaddeus said. “If any institution can decline from No. 2 to No. 18 in a single year, it just discredits the whole ranking operation.” Dr. Thaddeus said he would not draw conclusions about the quality of a Columbia education from the rankings, whether the No. 2 or the No. 18 spot. “The broader lesson everyone should keep in mind is that U.S. News has shown its operations are so shoddy that both of them are meaningless,” Dr. Thaddeus said. “If any institution can decline from No. 2 to No. 18 in a single year, it just discredits the whole ranking operation.”
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The momentum appears to be changing in Ukraine and it is not a good time to be a Russian general. From The Guardian today. Kremlin sources “are now working to clear [Russian President Vladimir] Putin of any responsibly of the defeat, instead blaming the loss of almost all of occupied Kharkiv Oblast on underinformed military advisors,” according to The Institute of the Study of War. In a statement reported by CNBC, the institute said that “Kremlin officials and state media propagandists are extensively discussing the reasons for the Russian defeat in Kharkiv Oblast, a marked change from their previous pattern of reporting on exaggerated or fabricated Russian successes with limited detail.”
It went on to add that the Kremlin’s acknowledgement of its defeat in Kharkiv is “part of an effort to mitigate and deflect criticism for such a devastating failure away from Russian President Vladimir Putin and onto the Russian Ministry of Defense and the uniformed military command.”
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Quote of the Day: “ I’ll repeat what I’ve said before, the state Republican Party has no chance or regaining its position as a competitive political force in Michigan as long as party Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock is around. The party can’t broaden it’s base with a narrow-minded bigot at its helm. Maddock tweeted a gratuitous homophobic jab at Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Monday, calling him a “weak little girl.” She’s the poison that is killing the GOP in Michigan.” Nolan Finley, Detroit News Columnist and Editorial Board Member, in his newsletter yesterday.
Orchid of the Day: Michigan punter Brad Robbins and Michigan kicker Jake Moody for using funds from their name, image, and likeness earnings to donate to U of M’s Rogel Cancer Center and C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital
Onion of the Day: Damon Long, a Detroit man affiliated with a gang who used stolen identities to submit false claims for unemployment benefits, then “brazenly advertised” his scheme on social media to recruit others, was sentenced to 60 months in prison, federal officials said Wednesday.
Question of the Day: Should our U.S Congress members and their immediate family, be limited to investing in mutual funds and restricted from investing in individual stocks?
Video/Image of the Day: A great pick me up when you need a little push to get going.