Woke Ideologues at Schools are Driving out Teachers...and Reason
7-13-22
Opening Comments
The Hamptons was beautiful with great weather. I was able to connect with a half dozen readers of lunch, drinks, dinner… which was nice. I continue to feel the best days of the Hamptons are behind it. Too crowded and too expensive in the post pandemic world. Driving around out here is painful given the traffic and crowds, but make no mistake, it is stunning. How about $70/lb lobster salad from the Clamman in Southampton. Farm stands in the Hamptons are double or triple the price of food in Boca.
In my last report, I wrote of a pregnant woman being attacked and hit in the head with a wrench in NYC. It was one of the top viewed links in the last piece. She has since had a miscarriage.
The last report was just too long. I apologize. I am going to do my best to become a better editor and cut, cut, cut.
Video of the Day-Tax The Rich Protestors in East Hampton, NY
Woke ideologues at schools are driving out teachers...and reason
Quick Bites
Markets
Inflation Running Hotter Than Expected-My View is Unchanged
US Dollar Strength/Market Implications
US Electricity Prices Exploding
China Bank Protests
Dutch Farming Crisis
Top Gun Maverick Review
Other Headlines
Virus/Vaccine
Data
Real Estate-
My General Comments
Cancelled Sales Picking Up
Other R/E Headlines
Video of the Day-Tax The Rich Protestors in East Hampton, NY
A reader from East Hampton sent me this 13 second video of people protesting, and it is also in the NY Post. The crowd was chanting, “Climate crisis. Housing crisis. Tax the Rich.” Interestingly, my friend recognized some people protesting, and they live in UBER expensive East Hampton with significant 8-figure homes. Hey, you can always send the US Treasury more than you owe. Trust me, they won’t send it back.
Woke Ideologues at Schools are Driving out Teachers...and Reason
Throughout history, Black people and the LBTG community have been mistreated, and I do not condone racism or exclusionary tactics regarding anyone. I am happy that huge strides have been made (two-term Black President who won with 62% of Electoral Vote, most diverse Congress ever, many business leaders, politicians and athletes have come out as LBTGQ….). These are great achievements, especially when you consider where we were decades ago, and I am fully supportive of diversity.
However, today, the woke movement is taking over K-12 schools as well as colleges and universities to the point of no return. There are numerous insane stories which can be found with minimal effort. Once highly respected professors are resigning in rebellion. With private school education costs soaring, it is getting harder to justify sending your children to a school to become indoctrinated in wokeness.
When UCLA professor Gordon Klein received an email asking him to grade Black students more leniently than their classmates who aren't Black post the Floyd killing, his reaction was swift. "No, it’s not going to happen," said Klein. “I quoted Martin Luther King and my belief in a colorblind society. I admonished the student, perhaps somewhat emphatically and said he was disparaging his Black classmates, that wasn't appropriate," says Klein. The student shared the professor’s email with friends. Someone reposted it on social media and it took a life of its own. Klein started receiving insults and threats. It led to a petition to fire the longtime UCLA professor.
Let me summarize. A student wanted a teacher to grade Black students more leniently than White students, and the professor refused, resulting in a major backlash against him from students and faculty. The administration sided with the students and Klein was suspended for three weeks. He has been reinstated, but is suing the school. This is UCLA, ranked #20 in US News and World Reports. Another UCLA professor retired from UCLA because of the continued move to over-wokeness and can be read in this article.
A full-tenured professor, Jordan Peterson, resigned from the University of Toronto. “The appalling ideology of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity is demolishing education and business,” he opens. And yes, Peterson deliberately jumbles the acronym to achieve his preferred spelling: DIE. These three words, now heard in classrooms and boardrooms across North America, have quickly become the Holy Trinity of wokeness.
Put simply, this is what DIE has done to academia, in the words of Peterson:
We are now at the point where race, ethnicity, “gender,” or sexual preference is first, accepted as the fundamental characteristic defining each person … and second, is now treated as the most important qualification for study, research and employment.
Peter Boghossian worked at Portland State University for a decade as an assistant professor in the philosophy department. He quit with a scathing open letter, slamming the college for becoming a 'social justice factory.’ Boghossian says students “aren't taught to think,” but only to agree with woke ideologies and have been brainwashed by academia.
''Our institutions can sustain only so much and they're being attacked from the inside on multiple levels from people who have been -- there's no polite way to say it -- they've been indoctrinated within the academies and indoctrinated to beliefs that are completely untethered to reality.'
A professor of medicine within the University of California system apologized to his students for saying the word “pregnant women,” instead of “pregnant people,” in a medical classroom. “I don’t want you to think that I am in any way trying to imply anything, and if you can summon some generosity to forgive me, I would really appreciate it … Again, I’m very sorry for that. It was certainly not my intention to offend anyone,” the professor said. “The worst thing that I can do as a human being is be offensive … I said ‘when a woman is pregnant,’ which implies that only women can get pregnant and I most sincerely apologize to all of you.”
Paul Rossi, a former math teacher at the well-known, Grace Church (K-12) in NYC was fired after publishing an article entitled, “I refuse to stand by while my children are indoctrinated.” Excerpts from the letter:
My school is asking me to embrace “antiracism” training and pedagogy that I believe is deeply harmful to them and to any person who seeks to nurture the virtues of curiosity, empathy and understanding. My school, like so many others, induces students via shame and sophistry to identify primarily with their race before their individual identities are fully formed. Students are pressured to conform their opinions to those broadly associated with their race and gender and to minimize or dismiss individual experiences that don’t match those assumptions. The morally compromised status of “oppressor” is assigned to one group of students based on their immutable characteristics. In the meantime, dependency, resentment and moral superiority are cultivated in students considered “oppressed.”
Grace is also the same school with an “inclusive language” guide which does not like words such as “mom” or “dad,” or “parents,” because the words make assumptions about kids home lives. The school, like so many others, induces students via shame and sophistry to identify primarily with their race before their individual identities are fully formed. Students are pressured to conform their opinions to those broadly associated with their race and gender and to minimize or dismiss individual experiences that don’t match those assumptions. There is an audio recording between Rossi and the Head of School, George Davison where Davison agrees that the school is teaching white students that they are inherently “evil.” The high school is approximately $55k/year for perspective. So much for reading, writing and arithmetic.
I could literally write a 50-page article of troubling cases on this subject. The reason for my writing today’s piece is to make sure parents speak with their children about what is being taught in school and be sure you agree with the teachings. Given teachers are signing up for seminars entitled, “Less Theory, More Practice - A DEIB Deep Dive for Teacher Leaders,” you need to be on top of what your children are learning. For example, in NYC, hundreds of thousands are being spent on Drag Queen shows for kids as young as 3 years old.
One student in NYC told me a crazy story recently. A boy walked in the hallway between classes and said, “I really like the new Kayne West song.”
Another student heard him and started screaming, “You are a racist, misogynist pig if you like Kanye. He is friends with Trump and anyone who is friends with that despicable person is horrible. I am telling the head of school that you are a racist, misogynist pig.”
The boy responded laughing, “Because I like Kanye?”
Teachers heard this interaction and did nothing, but the situation deteriorated, and the boy had to speak with administrators. Wait, what? This is a NYC private school.
In another example, parents who identify as Progressive pulled their kids out of a different NYC high end private school because they felt not enough time was spent on teaching kids math, reading, science...and too much time was spent on woke teachings. They were at a conference at the school and when the parents suggested they wanted more traditional teaching, other parents suggested they were racist. The result is they are leaving NYC. Not sure what else I can say other than, “Houston, we have a problem.”
An LA mother of two gifted children told me, “I am too scared to speak up, as I will be labeled as a racist. My kids are learning horrible things in school. As parents, we meet in private to complain and if we are uncovered, our lives will be ruined as we will be labeled as racist.”
Yes, the pendulum has swung too far, and it is incumbent on parents for the pendulum to swing back to the center. Education in America is broken and only parents can demand better, but, they must be organized and have safety in numbers- like in Virginia and San Francisco.
Quick Bites
Stocks slipped on Wednesday after June inflation data hit its highest level since 1981, adding to growing fears that the Federal Reserve will get more aggressive in its fight to tame rising prices. The Dow dropped 208.54 points, or 0.67%, to 30,773, while the S&P 500 dipped 0.45% to 3,802. The Nasdaq slipped 0.15% to close at 11,248. The hot Consumer Price Index (CPI) sent the front end of the Treasury market to a higher yield, but 5 years and out rallied on recession fears. The 2s/10s curve is -22bps, the steepest inversion since 2000. Every time it has gone negative since 1980, we have had a recession as seen in the charts below (vertical grey lines). There is talk of a 100bps hike now given the report. The US Dollar held relatively steady today, as did oil and natural gas. Bitcoin and Ether rallied 3-4% on the day.
The Consumer Price Index came in hotter than expected at 9.1% compared with an estimate of 8.5%. Even core CPI ran hot at 5.9% versus estimates of 5.7%. I had suggested in the last month that inflation is peaking and believe that to be the case. I have seen many commodities turn, housing cooling and feel the weak sentiment coupled with higher rates will show that we are indeed peaking. Energy prices surged 7.5% on the month and were up 41.6% on a 12-month basis. The food index increased 1%, while shelter costs, which make up about one-third of the CPI rose 0.6% for the month and were up 5.6% annually. This was the sixth straight month that food at home rose at least 1%.
Rental costs rose 0.8% in June, the largest monthly increase since April 1986, according to the BLS. I stand by my call that we are peaking in here. CPI looks backwards and I am seeing housing slow, car sales slow, commodity prices fall. Demand destruction will continue. The rental data showed a big spike as it was re-leasing season. To me, the two wildcards are energy, largely due to Ukraine and food. I see most everything else slowing. Below chart is from Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank showing a lot of slowing.
The Euro and Dollar are basically at parity for the first time in 17 years. I have written about the strength of the US dollar a bit lately and feel it has important implications. US multinationals who have a large overseas revenue component will be be hit by the stronger dollar as the profits in foreign currency will be converted back to fewer dollars. according to CNBC, “The simple math on S&P 500 earnings from currency is that for every percentage point increase in the dollar on a year-on-year basis it’s approximately a 0.5x hit to EPS growth. At today’s … level, that translates into an 8% headwind for S&P 500 EPS growth, all else equal.” Foreigners won’t be able to afford US goods in the same manner given the dollar strength making exports more challenging. Also, there are trillions of debt in US dollars which foreigners need to repay. If they borrowed in US dollars, but revenues and profits are in their home currency, the debt load just grew sharply as the base currency is now weaker. The US Dollar has rallied almost 25% against the Yen in the past year and approximately 17% against the broader DXY basket. The Euro and Dollar reached parity on Tuesday afternoon. The Fed is in a challenging spot as rising rates improve US Dollar strength only exacerbating the issues I highlighted. The hot CPI report will put added pressure on the Fed to continue its aggressive rate hikes. What started off as a repricing based on multiples is now more likely to be impacted by earnings.
This is about the US, not Europe. US power plants are poised to reap their best summertime profits in nearly two decades thanks to soaring electricity prices that are outpacing the high costs of natural gas and coal. On America’s largest grid, stretching from New Jersey to Illinois, a key metric for gauging the profitability of coal plants has nearly quadrupled from a year ago to $43 per megawatt-hour, according to Energy Aspects Ltd., an electricity research and data provider. In Texas, it’s up almost 10-fold for gas plants.. In Texas, due to high temps and no wind, power prices soared to more than $2,000 a megawatt-hour, more than 20 times higher than normal. My electricity bills are +50% or more in the past few months relative to last year. Note the second chart and the coal pricing. I feel there is a high likelihood of social unrest in Europe over the winter as Russia is likely to play hardball.
You just don’t see this in China often. People protesting because four banks have refused to give people their money due to liquidity issues. Chinese authorities on Sunday violently dispersed a peaceful protest by hundreds of depositors, who sought in vain to demand their life savings back from banks that have run into a deepening cash crisis. Chinese authorities on Sunday violently dispersed a peaceful protest by hundreds of depositors, who sought in vain to demand their life savings back from banks that have run into a deepening cash crisis. Since April, four rural banks in China's central Henan province have frozen millions of dollars worth of deposits, threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of customers in an economy already battered by draconian Covid lockdowns. We have seen cracks in the Chinese R.E market with big developers in trouble and now some of the banks. Given the Chinese government lies about everything from COVID to Chinese GDP, who knows what is really happening. But this is something to watch.
Dutch farmers are embroiled in a summer of discontent that shows no sign of abating. Their target? Government plans to rein in emissions of nitrogen oxide and ammonia that they say threatens to wreck their agricultural way of life and put them out of business. Farmers in the Netherlands (3rd largest dairy exporter-$3bn of milk) have formed their own version of Canada’s "Freedom Convoy," blocking highways with tractors, setting bales of hay on fire and taking other actions to protest the government’s recent goal to cut emissions that could force some farms to shutter. The reduction targets could radically alter the Netherlands’ lucrative agriculture sector, which is known for its intensive farming, and may also foreshadow similar reforms — and protests — in other European nations whose farmers also pump out pollutants. This one is heating up and seems to me to potentially be a problem. There is so much focus on the environment that government officials may be willing to have a significant hit to food production to reduce ammonia usage. What could possibly go wrong here as natural gas, oil and electricity issues are rampant in the region. The All-In Podcast discusses this topic at 49 minutes. It is informative.
I had not been to a movie in a theater in almost four years. In high school, I was addicted to the movie Top Gun. So much so, that I talked of being a fighter pilot until I learned that required me to enlist in the Navy. Jack and I went to see Maverick and I was on the edge of my seat. The movie was incredibly well done on every front. Despite feeling Tom Cruise is a bit nutty in real life, this is a movie worth watching. The action, acting, music were all great. In PA, the movie was $10 per person for reserved seats, which seemed cheap to me, and only 6 people were in the theater for a 7:30pm show. I checked NYC prices and it was $18.99 for the same theater company, AMC. Free parking too, relative to the Uber ride to the theater in NYC.
Other Headlines
The world's largest asset manager just cut its outlook for the stock market
Rivian Plans Hundreds of Job Cuts Following Surge in Staffing
The stock is down from $172/share to $30/share in less than 1 year.
Google CEO Pichai says company will slow hiring through 2023 in memo to employees
Twitter sues Elon Musk to enforce original merger agreement
I believe the burden of proof is on Musk to prove he was misled. I believe TWTR does not want the truth on bots to get out. I hope this means there is a deal to be had at $38/share. Original was $54.2. Trading at $34.
Founders of bankrupt crypto hedge fund 3AC go missing, as investors try to recoup assets
Just what the industry needs…more negative headlines.
Biden heads to Saudi Arabia for what could be an ‘embarrassing’ climbdown — or a welcome reset
Majority of Democrats don't want Biden to run again in 2024, poll finds
A new poll has revealed that a whopping 64% of Democratic voters don’t want Joe Biden to run again in 2024. Progressive group to press Biden not to run in 2024. Another poll shows just 18% wants Biden to run for re-election. He has no chance.
Biden’s bombed with business — and there’s panic in the C-suite
Musk, Bezos, Dimon, energy sector and many others are growing increasingly frustrated with Biden, and the articles gives examples.
Half of G.O.P. Voters Ready to Leave Trump Behind, Poll Finds
I believe it is in the best interest of the US to not have Biden or Trump on the ticket in 2024. Others who may throw names in the ring: DeSantis, Newsom, Haley, Suarez, Manchin, Abbot, Christie, Pence, Booker, Buttigieg and others.
Trump Spurred Far-Right Groups to Violence on Jan. 6, Committee Says
Armed Man Arrested For Threatening to Kill Rep. Jayapal
Horrible, yet again. I do not like seeing such violence regardless of side.
Bragg must go, but a recall is not so easy in NYC. Son of a…
Man says he was assaulted trying to help woman being attacked at Grand Central
The man has a shattered eye socket, broken jaw, cranial brain bleed and huge gash on his head. Assailant has multiple prior arrests. The injured man is a hero and said he would do it again, despite the fact that the woman he protected ran away. Hey Bragg, maybe your policies are not working out so well. Admit it and correct your mistake for the good of the city.
Philadelphia juvenile brothers, 10 and 14, turn themselves in for beating death of 73-year-old man
Did I just read that brothers, 10 and 14, were part of the group which murdered a 73-year-old man? What has the world come to?
Kim Glass, Olympic medalist, describes attack by homeless person in LA
This happened at 2:30pm outside of a restaurant by a crazed homeless man. Shockingly, the DA will charge this maniac.
Paroled gunman wearing ankle monitor holds up store with semi-automatic handgun
Happened in LA near the airport. Maybe he was not quite ready for parole and could have used another ten years in jail.
Starbucks Closing 16 Stores In Major Cities Due To 'Increasing Threats' From Bathroom Drug Dens
Seattle, LA, Portland, Philly and DC were listed. Policies and elections matter and soft on crime is destroying cities.
This is terrible.
The Post's revelation of Hamptons migrant camps sparks outrage
Naked Florida man climbs onto big rig on busy highway
We see a lot of this stupidity down in Florida. There is an entire website dedicated to the stupid things the Florida man does and there are plenty. It is almost as good as peopleofwalmart.
Justice Department Is Investigating PGA Tour Over Potential Antitrust Violations in LIV Golf Battle
I don’t see how the PGA Tour wins. I do not like the way this has been handled. Players are independent contractors who pay their own way with no guaranteed money.
Virus/Vaccine
Positivity rates remain uncomfortably high and hospitalizations are climbing.
Real Estate
In the past couple months, I have written about how sales are slowing, inventory is building and the impact of higher rates and trillions in market losses are creating a softening R/E market. Even one red-hot Florida is cooling down with inventory staying on market longer, more concessions, large price reductions and a growing sense of nervousness by spec builders and home sales. There is now a handful of sellers offering large commissions to the Buyer’s brokers to induce activity. We have just not seen that down in South Florida for years. In my community in Boca, we are up to 26 listings from a low of 4 in late 2021. When I bought in 2017, there were 71 listings. Historically, listings have been 55-75. We remain well off the average, but well above the recent lows. However, the super-high-end in Miami still has limited offerings.
Here is another article by Redfin which is entitled, “The Deal Is Off: Home Sales Are Getting Canceled at the Highest Rate Since the Start of the Pandemic.” Check out these two charts. The first one shows that almost 15% of deals are falling through, up from 12.7% in May and 11.2% in June 2021. The second chart from June 2022, shows the cities with the most deals falling through as a percentage and must have a minimum of 1,000 homes listed in the market to be considered.
Other R/E Headlines
Loan Depot to cut 2,000 more jobs this year as decline in mortgage originations is accelerating
Miami again ranks as nation’s least affordable housing market, followed by LA, NY
Even though the median home price in Miami fell slightly in July compared to June, to $600,000, the city remained the least affordable based on a projected median household income of about $45,000. That means the average family would have to set aside a whopping 86 percent of its annual income to afford a home.
The 15 Richest Counties in the U.S.
The eastern U.S. and Northern California dominate this list of counties where residents have the highest median household incomes.
Surf Club Four Seasons Penthouse Sells for $29M
The high end remains hot given the lack of inventory in homes or condos at the higher price points. $5,200/ft and needs a full gut job for another $5mm.
The Rosen Report continues to be wonderful mix of data analysis, stories from around the universe and humorous pictures. All the best, Jack