May 27

 The Memorial Day holiday is over. Like so many holidays that were important when I was much younger this one has become somewhat meaningless. Part of the problem is the commercialization of the day. It is less a day to honor our war dead and surviving soldiers who served to one where we are expected to prove our patriotism by consuming beyond our means. Another part is a strange mutation in our attitudes toward the military and the commemoration of those who have served and are serving. After 9/11 greeting veterans and serving soldiers with "Thank you for your service" became ubiquitous and empty. Similar to the habit of wearing a flag pin on your lapel. Both have become meaningless virtue signaling at the same time military participation in the opening of sporting contests is almost pro forma, the congress has just passed the One Big Beautiful Bill containing a boost in military spending which is approaching the $2trillion mark, and fewer of our population actually serves in the military. What is left is a three day holiday (usually not including the actual Memorial Day) during which people try to cram in a long distance trip through crowded airports and on crowded roads going and coming.

I noticed that Trump has proposed sending the  $3billion he has illegally taken from Harvard to (unspecified) trade schools. He really put a thumb in the eye of an elite educational institution and proposed giving a sop to voters who don't have a college degree but supported him. Again a bit of meaningless virtue signaling which costs Trump nothing. Robert Reich has a longer commentary not just on Trumps robbing the elite Peter to throw a crust to the plebeian Paul but on our love hate affair with higher education. As our society has become increasingly shrill in demanding that all of us go through the academic hoops to at least a bachelor's degree, those degrees have become increasingly useless economically because the bachelor's degree has replaced a high school diploma as the entry ticket to the good job ladder into the middle class.

Saw a new ad by a group I hadn't heard from before: Save Transit Now. They want viewers to pressure their state and local lawmakers to increase funding for transit to forestall a "crisis" in transit that will lead to commuters being caught in traffic jams. Problem: where will those law makers get the money and who will pay. For decades now I have watched local news stories about homeowners, whose property taxes fund much of local budgets, revolting when proposed increases touched their raw nerves. If wages are rising and property values are increasing raising taxes is relatively easy. But if incomes are stagnant or falling the case becomes more difficult especially if the property values stay the same or increase politicians have more difficulty imposing more taxes. During the "Great Recession" I read several stories about state and county governments letting four lane highways go back to two lane roads and paved roads go back to gravel. Choices become more difficult.