College Football Playoff III

Today is the postponed Sugar Bowl.

It's the 12 team playoff format.

First round

Friday, Dec. 20

No. 7 Notre Dame 27, No. 10 Indiana 17

Saturday, Dec. 21

No. 11 SMU 10, No. 6 Penn State 38

No. 12 Clemson 24, No. 5 Texas 38

No. 9 Tennessee 17, No. 8 Ohio State 42

Quarterfinals

Tuesday, Dec. 31

No. 3 Boise State 14, No. 6 Penn State 31 (Fiesta Bowl)

Wednesday, Jan. 1

No. 4 Arizona State 31, No. 5 Texas 39 - 2 OT (Peach Bowl)

No. 1 Oregon 21, No. 8 Ohio State 41 (Rose Bowl)

It's sort of interesting that three of the four teams that had a bye have lost. Either the ranking process has a flaw or rust over rest? We'll see what happens tomorrow.

There was an incident in New Orleans which is being investigated as a Terrorist Attack. Someone drove a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street. At least 10 people were reported killed and police took out the driver of the truck. As a result the Sugar Bowl has been postponed until tomorrow evening.

Thursday, Jan. 2

No. 2 Georgia 10. No. 7 Notre Dame 23 (Sugar Bowl)

Well, that completes the sweep. All four teams with a first round round bye, and coming into the playoff ranked 1-4, have lost. Only #4, Arizona State, put up a credible fight. That game looked like it was going to be a rout but Arizona State stormed back to make it by far the best of the four Quarterfinal games. 

Semifinals

Thursday, Jan. 9

TBD vs. TBD (Orange Bowl) | 7:30 p.m. | ESPN

Friday, Jan. 10

TBD vs. TBD (Cotton Bowl) | 7:30 p.m. | ESPN

National Championship

Monday, Jan 20

TBD vs. TBD (Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia) | 7:30 p.m. | ESPN

Talking Generations

People on line love to criticize generations. Gen Z is this or Boomers are that seems to be a popular topic.

I think it's dangerous and misleading to characterize an entire generation. There are often big differences between the youngest members of a generation and the oldest. People seem especially fond of criticizing Gen Z. According to a number of videos that I've seen recently they're apparently the reason for teachers quitting. But if people are referring to current middle school and high school students then they are the younger Gen Z members. The older ones would already be in their 20s.

Sometimes the differences between younger and older members of a generation are huge because the differences in their life experiences are huge.  Consider Boomers from 1946 to 1964. The youngest had parents that were children, or not even born, during WW 2, never had to register for the draft, were born after, or were too young to remember, the Kennedy assassination and were too young to be a part of the 60s sexual revolution. For the oldest their parents were WW 2 veterans or worked in the factories building the weapons, the draft was a major part of their lives, the Kennedy assassination was a watershed moment and "make love not war" was their calling card. A Boomer born in 1948 (waves hand) is a totally different animal than one born in 1962. I have to assume that the same is true for Gen Z.

Some Notes on Inflation

There are two types of inflation. The first is cost-push inflation. This occurs when production costs increase leading companies to increase prices. This is the primary type of inflation that we've been experiencing since the end of Covid.

The second is demand-pull inflation which occurs when consumer demand exceeds available supply. When you raise salaries on a broad scale in order to try and catch up with cost-push inflation it will often lead to demand-pull inflation because more people have more money to spend. 

But raising salaries will always outpace demand-pull inflation. When salaries fail to keep up with inflation it is almost always cost-push inflation that is causing the problem.

Still Arguing about the 2024 Election

People continue to argue about why Trump won. Personally I'm not sure if Trump won or the Democrats lost. I see lots of claims that Trump's victory was somehow based upon "bigotry." 

I don't think "bigotry" had a lot to do with it. It was primarily the economy; it's almost always the economy. The Republicans, with lots of help from the media, made the case that the economy was in shambles, that inflation was much higher than it was and somehow this was all the fault of illegal immigrants. This perception was something neither Biden nor Harris adequately addressed. Instead they quoted economic indicators. Economic indicators don't pay bills or put food on the table.

A second issue was that the Dems keep pushing unpopular policies that are related to economic issues. Just look at the ABC/Ipsos poll on the Supreme Court decisions in the summer of 2023. 

45% approved of the Court striking down Biden's loan forgiveness program and only 40% disapproved. But only 17% of Democrats agreed with the Court.

52% approved of the Court striking down Affirmative Action and only 32% disapproved. But only 26% of Democrats agreed with the Court.

A third issue is that the Dems didn't address things that people expected them to address when they had majorities in both houses and the presidency. They didn't put in place a national law to protect abortion; they didn't raise the minimum wage; they didn't restore full SALT deductions; they didn't expand Medicare to cover eye exams and dental and they didn't do anything to shore up Social Security.

A party can't be this far out of touch with the majority of the country, fail to do the things they claim to support and succeed,