bits and bobs

some suggestions for an a/c-required Friday

In continuing to suggest sources you might find interesting, I offer a couple of deeper analyses of topics covered in Actions Create Consequences, which have been covered of late. I genuinely welcome any readers to suggest materials, as the exchange of ideas is the point, rather than everything emanating from a single source.

Before I note these sources, I call your attention to a cautionary note earlier this week on the Social Security fund drying up earlier than projected. As Baby Boomers age into collecting Social Security, the funds it provides are vital to millions of Americans whose savings do not cover their expenses. The current trajectory means benefits will drop by 22% in 2032.

For some Americans with healthy workplace retirement accounts or individual savings, this will not be a dire situation. Still, for millions who rely on Social Security, this is ominous news.

Yes, I know those of us who have worked over the years contributed to Social Security. It seems unbelievable that this fund could continue to confront such deep problems, but the American persistence, particularly since H.W. Bush seemed to fail in his 1992 reelection because he reneged on his pledge not to raise taxes, has consequences. Congress supposedly fixed the same problem under Ronald Reagan. Still, here we are again because Congressional choices to reduce contributions (by decreasing taxes for seniors) and a falling birthrate, coupled with reduced immigration (reducing the number of taxable individuals contributing to the Fund). It turns out that intricacy in our political games has consequences.

There are fixes Congress could employ, such as raising Social Security taxes, decreasing benefits, applying “means tests” for wealthier Americans to receive fewer benefits, or a combination of these and other ideas.

I suspect, based on prior retiree reactions, the majority will grimace at the “unfairness” of this state of affairs. Our elected representatives continue to prioritize their reelections over solving these painful problems (yes, I am in the Social Security age group, lest you wonder).

I recommend you look at the article in The Journal for the details, as the implications affect each American.

I drove into the District of Columbia yesterday, allowing me to listen to an hour-long BBC report on the Ebola outbreak in central Africa. For once, I report some hopeful information.

In particular, we have learned a great deal about the virus’s diversity and control. The global health care community learned a great deal in 2013 from a massive outbreak and applied those lessons with the funding available. Ebola has six known strains; the current outbreak is considerably less (ok, it’s a relative term with this illness) fatal than Marburg or the other four varieties. The current illness has a 35% fatality rate rather than 90% if treated carefully.

The international community is mobilizing to address the spread in the eastern Congo and Rwanda. Intense medical assistance to ensure the afflicted received appropriate hydration was a valuable lesson, but one that required resources. President Trump, with Kenyan President William Ruto’s concurrence, mandated that American relief workers exposed should go into a Kenyan quarantine facility rather than back to the continental United States. However, local citizens, rather than the nation’s president, rejected this invasion of their sovereignty. But no one disputes that the way to curb this outbreak is through isolating the patients suffering its horrors.

At least this is not Marburg or a worse strain than it is.

A second broad piece of good news comes from a Pew Research study, offering a glimmer of hope that we are interested in open conversations with those who prefer different options.

Too many of us are confusing the value of echo chambers with repeating our own preferences rather than having to justify our positions on a policy in hopes of winning over someone else. Echo chambers appeal only to similar thinkers, even if it’s a satisfying validation for our personal preferences, but they rarely entice others to contemplate joining us.

Pew, in its vast, non-partisan task of studying America and the world, shows that the bulk of us actually agree on several topics because we fit into what they have determined are nine distinct typologies, well beyond the color caricatures that have played for decades. I don’t find it surprising that 340 million of us rarely, if ever, fit into neat boxes where we all agree on every aspect of every problem or opportunity.

Don’t forget that Nancy Pelosi and Jesse Helms, speaking of challengable assumptions, agreed on hating China, but who would have thought they had any common ground?

Pew aptly titles their study “Beyond Red versus Blue: The Political Typology”. If you are so inclined, they offer a quiz to see which of these nine loosely aligned blocs describes your inclinations. It’s worth a whirl, first, you have time. Where do you fit in the political typology?

I highly recommend taking a look at this study, based on copious amounts of data and eschewing non-partisanship, because we are not making much progress in understanding those with different views if we make no effort to see their basic orientation on points with which we can identify ourselves.

Let me close with the most provocative and best—hands down—piece in any source recently. Definitely look at Ben Cohen’s article linked below on what a trillion dollars means, since we collectively owe $39 trillion in federal debt. Look at the graphics as they are cool but unsettling, unless we are warming to the idea of being as financially unreliable as those many countries we have belittled over the past decades. The title sums it up nicely: we really cannot absorb how much a trillion means, despite the overconfidence many of us have that we are special. It’s simply too huge to reconcile in our brains.

I welcome rebuttals, queries, comments, and suggested materials from each of you. I do not want this to be groupthink or to endorse a sole source of information, but a forum to cogitate on our actions and the consequences they create in our lives, whether in our communities or more broadly. That means you play a role of great importance, so chime in. Every one of us has something to offer.

Thank you to the subscribers whose financial support allows me to reach sources I could not afford otherwise. Annual subscriptions are $55, monthlies are $6, and Founding Subscriptions are $80.

It is already steaming along Spa Creek, though the Chesapeake needs the rain, as does so much of the country.

Be well, drink lots of water, and be safe. FIN

Ben Cohen, “You Have No Idea what a Trillion Dollars is—and We have Proof”, WSJ.com, 11 June 2026, retrieved at https://www.wsj.com/business/trillions-game-spacex-first-trillionaire-elon-musk-75cfbf1b?mod=trending_now_news_2

James Gallagher, Emery Makumeno, Hafsa Khalil and Farouk Chothia, “What is Ebola and why is stopping the latest outbreak so difficult?”, BBC.com, 12 June 2026, retrieved at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz72p75zg4qo

Jocelyn Kiley, J. Baxter Oliphant, Hannah Hartig, Gabriel Borelli, Andrew Daniller, Steven Shepard, Ted Van Green, Andy Cerda, and Shanay Garcia, “Beyond Red versus Blue: The Political Typology”, Pew.org, 10 June 2026, retrieved at https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2026/06/10/beyond-red-vs-blue-the-political-typology/

Lucy Perl, Dragana Jovanovic, and Zoe Magee, “Protests against Ebola facility in Kenya turn deadly”, ABCNews.com 3 June 2026, retrieved at https://abcnews.com/Health/protests-us-ebola-facility-kenya-turn-deadly/story?id=133527861

Owen Scott, “Trump team plans to send Americans exposed to Ebola to Kenya instead of bringing them home for treatment—report”, TheIndependent.com, 27 May 2026, retrieved at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-ebola-kenya-treatment-b2984406.html

Kennedy Simiyu, “Trump Moves to Set Up Ebola Quanrantine Camp in Kenya for Infected Americans”, TheKenyaTimes.com, 27 May 2026, retrieved at https://thekenyatimes.com/politics/trump-deploys-u-s-ebola-quarantine-camp-in-kenya-keeping-infected-americans-out-of-the-u-s/

Anne Tergesen and Elyse Goncalves, “Social Security Now Expects Shortfall Earlier, in Late 2032”, WSJ.com, 9 June 2026, retrieved at https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/social-security-trust-insolvency-2032-d26bf25e?mod=Searchresults&pos=1&page=1