The Jaffe Briefing - January 13, 2022

TRENTON – Gov. Phil Murphy is to be inaugurated again next Tuesday, and it promises to be a real sleeper. Yes, this pandemic continues to take the fun out of everything. This time around, there will be no inaugural ball at MetLife Stadium, no cannon salute and limited attendees will be complying with public safety rules, such as mask-wearing, negative tests and proof of vaccination. NJ.com reports Murphy’s second go-around will be very, very different than his first celebration, after his narrow win in November, with a scaled-down audience at the Trenton War Memorial, as well as a religious service in Newark. All other public plans have been postponed and likely canceled as celebrating Phil Murphy just doesn’t seem to be worth all the risk and public criticism. Perhaps plan your own personal events to mark the big moment. Or not.

STATEWIDE – Some colleges and universities are getting downright desperate for decent student applications, as high school graduates are looking elsewhere. Nationwide, college enrollment has dropped by 465,300 students, or 3.1%. It is a declining trend that began at the outset of the pandemic, with 1 million students now missing from college campuses. The Washington Post reports that many students are wondering if spending four or five or six years on a college campus, as opposed to charting their own way, is the smartest thing in a 21st century economy where bitcoin can senselessly make you an overnight millionaire. The burning question: is this enrollment decline a short-term pandemic effect or is it a cultural shift, in which families really question the sense of enormous, rising tuition costs and the subsequent decade of debt.

BRIEFING BREATHER

You are more likely to die on the way to buy lottery tickets than you are to actually win.

IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS

KEY WEST, FL. – Yet another crucial reminder to tip your bartender. One tourist made a lasting impression on New Year’s Eve, ordering three rounds of drinks during the busy night without leaving one darn tip. Because he stuck out amongst all the normal, tip-giving customers, staff were able to track him down as the guy who set fire to a Christmas tree, causing $5,000 in damage. The bartender saw webcam video of the act, immediately recognizing the suspect as the 21-year-old cheapskate who stiffed him three times at Irish Kevin’s on Key West’s famous Duval Street. “I knew immediately that I had served him and that he had used a card, so his name would be on the slips,” the barkeep told the Miami Herald. There was video in and out of the bar, too, with the bartender pointing in the video where the suspect was getting rejected by girls. The bartender happily shared it all with the cops, for their personal amusement. So, remember, tip generously – especially if you are then planning to set fire to a Christmas tree in Key West.

STATEWIDE – Notice you don’t have any cash? Perhaps it’s because the country is besieged with the highest inflation rates since the early 1980s. The feds thought they finally figured out how to control the cost of things, but then were slammed with this pandemic, strangling supply chains. Add on top this insatiable consumer demand, fueled by this online “click and buy” economy, prompting some grim inflation reports yesterday from economists. Prices last month were 7% over the same period a year ago. Of course, this is serious political risk for any sitting President, as people vote based on their wallets.  And Republicans now have the perfect talking point: Joe Biden carelessly overheated the economy with all his reckless givebacks and aid during the pandemic. And now he can be blamed for the fall-out, unless prices can somehow be controlled again. Meanwhile, the federal deficit is at its lowest in two years; no one cares.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Likely not the best day in 2011 to order a bacon and cheese sandwich in South Korea, where authorities buried alive 1.4 million domestic pigs to combat an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

WORD OF THE DAY

Pedantic – [pih-DAN-tik] – adjective

Definition: Narrowly, stodgily, and often ostentatiously learned

Example: When it comes to the name Van Gogh, I’m a bit pedantic in insisting on the Dutch pronunciation.

WIT OF THE DAY

“Always speak the truth, think before you speak, and write it down afterwards.”

- Lewis Carroll

BIDEN BLURB

“The Bible tells us that we shall know the truth, and the truth shall make us free. We shall know the truth.”

- Joe Biden

WEATHER IN A WORD

Relief