BY TONY BOUZA
It is a bromide and cliché that crises present opportunities—but these are honored mostly in being ignored. The comfortable status quo.
The public understands and supports drastic action in a pandemic. The MPD could abandon two-person squads and answer twice the 911 calls—even with a virus-ravaged force. Good luck with that.
It is said that great events cast their shadows before them. Did the coronavirus?
Actually, yes.
Our Oracle at Adelphi—The Dow Jones Average—regularly warned, early this year, of the cataclysm overtaking us in the form of a virus. The market hates uncertainty and the outlines of The Plague terrified it.
The reality amply justified the disquiet.
My wacky theory is that about three million people rule America—a little under the fabled 1%.
Who are they?
Doctors, lawyers, entertainers, professors, writers, college presidents, CEOs, developers, financial gurus (Wall Street), politicians and on.
They make—and have—the bucks. They’ve attended elite institutions (I have a bias for the Ivy League), and some have gone to prison to secure these desirable credentials for their kids.
The ruling 1% have—I believe, but don’t know for sure—two principal activities that distinguish them.
And here I have to confess to uncontrollable hubris in presuming to know this, but the distinguishing features are they buy and sell stocks (and thereby, through the Dow Jones, share with us their view of the future), and they read The New York Times.
The virus crisis is another missed opportunity. The Minneapolis Police will not be reformed. Too bad.
