The Daily Feather — Snatching Victory

Sanctioned by the Michigan State Legislature in the Public Acts of 1939, the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority Metroparks is a regional park district encompassing Livingston, Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw, and Wayne counties. With a budget of about $65 million and more than 200 full-time and 800 part-time personnel, the Metroparks are funded by a property tax levy and vehicle and park use fees. Covering almost 25,000 acres along the Huron and Clinton Rivers, the parks serve more than 7.3 million annually, including me this past weekend. The venue was Kensington Metropark’s Kent Lake, which is surrounded by 4,481 acres of woods and an amazing variety of waterfowl including the Great Blue Heron. Did you know that despite their 6-7-foot wingspans, these statuesque, graceful birds have hollow bones and therefore weigh only 5-6 pounds? I was not, however, beyond the reaches of Detroit to bird-watch. Rather, the occasion was the Charity Chase Regatta, where my middle son placed third rowing in Culver Military Academy’s Varsity 8A boat.

By nature, mothers are proud. We are elated by our offspring’s accomplishments more than our own. My Henry, though, a four-year, gifted high school rower, has no coach for his senior year. To see him and the other Boys in the Boat (great read) lead themselves to victory defies words.

For another team of contestants, central bankers, defeat threatens to snatch victory from their very jaws. Plain vanilla gauges of inflation leave no doubt that inflation has been slayed (upper left chart). The question is: Has the Federal Reserve gone too far?