🗣️ It’s Friday: Time for Only in Iowa, Positively Iowa, this week’s
pet photo, and of course, reader replies!

Polk County baby gets measles: An infant who was too young to get vaccinated has contracted measles after they “recently traveled to an area where measles is spreading,” according to the Polk County Health Department. So far, the state has seen nine cases of measles this year, up from two in 2019. “The best prevention for measles is the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine,” the Iowa Health and Human Services Department says. Tell that to the federal government, largely to blame for a multi-state measles outbreak that began earlier this year.

Fourth Amendment resolution fails in Johnson County: The Johnson County Board of Supervisors voted 3–2 yesterday to reject the proposed Workplace Safety & Due Process Resolution. It would have required judicial warrants before ICE could enter non-public areas of county workplaces, mandated “No Warrant, No Entry” signage, provided training and resources to workers, and encouraged (but not mandated) local businesses to adopt similar protections.

• Immigrant rights group Escucha Mi Voz, in a press release, specifically called out Supervisor Jon Green for “shamefully and hypocritically revers[ing] his position.”
• Green told Starting Line the board would discuss “other concrete actions we can take,” and said he didn’t believe it was a reversal. “It’s one thing for me to put my own neck on the line,” Green wrote. “In the final analysis, I could not ask county employees and residents to do the same.”

• The failed vote comes on the heels of news that only 5% of those arrested by ICE have been convicted of violent crimes.

(Ryunosuke Kikuno/Unsplash)

🦅 This is a red-tailed hawk on the University of Iowa campus, per reader Marc W., who admits it’s not his pet.

“I was lucky to see and get a photo of the hawk as it was visiting the campus (probably looking for squirrels or rabbits),” he wrote.

Great action shot!

Send me your pet photos here.

Readers are invited to add to the conversation by emailing responses@iowastartingline.com. Please include your first name and last initial. You may also want to include your city, but that’s up to you. I may edit your content for conciseness or to correct typos.

‘Fight Like Hell’ by Kim Kelly:

• “Ms. Kelly’s book is amazing for so many reasons, but the one that stood out for me is her shining a light on all the women [and] all the people of color working for a better life through unions and trying to unionize. So much labor writing focuses on famous white guys instead of telling the stories of the people that labor is made from. If you don’t have it, buy it (not from Amazon, get it from Prairie Lights) or your public library.” — Jeff S.

Letter of the Week:

A president who knows nothing about business

“Recently, dozens of top Fortune 500 executives, primarily Republicans, met at the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute’s CEO forum and expressed ‘worry that Trump is undermining an economic system that took decades to build … all for short-term gains … a hollowing out of U.S. economic foundations and institutions.’ (Fortune, Sept. 21)

CNBC reports many of Trump’s appointees regularly disregard expert business advice and have abandoned evidence-based business principles, harming in just 325 days of Trump 2.0 the following industries: agriculture, automotive, construction, consumer goods, manufacturing, mining and retailing. This begs the question: what industries have not been harmed by Trump 2.0?

Concepts such as stable markets, free competition and long-term business investment are taught in a freshman-caliber macro-economics class. Yet evidence is replete that Trump’s policies are undermining these core concepts. CEOs have described the administration’s approach as politically driven and disruptive to the most basic of business fundamentals (Fortune, July 10).

CNN reports a lack of strategic planning and erratic policies under Trump 2.0 have resulted in economic instability, market volatility and an environment equivalent to ‘zero-trust,’ which goes counter to the cardinal premise of maintaining a steady domestic and international business environment.

The topic of tariffs is taught in a freshman-level micro-economics class and reinforced in other sophomore, junior and senior-year business classes. It’s a sad commentary that Mr. Trump, et al, doesn’t recognize that imposing tariffs disrupts business supply chains, increases input costs, reduces gross margins, stockpiles unnecessary inventory, increases cash-flow risks and reduces profitability, let alone dramatically increases the cost of products, goods and services that consumers are forced to pay (American Economic Liberties Project, Aug. 1). …

Trump 2.0 administration’s deregulatory stance on digital advertising and privacy regulations risks reducing consumer protections, which contradicts modern marketing principles that emphasize ethical data use and respect for customer privacy (Basis, Feb. 26). …

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) requires publicly-held companies to maintain accurate records. Trump’s 2.0 executive order paused FCPA enforcement, which undermines the foundational accounting principle of internal controls, accurate record-keeping, transparency, ethical conduct and—most importantly—increases the risk of financial misreporting and corruption (Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, Feb. 12). …

Many business school faculty members have explicitly opposed Trump-era policies, noting the administration’s executive decisions reflect poor strategic and ethical judgment that contradicts the basic tenets of business organization and critical thinking (Harvard Business School).

Business leaders are convinced that principles such as free enterprise, accountability, transparency, conflict of interest, ethical governance, risk management, compliance, tariff trade practice, market stability and long-term strategic planning have been breached under Trump 2.0 leadership.

Throughout Yale’s top Fortune 500 executive forum, CEOs expressed how the fundamental college-level business education principles Mr. Trump and his officials should have learned in college are being ignored.

The final resolve of the Fortune 500 CEO’s forum was a call—and plea—to make America, America again.“

— Steve Corbin, Professor Emeritus of Marketing, University of Northern Iowa

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