Posted by Chuck Rehberg on May 20, 2019
 
 
 
North Notes
Spokane North Rotary Club Bulletin
May 20, 2019
Rotary calendar:
            May 27: No meeting; Memorial Day holiday.
 
            June 3: Lunch meeting, noon, at Nectar’s.  Club scholarship winners honored.
 
            June 10: Rotary Connect: Begins at 4:30 p.m. at Tempus Cellars, 8 N. Post.
 
            June 17: Lunch meeting, noon, at Nectar’s.
 
            June 24: Club’s annual dinner and installation of officers, 6 p.m., will at the Kalispel Golf and Country Club’s 1898 Restaurant.
 
            Sept. 20: Club fund-raising wine tasting and dinner at Kalispel Golf and Country Club.
 
Briefly:
            Scholars approved: Seven members gathered May 14 to discuss Saling Scholarships and approved three winners.  The board had budgeted two scholarships, but after reviewing available funds, a third scholarship was approved.  Each scholarship is for $1,500.  Brian Hipperson coordinated the scholarship program.
 
            Holmes help: Several members have stepped up, but a few sign-ups are still needed for various Holmes duties during the year, said program coordinator Sandy Fink.  One more Holmes Heroes helper is needed; two more are needed to help with the holiday gift program; and one more member is needed to help with the Homes Heroes T-shirts.
     
            West Central help: President-elect Melinda Keberle said about eight members are needed to help for a West Central Community Center fair, 4-7 p.m., Friday, June 7 at Cannon Park.  Members will staff booths in the park and oter duties.
 
Keynote speakers top joint District Conference
            Thankfully last week’s torrential rain abated Saturday night as two events welcomed crowds downtown.
 
            While the Armed-Forces Lilac Parade streamed past the convention center, more than 700 Rotarians and friends gathered inside the center for a gathering of clubs from Districts 5080 and 5030.
 
            The top A-list of speakers included Rotary International President Barry Rassin of the East Nassau, Bahamas, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
 
            Spokane-North Club President Lenore Romney said Rassin emphasized the gathering’s theme: “Come Together with Youth.”  Gates talked about the continuing program to end polio worldwide.
 
            Romney said young Rotarians from Rotaract and Interact clubs from both districts were involved throughout the program.  That included two Gonzaga University Rotaract members who spoke at our club – Nate
Verboort and Tyler Zangaglia.
 
            Gates said the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will continue to match money needed to help eradicate polio.  India is nearly at the three-year threshold at which that country can be certified with polio-free status, Gates said. Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the remaining countries where progress still is needed.
 
            Rotary’s next big health challenge is eradicating malaria, Gates told the crowd.
 
           Romney thanked member Art and Robin Rudd for hosting a dinner for the Romneys and six Rotarians from Bellevue and Kirkland Rotary clubs.  
 
 
Members tackle Econ: 101 topics
            If the topic is economics, Kevin Henrickson likes “micro, not macro.”
 
            Henrickson, a Gonzaga University economics professor, said his econ prof at Pacific Lutheran who told him “I never admit I am an economist, because people think I can pick stocks or balance your bank account.”
 
            Henrickson shared his econ wisdom at the club’s May 20 meeting.
 
            He said he teaches a number of “micro” topics, involving individual firms and various people involved with the economy.
 
            “I don’t like ‘macro’ topics which talk about the economy as a whole,” Henrickson said.
 
            He was born in Tacoma and has earned his master’s and Ph.D degrees at the University of Oregon.  At age 16, Henrickson said, he went to Sweden on a Rotary Exchange which, for the “quiet, introvert student was transformative.”
 
            One topic at the club’s meeting was minimum wage scales.
 
            Seattle has pushed the $15 an hour pay scale and there also is a push to increase federal pay scales.
 
            “Wages went up, but hours went down, so overall pay was flat,” Henrickson said.
 
            He mentions a program in Finland whereby individuals were given $600 per month additional wages.  “Random folks were happier, but there was no significant increase in household wealth or savings.”   He said a similar program for $550 increases opened two months ago in Stockton, Calif., so affects will be tracked.
 
            Of automation in the workplace, Henrickson said job losses may not be seen as much in manufacturing as in “rule-based” topics such as law and accounting.
 
            Henrickson said many of his own students are looking for “data-driven jobs” in industries such as airlines, insurance and banks.
 
            One of the “behavioral” topics he discussed was default approvals.  For example, he said, when state license tax forms included a default amount for state park funding, the total fees received rose steadily.  
 
 The bulletin producers:
            Bulletin editors: Chuck Rehberg and Sandy Fink
            Photos:  Eric Johnson and Sandy Fink