Pure Political Fantasy
Welcome! Take your seat and put your emotions on hold. You are about to hear things you never expected, not in a dream, nor in a nightmare. It is January 21. President Trump has been widely praised, except by the bicoastal media elites of course, for yesterday’s inaugural address, in which he promised both to […]
Higher Education
The alert consumer discovers that she is not getting the same number of chips or ounces of edible stuff in the packages she routinely buys at the supermarket. The cost of the box is the same as before. The quantity is not. The company does not announce that it has raised prices. Colleges do the […]
College Fees
As the Executive-Director of a foundation which for many years has assisted young people to attend college, I have developed a distaste for the manner in which the purveyors of “higher education” conduct themselves when it comes to … money! And there is no question that the vast percentage of “our” students regard colleges with […]
PLEASE LIST ALL THE THINGS THAT ARE SWEETER
When there are nine crazies at our Senior Center basketball outings, we have one team with five players, rotating them in order to play four-on-four. This is interesting, but irrelevant. Equally unimportant is that when we have a substitute because of the above situation, we play to 11 baskets instead of 8. What is crucial […]
Capitalism
Many critics of the American economic system have an inch-deep understanding of its history. At the same time, they always have a long list of political “devils,” those individuals with whom they are in disagreement and who, by definition, are behind all negative policy decisions. In the 20th century, the average standard-of-living increased many-fold and […]
Expertise and/or Arrogance?
Trying to figure out the interface of these two characteristics is challenging; so often, there is an overlap. At what might be considered one extreme, William F. Buckley, Jr. once commented that he would rather trust the creation of public policy to the first column of names in the Boston phonebook than to the faculty […]
Control
The seven year-old girl lay prone on the patient table in the cardiologist’s office. Unsurprisingly for anybody who knew this delightful young lady, she peppered the doctor with questions. His replies conveyed about as much sensitivity as that of the blinking machine he was studying. When, without any preparatory commentary, the doctor turned his patient over […]
In Memoriam
Frank McTeigue was typically the first one to warm up at the Chatham Senior Center basketball court, working on his inimitable overhead two-hander from the baseline corners. Knowing these were his favorite spots and his primary shot was an advantage to the defender, but the latter had to have discipline to stay close to Frank. […]
Diamonds from the Dusty Desk
I have had an office in the center of Dover, New Jersey for many years, and I am not great at cleaning, hence the dust. More positively, during that time, without any planning, I have randomly scotch-taped certain sayings to my desk. Below are some gems of good advice. The taped material is in 14-point […]
This time really is different
Since the end of World War II, whenever a Cassandra has warned those who were optimistic, “beware, this time is different,” he or she has ultimately been proven wrong. The on-going growth of the American economy would eventually/inevitably bring logic to the investment process, albeit sometimes after protracted distortions in equity valuations. And “life as […]