Lincoln’s Second Inaugural
Recently, when visiting our public library, I checked out a book devoted to Lincoln’s Second Inaugural. This speech along with the Gettysburg Address are considered to be two of the finest speeches in English ever [...]
Column Expands Friendships and Knowledge of Companies
One of the benefits of my column for the Herald- Tribune has been dramatically increasing my friendships. When I first started writing for our newspaper in 2008, I was a newcomer to Sarasota. The [...]
My Story of Financial Setbacks, Recovery and Why I Still Worry
My story of the financial crisis and recovery might sound familiar to you. According to the Federal Reserve, the net worth of Americans is now the highest in history. We have rebuilt much of [...]
U.S. Philanthropists Helping Vaccinate World Against Evil
As a child growing up in Texas, I was terrified of polio's dangers and personally knew several people who were paralyzed by this insidious disease. That's probably the main reason I applaud the philanthropic [...]
A Battering Ram Becomes a Stonewall: A Fuller Understanding of the Internal Revenue Service Targeting of Conservative Groups
After reading Peggy Noonan’s editorial “A Battering Ram becomes a Stonewall” I agree with her assessment we need an independent counsel to get to the bottom of this controversy regarding the Internal Revenue Service [...]
On Exporting of Natural Gas, Increase is the Right Thing To Do
On Friday, the Obama administration cleared the way for broader natural gas exports by approving a $10 billion facility near Freeport, Texas. The Department of Energy said it had given conditional authorization to the [...]
Will Bangladesh Tragedy Result in Change for World’s Workers?
On Monday, after a building collapse that killed at least 1,127 workers in what is being called the deadliest accident in the industry's history, some of Europe's largest retailers agreed to improve the safety [...]
U.S. Company Helping Women Develop in Developing Countries
In recent months, sexual violence against women in India has received significant global media attention. The coverage has shown that assaults against Indian women are frequently trivialized and few offenders are convicted. This shows [...]
A Fake Tweet Moves the Market and Focuses Me on Principles
After 40 years as an investment banker, an incident on Tuesday brought into focus many of my basic beliefs in what makes for a sound investment strategy. On Tuesday, the Dow briefly plunged more [...]
Japan’s New Monetary Policy Leapfrogs U.S.’s Recklessness
"May you live in interesting times." Living in interesting times is a curse. Uninteresting times of tranquility are more life-enhancing than are interesting chaos. Amid sluggish global growth, many central banks, such as the [...]
Why $44 Billion Railroad Bet is More Proof of Buffet’s Genius
On Nov. 3, 2009, legendary investor Warren Buffett made his biggest bet yet. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, agreed to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., one of seven major American railroads, for $44 billion. [...]
Want to Change Wall Street and Banks? Start with Dimon
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana On March 14, a 301-page, bipartisan U.S. Senate report provided damning evidence of breakdowns at the nation's largest bank, JP [...]
Stunning Five-Year Recovery of Market is Tough to Sustain
I began writing columns for the Herald Tribune in March 2008. My second article, entitled "To Bear Stearns' shareholders, JPMorgan CEO is no Goldilocks," discussed JPMorgan's proposed acquisition of Bear Stearns at a severely [...]
Oranges and Sunshine
Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2010 delivered an apology, some 23 years after news first surfaced of outrages to close to 150,000 children. The movie, Oranges and Sunshine, highlighted the infamous treatment of children who [...]
Why All the Major Mergers?
It has Nothing to do with the Stars "Since the crisis, one by one, the stars came into alignment, and it was only a matter of time before you had a week like we [...]
Investing for the Dividends Makes More Sense Than Ever
"Do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? It's to see my dividends coming in." - John D. Rockefeller While I like to think my life is not as narrowly focused as [...]
Why British Vote on Eurozone Membership is Ill-Advised
"Our destiny is Europe." - Then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, 1988 On Jan. 23, British Prime Minister David Cameron laid out a road map for a more independent Britain. Cameron wants Britain to [...]
Most Hedge Funds’ Returns Torpedoed by Their Success
In a December article entitled "Going Nowhere Fast," The Economist reported that the S&P 500 has outperformed its hedge-fund rivals for 10 straight years, with the exception of 2008, when both suffered grievously. "A [...]
Stock Buybacks Are Becoming Popular And For Good Reasons
Whatever the outcome of the upcoming political machinations regarding the looming fiscal cliff, one thing is certain: The tax code will change. One of the changes being debated is the tax rate on dividends, [...]
To Boost Economy, a Holiday on Taxing Overseas Profits
A Dec. 4 Wall Street Journal article, "Top U.S. Firms are Cash-Rich Abroad, Cash-Poor at Home," discussed the liquidity problem confronting many of our major corporations. At a time when U.S. companies hold near-record [...]
Rise in U.S. Energy Production Having Far-Reaching Effects
On Nov. 19, the Paris-based International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organization, predicted that the United States will become the world's biggest oil producer by 2017. Other forecasters, such as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting [...]
Tax Breaks’ Sunset a Threat to Citizens and the Economy
Unless something is done between now and then, taxes are slated to go up across the board beginning early next year. Altogether, higher taxes -- the result of the dreaded "fiscal cliff" -- will [...]
Bashing China Will Not Revive Global Growth; Cooperation Will
"The last thing the world economy needs right now is the threat of rising protectionism" - World Trade Organization Director-General Paul Lamy Trade has fueled economic growth over the centuries, from the gold trade [...]
J.P. Morgan Sued on Mortgage Bonds
I believe that the decision by New York’s top prosecutor to sue J.P. Morgan for $ billions for widespread fraud in the sale of mortgage-backed securities is reprehensible. The case is the first to [...]
Can Japan Make Costly Switch Away From Nuclear Power?
On Sept. 14, in response to protests by thousands of Japan's people, the country's national policy minister, Motoshisa Furukawa, announced: "We will introduce policies to bring down nuclear power generation to zero within the [...]
Why the Fed has Disappointed and May Continue to do so
Economists debate whether the Federal Reserve has the tools to fix today's unemployment problems. They express frustration that, after four years of super-low interest rates and the Fed's extraordinary money-pumping, we still suffer from [...]
Why Stock Markets Might Go Over The Impending ‘Fiscal Cliff’
In August 2011, after months of wrangling over the deficit ceiling, political leaders from both parties decided to postpone solving our fiscal problems until January 2013. To resolve the impasse over the budget ceiling, [...]
Looking For Ways to Avoid Acting Like a Fiscal Lemming
"We are facing a fiscal train wreck at the end of this year. It is time to move off of fixed positions." - Sen. Kent Conrad, Democratic chairman of the Senate Budget Committee Congress [...]
Low Interest Rates Hurt Savers – and Endanger Economies
On June 28, the Bank for International Settlements, an intergovernmental organization of central banks, in its annual report warned central banks against keeping interest rates low for too long. BIS, a kind of central [...]
Fed’s Action on Small Lenders Shocks Banking Community
"During the 2008 financial crisis, the bulk of the government's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program went to aid larger institutions, leaving many smaller banks vulnerable." - Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, speaking to [...]
Cost of Prekindergarten Special Education Is Exorbitant
“Certainly these children are deserving of services, but it’s a question of whether all this money is actually benefiting them or is being wasted on the contractors.” - Raymond J. Domanico, director of education [...]
Pipeline Delay Pushes Canada to Develop Its Ties With China
Many Americans think of Canada as our 51st state. But recent events highlight Canada's desire to avoid a satellite status and, instead, to expand its commercial relationships with China. Canadians, led by Prime Minister [...]
The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro
The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson By Robert A. Caro President Bill Clinton wrote the following in his review of Caro’s book, the Passage of Power. “After all the years of striving [...]
Fixing Europe’s Debt Crisis: What’s Needed is Some Sugar
In prescribing a cure for Europe's economic woes, we might remember the lyrics of the song "A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down." Bob Sherman, the lyricist for "Mary Poppins," said he [...]
Why Putting All Your Money in Stocks is Right Thing To Do
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink recently provided a strong rationale for going all-in on stocks. Buffett wrote in his 2012 annual letter that he believed equities would, over time, provide [...]
Japan’s Sputtering Exports Will Have Broad Consequences
Japan has lost its exporting magic. Japan's Ministry of Finance reported its first annual trade deficit since 1980: approximately $32 billion. A trade deficit occurs when a country consumes more (imports) than it produces [...]