February 15, 2026

I am a lifelong resident of Massachusetts if you don’t count a period of time encompassing New York City, Pittsburgh and Winter Park, Florida. I grew up in Melrose, and bleed for the Red Sox, Celtics, and Patriots. I stopped bleeding for the Bruins when Bobby Orr retired. I am proud to be a resident of the Bay State. I take umbrage when fellow residents cast aspersions on a state that is arguably the cradle of freedom and democracy as we thought we knew it.

I know that Massachusetts is not perfect. The population is shrinking for a combination of reasons including high taxes, affordability of housing, availability of employment for young people, and inadequate transportation. People complain that we are a Blue State even though we keep electing Republican governors. In my lifetime, we have had Christian Herter, John Volpe, Francis Sargent, William Weld, Paul Cellucci, Jane Swift, Mitt Romney and Charlie Baker. But we have a lot to be proud of.

If you have a health problem, you don’t get helicoptered to Orlando. You are flown to the best doctors and hospitals anywhere because we have some of the best in the world. Mass General, Brigham and Women’s, Beth Israel, Baystate Medical and U. Mass Medical are just a few, not to mention Dana Farber. Also, we have some of the best medical schools in the world. Harvard Medical, Boston University, U. Mass. and Tufts are here, and we have world class nursing programs. If you want state of the art medical treatment, the medical science behind those treatments often originated here. Boston and Cambridge are major incubators. The state has dozens of biotech companies. Not coincidentally, we have a longer average life span than almost any other state in the country.

Massachusetts has some of the best universities in the world right at our doorstep. Harvard, MIT, BU, BC, Northeastern, Tufts, Brandeis, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst, Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Simmons and the Berklee College of Music call Massachusetts home. I apologize for leaving out many other institutions of higher learning. Massachusetts boasts one of the best educated workforces in America. Our public education system is second to none. The quality of education that our children receive in public schools often exceeds what many students get at private schools in other states. Massachusetts consistently ranks #1 in the United States for public education, recognized for top-tier academic performance, high funding, and strong student outcomes. It leads in National Assessment of Educational Progress scores for 4th and 8th graders, and boasts high graduation rates.

Our cultural assets are second only to maybe New York City. The Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Boston Ballet, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Gardner Museum, the John F. Kennedy Library, the Museum of Science, the New England Aquarium, and the Arnold Arboretum are all world class attractions. The western part of the state boasts Mass MOCA, the Basketball Hall of Fame, the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Clark Museum, Tanglewood, and Jacob’s Pillow.

Massachusetts has sane gun control legislation. We require a License to Carry. Key regulations include mandatory, secured, locked storage for firearms, assault weapons bans, and restrictions on high-capacity magazines. “Ghost guns” are restricted. As a result, our rate of firearms deaths per 1,000 is 3.7, which ranks us 49th out of fifty states.

Massachusetts is home to many, major financial institutions. Boston is ranked among the Top 25 Financial Centers in the world. State Street, Fidelity Investments, John Hancock, Liberty Mutual, Mass Mutual, MFS, Wellington, Eaton Vance, and Bain Capital are here. It is also home to 350 cutting-edge, FinTech companies.

Massachusetts ranks as the second-best state in the U.S.

to start, grow and operate a business, according to a new report from an international immigration and business law firm, Davids and Associates. The ranking put Massachusetts at No. 2 in the nation, citing the Bay State’s best-in-the-nation, workforce-college degree rate, patents per capita and venture capital funding. Its heaviest-weighted categories included state GDP growth rate, employment growth rate, broadband connectivity and venture capital investments.

Finally, we are a diverse community. Immigrants constitute approximately 22% of the Massachusetts workforce with high participation in sectors such as health care, software development, and specialized services. They have an estimated $51.8 billion in spending power and contribute $20.4 billion in taxes.

Yes, Massachusetts can be expensive, but we get what we pay for.

It is certainly appropriate to ask our leaders to do better, but we don’t want to be Alabama or Mississippi.

Una Lettera d’Amore all’Italia

With the closing of the Italian Cultural Center on Margaret Street in Springfield, I thought it would be appropriate to write an love letter to the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics. I originally started writing a column about Obama Derangement Syndrome even before Monkeygate, but Maureen Dowd beat me to the punch. News events and commentary travel at the speed of light these days. In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a member of the FBI…Full-Blooded Italians.

The 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony featured extensive tributes to Italian culture, history, and icons, including artist and polymath Leonardo da Vinci, poet Dante Alighieri, and opera composers Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi and Giaochino Rossini. Michelangelo received the silver medal once again, and Donatello got the bronze…appropriately. Andrea Bocelli sang “Nessun Dorma” (Let No One Sleep), an aria by Italian composer, Giacomo Puccini. This was the same song that was sung by Luciano Pavarotti in his final public appearance at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino. Also, in 2006, who could forget the Formula One driver doing donuts in his Ferrari on the stadium floor? Maserati, Bugatti, Lamborghini, and Alfa-Romeo must have been red with envy.

Fashion designs by Giorgio Armani were showcased. Prada, Versace, Gucci, Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana, and Ferragamo wound up on the cutting room floor. Cultural highlights referenced “La Dolce Vita,” the film directed by Federico Fellini and starring Marcelo Mastroianni. Pinocchio was also alluded to. Iconic athletes like Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni took part. Stanley Tucci continued his love affair with Italy and Italian cuisine and culture. One of the highlights of the opening ceremonies was the noted opera singer, Mariah Carey, singing “Volare.”Personally, I was hoping for an appearance by Il Volo, the operatic, international superstars. Hopefully, they are being saved for the closing ceremonies.

Speed skater, Francesca Lollobrigida, the great niece of the famous film actress, Gina Lollobrigida, won Italy’s first medaglio d’oro in the 3000 meters. During the fifties and sixties, Gina had a highly-publicized rivalry with Sophia Loren as the country’s top sex symbol. If college posters were any indication, Sophia Loren won.

Giorgia Meloni, the conservative, female Italian Prime Minister, was there. She received a warm welcome from the crowd. Congratulations to J.D. Vance for bringing the crowd together in universal condemnation when his image appeared on the Jumbotron. It may have had something to do with the anti-ICE protests going on outside the stadium. ICE was there to provide security, which is as rich as a good tiramisu. Fortunately, almost everyone at these Olympics is Scandinavian white. Meloni was preceded several years ago by Silvio Berlusconi, a latter day Machiavelli, who was Trump before Trump, only with a lot more class. As an aside, Greg Bovino, the former head of the anti-immigration surge in Minneapolis, should be an embarrassment to his Italian ancestors unless they were fascisti. I hope Trump doesn’t get the idea to start deporting third generation Italians. I am not sure where my papers are.

The unsung hero of these Olympics is the setting itself. Cortina d’Ampezzo is a famous, upscale ski resort known as the “Queen of the Dolomites” for its stunning scenery, luxury shops, and vibrant après-ski scene. It hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics. It is a year-round destination for skiing, hiking, and climbing, set within a UNESCO World Heritage site. A World Heritage Site is a natural or cultural landmark, building, or area recognized by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) as having “Outstanding Universal Value” to humanity. These sites, such as the Pyramids of Egypt or the Great Barrier Reef, are protected under international treaties to preserve them for future generations. The natural scenery is awe-inspiring. It provides an amazing backdrop for the male and female downhill skiers as they embrace gravity. They descend the mountain at speeds approaching 80 miles per hour.

The 2026 Winter Olympics closing ceremony will take place at the historic Arena di Verona. The ancient Roman amphitheater, built around 30 AD, will be transformed into a high-tech stage where history will intersect with the future at an event that combines sport, art and culture in a celebration of Italian beauty. The ceremony will highlight the “Italian spirit” and connect the Games’ final moments with the historic city of Verona. The city of Verona is the setting for Shakespeare’s plays “Romeo and Juliet,” and “The Two Gentlemen from Verona.”

Every American of Italian heritage, whether we have an Italian Cultural Center or not, should be proud of their ancestry, and the spectacle that is the 2026 Winter Olympics from Milano-Cortina. Every American should be proud of their history as well regardless of where they or their ancestors came from. Let’s celebrate our origins, not demonize them. The U.S. flag is red, white and blue. The Italian flag is red, white, and green. We are not so different. The same is true for peoples from all around the world.

February 6, 2026

It’s seems like a political lifetime ago since I wrote my R&R (Revenge and Redemption) column two weeks ago. There is so much going on these days that it makes it difficult to decide what to focus on, and what is truly important. Trump decided to close the Trump Center for the Performing Arts because too many performers and patrons considered that an oxyMORON. The Trump Center Honors achieved its lowest TV ratings in history. Trump decided to not go to the Super Bowl even though I don’t remember inviting him. I am sure it had nothing with the fact that the blue region Patriots were playing the blue city Seahawks in blue state California. In a Profile of Courage, President “Bonespurs” decided to send sacrificial lamb, J.D. Vance, in his place. Trump announced that he was extorting $10B from the IRS, and $1B from Harvard. When Trump whisperer and New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman was asked why Trump does these outrageous things, she said it was simply because he could. ICE was guilty of the “Minneapolis Murders.” Nothing funny there. The Trump Ballroom keeps getting bloated like it’s eponymous namesake. The documentary movie, “Melania,” for which theTrumps received at least $35,000,000 in protection money, opened to sitting room only crowds. Trump went after Venezuelan oil fields, and Secretary of War and Ken doll look alike,Pete Hegseth, went after military hero, astronaut and Senator Mark Kelly. There was a lot about islands…Greenland’s and Epstein’s. These are all topics worthy of discussion, but I am going to ignore them at my peril, and discuss a topic that we can all rally around…municipal golf.

I grew up caddying at a small, private, nine hole golf club near my home, but I grew up playing golf at the local muni, Mt. Hood golf club. It wasn’t quite as infamous as Ponkapoag in Canton, MA, but it was every bit as public. A junior pass for the year was $25. The tee boxes were made out of horse hair, and the fairways were made out of cement. The flora and fauna were skunk cabbage and mosquitos. However, with all of that, that’s where we played, and we loved it. Andy Brickley of the Boston Bruins grew up five minutes from me, and he did what we all did. He would sneak under the fence on the second hole, and tee it up.

With that as a background, I was horrified and chagrined to read that Trump was canceling the leases of the three municipal courses in the District of Columbia as a prelude to a takeover. The National Links Trust, responsible for rehabilitating the three courses, received a formal notice of termination from the Department of the Interior. Top golf course architects Gil Hanse and Tom Doak had already committed pro bono hours to direct restoration efforts. It would be like Trump coming into Springfield to take over Franconia, Veterans, and Westover. Trump is currently discarding dirt and debris from the possibly illegal demolition of the East Wing of the White House onto one of the courses in violation of the Clean Water Act.

If you are a muni golfer in Washington, this is bad news. The fact that the majority of DC is black and Hispanic is probably not a coincidence. The average cost of a round of golf at the three courses is around $42-48. The average price for a tee time at Trump’s public golf courses is $300. Trump is trying to extract financial resources from these venues in the same way he is trying to extract resources from Venezuela, Canada, Ukraine and Greenland.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Several years ago, the Donald Ross Society partnered with city of Boston to rehabilitate the George Wright Municipal Golf Course. As a result, George Wright has gained notoriety for being chosen as Golf Digest’s Best Municipal Course in Massachusetts and the 14th Best Municipal Course in the U.S. The weekend fee at George Wright is $55-57, which is an absolute bargain for this Donald Ross gem. I have played the course a couple of times, and can’t wait to go back. Similarly, Franconia, which some people call the Augusta of the north, offers weekday rates at $28. Veterans and Westover are a little more expensive. Regardless, Donald Trump is not interested in you as a golfer, and, if I might add, a voter.

Trump is insistent on putting his taint on as many things that he can in the short amount of time he has because he knows that no one else is going to do it. Future Secretaries of Defense are not going to commission a USS Trump. Local school board heads are not going to suggest Trump elementary even though that would be appropriate. Trump won’t even get a highway cutting through the “Hillbilly Elegy” regions of Appalachia named after himself. If you play your golf on a municipal course, you should be offended by what the “Commander in Cheat” is doing.

January 23, 2026

Donald Trump just announced that he is suing Jamie Dimon and J.P. Morgan for $5B because they “debanked” him and his businesses after the January 6th insurrection for being a reputational risk. I wrote about the concept of reputational risk in 2023. See below. For the record, I worked under Jamie Dimon during my employment at Smith Barney.

We seem to be wasting a lot of time, money and energy trying to figure out which of our government officials are innocent or guilty. I think we can agree that there are bad people on both sides, and that they represent a reputational risk to the institutions they represent and work for. George Santos is the most recent example of Congress looking the other way, but he is certainly not alone.

Reputational risk is something that every organization has to concern itself with. Reputational risk is a threat to the goodwill and name that a company or organization has built up over many years. Reputational risk can come from the actions of a company, the actions of its employees, or even the actions of its customers. Companies have to decide whether the benefits that an employee, a client, or a customer provide outweigh the potential liabilities. In my previous life, I was faced with this decision often enough. At times, I had to call clients to tell them that we could no longer do business with them. For many reasons, they might have had a public persona that we could not or would not be associated with. They may have been accused of or convicted of a crime. They may be associating with unsavory characters. They may have taken a public position that was particularly controversial or distasteful. Regardless, we didn’t want to be known as a company that would do business with such an individual.

Just as seriously, I had to deal with employees, who we could no longer have represent us because they had created a history that made them indefensible. If a client were to lodge a complaint against the individual, whether he was guilty or not, we would have to settle. The individual may not have committed a crime, but his reputation was suspect, and this presented a major risk to the organization.

As we all know, reputation is everything unless, unfortunately, we are talking about Congress, the Supreme Court, and the White House. Current and past members of these organizations present a reputational risk, which should be recognized and dealt with. Each body should take actions to protect its own reputation whether certain members are guilty or not. The fact that the public has serious questions about certain individuals should be enough incentive for the good people to act. That is not happening in any kind of expeditious manner, however.

George Santos (R-NY) is the latest and one of the more egregious examples of Congress eschewing its responsibility to protect its own reputation. He is the subject of numerous state and Federal inquiries. While he hasn’t been proven guilty of anything, yet, it is clear from the public record that he is a liar and grifter of the first magnitude. If Congress were a business, Santos would have been gone a long time ago. It recently voted not to expel him. Jim Jordan (R-OH) has been credibly accused of looking the other way at Ohio State while its athletes were being sexually abused. If that weren’t enough, he helped organize the overturning of the 2020 election. Senator Robert Menendez (D- NJ) is on the hot seat again for financial and other improprieties. He avoided the first round of accusations, but Houdini would have trouble escaping his current situation. I don’t know if he is innocent or guilty (he’s guilty), but he has damaged the reputation of the Senate, which makes him an ongoing liability. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) has a laundry list of things that she has said and done that would disqualify her from most jobs, but groping and being groped by her date at an event with children in attendance should cause her fellow Representatives to say enough to the gentlelady, who espouses family values. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has been accused of consorting with underage women. Charges were not pursued, but the appearance of such a thing should be a death sentence for anyone in Congress.

The Supreme Court has been hit with a number of unsavory stories regarding Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Leaving Anita Hill to the side, his wife, Ginny

Thomas, was actively involved in trying to get the 2020 Presidential election overturned. Justice Thomas has admitted to accepting numerous gifts totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars from Conservative donors, and he incredulously doesn’t see this as influence pedaling or outright bribery. For these and many other reasons, polls show that the favorability ratings for the Supreme Court are historically low. The Thomas’ so far are not guilty of anything, but, for the sake of the reputation of the Court, they need to go.

Which brings us to Donald Trump, the twice impeached, four times indicted former President, who is facing ninety-one felony charges. He has been found guilty of rape, and guilty of falsifying financial statements. He faces charges for making hush money payments to a porn star. He faces Federal charges for withholding and distributing classified information, and attempting to overturn a Presidential election. He faces charges in Georgia for election interference. He has done more to hurt the reputation of the U.S. Presidency both home and abroad than any other President in U.S. history. Whether he is guilty of additional Federal and state crimes is not the point. He has already done enough to disqualify himself from any future office.

To paraphrase Donald Trump, there are bad people on both sides. My list is certainly not complete. Regardless, they all need to go.

Adapted from the movie “My Cousin Vinny”

Before going hunting, Kristi Noem, Governor of North Dakota, asks her husband which color of lipstick she should wear. Her husband responds:

“Imagine you’re a fourteen month old puppy. He’s prancing along, he spots a squirrel and chases after it, scaring away the deer you are hunting. You get pissed off. The puppy spots a little brook, he puts his little puppy lips down to drink the cool clear water, and BAM! You rip off a part of his head with a fuckin bullet. His brains are laying on the ground in little bloody pieces! Now I ask ya. Would he give a fuck what color of lipstick you were wearing?”

January 21, 2026

New research has shown that people who play golf at least once per month live longer than those who do not. This is especially true for older golfers. Here are my top ten reasons why golfers want to live longer.

Golfers don’t want to die until they collect on all their bets.

Even a five hour round is preferable to dying.

Golfers don’t want to run into the same guys in Heaven who used to beat them in real life?

Golfers already have a 19th hole. They don’t need heaven.

Nobody in heaven wants to hear your stupid golf stories. In hell, that is all you will hear.

Hitting a great shot is still better than dying and going to heaven.

Golf may be a good walk spoiled, but it beats the alternative.

A tee box is better than a pine box.

You can’t use an eraser on Heaven’s scorecard.

Golfers want to get at least another year out of their outdated clothes.

Payback is a Bitch

The idiom “revenge is a dish best served cold” means that vengeance is more satisfying when it is planned, delayed, and executed after time has passed, rather than in an immediate, hot-headed reaction. The phrase was notably used in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather (1969). La vendetta è un piatto che va servito freddo. Revenge is not a political platform, but it would be immensely satisfying. Here is my revenge list lest we forget.

Rescind the pardons of the January 6th rioters. Review all of Trump’s pardons for conflicts of interest, political graft and corruption.

Take Trump’s name off of the Kennedy Center, and remove all of his appointees.

Fire all ICE agents hired by Kristi Noem. Impeach Kristi Noem for tolerating any number of ICE-perpetrated, criminal actions. Investigate the ICE agent, who shot Renee Good in the face three times.

Impeach Pam Bondi for refusing to release the Epstein files on time, and in their entirety. Impeach her also for bringing spurious and unsubstantiated charges against James Comey, Letitia James and the five Democratic lawmakers who posted a video about disobeying illegal, military orders.

Tear down the East Wing ballroom.

Kill plans for the Arc de Trump.

Reinstitute legal proceedings against Trump for the January 6th uprising, and the storing of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.

Repatriate the $500 million dollars of Venezuelan oil money that Trump deposited in an off shore account in the Cayman Islands.

Investigate Trump, the Trump family, and Trump associates for conflicts of interest, graft and corruption, including crypto investments.

Investigate Trump’s interference in FIFA.

Impeach Pete Hegseth for potentially sharing war plans with our enemies, and indict him as a war criminal for murdering people in the Caribbean and the Pacific without any evidence and due process. Impeach him also for bringing charges against Captain, war hero, Naval pilot, astronaut, husband of a Congresswoman, who was almost murdered in a political assassination attempt, and US Senator Mark Kelly.

Rip out all of the cheap, gold bling from the Oval Office and the Lincoln bathroom.

Replace the Presidential portraits and their commentary that Trump installed in the White House.

Bulldoze the White House patio, and replant the Rose Garden.

Return DC’s public golf courses back to the public.

Replace all of Trump’s appointees to the Federal Reserve. Impeach Trump for tampering with an independent agency.

Impeach Trump for invading Greenland. Even if he doesn’t attack, impeach Trump for talking about invading Greenland, a NATO member.

Capture and return the former President of Honduras to jail.

Rescind tax cuts for the rich and corporations, and extend the subsidies for the ACA.

Reinstate USAID. Refund and restaff the Department of Education, FEMA, NOAA, CDC, and the CFSB.

Sue RFK, Jr. for medical malpractice, remove all of his cronies, and get back to science-based recommendations.

Sue anyone, including Elon Musk, for illegally obtaining personal information on US citizens.

Replace any military and/or National Guard officer, who illegally deployed troops to U.S. cities.

Return the Nobel Peace Prize.

Replace deleted mentions of January 6th, and slavery at the Smithsonian.

Drop all cases against US universities, and return funding.

Eliminate the visa gold card, and reinstate visa application processing from 75 banned countries.

Stop wage garnishment procedures on students running behind on their tuition loan payments.

Blacklist law firms, who have cooperated with Trump.

Initiate oversight on the AI and crypto businesses.

Delist DJT.

Return to tariff agreements pre-Trump.

Pass immigration legislation that Tump killed during the Biden administration.

Impose term limits on the Supreme Court.

Challenge Supreme Court decisions regarding campaign funding, abortion, Presidential immunity, and the Civil Rights Act.

Remove the Trump dollar coin with his mug shot on it from circulation.

Impeach Trump for his campaign and frivolous law suit against Chairman Jerome Powell, which threatens the independence of the Federal Reserve.

Shut down the gift shop adjacent to the Oval Office.

Force Trump to pay Jean Carroll.

Reverse all of Trump’s executive orders regarding climate change.

Do away with the Board of Peace with its $1B membership fee.

Force Trump to release his medical and financial records.

Eliminate Trump accounts for children. He needs to be kept as far away from children as possible.

Eliminate the Trump Visa Gold card.

Expunge Trump’s mug shot from the National Parks pass. Not only is he defaming George Washington, he is scaring the crap out of park visitors.

I am sure that I have left some things off of my list. It’s hard to keep track of all of the BS. There will be more to come, but I am okay with my words, which are best eaten cold.

December 31, 2025

N.B. This posting appeared one year ago.

Well, here we are again if you are lucky enough. We are about to close the books on 2025, and start a new ledger for 2026. Every publication, news show, and podcast will have their best-worst moments of the year in sports, politics, and movies, and we will have numerous retrospectives on lives well-lived. It is also the time of year when we start thinking about New Year’s resolutions. If you didn’t complete your resolutions in 2025, the good news is you get to roll them over. If you did, you have the unenviable task of coming up with new ones. This is my attempt at an unsolicited advice column. Here are some thoughts and strategies I have culled from many years of teaching goal setting to young hires, developing business plans for seasoned veterans, and being an exercise instructor.

When making resolutions for the New Year…

Be Specific: For example, saying you are going to exercise more is not a goal; it’s an aspiration. Rather than saying “I am going to go to the gym,” commit to how many times you are going to go.

Be Focused: You don’t need to have multiple resolutions. Research shows that very few people actually achieve their goals. Make just one resolution, and focus on it. If you are killing it, make it more difficult, or start working on another one. Remember that habits do not die quickly, especially bad habits.

Be Realistic: You don’t have to set climbing Mt. Everest as a goal. Pick something that is attainable. If it’s too easy, ramp it up. Setting unreasonable expectations is a resolution killer.

Be Creative: Mix it up, keep it fresh. It’s easy to get bored doing the same routine every day. For example, if you are a walker, try walking in different locales like the local track, the park, a bike-rail trail, or a different neighborhood.

Be Disciplined: Write down your goal. Put it into your daily planner, or your iPhone. If it isn’t written down somewhere, it doesn’t exist. Treat it like any other appointment. If you cancel, you must reschedule. Remove any obstacles to getting it done. Sometimes, the hardest part of any workout is just getting there.

Be Accountable: Go public. Tell a friend, a family member, a colleague et. al. Put yourself on notice. Peer pressure can be a wonderful thing.

Be Competitive: Challenge yourself, or challenge someone else. Try to push the envelope just a little every day. Make it a game. It doesn’t have to be a drudge.

Be Good to Yourself: Milestones don’t have to be millstones. Reward yourself along the way.

If you are not sure about what to focus on, here are some generally accepted goals for wellness and happiness.

Don’t Smoke: Smoking is the number one cause of cancer and a lot of other bad stuff.

Watch Your Drinking: Even small amounts of consumption can have negative consequences.

Maintain a Healthy Body Weight: Your BMI (Body Mass Index) should be 25 or below. Avoid fad and yo-yo diets, and intense restrictions. Sanjay Gupta says “Stay SHARP”

S – Slash the sugar

H – Hydrate

A – Add healthy foods

R – Reduce portion sizes

P – Plan meals ahead

Prioritize Movement: Incorporate movement into your daily activities. For example, take the stairs, don’t park too close to the store, and don’t use a golf cart. Motion is lotion.

Practice Coping Mechanisms: Develop healthy ways for dealing with stress.

Keep Learning: Read, take a class, learn how to play bridge, develop a hobby, try dancing. Join a book group. Do something outside of your comfort zone.

Cultivate Healthy Relationships: The longer, the better.

If you are not sure what to focus on, ancient Hindu teaches us about the stages of life. The first is youth, which is dedicated to learning. The second is when a person builds a career, accumulates wealth, and creates a family. In this stage, people become attached to money, power, sex, and prestige, and try to make this stage last a lifetime. The antidote to this is the third stage, usually coming around age 50, in which we purposefully focus less on professional ambition, and become more and more devoted to spirituality, service, and wisdom. Your life goals should adjust accordingly. This sets the stage for the last stage.

The last stage of life should be totally dedicated to the fruits of enlightenment. As we age, we should resist the conventional lures of success in order to concentrate on more transcendentally important things. Make these part of your 2025.

Happy New Year and enjoy the journey.

December 8, 2025

Just as I was getting ready to submit this column, Mitt Romney dropped a New York Times op-ed piece titled, “Tax the Rich, Like Me.” They say that great minds think alike, but I believe that greater minds think independently. However, on this, we agree. Romney may not have any more Veritas than I do, but her certainly has a lot more gravitas. I suggest you read his column for yourself.

During the holidays, everyone likes a story with a Hallmark ending. Unfortunately, real life often does not cooperate. That clock you hear ticking is not your biological clock, or the Doomsday clock. It is the U.S. National Debt Clock. Our national debt is a ticking time bomb that will explode some day. Herbert Stein, who served as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Richard Nixon, famously said “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” The national debt today stands at around $38T, which is about 119% of GDP. We now spend more on interest payments than we do on the national defense. The annual Federal budget deficit is 3% of GDP. Eliminating that would require eliminating all defense spending or all non-discretionary spending.

The two major drivers of our current deficits are inadequate revenues (taxes), and escalating healthcare costs (Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.) According to economist, Jeffrey Frankel, James W. Harper Professor of Capital Formation and Growth at the Kennedy School of Government, a country can move off an unsustainable debt path in six ways: faster economic growth, lower interest rates, default, inflation, financial repression, or fiscal austerity. For the sake of argument, I am going to dismiss the first five. Despite Trump’s claims to be overseeing the greatest economy of all time, we have been growing at 2-3% for decades. Trump has been jawboning the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, but the Federal Reserve has limits to what it can and will do. Default is not an option short of precipitating a worldwide financial collapse. Inflation as a strategy is the third rail of politics. Financial repression implies governmental controls over the economy, which smacks of socialism. That leaves fiscal austerity.

In the U.S., Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are the main long-term debt drivers due to aging demographics. There are several options for reining in healthcare costs. We can raise eligibility ages slowly as life expectancies increase. We can adjust benefits for higher-income beneficiaries. We can reform healthcare pricing by controlling the cost of drugs. We can shift Medicare pricing from a volume to a value model. We can change the eligibility requirements for qualifying for Medicaid. The reality is that no serious debt plan works without entitlement reform. Math makes this unavoidable.

On the other side of the coin, we have tax reform, which includes adjusting the tax base, and closing loopholes. The U.S. generally has lower overall tax rates than other developed, high-income countries. Our corporate tax rates are lower than most. We certainly have room for adjustments. We could broaden the tax base by reducing special exemptions like the carried interest loophole. We could eliminate the tax-deductibility of many middle and upper class benefits. We could curtail the use of trust accounts to avoid taxation. We could impose a minimum tax on large corporations that pay little or nothing. We could strengthen IRS enforcement against high-income tax invasion.

There are things we can do, but we don’t seem to have the political will or the discipline to do anything meaningful. Neither side seems to be willing to compromise. The Republican blueprint going back to Paul Ryan and earlier has always been to cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations, and rely on the miracle of trickle down economics to satisfy everyone else. They cite the Laffer aka Laugher Curve as evidence. Their strategy is to create a debt crisis, which would then necessitate cuts to the social safety net. Democrats for their part are not willing to give an inch on social programs until they get tax concessions from the Republicans. We are not willing to take responsibility for our current state of affairs, and make the necessary compromises and sacrifices. Only a credible plan to restrain deficits and control our debt will ultimately keep our creditors happy.

December 21, 2025

I was recently traveling in Florida, which naturally got me thinking about getting older. In Florida, it’s hard to think about anything else. Over the years, I have crafted some observations about the aging process. I believe they are all original, but I won’t swear to it. In this age of AI, it is becoming more and more difficult to be truly original. One of the benefits of aging, however, is that it becomes increasingly difficult to remember what is original and what is plagiarism. If any of these sound vaguely familiar, please let my editor know.

What passes for polite conversation amongst adults invariably degenerates into discussions about ailments, real or imagined. I would rather hear about your grandchildren.

I finally realized that Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man was not about racial discrimination. It was about me.

Ovaltine, polio, and “Leave it to Beaver” were not that great.

I hate it when someone can’t pick me out of an old photograph.

When checking into a hotel, I immediately grab the bed closest to the bathroom.

One of the best days of my life was when I threw away all my combs.

I realized that the only thing separating me from dementia is the completion of the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle. That’s pressure.

When setting goals, I check my wristwatch before my calendar? The fact that I still have a wristwatch is telling.

They say that the more money you have, the better looking you get. Great. Now I am both old and ugly.

I am at the point where financial planning and retirement planning are the same thing?

Do you find Viagra ads to be embarrassing because you don’t need it, or because you do?

If life were a baseball game, I would have rounded third, and am heading for home. I am hoping to get caught in a rundown.

4:30AM used to be the end of my day. Now it is the beginning.

I rate the quality of my day on a “Zero-to-Five Sir’ scale. A “Zero Sir” day is a great day. A “Five Sir” day is a sign of the apocalypse.

There is nothing sexy about being 50 shades of gray.

I know what golf tees I am playing. You are not fooling me by changing their colors or names.

As long as you are climbing the hill, you can’t be over it.

I spend a lot more time in the bathroom with a lot worse results.

I am afraid I will say, “Do I know you from some place,?” and then realize that you are my next door neighbor.

Exercising is a lot like finalizing an estate plan. They are both about tying up loose ends.

Aging is about tightening up what’s loose, and loosening up what’s tight.

I am not getting better. I am getting older.

I used to twist and shout. Now I shout when I twist.

If I were to pass away, it would be unfortunate, but not a tragedy.

My unexpected bathroom breaks are now totally expected.

I took five years of Latin, but I still hate all the drug ads.

Legalization of marijuana came fifty years too late.

I am closer to Kevork’ing than cavorting.

I now know what the first hole in my belt is for.

I want to shoot my age before I get too old.

I have lost track of all the things I keep track of.

The yards I have lost from the tee I have gained in my pants.

I often learn more about people at their funerals than I do at their dinner tables.

I have a small chance of making a putt, and an even smaller chance of bending down to take the ball out of the hole.

You can always tell the year someone retired by their wardrobe.

I am better at finding weight than losing weight.

I used to be able to see farther than I could hit a golf ball.

On my gravestone…You’re Still Away

I just figured out what the third thing to go is.

Age is not an excuse, but it sure explains a lot.

There is death after life.

You are only old once.

Wisdom is wasted on the elderly.

How will you know if exercise helped you to live longer?

Inheritance is all about the war between the estates.

It’s not near death experiences I crave; it’s near life experiences.

If it wasn’t for my pill box, I wouldn’t know what day it is.

There is a good chance that some Gen Z’er will misspell RIP on my gravestone.

Another day, another dolor.