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Golfers want to get at least another year out of their outdated clothes.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

December 5, 2025

One of the beautiful things about great art is that it resonates through the ages. Whether it be architecture, paintings, novels, music, sculpture, the stage, and so on, the messages remain as true today as they were when they were created. In the world of playwrights, the GOAT may very well be William Shakespeare. I was curious to see what he may have written that relates to today’s world. Here are a few quotes that may apply.

“All that glitters is not gold.” Actually, the exact line from the Merchant of Venice is “all that glisters is not gold.” It serves as a caution against being deceived by outward appearances. Apparently, Donald Trump has not read the play. He has bastardized the White House with so much gold bling that it looks like a French brothel. Shower heads in the Lincoln bathroom are now gold because that is what Honest Abe, the log splitter from Illinois, would have wanted. Trump is truly incontinent.

“It is a tale told by an idiot. Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5. Can there be a better description of our current President? He has been described by people close to him as a “f$&@ing moron.” His strategy for winning any argument is to yell louder than the other person.

“Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.” Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2. The phrase signifies that something appearing chaotic actually has an underlying, sensible plan. Many if not most of us agree that Trump’s behavior borders on madness. We just can’t figure out what his method is. Maybe that is giving him too much credit.

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” Henry IV, Part 2, Act III. President Trump shared what appeared to be an A.I.-generated video on social media showing himself wearing a crown and flying a jet that dumps brown liquid on demonstrators. Even Prince Harry poked fun at “King Trump.”

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” from Romeo and Juliet. It means that a name is just a label and doesn’t change the inherent nature or quality of a thing. Trump wasn’t happy with the “inherent nature” of the White House Rose Garden so he decided to “pave paradise and put up a parking lot.”

“All the world’s a stage” is a famous metaphor from “As You Like It” that compares life to a theatrical play, with humans as the actors who have “exits and entrances.” The “Apprentice” President surrounds himself with Fox & Friends. He is a terribly unserious person playing a role who has surrounded himself by two bit actors. Eventually, the curtain will come down.

“What fools these mortals be” is from a Midsummer Night’s Dream. It is spoken by the mischievous fairy Puck in Act III, Scene 2, as he observes the confusion and irrational behavior of human folly. I think he may have been referring to three-time, Trump voters.

“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows he is a fool,” from “As You Like It.” The saying conveys that those with limited knowledge are often overconfident, while truly wise people understand the vastness of what they do not know. “I have a very good brain,” from Donald Trump Act 1.0.

“Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant taste death but once,” from “Julius Caesar.” Spoken by Caesar himself, it means that fear causes repeated suffering through hesitation and shame, while brave individuals face true death only once, having lived fully. President Bonespurs and the toy soldier pretending to be the Secretary of War must be truly proud of their bravery to nuke “narco-terrorists floating totally defenseless in the middle of the Gulf of America, using aircraft carriers, destroyers, submarines, F-15’s, and the Marines.

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” Twelfth Night Act II, Scene 5. It’s often used to inspire people, but, in the play, it’s part of a joke on Malvolio, a pompous steward, who is the target of a prank orchestrated by other characters. His desire for social advancement and his lack of humor make him an easy target for the prank. Trump wasn’t born great, just wealthy. The joke is on us.

“I must be cruel, only to be kind,” from Hamlet. Trump has excelled at the cruelty part, but he needs to work on the kindness part. “Quiet, piggy.”

“Hell is empty and all the devils are here,” from The Tempest.

November 28, 2025

Spider “Vein” Man

Iron “Lung” Man

The Dependers

The “Hot” Flash

Wonder “Who I Am” Woman

Super “Senior” Man

Can’t Man

Bat “Shit Crazy” Man

The Gangrene Lantern

The Incredible Bulk

Sore

Black Panter

The Fan “Spastic” Four

Can’t Woman (Cat Woman)

Awkward Man

“Can you give me a hand” Solo

The Jaundice League of America

November 24, 2025

Tom Brokaw wrote a best-selling book titled, “The Greatest Generation.” In the book, Brokaw profiled Americans who came of age during the Great Depression and went on to fight in World War II. It turns out that my generation, the Baby Boom generation born between 1946 and 1964, is not quite as highly regarded by the generations that follow us. To be specific, I am referring to Gen X born between 1965 and 1980, Gen Y aka Millennials born between 1981 and 1996, and Gen Z born between 1997 and 2012. They share their distaste for their elders in a New York Times video posted October 17, 2025 titled, “Thanks a Lot, Boomers.” What did we do to deserve such approbation?

Younger Americans are struggling with the high cost of education, scarcity of affordable housing, and a diminished American dream. They have a 50% shot at being better off than their parents where the Boomers had an 80% chance. Communities are still divided by race, and burdened by debt. They say that we were handed cheap college, cheap housing, and abundant opportunities. We wound up wealthier than our parents, and not because we were smarter or worked harder. America was an “escalator.” There were more benefits for Boomers, more tax cuts, and the country borrowed to make up the difference. We added $30T to the national credit card. Public college costs today are four times what they were in 1970. Housing is twice as expensive. Boomers squashed new development to protect property values, which resulted in even more segregation in the public schools.

The first Boomer president was Bill Clinton. Hopefully, Trump is the last. The Bush years were peak Boomer. In 2001, we had a surplus, but we then passed a giant tax cut. In 2003, we passed another tax cut. In 2006, we passed a big increase in government spending for Medicare just as the Boomers were retiring. This all led to dramatic increases in the national debt. They will say that we were mortgaging their future. We preferred Walmart over factory jobs. We enjoyed the the deregulation of the banking industry, leaving the mess to future generations. We paid lip service to environmentalism. We never made the hard choices. Tree-hugging and recycling were feel good behaviors, but the planet just kept getting dirtier and hotter.

They say that they appreciate our efforts regarding civil rights and gender equality. Thanks, I guess. My gut reaction is to dismiss a lot of this as whining, and to tell them to get off my lawn. After all, Millennials and Gen X will be inheriting $90T in the Great Wealth Transfer. Unfortunately, they don’t want our china and silverware, but that is a different discussion. Maybe they should just say thank you.

However, my friends and I shouldn’t just dismiss their complaints out of hand because it isn’t convenient. We are experiencing today a concentration of wealth not seen since the Gilded Age, which should be a challenge for Liberals and Conservatives alike. According to an excerpt from economist John Kenneth Galbraith’s “Affluent Society”, “No other question in economic policy is ever so important as …. the distribution of income. The test of the good liberal is that he is never fooled, but he never yields on issues favoring the wealthy. Despite his efforts, the wealthy become wealthier and more powerful.”

We ignore and dismiss the Gen Z population at our peril. They are rapidly becoming a political force. By 2024, 40% of the electorate was Gen Z and Millennials. The Mayor-elect of New York City is thirty-four years old, and even the President welcomed him graciously into the Oval Office. According to surveys, in addition to affordability, their overarching concerns include the right of a woman to control her reproductive health; the right of all Americans to breathe clean air and clean water; the right of all voters to have unfettered access to the polls; and the right of younger people to feel safe from school shootings.

The Baby Boomers are not a monolith. They have seen much of the legislation that was enacted in 60’s undone by right wing extremists. The Dobbs decision undid the 1965 case, Griswold vs. Connecticut, which Boomers assumed would be Constitutionally-guaranteed abortion policy. The Clean Air Act was put into law in 1970 by Richard Nixon. The Voting Rights Act was signed into law by Lyndon Johnson in 1965.

When the historians that are produced by the generations that come after us write our history, it may not be flattering. Did we fall asleep at the wheel? Did we kick the can down the road? Were we blindly just feathering our own nests? They may blame us, fairly or not, for major shortfalls in housing and employment, inflation, income inequality, environmental degradation, an erosion of civil rights, and a lack of civility. They may call us the “The Greatest Degeneration.” I wholeheartedly disagree, but it is not up to me, is it?

November 8, 2025

I should be feeling great. I spent Halloween weekend attending, not participating in, the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, and then attending, not participating in, the New York City Marathon. Rather than seeing and experiencing the hellscape that the current President describes as a pretext for sending in the Marines, the National Guard, the FBI and ICE, I saw hundreds of thousands of joyous citizens celebrating what it means to be a New Yorker. People were singing, dancing, playing instruments, and parading under the watchful eyes of New York’s finest, who could not have been any nicer, more courteous, and more helpful under challenging conditions. Even Mother Nature was on board. People were partying like it was 1999, not 1929.

Then, on the following Tuesday, the Democratic (not Democrat) Party pitched a shutout worthy of Red Sox pitcher and hopefully Cy Young Award winner, Garrett Crochet. Democrats swept New York City, New Jersey, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and California. It was like a pandemic that even had Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. looking for a vaccine. The two major issues were Trump and affordability. As it turns out, I am not the only one that has Trump Derangement Syndrome for which there is no vaccine. Nothing epitomized the tone deaf President more, other than “YMCA” by the Village People, was his Great Gatsby Party at Mar-a-Lago. How did the Roaring 20’s and “The Great Gatsby” wind up? His next party should have a King Louis XVI theme with a prize going to the best Marie Antoinette costume.

So why am I in a dark place? In the words of musician David Bromberg, “I must have someone else’s blues.” I just finished two books on the Great Depression. The first was “1929” by CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin, and the second was “The Great Crash of 1929” by economist John Kenneth Galbraith. Because I am a glutton for punishment, I downloaded and started reading “Too Big to Fail,” by Andrew Ross Sorkin, which is about the Great Recession of 2008. Just as I was climbing out of my abyss, William Birdthistle, former director of the Division of Investment Management at the Securities and Exchange Commission, wrote a New York Times guest essay titled, “Trump is Pushing Us Toward a Crash. It Could Be 1929 All Over Again.” It’s back to the abyss.

One of the themes that all of these writers touched upon was the cheerleading optimism that the best and brightest financial minds had at the time despite all of the evidence to the contrary. A financial newsletter that I get recently cited five financial risks that you should be aware of, and why you should remain bullish. It noted high stock prices and valuations, a possible AI bubble, global instability, inflation and interest rate uncertainty, and high levels of debt. So what other parallels can we draw between the crashes of 1929, and 2008, and where we are today almost a hundred years later?

In 1929, regulation was almost non-existent. Investors believed in the infallibility of capitalism and the “invisible hand.” Insider trading was considered a virtue, not a crime. The Securities and Exchange Commission did not exist. Today, Trump is doing everything in his power to deregulate the financial markets. He has been busy firing regulators and tearing down guardrails. Not coincidentally, his machinations have benefited his family immensely.

Speculation was rampant in 1929. Everyone was on margin. Legal Ponzi schemes were created where leveraged vehicles similar to mutual funds could invest in other leveraged vehicles. In 2008, we had subprime mortgages being sliced and diced into unfathomable Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO’s). Today, we have a feeding frenzy over anything that starts with the letters AI. And again, there is the mania over bitcoins, which one day may look like tulips.

Both periods were characterized by low interest rates, which fueled the buying of stocks on margin. Consumer debt and defaults today are at perilously high levels, and the Christmas season is just starting. Trump continuously browbeats the Federal Reserve and its chairman, Jerome Powell, to lower interest rates.

Banks prior to The Great Depression engaged in both commercial banking and investment banking. Risks taken by the investment bank put the entire bank and economy at risk. The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which separated commercial banking from investment banking, was essentially overturned in 1999 so that there is now no prohibition from commercial banks conducting investment banking activities. This was one of the major causes of the financial meltdown of 2008.

Mark Twain said “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” There are many eerily similar things about today’s financial markets and economy that hearken back to an earlier day. Let’s hope that Trump and slump don’t rhyme.

October 16, 2025

I recently received a blast e-mail from fellow classmate, friend, lawyer, father, and former President of the Boston City Council, Larry DiCara. The subject line of the e-mail asked “Am I a Conservative?” This was a perplexing question from someone, who spent his whole life as a liberal, Kennedy Democrat. Larry was by no means a left-wing terrorist even though he might be categorized as one today. Larry leaned left about as much as the Leaning Tower of Pisa does, which is about four degrees. While most of us were trying to learn what made America great again by studying the great western philosophers, and trying to understand Trumpian politics by studying Machiavelli, Larry was working the crowd. When we were desperately trying to enjoy our Saturday nights, Larry would go party-to-party in a jacket and tie, shake hands, and add us to his Rolodex. He was not exactly a subversive. He was an old-fashioned pol.

He quoted a NY Times piece that said, “protectionism, industrial policy, and government ownership, all once conservative bogeymen, are now official doctrine.” Larry worried about the national debt, imbalanced budgets, manipulation of the Federal Reserve, government intrusion in corporate matters, the government taking ownership stakes in companies e.g. 10% of Intel, using the military as the state’s police, the chipping away of inalienable rights, and the infringement of personal rights and privacy by the Federal government. So this got me to thinking because I was recently called out for having a lack of personal awareness by a letter writer. Maybe I should do a little introspection? Maybe I am a Conservative as well?

I believe in a strong foreign policy where we support our friends, challenge our enemies, and know the difference between the two. I support NATO as a bulwark against Putin’s Communism, which doesn’t make me a Communist. I support Ukraine over Russia. I believe in projecting soft power through USAID.

I reject government interference in personal matters. Individual liberties should be protected. People, not states, should be able to make their own decisions regarding abortion, gay marriage, trans medical care, and the like. Government should take care of its own house before it invades mine.

Like Larry, I believe that the government should be fiscally responsible. Massive tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations are financially irresponsible and dangerous when the country is already running a large deficit, and adding to its massive national debt. Cutting interest rates when the economy is flush is also bad policy. When we do have a recession, and we will, we will not have financial flexibility to deal with it. Federal programs and entitlements should be evaluated on a regular basis, and changes should be made by our elected representatives when appropriate. Everyone should be taxed fairly, and taxes should be collected. I am a free-trader. Tariffs are anathema to my conservative instincts.

I support law enforcement. The men and women in blue are dedicated to the common welfare, and are trained as to how to do that. We don’t need a bunch of untrained cowboys and weekend warriors creating havoc in our cities. If you want better education, hire more teachers and pay them better. If you want safer streets, hire more policemen, and pay them better. It doesn’t seem all that complicated to me.

I can’t think of a more conservative principal than the respect of science. Science is what separates us from the apes (sorry Jane Goodall), and the twentieth century (sorry Donald Trump.) Science is the outward manifestation of the human spirit. It is what has always fought against tyranny and ignorance. It gave us the Scientific Revolution and The Enlightenment. It gave us the Industrial Revolution and the Technological Revolution. It gave us the cell phone and mRNA technology. It is not creationism and vaccine denial. That is not conservatism. That is religious zealotry masquerading as conservatism. I, like all true conservatives, respect religion. Organized religions are free to proselytize and prosper. Like a true conservative, however, I don’t want a state religion, and I don’t want religion mandated in schools and other venues.

I respect the rule of law. That does not strike me as a conservative opinion, but apparently it is. Our current felonious President is a serial law-breaker, but he calls himself a Conservative. The people that do his bidding call themselves true conservatives, but how conservative is it when you freely blow up boats and people without due process? How conservative is it when you regularly detain individuals without due cause, and deport them to foreign gulags? William Buckley is turning in his grave, and George Will is turning in his swivel chair.

In summary, to paraphrase Kirk Douglas in “Spartacus,” “I am Conservative.” I invite my fellow Conservatives to band together to fight authoritarianism, injustice, and socialist fiscal policies.