“End of America as we know it”…? Yeah, no.

Posted on March 18, 2020 by Stan

Bill Ackman, hedge fund manager and oft-times gambler betting on the downside, says he’s an optimist.  While he exhorts the President and our national leaders to shut the country down for a month.  If we don’t, he says, the America we love and know will be forever changed.

I think the 30 day shutdown is probably the right thing to do, mind you, because our country is way behind the curve in testing, isolating and treating capabilities.  And I agree with Mr. Bill that our economy can probably weather a one month pause.  Probably more.

But even if the powers that be don’t follow his advice (though counties and states will probably lead ahead of the federal government, like they have been for a while), this country is made of stronger fabric at its core.

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Let’s get a grip

Posted on March 13, 2020 by Stan

I have an answer as to why, inexplicably, people are stocking up on toilet paper.  They are waiting hundreds deep in lines to empty the rolls from store shelves.

First, we have to remember that humans are wired for mimicry.  “Monkey see, monkey do.”  We even have “mirroring” systems of neurons that fire off when we are observing another human, thereby creating memory patterns that allow us to learn by watching others.  This propensity to imitate other human beings has great utility.  It also can flip us into lemming mode.

You know, when a small, furry mammal follows the butt of the lemming in front over a cliff?

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The American Dream: Letter to a friend

Posted on February 6, 2020 by Stan

Hi My Friend!

Thank you for forwarding the article in the Wall Street Journal, “The American Dream is Alive and Well”, by Michael R. Strain.  In that article, he proposes that the “populist” concern about the demise of the “American Dream” is unfounded.

I agree that the American Dream is alive and well.  It lives in the hearts and souls of the vast majority of our population, many of whom are legal immigrants and their children.  The average American is working hard, raising a family, trying to put something away for the future and hard times, getting their kids educated, trying to stay healthy, etc.  The tiny fraction of the population that is internally fighting over ideology and policy unfortunately drags the rest of the population along with it.  It’s been that way since the dawn of civilization, I’m sure.

There are some disputed figures in the article, but the statistics cited are largely accurate, however incomplete.  As Mark Twain said, “There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.”

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Visiting Berlin

Posted on October 7, 2019 by Stan

A few years ago I visited Berlin for a business meeting.  First time to the city.

I grew up during the Cold War, which was always threatening to heat up.  We hunkered under our wooden school desks to prepare for the blast wave of a thermonuclear attack.  Even at the age of 10, I recognized the lunacy of that act.

Over five decades later, I found myself wandering the streets of the city that epitomized the degree of divisiveness in the world at that time.  A city, and a whole country, cut in half.  The west represented the democratic allies from World War II, and the east represented the communist countries forming what was known as the Soviet Bloc.

These two ideologies were mutually exclusive, alternate forms of government founded on alternate views of reality.  Like matter and antimatter, when they might come into contact they would annihilate each other.  Or threaten to.

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