A month ago, I thought that this month’s letter would start out with an April Fools’ joke and a few celebratory comments about me having survived 35 years in the commercial real estate business. Instead, a black swan event has taken us from a health crisis to a global pandemic
Ah, to have 2020 vision! “It’s the economy stupid.” Since 2010, total employment in the U.S. has increased by almost 20 million and is now approaching 160 million! It used to be said that if America sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold. Today, if China sneezes the
“Valentine’s cards say stuff on them that we’d like to say ourselves, but we wouldn’t be caught dead saying.” – Mike age 8 Happy Lunar New Year and the year of the rat! I must tell you; I was scheduled to run the Hong Kong marathon on February 9th, but
Happy New Year! Welcome to the ’20s! In the 1920s, the Model-T’s were rolling off the assembly line while the economy continued to find ways to train workers while at the same time drive automation. Today, Amazon is in the thick of the same thing The company announced that it
Christmas: what other time of the year do you sit in front of a dead tree and eat candy out of your sox? The world today is divided about what is going on and how to move forward. We live in a time of political division and personal distraction. We
When I was a kid, I eagerly awaited my monthly issue of Boy’s Life Magazine. I would devour the stories and projects and adventures of others. Then I would read the ads in the back. I would beg my parents to buy me the pet sea monkeys. I had visions
Wall Street is flirting with reclaiming record highs, but a rocky ride may be ahead as stock volatility has been 25% higher in October on average since 1928 according to Goldman Sachs. The U.S. Treasury market is flashing a classic recession signal called the “inverted yield curve.” This is where
What a whirlwind! My daughter, who has been dating a very nice young man for the last five years, asked us to go on a family trip to Vancouver at the beginning of the month. The night we got there they surprised all of us by announcing they were getting
If you asked one hundred people on the street if they understand how a refrigerator works, most would respond, yes, they do. But ask them to then produce a detailed, step-by-step explanation of how exactly a refrigerator works and you would likely hear silence or stammering. This powerful but inaccurate
The tune of the National Anthem was originally used as an English drinking song called “To Anacreon in Heaven.” Cheers…and Happy 4th of July! U.S. economic growth depends heavily on the performance of individual states. California, for instance, in 2017 was the fifth largest economy in the world, boasting a
“Plan B is to succeed at Plan A” ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger The Beatles were a group for six years and played more than 200 shows
