With new shootings in the news every week, and after months of headlines delivering the latest samples of hatespeech from presidential candidates, the concerned citizen should be asking “where did all the animosity, the anger, the hate come from?” –I have some ideas that could serve as a starting point for an answer–as well as a simple suggestion for those who wish to reduce the negative energy in their lives. The first idea is that since 1987, the FCC stopped enforcing the Fairness Doctrine, then eliminated it in 2011. This policy was designed to preserve “honest, equitable and balanced” use of the airwaves—which belong to the public. It seems no coincidence that within a few years, talk radio became increasingly provocative and outrageous. The TV

A very good film like Spotlight surpasses entertainment: like all good Art, it inspires, instructs, and even admonishes. It is a powerful predictive tool, too, if you view it in the context of the present condition of the US media. It helps when a film is closely based on real events, as Spotlight is. While I would have seen this film for the cast alone, the story and subject matter was very compelling. I do not refer to the specific story about the priests of the Catholic Church and the history of sex abuse—I have already processed that reality. But I AM interested in the story about a newspaper in Boston that broke a story that sent shock waves around the world: I am interested

(Disclaimer: The following piece is educational and entertainment only. It does not constitute advice of any kind. Investment advice should only be taken in the context of an individual (or household) examination of suitability and risk tolerance by a professional advisor.) If there is one strategy that is anathema to the vast majority of investment advisors, it is electing to reduce exposure to stock and bond investments and increase holdings of short-term CDs or “cash.” There are several reasons they hate this: They usually don’t get paid when you go into cash: advisors typically do not charge a fee on cash holdings. Their bosses don’t like this either. One of the commandments (there probably aren’t ten of them) of modern investment theory is that you

The indie film “Any Day Now” contains none of the ingredients that the big studio films seem to insist upon.  There is little sex, no violence or special effects, and a setting that focuses on  a few years in the lives of a handful of people. Yet the film redefines what it means to be a hero and inspires you to search for moments in your own life when you rode into battle hopelessly outnumbered, your heart at the vanguard.  For the great majority of viewers, the  heroes  of  Any Day Now make you despair that you would inevitably fall short of their example, but they also give you the formula in case you find yourself in a similar position: take a worthy cause, side

Life  will suddenly confront you:  “Look at me, do you still want me–even if I am like this?”  Michael Haneke, the Austrian director of “Amour,” a French film, suggests that when life poses such a question, we answer “Yes, I still want you.”  He also suggests that Love is capable of confronting us: “Look at me, will you give up everything for me?” and that we might answer “Yes, because there’s nothing without you.” His movie has a pace to match the deliberate  movements of the elderly subjects he follows; this is not an action film. Yet it is the most honest film you will see–perhaps for the rest of your life. It’s a film about an elderly couple who were connoisseurs and teachers of 

We have all encountered persons whose demeanor could be said to be neatly reflected in one of the four seasons. Some souls are so chilling in their outlook and so despairing in the barrenness of their emotion that we feel certain they belong to Winter.  Others are hopeful and flexible and nourishing; they think to the future, perhaps as Eliot suggests “mixing memory and desire.”  These, entrepreneurs among them, must surely belong to Spring. The children of Summer are the lightest, of course.  They practically float through life upon clouds. They seem to get their energy from the Sun. Smiles don’t wrinkle their faces, though frowns do. They experience rain as a chance to shower, and look up into it while others turn their heads

If you don’t follow the stock market, you might not know that after a few weeks of declines, global stock indexes surged north for five days (if it stays up today). You might not even think that it was unusual, unless you watch the market daily, as I do.  Let me assure you: After twenty years of watching and sometimes trading the markets, this is some very odd stuff! Though I have seen about five market “bubbles” (and nearly as many crashes) in my career, I am still amazed when I see markets do things they are not supposed to do. When I am amazed, I become curious. I want to know “Why?”  And even if I have to resort to conspiracy theories to get

One of the most dangerous assumptions a person can make is that there are simple answers, solutions, or viewpoints regarding the major issues out there today. Gun control, Wealth gaps, Defense spending, censorship: there are no easy answers to these or many other important issues of our day. The pat or smug one-liners you hear on the radio or get from talking heads on TV suggest that these sages have it all figured out. And for a second many of their pronouncements actually ring true–unless you have the tools to know better. One of the most important lessons students can derive from their education is the idea that the answers to the big questions are fraught with tradeoffs . What’s worse is that the more

I am in the North for a family visit. My elderly parents manage their simple life with a grace that humbles me. They could be threatened by the simplest acts. My minor setbacks would be their calamities: a fall, the flu, a minor accident driving to the store. Today they were mirthful and sweet and I could not decide if they were revisiting childhood or auditioning to become angels. Last month, I wrote a review of the movie “Amour,” an intense look at a couple managing change after half a century of life together (they managed it as one). Since I am not a filmmaker, but more a writer, I would display what I witness here, in the North, with the images formed of words,

The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, begun in 2004 and completed in 2009, soars skyward for more than half a mile. You can make a lot of comparisons between the fact that we erect structures and edifices ever taller and ever more dazzling in that they soar skyward from progressively smaller bases, and the fact that we use financial engineering to try and create greater asset wealth from an existing economic base of activity. The two concepts are certainly related; the use of lighter and stronger materials and the application of better science have helped us overcome natural forces that thwart our attempts to build Olympus on Earth. And it’s also true that financial engineering has made our economies more efficient; the advent of derivatives, which