Blog

Is time running out for Emmanuel Macron as well as for Theresa May and a Brexit deal? Photograph by Patrick Janicek.

As the Channel churns

December 11, 2018

These are not the best of times on either side of the English Channel. Paris is burning as les citoyens – who have protest in their blood – take to the streets in outrage over higher taxes on the hoi polloi but not on the hoigty-toigty types. French President Emmanuel Macron took to the airwaves to promise tax relief for workers and pensioners and an increase in the minimum wage. While he acknowledged his own role in the situation – protestors have accused him of being out of touch – Macron said France’s problems predate him by decades and stem from the changes wrought by globalization.

Michael Ramirez’s spot-on take on Tariff Man as seen on Vox.

Oh, no, no, no. He's a Tariff Man

December 8, 2018

The day after President Donald J. Trump was elected, I, along with scores of others, hopped on a conference call with leaders of my brokerage firm to assess whither we were going in this brave new world. There were the usual attempts to reassure — the exhortations to stay the course, the discussion of the glories of diversification, the view that things might not be so bad after all. And though shocked global markets dropped, a lot, in the immediate aftermath, the worst never happened. At least, not immediately.

President George H.W. Bush lies in state at the Capitol. Photograph by Dana Barciniak.

The quiet man

December 5, 2018

The passing of President George H.W. Bush – whom the nation mourned officially Wednesday – was a reminder of all that we have lost and that still remains.

“The things we did last summer, I’ll remember all winter long”: President Donald J. Trump and President Vladimir Putin meet in July in Helsinki. Photograph courtesy the Kremlin.

Don't cry for him, Argentina

December 2, 2018

Ah, the G-20 – how it breaks the heart and stings the soul with the scent of “Evita,” “The Fountainhead,” “Citizen Kane” and all those glamorous Hollywood tales of megalomania run amok and ultimately grounded into the muck and mire.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman greets Secretary of Defense James Mattis earlier this year in Washington D.C. The Senate seems to have had it up to its bipartisan ears with the Trump Administration’s defense of MbS, whom the CIA has implicate… — Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman greets Secretary of Defense James Mattis earlier this year in Washington D.C. The Senate seems to have had it up to its bipartisan ears with the Trump Administration’s defense of MbS, whom the CIA has implicated in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Photograph by Navy Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Kathryn E. Holm.

Business as usual for Trump?

November 28, 2018

For someone who’s supposed to be such a brilliant businessman, President Donald J. Trump seems to have no understanding about how business really works.

John G. Roberts Jr., chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. Photograph by Steve Petteway.

Hail to the chief (justice)

November 23, 2018

I think it’s fair to say that no holiday is safe from President Donald J. Trump’s displeasure with whomever he’s displeased with at the moment.

Fire and ice in a week that burned

November 18, 2018

It was another challenging week bookended by ice and snow on the East Coast and wildfires in California. I have no expertise to offer in alleviating the devastation wrought by wildfires, but I do have some thoughts on preventing the havoc wreaked by six inches – yes, a mere six inches – of snow, sleet and rain in New York.