View From Here

Movement toward the center appears to be happening. Far Right and Far Left issues are fading, and voters are indicating a more centrist viewpoint. True, that center band is broad, not focused on a narrow center. There remains a lot of room for both state and federal election results in the fall to shift around. Where the public’s voice will settle is a big unknown. Meanwhile, the Illinois GOP has selected a gubernatorial candidate that should be easy to defeat. Governor Pritzker should be an easy win for re-election. Congressional elections will continue to struggle in those districts that were newly redrawn and gerrymandered. The point of redistricting, of course, is to make it easier for one political party to win support with their candidates. The republican effort along these lines appears to be faltering in Illinois.  Why is this important? Because strength of political party in both states and Congress will create the power struggles to battle specific issues. These inc...

Ken Griffin is a self-made billionaire. He is a hedge fund (Citadel) founder and operator. He is worth about $25 billion dollars. In recent months he has donated about $50 million to Illinois republican candidates hoping to survive this week’s primary elections. At last review his candidates are not doing very well despite the huge sums of money they are spending to win their offices. He has announced his plan to move his hedge fund headquarters lock stock and barrel to Miami, Florida. He claims this move is about rampant crime in Chicago. All too many people, especially the media, are jumping on that statement to blame Mayor Lightfoot for this predicament. That is unfortunate. Mr. Griffin does not like the mayor, nor her party, her Governor or anything else about the political life of Chicago and the state of Illinois. Mr. Griffin has placed the blame on the wrong person. He is attempting to play pressure politics where it doesn’t have traction. Is Chicago’s crime scene bad? Yes...

We each have voice. Write, speak, or art your message in any form possible. You have the freedom to do so. We have social media to help you (or destroy us!?). We can write a letter to the editor of our selected publications. We each have freedom of action. We can stand up in a crowded public space and educate others on specific topics and problems that need attention. We can go door to door and leave literature on our supported beliefs and speak to individual householders on such matters. We can create nonprofit agencies to bring the message to millions, or services to hundreds of sufferers of social ills. We write a book. We can publish a magazine of like-minded people. Of course, we can donate funds, talent and time to those organizations we feel are speaking for us. The largest of all actions, however, is voting. Understand the issues involved. Know the candidates' motivations and positions on issues that matter to you. Then follow through with all of this and cast your ba...

Right here, in the United States? Yes, separation of church and state in the US appears to be a thing of the past. Like the Taliban, in Afghanistan, people of faith in one religious tradition have taken control of our social order. Like similar nations in the Middle East, government and church have become one. Is that the future of America? The evidence is building. We see it in unbridled gun ownership, gun violence and the snide pride of gun owners who say it is their right. Right? To make it easy to gun down young school kids? To increase drive by shootings in neighborhoods across the nation? To protect your home at night from marauders when you are more likely to shoot and kill a family member walking through their own home? No background checks. No proof of mental stability. Even assault rifles are for sport. Yes, we must have the weapons if we are to be safe. Is that why 35,000 people are killed each year by guns? To keep the shooter safe? Really? I think the Taliban would a...

Living life in an organization is interesting. To say the very least! Some colleagues do their job, and only the job. They study the job description and learn the borders of what is theirs to do, and what duties belong to others. They defend their position. They do not extend themselves to help others. Seemingly, they avoid responsibility or ‘blame.’ Other colleagues gladly go beyond their job descriptions and help others with their assignments. They are not grasping for attention or praise, they do it because they see themselves as part of a team. Team. An ideal often not attainable in many workgroups. Too bad for them. Their jobs become boring, uninteresting. Maybe even drudgery? In teams, the outcome is the goal. The organization’s larger purpose or mission provides the focus of what our work means. Pulling together, helping each other, builds strength and momentum toward the desired outcome. The sense of achievement is the reward. Team spirit results and empowers even bette...

Long ago, communities discussed and decided on providing public education to the children of those communities. Why? Because parents knew they could not adequately provide education of their own kids in their household. They knew their children needed to learn reading, writing and math. They knew that their kids would do better in life if they were able to solve logical problems. Shaping the education was important but they really didn’t know how to do that. Yes, they hoped that values would be exposed and learned as well. Many of those values, however, were left to parents to decide and provide. Hundreds of years later the role of education has been proven over and over in the process of developing young minds and bodies. If they are to mature into responsible adults, effective education is a must. Public education has done well. Oh, there are problems, but most of these tend to be tasks added to the education function by politicians eager to address social problems. Although school...

A recession is a downward tick in business activity – loss of jobs, increased bankruptcies, mortgage foreclosures, avoidance of loan risk by banks, and instability on the stock markets. There are other symptoms of a recession, but those are the main ones. It can be argued that we have been in various stages of recession from 2009 until today. The mortgage meltdown and banking fiasco of 2007 to 2009 was a major cause. That recession was worldwide. It was one that started in the US and spread to the global community because we sold faulty loan investments to other central banks overseas. That recession was long and deep. Many wondered if we were entering a depression. Loss of jobs was huge and long-lived. Once we pulled out of that slump – the depression never happened – we went on with our heady reinvention of American commerce. The economy recovered beautifully until the pandemic occurred in 2020. Job loss. Enforced isolation. Working from home. Reliance on electronic everything be...

You should be with Joe as well. Here’s why. Joe Biden has been in the halls of congress for decades, then the Vice President, and now President. He has been on committees, panels and special task forces on and off for decades. He knows how the federal government works. He was present and engaged at key times of our nation’s history. He knows how to respond to emergencies, support the military, support public education, forge pathways through problems that improve quality of life for many. Joe Biden, in short, is a public servant with a rare and positive background. Is he too old to be president? No; he is president and 80 years old. He is doing fine. Is he too old to be re-elected for a second term? Yes. We should be identifying his successor so we can continue to focus on long term solutions to the nation’s problems. I like Joe Biden. I trust Joe Biden. He is very transparent and that’s something we need at this fractious period of history. Joe makes a great healer in times ...

As in homelessness, car lessness, joblessness, loss of health insurance-ness, etc. You see where I am going with this. With rising prices, many of us are going without things we were used to having. The other day, however, Facebook pushed the viral lead that at least one consumer praised the fact that she had a car to drive, roads to drive on, a home to return to and peace and calm in her neighborhood. The Ukrainians have none of this. So do a lot of other countries. We Americans have lived a good life. More than adequate housing, food, entertainment, jobs, incomes and investments. The pandemic taught us how dear some of those things were. The pandemic provided time at home, time to think, time to avoid commuting, time to value family members, and a whole lot of other things. In short, the pandemic had a good side to it. Oh sure, we complained about it, but then Americans complain about just about everything. We simply don’t appreciate all we have. We fail to see our blessings wh...

So many threads to today’s news. A tidal wave of news items that alone mean nothing until someone comes up with a catch phrase or a fearful word associated with the item. Mostly it is the fear element. Here’s what I mean : Interest Rate Hikes : interest rates have been much too low in recent years. Unthinkably low rates. Mortgages for 30+ years at 2.7%? Are you kidding? I would have loved paying that low rate over the many years I had a mortgage! But low rates also harm investors in treasury notes and bonds, loans and anything related to interest rates. A retiree, for instance, needs a return on investments well over 5% if interest income is to have any weight in a monthly budget. Interest rates affect us all; some more, some less. It all depends on if you are a net borrower or net investor. Will the Federal Reserve hike core interest rates by 1 full percentage rate? Maybe, most likely 75 basis points. This will not be inflationary unless you refinance debt at the higher rates, o...

Greed? Ego? Power lust? Or what? There are a lot of reasons a person runs for public office. Often, they spot an opening in the public’s sentiment and decide they can attract enough support to win the office. But I have a question for each of them: What changes are you going to bring to your constituents? Do you understand the limits of power in the position? Do you truly know what problems are blocking progress toward a better quality of life for your constituents? Are you familiar with all of the problems, or only a few? Finally, what is the timeline for the changes you wish to make? If you do not have a program to press forward, then you are an empty-headed politician focused only on power and greed for yourself. History has proven this over and over again. It is the shame of all democracies. The lowest common denominator appears to be in control. How sad. How very sad. Another candidate announces his intention to unseat current Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. What does he bring...

Middle of the month. Already. The other day it was January something. Now winter, spring have passed. Summer has arrived. A little cool to start, but then the heat. Humidity has been low so far this season, but boy howdy, that changed in a hurry! Nice to awaken to a sunny sky. Clouds are such downers. Especially if rain is imminent. As I look out the office window (second bedroom converted to office in retirement rented condo!), I see billowy green trees. I see blue sky hazed by early morning dew. I see golden rays bouncing up and down the street, shining off passing car windows. I see deep shadows from the slant of the early sun. Beautiful. Tranquil. Comforting. And the moon, large, looming and hanging low in the sky. The temps are rising. Stocks are dropping. Inflation is rising. So are gas prices. But falling are the miles driven to save the gas, or more likely, the gas budget. Also rising is the new building next door. Activity of late has been modest. A lot going on inside...

I must have been 5, maybe 6 years old. I had just washed my hands at the bathroom sink. The water drained out. While doing so, I noted the whorl of water, the eddied whirlpool of water spinning toward the black, gaping drain hole. It struck me. Where does the water go? And the soapy bubbles? And other things? I wondered about that. I watched the toilet bowl drain in its now familiar spin. The bathtub, too. Each fixture with a different drain size. Each with a different purpose. Each capable of more volume. What if the hole were large? Big enough to take a kid? I shuddered. But then I recalled the large storm drains in the curbs. Huge openings with heavy duty grates. Big enough to take all sorts of junk washed down the street. What of bodies? People? Kids? I shuddered again! Once the shock subsided, I wondered more where the water goes and ends up. That began my interest in ecology, I think. Afterall, this was southern California, a land whose water came from the Colorado Ri...

Millions of citizens have answered the call to arms over the past 250 years. That is just in America alone. Duty called and they signed up. Maybe the draft called, and they did what they had to do. But the result is the same: military preparedness of our nation is built and maintained. Wars are avoided. Wars are won. Wars are declared not won by either side, but peace comes from a truce, an agreement to pursue other, less violent means to settle the dispute. Once served, the good people become veterans. They return to their civilian lives and continue to live their dream. Or not. This piece is about the not. Some veterans return to a home of broken marriages, splintered families, loss of job, fruitless education and much more. All too often vets return home having lost themselves in military duty. Broken. Unable to cope with modern life that kept on changing while they were in service to country. I remember a good fellow at the local coffee shop. A bunch of strangers gathered at ...

I am stunned the January 6 th insurrection investigation has gone on for so long. Yes, we get hints of actions that may be taken, but nothing very concrete. Lots of hearings. Lots of backroom maneuvering. Notice of witnesses chosen for testimony. News media follows some of the leads and takes us down a path of inquiry. All very interesting. Nothing conclusive. Certainly, nothing final. We keep hearing the continuing complaint of the trump supporters. We watch their rallies and speeches on what’s wrong with America without any specifics on what they would like to see done. The rest of us wait (some impatiently!) for the January 6 th Committee to get to the point. The open hearings and reports are beginning this week. We are near the end of the panel’s investigation. Kindly remember the Department of Justice is the investigatory body supporting the panel. That includes the assistance of the FBI as well. So, the panel has a lot of heavy hitters working on their side of the issue. ...

It is hard to feel happy in times like these. Elated? Maybe at something surprising happening that excites pleasure. Cooking aromas of a favorite dish. A steak grilling in the open air. Hamburgers sizzling on the Weber. Things like that. Maybe it is a sound system coming to life with a favorite symphony, song, aria, whatever? I remember a technician once fixing my cable connection and attaching surround sound. Suddenly Mozart’s Requiem came to life in full, rich sound. I nearly swooned! Every now and then we are treated to a prime rib dinner. When that plate comes to table, is set in front of me, I take a moment to smell the food, watch the juices glisten on the meat, then dribble down to engage with the baked potato. The sour cream and chives sinking into the burst-open baked potato, butter plopped on top, and the near opportunity of mixing a bite of that with the fresh juices streaming off the slab of prime rib. Wonderful. Awesome. Yes, senior citizens can use those words, too!! ...

A neighbor gifted me with a subscription to Foreign Affairs, a bi-monthly journal written by professionals and academics in the field. American international policies are under the microscope and continually related to those of other nations. Just how well has the Biden administration fared in the last 18 months?  Here’s what Heidi and Douglas Rediker wrote in the May/June issue of the journal: “After more than a year in office, Biden has advanced many critical international economic policy goals by aligning his administration’s foreign policy agenda with the interests of US workers, achieving strategic national security objectives. He laid the groundwork for creating more resilient supply chains and transforming US infrastructure in ways that will help underserved communities and the middle class. He rejoined the global community’s effort to transition away from fossil fuels. He repaired US alliances, marshaling the democratic world to collectively respond to Russia after it inv...

Joe Biden has been under attack on two fronts: domestic and foreign. The domestic is intentional and political, waged by republicans to unseat the president and gain the White House for themselves. The other is foreign. Yes, it is intentional although unlikely to be targeting Joe Biden. Rather it is an attack on the US and the White House, whoever is sitting in the Oval Office. Beating back the US is an objective of Russia, China, the Middle East and scores of other nations who simply do not like the top dog. These people resent America as the model of strength and leadership. Truth is, America ceased being a leader long ago. We opened the dialogue to others intentionally. Leading the Free World is not an enviable position. It is costly in military and economic aid. The free world ought to be able to sustain itself on its own without relying on one nation with a large purse. So, America shared the leadership role with England, France, Germany, Scandinavia, South America and Af...

No, an uncivil war maybe. Bad feelings among groups of people appear continuously throughout American history. Strife. Violence. Nasty interactions among groups that look and act differently from each other. We did it with German immigrants. We did it with Irish, Italian and every other immigrant group marked by their nationality. We discriminate among groups with different religions. Doubt that? Ask Roman Catholics, Jews and Protestants how they feel marginalized and singled out. They have stories to tell you. Live in the west? Ask about discrimination from the east coast. Or, southerners have lots of stories to tell about northerners and vice versa. Tensions exist. Some are funny. Some are silly. All are discriminatory. Will a civil war break out? I don’t really think so, at least not on regionalism or religion. The one exception I hold in reserve is political differences. The US is abuzz with conservatives against liberals, liberals against conservatives, libertarians agains...

Old tired excuses and arguments about why guns are not the problem. Well, sorry, those words do not work anymore. Americans are finally fed up. When the Constitution was written, no standing armies or military forces were existing. Regional militias were pulled together from private citizens, each providing their own firearm and ammunition. Today, we spend nearly $800 billion annually on military personnel, equipment and landed installations. International installations are included with all of this. The actual cost is much larger due to ongoing research, development and equipment improvements. We probably spend more than a trillion dollars on military matters. This does not include black operations known only to a few in the CIA, Congress and White House. In some sense we still have militias, but we call them National Guard units centered in each state of the union. However, those guard units come with nationally provided ammunition, firearms and other necessary support equipment ...

Not a day goes by without questions. Needing to be answered. Needing to be asked. New questions branching off old questions once answered. Curious minds? No; minds needing answers to unknown topics that relate to current issues. Issues that are not fully understood, but then, do we truly ever understand anything fully? My SCORE clients often ask for directions. Where do I go from here? How do I do this? Tackling fundraising is huge; how do I even start? And so, I share my Zoom screen and go to Google.com. I ask a question, maybe even stutter over it and improve the wording. I hit search and see the results unfold. The client and I scroll down the answers, note the first several are usually there because they are paid ads, but then still scan their contents; they may be the right contact after all! The process is the thing. Clients participating in this firsthand experience get the hang of it right away. They begin identifying their own search words, phrases, keywords. I suggest t...

Nancy Pelosi’s Husband : Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the House of Representatives in the US Congress. That is a powerful position of leadership. She also has a private life. One of those private elements is her marriage, her family members and her husband. Mr. Pelosi has had a recent interaction with traffic police with a charge of Driving Under the Influence of alcohol. If the facts turn out to be true, Mr. Pelosi will have to follow the law and its protocols to the conclusion of the matter. This is not a reflection on Mrs. Pelosi. She had nothing to do with it. Plus, this has nothing to do with her leadership responsibilities. Why then is this ‘fair game’ for the press. The photos accompanying the news articles are not of Mr. Pelosi. No, they are of Nancy Pelosi. Stupid editing of the story. Shameful political nonsense. Shame on the press corps, and more shame on the political opposition that insists on pushing this sort of incivility forward. Church and State : a politician tak...