The recent addition of ten nations to membership in the European Union is a good time to revisit the rift that exists between the U. S. and certain EU members, mainly of “Old Europe”. A number of political players and commentators, chiefly those who disapprove of the foreign policy of the Bush administration, would have […]
Archives for 2004
Freedom For What?
Notwithstanding the talk show debates ad nauseum about the reasons for the U. S. intervention for regime change in Iraq, WMDs, etc., it cannot be denied that a high priority, maybe the highest priority, for George Bush is the expansion of freedom in the world and the introduction of democracy in the Arab Middle East. […]
More On Jobs, Outsourcing, And The New Realities
I continue to be amazed at how CNN’s Lou Dobbs and a number of fellow-traveling politicians are consistently able to bash U. S. companies with impunity on a daily basis for their outsourcing strategies, while corporate leaders seem too cowed and intimidated to make any attempt to defend themselves. It has been called “the great […]
Early Reflections On The Presidential Election
It is still early and there are too many uncontrollable variables to be confident of any settled trend lines, but here is my take on the defining issue in the Bush/Kerry race, and it came to me as I attempted to collate several op/ed pieces that recently appeared during the same week: David Brooks confessed […]
Machiavelli Updated
In the annals of instruction on leadership and statecraft, Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince (1513) was the break from the idealism of the virtues of antiquity and Christianity and the handbook for pragmatists and realists more concerned with the ends than the means of the preservation and advancement of the interests of the modern state. In […]
The “Public” Vs. “Private” Debate
Most Pilgrim subscribers know that I am pretty heavily involved in public education reform and, in my work in this arena, at least one Texas teachers’ union has described me as a proponent of education “privatization”. An interesting characterization, no doubt intended as a pejorative in my case, and I assume it is assigned to […]
The Economy, Markets, And Election Year Messages
As an investment advisor, I am frequently asked about the immediate direction of the securities markets, and my answer has been, and will no doubt continue to be, that no markets are safe in a Presidential election year, much less one that is being conducted while in a state of war. Markets abhor uncertainties, so […]
Thoughts On The 9-11 Commission
While we are engaged in the typical American habit of self-flagellation and assignment of blame for the attacks of 9-11-01, I am reminded of an only partly facetious rule of thumb from the private sector in the form of the “five stages of a project”: (1) excitement and euphoria, (2) disenchantment, (3) search for the […]
Super Turning Point?
Don’t look now, but it may be possible that the halftime show at the Super Bowl in Houston may prove to have been a watershed event in the turnaround of public attitudes about limits on cultural pollution. In the interest of damage control, the producers of this product want to focus on the few seconds […]
The Challenge And Opportunity In Iran
Natural disasters often have enormous cultural and political consequences along with their economic and human costs. I believe the horror of the December earthquakes in Iran is an example because it helped further demonstrate to the Iranian people the huge void that exists between their tyrannized society and the developed West in terms of wealth, […]