September 19, 2025
Among others, September is National Coupon, National Preparedness, and National Library Card Sign-Up Month…
September 19, 2025 Read More »
Consumer Spending Trends
September 12, 2025
Earlier this week, my thought was to write about turning 60, what that means in Japanese culture, relate my celebration of Kanreki to French historian Fernand Braudel’s three cycles of history (day-to-day events; paradigm shifts; and longue durée), and finally link those cycles to current political and public policy trends. However, the aftershocks ripping across political Washington of Turning Point USA founder and conservative star Charlie Kirk’s assassination are just too big to ignore.
September 12, 2025 Read More »
September 5, 2025
Yesterday, after breakfast, my wife said to me, “Don’t throw those bags out…I need those bags to put my bags in.”
August 1, 2025
Last week, I was able to escape the swamp-like conditions of Washington, D.C., and trade them for the near perdition-like temperatures of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. There, I visited our Steel Summit subsidiary and made my way to Nashville for The Conference Board’s quarterly Government Relations Executive Council meeting.
May 30, 2025
Memorial Day is a time for deep reflection. My father was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery, Congress recognizes the holiday with a weeklong recess, and even President Trump slow rolled his schedule for the better part of this week.
May 23, 2025
What do Ted Williams, Michael Jordan, and Wayne Gretzky all have in common? That they were the greatest players of all time in baseball, basketball, and hockey, respectively? A good guess, but another answer might be that each was also a terrible head coach or general manager.
May 9, 2025
My wife and I just returned from a vacation to the British Virgin Islands (BVI). There we sailed the islands Christopher Columbus “discovered” during his second voyage to the Americas in 1493.
April 25, 2025
There is the seen and the unseen. In Washington, Congress can quite literally be seen in action when it is in session. But when it’s in recess, like it has been for the past two weeks, Capitol Hill is somewhat of a ghost town. In economics one can also find the seen and the unseen
April 11, 2025
It’s spring break in Washington. Climb Capitol Hill, ride the Metro, or visit the National Mall, and you’re bound to see packs of teenagers in identical t-shirts roving the cityscape.
April 4, 2025
The morning of what President Trump referred to as “Liberation Day,” I found myself sitting at a conference room table across from a member of Congress and his Chief of Staff. The meeting had been scheduled several weeks prior as way to provide businesses with a progress report on the status of the reconciliation bill, tax policy, and deregulation.