Several friends of mine are going through difficult times right now.  The world has dealt — or is dealing — several of them a hand which nobody wants to have to play. I always feel inadequate in terms of knowing what to say in these kinds of situations. Some time back, I read a novel […]

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Okay, I don’t usually do these, because I figure that they’re in the 48 things most of my blog readers could care less about. On the other hand, I sometimes like looking at them myself, because I enjoy learning new things about people I know — and most of the blogs I read belong to […]

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The hotly-anticipated sequel to the online video game World of Warcraft hit the shelves recently.  Here’s a report: The best part is that I could actually imagine something like this. I particularly like the comment in the “web only bonus clip” at the end, where we learn about the horrible worst thing is that could […]

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City Collector Debora Marcoccio of Attleboro, Massachusetts, says, “My question is, how come it wasn’t paid when the (original) bills went out?” It’s easy to understand why  Marcoccio wants to know: the city spent 42 cents on a stamp to bill a blind woman who “underpaid” her water bill by one penny — let’s not […]

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This post grows out of an email exchange with a good friend.  Although he and I differ dramatically in our views relating to religion, he’s still a good friend.  (Heck, my two closest friends both hold rather dramatically different views from those I hold!  One is night to my day on religion; the other is […]

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True capitalism does not exist.  Anywhere.  In the Known Universe.  At All. You think I’m kidding? Name me one place where true capitalism, as a social structure driving the economy of a real country, actually exists.  It just doesn’t.

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During the waning days of the McCain campaign we were introduced to various characters.  There was, famously, “Joe the Plumber.” Later we got “Tito the Builder” and a whole slew of other “Someone the Somethings.” You’d think that with the election over, we’d be done with that.  But, no, there’s still at least one more:  […]

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I should be celebrating today, but I’m feeling a little bummed out.  I guess it’s because, in concert with my wife this morning, I’m finding myself wondering why we (she and me) live where we live. We’re fairly happy that Obama won the election.  She’s ecstatic.  I’m have hopes that the downward slide of the […]

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Robert J. Froelich is Vice Chairman and Chief Investments Strategist of DWS Investments, the U.S. retail brand of Deutsche Bank’s global asset management division.  He said something in a recent interview which I’ve (so far unsuccessfully) tried communicating to many of my “rich” friends.

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This isn’t something I’d normally write.  Heck, I’m not even close to being an expert on Twitter, having only recently joined.  But a friend asked a question, I wrote an email in response, and then realized two things: I had used up most of my morning writing time on that email, including doing some “mini” […]

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