Good Morning All & Happy Monday!
A belated Happy Birthday to our friend and husband, father & financial planner extraordinaire, Todd, who celebrated his birthday yesterday. Here’s to you, Todd and I hope you had lots of fun on your special day of celebration!
Speaking of birthdays, here’s to musician Randy Travis, who turns 61 today; to actress & wife of the heir to the Woolworth Dept. Store chain, Pia Zadora, who is 67 today; and to one of my favorite columnist, George Will, who turns 79 today! Happy Birthday to all everyone celebrating birthdays today!
I’ve been going through my bookshelves looking for books I haven’t read as of yet and came upon a gem from author Tom Clancy of “The Hunt For Red October” fame. It’s called “Executive Orders” and features an Ebola bio-terrorism threat. Jack Ryan the key character in Clancy’s novels, becomes President unexpectedly and conducts himself like I would like all Presidents to do….looking to the interests of the country before political party affiliation. Clancy portrays Ryan has having the right balance of being a fiscal conservative, a defense hawk, an advocate of true & effective tax reform (i.e. implementing a flat income tax and downsizing the IRS), downsizing the Federal government where possible and keeping the needs of less fortunate Americans uppermost in his mind. Wow! Wouldn’t that be refreshing in a President (or any politician, for that matter!). If you’re looking for a riveting suspense novel during the “coronavirus blues,” this is it.
Speaking of world affairs, I found a newsletter from Dean Securities, the Olympia WA brokerage firm I used to investment funds in the stock market early on in my career. It was included in a letter I sent to my wife Judy in October, 1978. It included the following observation: “In the field of foreign aid, for instance, it is a common observation that we have taken from the middle and lower class in the U.S. to give to the upper class in less developed countries.” While there are many instances where U.S. foreign aid has been of great help to the general population of many countries, it is fair to say that much of this aid gets wasted through graft and corruption within the ranks of the leadership of many of these countries receiving that aid. The thrust of the newsletter is that if our government—or any government—is to survive, it must be perceptive enough to recognize in time the necessity to change even basic policies and then resolute enough to make such changes. This is indeed a challenge we face for the future of our children and grandchildren. Difficult decisions with regard to priorities in spending, given limited funds, will need to be made at some point in the future, if we wish to have future generations enjoy the standard of living we have enjoyed as a nation since World War II. If not, everyone will suffer…the rich, and to a much greater extent, the middle class and the poor…We must become a nation of savers, not spenders…
I came across an interesting football card in my collection the other day…one for Mike Trevathan (born in 1968), who played college football for the University of Montana as a wide receiver from 1988-1991 and then played professionally in the Canadian Football League for the B.C. Lions. He had an illustrious career with the Lions, catching 411 passes, accumulating 6,476 yards in receiving and 46 touchdown receptions. Mike ended up playing for the University of Montana, due to a friendship his dad had with Al Kempfert, who was the director of the Univ. of Montana booster club and had other responsibilities with the U of M athletic department. In addition, Mike’s next door neighbor in his hometown of Thousand Oaks, California hailed from Lewistown, Montana of all places and was heavy into fly fishing and Mike received fly fishing lessons from him and was encouraged to check out the University of Montana and the great fishing there. Mike called that the best decision of his life: “to go up there not knowing anybody and take advantage of that opportunity.” His college coach described Mike as having “great concentration and good hands, with excellent ability to run with the ball after he catches it.” After his successful career in professional football, he went into coaching and worked for a time at the University of Louisiana-Monroe as a coach and then as director for auxiliary services (campus dining, vending, housing, residence life, bookstore, concessions, etc.). He is credited with bringing the first Starbucks Coffee franchise to northeastern Louisiana. Mike now lives in his hometown of Thousand Oaks, California and works at Gavilan Capital, a multi-family real estate development and property management firm. Here’s to Mike Trevathan of University of Montana & B.C. Lions fame!
Here is the word definition for the day:
Orrery: “A mechanical model of the solar system, or just the sun, earth and moon, used to represent their relative positions and motions.”
Here’s the thought for the day:
“As advertising blather becomes the nation’s normal idiom, language becomes printed noise.”
—George Will, columnist/writer
“Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men…the balance-wheel of the social machinery.”
—Horace Mann, American educator & public school system advocate (May 4, 1796-August 2, 1859)
Here’s to a great Monday and lots of love always!
Press on,
Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, Mark, etc.)