My email to the team… Subject: Good Company Hi All – Late last night, I was reading an analysis on the state of the world economy written by a leader in our field. Being interested in discussing it further, I sent him an email, asking to get together. And with my fingers limbered up, I fired off notes to two others of similar stature. All three replied either side of 11pm. One of their personal assistants followed up

Hope all goes well… Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize winner, artist, mirror. Ballad of a Thin Man: You walk into the room, With your pencil in your hand. You see somebody naked, And you say, “Who is that man?” You try so hard, But you don’t understand. Just what you’ll say, When you get home. Because something is happening here, But you don’t know what it is. Do you, Mister Jones? You raise up your head, And you ask, “Is

Overall: “Extreme economic events have often challenged existing views of how the economy works and exposed shortcomings in the collective knowledge of economists,” said Yellen, searching for excuses, groping, blind. “The Fed is likewise engaged in ongoing research to seek answers,” she explained, announcing a series of questions that her board of economic scientists are exploring to better understand our post-crisis

Overall: “I was inspired by the interlocking forms in Celtic art,” explained Dr. Feringa, the Nobel recipient, a nano-machine pioneer. Scientists created inert molecular rings, but a machine requires moving parts, and he discovered how to build dynamic interlocking rings around a charged copper ion. Fifteen years later, his molecular machine spun 12 million times per second. “I feel a little bit like the Wright broth

“Can’t wait for football season to end,” said Jackson, my oldest. Seemed odd, so I waited, quiet. “Literally can’t wait for lacrosse season.” He’s fourteen, Greenwich High. Now, my freshman year was an utter disaster. I’d moved from NYC to the suburbs, having only ever played dodgeball. So I cycled through every conceivable sport, in search of one I sucked at less than all others. Which resulted in an even tie: footb

Hope all goes well… “They can do anything these days,” said Charlie, seven. “Can they take your eyeballs out and replace them with robot eyes that see a million times better?” asked Teddy, eleven, hopeful. “They can turn a boy into a girl,” said Olivia, thirteen. “But they haven’t figured out how to turn a girl into a boy yet,” countered Teddy. “I have two transgender kids in my class, they’re brother and sister,” sa

“African countries have gone through three distinct phases,” explained the public servant. “The first was romantic socialism.” Africa shed its colonial rulers between 1956-1964; Kenya, Ghana, Namibia, Malawi, almost every country. “Independence leaders were generally honest. They felt the land and minerals were resources that should be shared, and believed a strong state was necessary to ensure this.” These countries

Overall: “Tell me, what is happening to America?” he asked, in Johannesburg, our presidential debate broadcast into the highest towers and lowest townships. “Can it be possible that Trump becomes your president?” he asked, perplexed, concerned. For South Africans, US leadership is not reality television, it’s reality. Globalization is America’s greatest export, weaving us all together, and for those on the economic e

Hope all goes well… “You’re an American so you’ve read Atlas Shrugged,” said the investor. We sat looking out across Johannesburg, fragrant, hazy. “When you read that book you can’t imagine such things could really occur,” he continued. “You think they’re exaggerated stories, told to make a point. But when I pick up the papers and read today’s stories, they’re taken straight from Atlas Shrugged.” Mo

“The next recession is going to be very gentle,” said my favorite strategist. “The excesses in this cycle are just not that big, or they’ve already corrected.” Industrials and resources have been cleaned out. Housing is fine, except for inconsequential bubbles in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Sweden. And banks are too boring to blow up. “The gorilla in the room is obviously China, because a hard landing there w