The Cost of a Cashless Society
If you have been to any retail store in the past few months you have probably noticed a sign on the cash register that says something like “due to coin shortage exact change required” or “cash not accepted due to coin shortage” When I first saw one of these signs [...]
Old Business Ideas Have Come Around Again
Amazon recently announced its plan to acquire many vacant Sears and J.C. Penney department stores in malls across America to use as distribution centers to assist in speeding up product deliveries to suburban customers. While not publicly announcing this, it would not surprise me if part of this strategy will [...]
Is Socialism a Good Investment?
One of the skills required to beating the stock market is having the vision to see what will likely happen next and not to focus on what already has. Generally, current market performance reflects what investors believe market conditions will look like six months from now. One of my favorite [...]
Steer Clear of Clever Scammers
This is unlike any other year in our lives. Even our local weather is now unusual, even though in a nice way—a truly cooler August. One thing has not changed though. Many people are trying to steal from you. Modern thieves are using a combination of mail, electronics, telephone, and [...]
Turning a tragedy into a teaching opportunity
In my columns I often advise people to take the time to plan for the unforeseen. This week I have a personal story about something that happened to me last week that will hopefully serve as motivation to some of you as well. One week ago Friday I took my [...]
Economics is at the root of current cultural divide
2020 has certainly been one for the history books. It seems like in all aspects of society we are more divided than ever before. Recently, this divide has manifested itself in silly debates about masks, garage pull-ropes, Russian Facebook ads, flag etiquette, and statues of Columbus. While many of these [...]
Enduring reasons for optimism
When discussing the first half of 2020, the description I hear most is Unbelievable! There are few still living who have any recollection of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic. The other pandemics in the past 70 years were not met with the same hysteria. These included those of 1957 and 1968. [...]
Don’t find yourself in an economic bubble
Pat Farrell, Owner of Sibley Orchards, once told me “The more you talk with people of different viewpoints, the clearer your own perspective becomes.” That simple statement has carried with me and seems to be very appropriate for the times we are living in right now. In our current information [...]
Rules by which to thrive
Are you concerned by signs of social disintegration of the past month? Is there injustice, inequity, racism, hatred and other evidence of sin in our world? Absolutely. Does it help anyone of any group to allow, much less encourage willful rioting and looting? Absolutely not. Neither does it help for [...]
Achieving calm in a mad world.
Has the whole world gone crazy? Are you and I the only sane people left? It’s hard to turn on the news without either wanting to curl up in the fetal position or smashing it with the nearest heavy object. We find ourselves in an argumentative world that shows no [...]