When I finish this blog, I’m headed to my bank with money from the sale of Ballet Noir at a weekend book fair. I won’t need an armed guard, but I sold enough to make me happy.  What makes me unhappy is my bank. The tellers have been eliminated and in their place are two computers

As I wrote in an earlier blog (6/20/16), Millennials are imposing changes on the American landscape.  One of those changes has to do with the way they eat.  The younger generation tends to snack throughout the day rather than sit down to 3 full meals. (“Why Hershey Is Losing Its S

As I wrote in an earlier blog, (Blog 5/26/16) the world is awash in personal savings accounts, what Ben Bernanke calls a “global savings glut.” (“Private Desires, by Geoff Colvin, Fortune, June, 2016, pg. 54.)  In a recent essay, Geoff Colvin points out this sea of cash is chan

The central question for the upcoming election is: “How would the candidate, as President, bring our country together around a common vision for where we need to go as a nation and how we can get there?”  (“Stop Fighting, Start Fixing,” by Jon Huntsman Jr. and Joe Lieberman,

Suggesting that crony capitalism is in decline in this country may be an unpopular argument in our election cycle.  Those bent upon reforming a corrupt system first have to believe it exists, and after 2008 and the housing bubble, it’s hard to dispute.  Except the financial collap

We Americans aren’t the only people on the continent who are fed up with gridlock and corruption. Throughout Latin America, citizens are throwing out old regimes: Guatemala, Honduras, Argentina and most recently, Brazil.  Unfortunately, the populists champions who ride into power,

Flowers and other plants would seem to be a part of nature.  But not so, if it’s a petunia called Candy Bouquet and sold in garden shops.  This flower, magenta and yellow, was bred in Germany by growers who manipulated the pollen to create a new color combination. Is the new desig

Money, like water, is fluid and not always controlled.  In Brazil, for example,  the corporate tax rate is 34%, among the highest in the world.  One would hope  so much money would flow to the public’s  benefit.  Instead, it has been lost down a rat hole of corruption, leaving

“Economists joke that the questions on their doctoral exams haven’t changed in 50 years, but the answers have.” (“The Curse of The Big Bad Rut,” by Peter Coy, Bloomberg Businessweek, May 16-22, 2016 pg. 14.)  The same lack of imagination could be laid at the feet of politic

Young white women are dying.  No, not from assaults and beatings, though that continues at a high rate.  The current epidemic affects women between 25 and 55  years of age.  Suicides are half the reason.  The other reason is drug and alcohol overdose.  Most of these women live r