Abe February 12, 2007March 25, 2012 Today is Lincoln’s Birthday. Show a little respect! (But if – overcome as I am by the need to take the day off – you’re now at a loss for what to do after you read the Gettysburg Address, check out pandora.com. Marc Fest: ‘You tell it the name of a song or artist you like [I choose Tin Angel – A.T.] and it starts streaming music similar to it, based on the song’s ‘DNA.’ It works amazingly well, is free and hugely entertaining.’)
1001 Horsepower – I Want One! February 9, 2007January 9, 2017 PER DIEM Andrew Zachary: ‘Per Diem expenses sound fine in theory, but in practice, they always leave the business traveler with the short end of the deal. Most firms set the per diem amounts at some country-wide average. Works fine when traveling to Minneapolis, not so well in NYC. And as an aside, what do you call a fish on an expense account? Carp(e) Diem.’ John: ‘Russell says, ‘staff who have enjoyed wining and dining on the company ticket will bitch.’ Well, yes – and they will quit. I know. I’ve done it. Any employee valuable enough to be sent on the road is not someone you want to nickel and dime. One has to factor that into the calculation.’ IT’S EXPENSIVE BEING RICH You can only read this article if you subscribe to New York Times Select, which, as you know, I think you should do. (Click here for a free trial.) It was published on New Year’s Eve – I’m a little behind in my reading – and it asked you to imagine that you had gotten a $10 million year-end bonus. Turns out, $10 million isn’t what it once was, in large measure because so many people have been making fortunes that the finer things in life (at least by some measures of finery) have been bid up to ever higher heights. It is, let’s be honest, a positively grand time to be rich and powerful in America – thank you, my fellow Republicans! – and yet a challenging time all the same. Just look at the New York real estate market. ‘[Real estate] brokers agreed the market in Manhattan has become extremely tight above the $10 million mark,’ reported the Times. There were just 29 apartments available in the $20 million to $40 million range, which was not a whole lot of luxury living to go around. Not to mention the $1.45 million 1001-horsepower Bugatti Veyron 16.4, or the long, long wait list for a starter jet like the $1.52 million Eclipse 500 or the $2.65 million Cessna Citation Mustang. You get the idea. MORE HIGHLIGHTS As noted Tuesday, the highlight of the DNC winter meeting – apart from my free shishkabobs – were the speeches. YOU can watch them all here. I was going to leave it at that, but a number of you apparently saw me introducing Hillary Clinton – a clip of this was shown on The Daily Show – and wondered what ever happened to my alleged neutrality. (I am enthusiastically neutral among all of our fine Democratic candidates.) So here are two more highlights from last weekend’s meeting (at least for me): I got to introduce Senator Clinton. As explained at the outset of each session (but obviously not on The Daily Show), the introductions are doled out by lot. Four years ago, I drew Ambassador Carol Mosely Braun; this year, Senator Hillary. The introductions are written by the candidates’ staffs, so it is an easy assignment so long as you remember to keep your finger on the line you are reading when you look up. I got to deliver a ‘treasurer’s report.’ Namely, that: – More than 1.2 million Democrats contributed to the DNC in the 2005-2006 cycle, up from 750,000 in the comparable period four years earlier, with the number of Internet contributors up nearly 12-fold. (Click here to contribute or, even better, here to ‘buy’ a Democracy bond.) – We raised $69 million in federal dollars in 2006, up from $32 million four years earlier. (Thank you!) – We spent every penny of that and more to help win back the House and Senate, borrowing $4 million in the final weeks of the campaign . . . which, considering how close the Senate was and what was at stake, was surely the best $4 million ever borrowed in the history of the world. – We took in $5.1 million this past January, up from $2.8 million in January, 2005. (People seem to like winning better than losing.) Donors at all levels are embracing both the possibility and the necessity of winning in 2008. I went on to contrast how well I thought our $4 million had been borrowed as compared with, say, the $3 trillion the Republicans had borrowed in our names and our children’s names since 2001 . . . and I appealed to the assembled to call up www.democrats.org on their Blackberries and contribute to our effort. (Our effort is to WIDEN AND WIN – widen our margins in Congress and win back the White House, thereby, we hope, to get America back on more or less the same hopeful trajectory it was enjoying from 1993 to 2000.) My treasurer’s report was two minutes from beginning to end, and – quite appropriately – not a word of it was covered by either The Daily Show or the NBC Nightly News. Have a great weekend – and please forgive my political views if you don’t share them. PS – Guess who’s having a fashion show at 5pm today!
A Road to Peace And Happiness February 8, 2007March 5, 2017 DANIEL GORDIS Some of you were angry I linked to the Gordis essay and some were pleased. One of you, anticipating I would post a dissenting view today (below), was preemptively angry – or at least rueful. ‘It’s probably a bunch of people complaining about how wrong Gordis is and how right Jimmy Carter and Michael Moore are,’ he wrote. It’s important to listen to only one point of view, because that way we can avoid knowing what others think. In that spirit, I urge you not to read this: David W.: ‘Rather than an ‘affecting reflection,’ the Gordis article would be better characterized as ‘bathos.’ The article contained some terribly misleading and erroneous statements and becomes nothing more than ‘apologetics’ rather than some genuine soul-searching to try to help solve the morass. Your link pretty much gives it instant credibility for many of your readers [not if they remember my Google puts] and that just doesn’t help. Do you really want the U.S. to attack Iran? [No!] ‘The author writes ‘… just seventy years after the world conspired to let Jews be erased …’ That is literally false and metaphorically misleading, and, only serves to ‘set up’ the reader for a standard argument. And that argument, based on issues most people agree on – i.e., the Holocaust and the need for a Jewish state – has been seriously diminished if not voided in the minds of many people by just that kind of mischaracterization and subsequent acts by the state of Israel which are simply unjustifiable except by virtue of the argument that ‘might makes right,’ “Toward the end of the article he writes that without Israel, American Jewish life ‘… would last a generation, maybe two …’ What an historically odd, deceptive, bathetic and baseless claim for someone to make. Toward the beginning of the article he writes, ‘No, Israel’s not a failure. The State is a huge success.’ He then refers to the ‘national funk.’ Now, PLEASE read this brief piece. I would suggest to you that it is a ‘case study’ which, when put into context, explains most of the funk Daniel Gordis writes about. Then, let’s talk about the real issues. Not some perhaps well-meaning but deceptive ‘ontological reflections’ but the concrete realities of life in the near Middle-East, their historical sources, and the consequences.” ☞ I stand by my feeling that the Gordis piece was an affecting reflection – to me, anyway. But I sure would not attack Iran. That would only strengthen Ahmadinejad. I thought Tom Friedman’s approach, per his January 31 New York Times column, made a lot of sense: “Because the U.S. has destroyed Iran’s two biggest enemies – the Taliban and Saddam – ”there is now a debate in Iran as to whether we should continue to act so harshly against the Americans,” Mohammad Hossein Adeli, Iran’s former ambassador to London, told me at Davos. ”There is now more readiness for dialogue with the United States.” More important, when people say, ”The most important thing America could do today to stabilize the Middle East is solve the Israel-Palestine conflict,” they are wrong. It’s second. The most important thing would be to resolve the Iran-U.S. conflict. That would change the whole Middle East and open up the way to solving the Israel-Palestine conflict, because Iran is the key backer of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and Syria. Iran’s active help could also be critical for stabilizing Iraq. This is why I oppose war with Iran. I favor negotiations. Isolating Iran like Castro’s Cuba has produced only the same result as in Cuba: strengthening Iran’sCastros. But for talks with Iran to bear fruit, we have to negotiate with Iran with leverage. How do we get leverage? Make it clear that Iran can’t push us out of the gulf militarily; bring down the price of oil, which is key to the cockiness of Iran’s hard-line leadership; squeeze the hard-liners financially. But all this has to be accompanied with a clear declaration that the U.S. is not seeking regime change in Iran, but a change of behavior, that the U.S. wants to immediately restore its embassy in Tehran and that the first thing it will do is grant 50,000 student visas for young Iranians to study at U.S. universities. Just do that – and then sit back and watch the most amazing debate explode inside Iran. You can bet the farm on it. FREE FOOD Russell Turpin: “Richard says, ‘I’ve been exhorting our staff for decades on this subject, and yet when they go to trade shows they eschew the “hospitality suites” and instead go to restaurants. What are they thinking?’ That’s easy. They’re thinking that dinner is on a company expense account. Switch your business travel policy from paying for actual food expenses, to paying a per diem allowance. The company will save the accounting time to create and verify expense reports that are mostly small food and restaurant purchases. The staff who have enjoyed wining and dining on the company ticket will bitch. The staff who know how to stretch a dollar will think, ‘I can pocket most of that per diem.’ And they will. And the hospitality suites will get more use. This is economics 102, right?” ☞ There’s no question: people respond to incentives. (The smartest thing I did a hundred years ago when I was writing for New York Magazine, earning $18,000 a year in salary, was to ask to be paid by the article instead. “It will work out to the same $18,000, give or take,” I explained, “but instead of feeling constantly guilty that I’m not doing enough, and being motivated, in effect, by the stick, I’ll be free of all that, and happy, and motivated by the carrot.” And sure enough, I earned the same money, give or take (maybe a little more), produced the same output, more or less (maybe a little more) – but was happier. Much happier.)
More Free Food February 7, 2007March 5, 2017 Richard: ‘You write [of your upgrade at the Washington Hilton]: ‘They also serve a free dinner every night between 5 and 7 – although in their minds I think it’s only hors d’oevres.’ I’ve been exhorting our staff for decades on this subject, and yet when they go to trade shows they eschew the ‘hospitality suites’ and instead go to restaurants. What are they thinking?‘ Gennady [to be read, please, with Absurdistan Russian accent]: ‘Your story about upgraded free stay at Washington Hilton reminded me about last fall’s trip my wife and I and two of our high-school classmates took to Germany and Switzerland. We easily found inexpensive hotels in Heidelberg, Lucerne (my all-time favorite city), Zurich, but when it came to Lausanne, we were at a loss: nothing less than 150 euros per night. So, being a member of Hilton HHonors program, I decided to check if there are places we can stay for free (e.g., points). Sure enough, Hilton’s web site came back with 1 match when I inquired for Lausanne +/- 25 miles. We quickly booked a night at 40,000 points, and off we went to our high-school reunion. Turns out, the Hilton nearest Lausanne (Switzerland) is actually located in France, on the southern short of Lake Geneva, whereas Lausanne itself is located on the northern short of same. This meant a rather enjoyable and pleasant trip around half the lake to get to hotel (plus border crossing, which for us, children of USSR, is always an amazing experience, however uneventful it maybe). When we finally get to our hotel, which is located in Evian-les-Baines, which is where Evian water is coming from, we’re smitten by great lobby, excellent six-storey hotel right on the short of this gorgeous lake – and no customers!!! Turns out, this place has just opened like two or three months ago, and there were like two rooms occupied. Amazing! My HS classmate and best friend Yakov is currently Gold with Hilton, so he gets an automatic upgrade to the concierge level. This means that for next two nights (we loved the place so much, we stayed extra night!) we were treated to the top floor lounge, empty of course since there were no customers in the place. The food (we’re in France, after all) was great; the mini-bar had every imaginable adult beverage and soft drink; and, to top it off, the place had 50″ flat screen TV, outside balcony with panoramic views of the lake, and this incredible coffee machine which made cappuccinos and espressos to die for! And the breakfast was free, too! Needless to say, we did not spend any euros at the place, except Internet service which cost a whopping 10 euros for 30 minutes. So, my 80,000 Hilton points were well spent.’ ☞ Gennady has nothing to do with Absurdistan, but I am now reading all things Russian with the thick accent in which this audiobook is being read to me. It got a rave from the New York Times, but does deserve a warning: the faint of heart or, more particularly, the delicate of sensibility, should steer well clear. ‘Earthy’ barely begins to describe this first novel. MALCOLM GLADWELL Jim Reed: ‘[With Regard to your recommendation of Blink], I am a great fan of Gladwell. If you haven’t already, be sure to listen or watch his TED talk (September 19, 2006). I particularly like the four talks released in Sep 2006 by Gladwell, Levitt, Gilbert and Schwartz. You can subscribe to the podcasts via iTunes or utilize the TED web site.’ MOLLY IVINS From the obit by Katharine Q. Seelye: ‘After Patrick J. Buchanan, as a conservative candidate for president, declared at the 1992 Republican National Convention that the United States was engaged in a cultural war, she said his speech ‘probably sounded better in the original German.’ ‘ DANIEL GORDIS Tomorrow.
Free Shishkabob at the Hilton February 6, 2007March 5, 2017 It has taken me nearly six decades – since, essentially, the dawn of commercial television – but your humble correspondent has finally made it onto the NBC Nightly News. Granted, it was the Sunday edition, which is not exactly the top-rated news night of the week. And granted, I was on opposite the Super Bowl. And granted, it was brief. (Do you ever watch the HBO series Extras, where Ricky Gervais is always trying to inch into the frame, so he can be seen?) But through the miracle of Tivo, slo-mo, and freeze frame, I can report with complete certainty that I appeared on the NBC Nightly News Sunday, February 4, 2007, for 1.3 seconds (note the decimal point between the 1 and the 3) at approximately 6:46 pm Eastern Standard Time as John Edwards swept past on the dais to take the podium and deliver his powerful speech. And you? You were chugging Budweisers watching the Bears and Colts? You were taking advantage of the game to waltz into the hottest restaurant in town without a reservation? You were reading Proust? I was writing my recap of the DNC winter meeting. The highlights: I got upgraded to the concierge floor of the Washington Hilton, which has a lounge with a machine that makes your choice of coffee or hot chocolate, which you can blend, full-strength, decaf or 50/50, mild, medium, or strong, single cup, double or carafe. They also serve a free dinner every night between 5 and 7 – although in their minds I think it’s only hors d’oevres. My favorite were the miniature shishkabobs. With the upgrade came my choice of a free movie, a free day’s Internet connection, a free shoe shine (but Corfam never needs shining), or $5 off any meal over $25 (but they were feeding me free, so that was out). I watched Flags Of Our Fathers, the Clint Eastwood, Spielberg production. Well worth it even if it hadn’t been free. I got to hear outstanding speeches by Harry Reid and 10 of our likely presidential candidates – among whom I am enthusiastically neutral. YOU can watch them all here. Those were the real highlights. LEA Hmmm. So now Carl Icahn wants to buy the whole thing at $36, as reported here, and the market expects a higher bid. The stock closed at $38.64, up from $28 when first suggested 14 months ago. Those of you who held on or bought more when it dipped to $15.60 are in fine shape, let alone those who may have bought LEAPS. But those of you who had the misfortune to read – and act on – my December 29 column would have made just a small gain on the stock (but kept your LEAPS). So this has hardly been a triumph; yet, as losers go, well – they should all end this badly.
The . . . The . . . The . . . February 5, 2007March 5, 2017 THE STUPOR BOWL Mike: ‘I started to watch, got bored and returned to an activity that has obsessed me for the past few weeks: listening to presidential phone and meeting tapes from FDR through Nixon. I discovered a website where ALL of them can be accessed. It’s operated by the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia. This stuff is fascinating – the Cuban Missile Crisis tapes alone are absorbing. I’ve heard snippets and excerpts of these recordings before, but to hear them in their entirety is just riveting. I highly recommend it.’ ☞ Go Gators! THE OTHER BOX We’re in a horrific box in Iraq. But we’re also in a tightening fiscal box. We’re paying $406 billion in interest on the national debt (most of it racked up under Reagan, Bush, and Bush), which is more than 40% of all the $998 billion in personal income tax we pay. More than 40 percent! What if interest rates go up? The Republican solution is, of course, more tax cuts for the very wealthy. (They still want to abolish the state tax on billionheirs.) But will that really get us out of the box? A better solution may be to roll back the tax cuts on income above $100,000 or $200,000, so that everything you earned in excess of $100,000 or $200,000 each year would be taxed as it was in the Clinton/Gore era (aka ‘the good old days’) . . . and to spend somewhat less than we now do on the military, on the theory that we could make up for that simply by spending it more wisely. (Might we not be better off, for example, if we had spent hundreds of billions of dollars less by not invading Iraq?) Check out Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities for some ideas on that. THE STATE OF ISRAEL And if you think we face problems, take five minutes to read this affecting reflection from Israel.
Malcolm, Morgan, Joseph, Molly, Keith February 2, 2007March 5, 2017 A BOOK FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION I totally loved Blink – which the author, Malcolm Gladwell, was kind enough to read to me. Ironically – fancying myself something of a quick study, I failed to read it when it first came out. I had assumed I’d more or less ‘gotten’ it in a blink – namely, that first impressions count for a whole lot. And, well, yes, that’s the simple idea. But its real-world ramifications turn out to be fascinating: everything from predicting divorce to predicting the surgeons most likely to be sued (often the very best ones), to understanding autism to understanding the subliminal power of ‘priming’ and the intractability of racial prejudice. GLDD A brokerage firm called Morgan Joseph issued an extensive research report on our dredging stock (and, by extension, its warrants) a few weeks ago, setting a ‘target price’ of $8 (which would give the warrants we paid 70 cents and 38 cents for last year an intrinsic value of $3). I didn’t mention it at the time because, first, there’s no way to link to it; second, Morgan Joseph was I think involved somehow in putting the deal together, which is always a reason to grab the nearest grain of salt; and third, well, who the heck is Morgan Joseph? A few days ago Motley Fool ran this, answering at least that last question: One savvy pro ranked high atop the CAPS charts is Morgan Joseph, a full-service brokerage headquartered in New York City. As of this writing, Morgan Joseph is ranked 194th overall in CAPS (and 10th among professional analysts), having crushed the market since last September with 63% accuracy. A ranking of 194 won’t get you into Wimbledon on the professional tennis tour, but with nearly 21,000 participants in CAPS, Joseph’s score puts it ahead of 99% of other investment portfolios. Pretty impressive. It’s important to stress that this by no means guarantees any further success with GLDD. But it’s still better than a kick in the head (unless you have a tarantula sitting on your head) . . . and one more reason I suggest that (so long as you have bet only with money you can truly afford to lose, because you might) you not sell your warrants, which still have two years to run yet carry a premium of less than 15 cents. (Though if you have a tarantula on your head, you probably have more to worry about than whether or not to sell your warrants.) MOLLY Colin Ramsey: ‘Poor Texas? Yes, but poor all of us. She will be greatly, greatly missed.’ ☞ But she would have wanted you to listen to this, from Keith Olbermann, if you’ve not already tubed* it: KEITH OLBERMANN ON THOSE 96 WORDS Click here. *I Xerox, you Xerox, he Xeroxes. I tube, YouTube, he tubes. Amo, amas, amat.
Molly February 1, 2007March 25, 2012 As those who care surely know already, Molly Ivins died yesterday. I met her only once (she was not impressed), but her writing was so passionate, deft, wise and important – and funny – I’m closing early to acknowledge the loss. First Ann Richards, now Molly Ivins. Poor Texas. Back to work tomorrow . . .