Lean Years January 29, 2010March 16, 2017 INFRASTRUCTURE I never attended the opening of a highway before, and technically, this one opened Wednesday, so if there was a ceremony, I missed it. But it now takes just two and a half hours to drive from the San Jose, Costa Rica, airport all the way to Paradise Breezes.* I am watching the sun set into the Pacific as I type. The bridges are no longer scary or one-way – they are brand new. The highway has red and yellow reflectors. The free broadband at PB seems to be working fine (if you’re reading this, something must be working); and – oops, there goes the sun. * Full disclosure: I own a piece. JEREMY GRANTHAM: SEVEN LEAN YEARS Well, he’s horrifyingly smart and generally right (and writes so engagingly). If you want a first-class financial overview and predictions for the years ahead, don’t miss a word. STATE OF ThE UNION: REAGAN’S FIRST Peter Kaczowka: “As to Obama blaming the previous administration for our woes, let’s see what REAGAN said in his first State of the Union. The speech is a study in whining and kvetching: ‘In my inaugural address last year, I warned that the “ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, weeks or months.” ’ … ‘Our current problems are not the product of the recovery program that is only just now getting under way, as some would have you believe. They are the inheritance of decades of tax and tax, spend and spend.’ … ‘The situation at this time last year was truly ominous.’ … ‘The only alternative being offered to this economic program is a return to the policies that gave us a trillion dollar debt.’ [Reagan fixed that, it was $2.6T when he left office].” STATE OF THE UNION: OBAMA’S FIRST Did you watch? If not, balance your laptop on the handle bars of your treadmill and click here. Everyone (I repeat) will see it through his own eyes. To mine, it was filled with grace, good will, intelligence, quiet determination, and hope for the future.