Joe Freni is still alive

In November, 1964 my buddies and I were invited to dinner at the home of a french family in Brest, France. We were there after being at sea during Operation Steel Pike (ref:Wikipedia).  Our frenchman host had been in the french army and had fought in Indochina.  He described his experiences in that war as brutal and unwinnable. The French were thoroughly defeated at the famous battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and withdrew shortly after from their colony. After a lovely dinner we settled in the living room; enjoyed cognac and discussed politics. Our host finally brought up a subject that none of us knew much about; the involvement of the United States in Vietnam. He wanted to know what we knew of the conditions there and how we saw US intentions. I admitted not knowing very much about the situation other than our military role was advisory-supposedly helping the Republic of South Vietnam but that the Gulf of Tonkin incident this summer was serious. As we were saying our goodnigh...

I do not want to have anything to do with anyone who votes for Trump this November. I believe that those who vote for Trump in November forgo any right to state their positions on issues relating to our nation’s political condition. They will have given up any rights to their opinions being heard or debated. Their false patriotism will be ignored. Their racism will be spotlighted. Their phony morality, religious pontification turned off.    Equally, those whose party affiliation is aligned with Trump and who do not reject him loose all credibility.  Donald Trump has driven this nation to its most perilous state since the civil war. We have suffered many serious crises in the past; none without the advantage of having good leadership. Not always was it inspiring but it was self effacing and subservient to the greater good.     Trump does not have the capacity to deal with the idea of empathy or “the greater good.”   Finally, I would ask two questions to the ...

It is the monetary foundation and protector of our economic system. And the dollar upon which the Fed functions is the strongest vehicle for value transaction in the world. We are the only country in the world that has the advantage of the Fed. It is economic driven and guided by its authority. It’s charter is to protect the dollar and be the first line of resistance against inflation. Without the actions of the Fed our Great Recession would have been a lot worse. Now it is guiding us through these extraordinary times . It will support the Federal government as it provides support to those sections of our society that need immediate help. Don’t be persuaded by the critics. Learn the history of the Fed and how it has serviced our economy-and root for it’s participation in our crisis.

This virus situation has shed a light on a lot of roaches. The failure to be prepared for an event like this, the complete breakdown of local/state/federal coordination, and the unveiling of the profit oriented health care system failures in this country. Please, it’s not the front line responders and essential workers; it’s the policy makers, the bungling bureaucracy, the media manipulators, the selfish, greedy capitalists, the politicians who can’t act like anything other than a “politician” in times of crises.   If there was ever a time for us to understand how we function as a society in the future, how we interact, how we choose to govern ourselves, how we cast aside our preconceived notions and prejudices about our rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. Unfortunately, that phrase and the others that proclaim so called patriotism are merely covers for racism and the fear that projected demographics are pointing to a new majority in the country. These times cal...

So - we have a problem. A problem that we haven’t faced before. Realistically, we will be dealing with the pandemic for years. History tells us these things stay with humanity many years. Millions can die and until this virus is eradicated on earth it will be with us. The toll this event will take on all the aspects of our life will set us back significantly.     Now, with new technology and advanced scientific research this pessimistic outlook could be greatly reduced.  But it’s going to need some help  and extraordinary resources.                   And that’s where the 20 Trillion Dollars Fix comes in; because we’ll need to respond in a much bolder way.           The Federal government is the only entity that can pull the needed money out of the hat.  To do what?    Well here we go.       For starters we commit to pay unemployment payments liberally, we support “real...

This pandemic has exposed many weaknesses in our country. We are obviously vulnerable to this virus and will suffer great hardship for some time: not because we don’t have the capacity to deal with the challenge but because we didn’t call it in a timely manner and don’t have the fortitude to face it. The reason: we’ve never seen this before in our lifetime but we have this naive belief that we’re the best and we have the best resources, and “we can get through this and come out better”.  BULLSHIT!        This crisis has exposed the underbelly of this Nation and it’s weaknesses. It starts with our politics and policies: meaning our bloated governmental functions that cannot react to crises; a selfish money and power driven political system; a lack of a permanent forecasting function in all areas of national security (not just military); and a failure to really understand what has gotten this Nation to it’s level of superiority the past 100 years.    But...