weekend notes

Hope all goes well. What a break. I needed it. Sailed on an old-world schooner. In rolling seas. Stared up at stars. The moon too. You know, they looked the same back when Columbus explored the Caribbean. Plotting, planning. Driven by ambition. Lust for adventure, wealth. Thirst for knowledge. And chased by the haunting truth that, adrift in the infinite, our voyage is so short. But onwards we sai

Hope all goes well. Teddy (6) just couldn’t decide, “A real live Red‐Tail Hawk, or a real magic wand that can turn real trees into real coconuts.” Olivia (8) announced all she wants from Santa is, “To end all wars forever.” Jackson (10), without the slightest hesitation, replied in a demeaning bark, “Well then there’d be too many people.” Which naturally started a war. Charlie (2) cried without qu

Hope all goes well. Spent my last trip of ’11. Considering ’12. In NYC. Focused on Europe. Debating. Weighting. Probabilities, possibilities. You know, everyone expects ’12 to be just as hard as ’11. Maybe harder. Perhaps. No doubt ’12 will be fascinating, filled with questions, enigmas, conflicts, opportunities too. Betcha my grandkids study ’12 in college. But I’m ahead of myself. Right now, we

Hope all goes well. Woke at 4am. Snuck out. With Mara. Two tiny creatures. Lying on a little planet. Hurling silently through the infinite. Watching our moon. Slip into Earth’s shadow. In awe. And there it was again. Glowing. That f’in color. Red. Just seems to be everywhere these days. Mercifully, it’s the last full lunar eclipse for 3yrs. We’re back in black. Bringing Mara to NYC this wk. Work a

Hope all goes well. How’d my trip go? Great. Thanks. Weather report? Switzerland: Sunny & warm outside, dark & cold inside. Why? Inflation, deflation, ice ages, dark ages, they’re scared. Sweden: Dark & cold outside, sunny & warm inside. Why? They weathered their ’92 collapse, got leaner, now run surpluses, dodged the Euro too. But they’re cautious, knowing well the road ahead for

Hope all goes well. What a mess. Traders step away from their screens for just a couple days and look what happens. Worst Thanksgiving wk for the S&P since 1932. It’s been three yrs in a row where this wk’s seen more than just a few gobblers slaughtered. So much for Black Friday. I’m off to Zurich for a UBS macro panel. Then Stockholm. I was last there in ’93, right after Sweden’s economic sys

Hope all goes well. A friend died. It was one of the few things he never warned me about ‐ but I hear he saw it coming. Richard Medley channeled information from central bankers, finance ministers, defense secretary’s, senators, (presidents too), to Macro’s most famous mangers. I’d never paid him a dime, we just had fun. Exchanging Sunday emails, competing to craft the sickest joke. Then last wk,

Hope all goes well. Mara left me. For a wk. Went to some Ashram. Immersed in nature. Away from screens. To unplug. Recharge. Connect. So I had our 4 kids. Tasked with playing Mr. Mom. Which meant I imported my Mom. And with that problem solved, zipped back to work. The Yin to Mara’s Yang. Immersed in mkts. And screens. Plugged in. Overall: We missed our best chance. To shift course. On Tuesday. As

Hope all goes well. November. A fresh start. New beginning. Every day is of course. Most men just forget that — but not the Greeks. They live in the moment. Unbound by yesterday’s commitments, and debts. Announced a referendum. Then cancelled it. Day-to-day their mood’ll change. The outcome won’t. No one’s getting repaid. Mario Draghi turned the page on a stubbornly hawkish ECB. Cut rates hi