Since this is my first article for TalkMarkets, I believe it is only fair that I provide some form of introduction that will give the reader some reasonable sense for whom I am and the direction that my future articles are likely to take.  Time is valuable and I see no reason to waste the time of readers who, for whatever reason, will write me off because of bias (hopefully more theirs than mine), or worse—simply respond to my words with inane, viciously hateful comments.

I do not intend to write my future articles with those people in mind anyway.

So here goes with a few highlights.

Starting out, I have an M.B.A. degree from the same school from which the current President of the United States earned his undergraduate degree.  And my course work at that school was sprinkled with more “distinguished” evaluations than either “high pass” or “passing” evaluations.

In my younger years, between college stints, I served as a nuclear trained officer on a U.S. fleet ballistic missile submarine during the Cold War era (1969-1973)—earning my “dolphins” in the process.

In 1995 I received a Vice-Presidential Achievement Award, issued to me by the Secretary of the Treasury, for designing and developing the “risk management systems” that are still in place at Ginnie Mae today.  And for those not in the know, Ginnie Mae was not part of the cause of the Greatest Recession Since the Great Depression.  In fact, unlike its sister institutions (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), Ginnie Mae made money every year throughout that period.

I am both “left-brained” and “right-brained”.  I was a mathematics major in undergraduate school and I am also a writer of both fiction and non-fiction novels—knowing the difference between the two genres.

Some of my best work was performed gratuitously during the dark years immediately after the “Crash of 2008”, writing articles in 2010 for Business Insider, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Swift Economics, etc.  Articles with titles, such as: (1) “Here are the 10 Reasons I am Bullish on America; (2) History Is Not Bunk Unless Someone Important Wants It to Be; (3) Finance, Economics, and Globanomics—What’s the Difference?; and (4) Why 4.0% Bond Rates Could Solve the Financial Crisis.

My financial, economic, and so-called “market” writings, tend to be backed with numbers—remember I am a mathematician.  I am a firm believer that “truth” is better than “conjecture” and “myth”, especially when figures exist to counter the misconceptions in those conjectures and myths.

Once I felt that America was indeed recovering from those darker years of economic turmoil (2008-2010), I somewhat crawled back into the cave I called “retirement”.  

Recently, however, I was asked to join and be one of the contributors in this new adventure called, TalkMarkets.  So it is only now, today, with this article, that this sleeping bear has come back out of his cave to see what the “New Spring” looks to bring.

Now with all the above said, here is the line that will most likely decide my future readership.

Although I consider myself an “independent”, a “moderate”, and “financial conservative”, I am much more of an Obama person than a Trump person.  In fact, I am more of a Clinton and Bush person than a Trump person.  I believe in free trade, globalization, and America’s Statue of Liberty.

And even though I do not have the “bully pulpit”, I intend to take that “bully pulpit” on whenever I believe the “bully” is taking America, American business, and American markets down a path that I feel is not good for it in the long term.

And just smelling the new fresh air of Spring, I feel that time is now.  With the full intention to use TalkMarkets exclusively as my own “pulpit”, regardless of how “wimpish” that pulpit may be, I intend to continue to monitor the environment so that one day again I can crawl back into my cave and take a good long nap with my consciousness at ease and intact.

My next article will provide a “non-Trumpian” perspective of what it meant to achieve a Dow of 20,000.  Stay tuned.