Seymour Zises, President and co-founder of Family Management, writes bi-monthly opinions on issues and observations of relevance to clients and investors.
We lost him and we need them. It was a sad day when Steve Jobs passed. He was one of the great, if not, the greatest, innovators America has ever seen. Indeed, he was also one of the greatest job creators the world has ever seen. We will miss him may he rest in peace.
As the world turns, we are now faced with pessimists almost everywhere we look. It is as if we have never faced large deficits and high unemployment before. Solutions exist to the economic problems we face, but there is little, if any, debate about the sociological changes this country has undergone and what the impact of these changes has been. I call our current state of affairs “The Era of Me.”
That is the status of the American government today. It is now Sunday, July 31st, and I am watching CNN as Senator Reid is speaking on the 1pm vote at this point much of the damage has been done. Who would ever believe that this government would go from bad to worse? Though I believe a deal will get done, we have proved to the rest of the world that we are as irresponsible as a 10th grader who crams for an exam by pulling an “all nighter.”
Even though companies comprising the S&P 500 are projected to earn 18% more this year than in 2010, as estimated by Bloomberg, the stock market until recently has been reacting to a barrage of negative political and economic news.
As The New York Times recently reported, federal safety regulations must take the weight of Americans into account when regulating air, sea and land travel. The National Center for Health Statistics has calculated the average weight of an American male as 194.7 pounds and 164.7 pounds for females. He’s (she’s) not heavy, he’s American!!! America is a tale of two cities. On the one hand, corporate America’s profits are strong, borrowing costs are low, workforces are lean, and balance sheets are flush with cash.
