THE DALY SHOW

Shakespeare In Armani And Fatigues

This is a posting on my recent trip to the Utah Shakespeare Festival to see the modern day interpretation of the Bard’s Julius Caesar. I highly recommend the experience.

CEDAR CITY, UTAH (September 27, 2008) – Although a fan and student of Shakespeare for more than 30 years, I’m not a fan of Elizabethan drama against the backdrop of modern day sets and wardrobe.

Too often the play’s director robs my interpretation and correlations to today’s world as well as my personal world. I tend to rebel at such stagecraft. Allow me to determine the relevance of Hamlet’s dilemma to a business relationship I might encounter or how Macbeth’s power grab relates to one of our political figures.

And frankly, such stage manipulations distract my own suspension of disbelief; my view of how Shakespeare’s story-telling should be presented. When my view is no longer considered, then I become apathetic to the play. I become detached and no longer want to be a part of a captured audience. To overthrow my manipulators I leave or daydream.

But for the first time, at least for me, this stage manipulation worked brilliantly and grabbed me as if I were a citizen-patriot ready to march forth for my leader.

The Utah Shakespearean Festival’s latest rendition of Julius Caesar is perfectly staged at a time of economic upheaval and utter desperation in the board rooms of corporate America and a history-changing presidential election. We attended the opening night performance.

Caesar and the Senate wear Armani suits with a touch of military chest medals. This is no fashion show, though. The look, though chic, becomes horrific. Caesar’s white suit is drenched in red from the stab wounds. And later as Caesar lies still, his assassins, in dark pinstripe pants, kneel over him like wild dogs bathing their hands in his blood and their “honorable” deed.

As Rome’s civil war ensues, the combatants don military fatigues like the kind you would see in any low level to major military power today. You get a feel of Iraq, Vietnam, and some banana republic in Africa or Central America rolled into one.

The theater’s sound effects blend with the motif without overdoing it. Marc Antony delivers the “I have not come to praise Caesar but to bury him” soliloquy over a microphone with the reverb echo that recalls the famous Lou Gehrig 1939 speech as he faces impending death while describing himself as the luckiest man alive.

Other sound effects such as a fighter jet buzzing the civil war scenes or the dropping of bombs show that the civil wars of today are no different than the ones of thousands of years ago.

Visually the production made great use of a simple back-lit scrim that provided silhouettes of the angry crowds rioting against the assassins and the hand-to-hand combat of the civil strife.

The acting, as always, is superb. Although you may find some college thespians cutting their teeth in a summer production here, this Autumn production highlighted some top-notch Shakespearean actors. What makes them so good is their ability to interpret for the audience, many of whom may find the poetry of Shakespeare archaic. Furthermore, being able to duck at the sound of a bomb dropping while delivering the Bard’s words — without making it look contrived — takes talent and experience.

Production values and acting aside, the poignancy of this Caesar is clear to us — the masses watching. Leading a nation is not easy and fraught with peril no matter what age and what technology our leaders may have or have to endure – especially when the masses are not informed or intellectually involved with their leaders.

However, there is no political agenda here. There are no pro-Obama or pro-McCain statements. Although some Republicans will joke that part of the set looked like the backdrop for the Obama acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention.

Still, the lack of outward political statements in this production is another reason that makes it so enjoyable to watch. We’re not being force-fed an agenda. No, we’re asked to think.

Granted, you can look for symbolism that might represent a candidate or a leader today. A few jump out.

Brutus’ soliloquy to the crowds after engineering the assassination of Caesar is loaded with calls of patriotism and love of Rome. One can’t dismiss the connection to the Bush Administration’s “you’re with us or against us” mantra that has proven divisive for Americans as well foreign countries.

When Cassius and Brutus plot against Caesar they describe Caesar’s human foibles while disdaining the god-like qualities power and the people have bestowed upon him. It’s the same fears we hear about the meteoric rise of Barack Obama.  Cassisus and Brutus, as our traveling partner Gerri Tussing points out, also worry about Caesar’s collection of wealth along with his power — a problem we see in too many of legislators who feed off the trough of lobbyist and donor pay-outs.

But these are my interpretations of the words of Shakespeare – not the political leanings of the artistic staff of the festival. They have not allowed any bias into this production. Their goal is to stir thinking and debate about what it means to be a part of the greatest republic of our day and probably the world.

The lessons of Caesar are simple. These are imperfect yet honorable men trying to make a perfect system of government while appeasing their thirst for power. The problems are this: government has no perfection – especially government by the people; and power not questioned by an informed people leads to a nation’s decline.

By the way, we had another great stay at the Iron Gate Inn.

All Running For Cover

This is my take on the bailout fallout.

LAS VEGAS, NV (September 25, 2008) – The bailout bill will pass despite the political posturing. Why? It’s election season. This is the price of democracy.

All sides are to blame. And you can go back and blame GOP state legislators that ruthlessly gerrymandered in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

First, the House Republicans reneged on the deal. They want an insurance plan backed by the government, not a taxpayer buyout of failed mortgages. And they want more tax cuts. The House Republicans, led by John Boehner, are defying their President and Treasury Secretary.

But remember, these guys have to go home to districts that are heavily Republican. Many folks in these gerrymandered districts are conservative ideologues. They would rather stand on capitalistic principles and tempt the fate of the financial system than listen to two pragmatists like Paulson and Bernanke.

(I’ll have another column on the pick and choose Republicans who use conservative principles when it’s convenient such as demanding lower taxes, but failing to cut spending.)

Furthermore, the GOP may be covering for their banking buddies who might fear the light revealing the true nature of their assets. The Director of the Congressional Budget Office Peter Orszag said yesterday in a Washington Post article that once these banks get the bailout bucks, the true value of their assets will be revealed.

“Ironically, the intervention could even trigger additional failures of large institutions, because some institutions may be carrying troubled assets on their books at inflated values,” Orszag said in his testimony. “Establishing clearer prices might reveal those institutions to be insolvent.” From the Washington Post 09/25-08

As a result, there may be an even bigger wave of bankruptcies and failures. In other words, these bankers may have been fudging the numbers to hide even greater losses, which could border on criminal negligence. Maybe, and I don’t know this, but Boehner and his minions are protecting their donors.

Second, the Democrats, as wimpy as ever, seem as needy as ever. They have the majority, but they can’t go on without House Republicans?

Here’s what’s unclear to me – and maybe everyone else. Do the Democrats have enough votes in both houses to pass a bill? If no, then I understand the breakdown in negotiations and the need for more talks to bring the House GOP into the fold.

But if the answer is yes the Democrats have enough votes, then the Democrats are as much to blame. They have the votes, but won’t move forward with a vote? If this is true, then that’s spineless politics. They’re looking for political cover for a plan that they’re not certain will work.

Next, blame this weakened, lame duck presidency. Thankfully, he hired Hank Paulson. Sure, you can call him King Henry, but from my vantage point he has taken charge while offering flexibility. Working with Fed Chairman Bernanke, for me, offers some confidence for the American people. This isn’t Cheney and Rumsfeld talking about WMD in Iraq.

But beyond that, this Administration is either a joke or they’re still playing politics. Why won’t Mr. Bush tell the Democrats “I’m with you, let’s get this done without the House GOP.”

The two reasons are clear. He’s really the President of the GOP, not the United States. And he’s trying to help John McCain get some political boost from the GOP base. In other words, this President is willing to help John McCain at the expense of the economy.

Understand too that besides the political maneuvering, there is also the fear of the unknown. We are embarking on some new economic grounds here.

Yes, we had the S&L bailout. But we knew how to price those failed banks and their assets. These derivative and collateralized mortgages with credit default swaps are difficult to price, let alone talk about. We haven’t had a chance to really vet the effects of these new financial instruments. And yes, we’ve heard about Sweden’s famous bank bailout plan of the 1990s. But we’re not Sweden and this isn’t 1990.

Like me, I think most Americans are saying stop the posturing and do something fast. Instead of watching all this, I’m going to the Utah Shakespearean Festival to see a modern day version of Julius Caesar where the politicians use real daggers.

Solving The Financial Crisis

This is a posting to try to put some relevance to the financial crisis and the upcoming government bail out. The long-term solutions are simple: education; campaign and lobby reform; and transparency.

LAS VEGAS, NV (September 21, 2008) – The financial crisis has made a few things even more evident. However, neither political party nor candidate will figure out. So, let me.

First, we need education reform. We seem, notice I said “seem”, to be getting dumber. On one level, the uninformed American public is a big cause of the financial mess. As some right-wing critics have said, “No one put a gun to their head and made them sign for an adjustable rate mortgage.” True. But many of us have never been educated enough to understand the consequences or prepare ourselves for such a risk.

And I’m not just talking about our kids. I had a number of calls this week from folks who want to know if their investment accounts are insured by the FDIC.

One solution: Every high school student – and their parents — must take 12 hours of financial literacy before he or she can graduate. That would include something as simple as balancing a check book to understanding what stocks and bonds are. This might give us some basics in creating and maintain wealth and how it pertains to risk.

On a higher education level, we need to make education – especially science education — a top priority. We’re getting our lunches handed to us by China, India, and Japan. The education gap will continue to grow and be more noticeable in the years and decades to come with more financial crises unless something is done. Yes, tax credits and other financial help are needed. Unfortunately, neither candidate is really talking about this.

Instead, they’re talking about problems that relate only to the special interests that fund their campaigns. Mainly they’re helping the extreme wings of their parties. Notice the silliness when Sarah Palin was named VP candidate. The same arguments that were used for and against Hillary Clinton were then traded for each other’s use. They talked about lipstick and a bridge to nowhere rather than problems affecting the everyday person.

Just as we can’t assume the American public is entirely stupid, we can’t assume that the elected officials of our country are entirely corrupt. They’re not. They just work in a corrupt system that forces them to be corrupt. Take the collapse of Fannie and Freddie. These are government sponsored enterprises created by the government. But the companies executives hired lobbyists to convince Congress to increase their limits despite concerns.  And when the companies failed, Congress and the Administration had the taxpayers bail out the company.

So, secondly, we must stop allowing candidates to raise money for campaigns. Period. Until we do, we won’t have leaders who work for the people instead of just their party or funders.

As part of that, we need to restrict lobbyists’ access to elected officials. I’m not saying lobbyists aren’t important. They provide an informational service to candidates. That’s fine. But they should only meet with elected officials in open meetings – not behind closed doors.

We certainly would not be in the problems today if the financial, oil, and auto industries had been denied unfettered access to this Administration and many members of Congress.

Furthermore, no lobbyist can work for a political campaign.

And, let’s cut the campaign season to three months. No candidate can officially file for office until July of an election year. The primaries will be held in July for all states. The conventions will be held in August. And then there will be two months of campaigning with weekly debates.

Some of you will say such a proposal bucks decades of tradition. I know you all want to enjoy the Iowa Caucuses in February’s snow or March’s Super Tuesday. But remember this year? The political parties had no problem switching the primaries for their own purposes, did they?

Here’s my reason for chopping the political season. Our elected officials spend too much time campaigning when they should be working for us. Think about this. What if you hired someone who spent half the time convincing you to not fire them instead of doing the job? You’d fire them without question.

Sure, that’s less time for journalists to vet these candidates and possibly more latitude for the candidates to get away with distortions. However, if we have elected officials working more than campaigning, we might get more intelligent debates about critical issues with more in depth solutions.

Yes, I know: fat chance.

That leads to the final solution that will never be used: transparency.

Businesses need new regulations that will force them to explain things to us in simple terms. For example, read your credit card bill. One, you don’t have the time. Two, you can’t make sense of it. But you could be paying some hidden fees that add up.

Remember, when I said Americans “seem” to be dumber. They’re not necessarily dumb; they’re too busy — and companies take advantage of that.

On a more complicated level, our financial industry needs much more transparency. I won’t get into credit default swaps or other derivatives here. Try reading John Mauldin’s column called Front Line Thoughts. He explains it much better.

However, don’t mistake transparency for over-regulation. The financial industry has created many good products that can provide liquidity for companies and the economy. Sure, they have risk. But risk is good. However, we really need to know what the risk really is. Part of the problem with the current financial crisis is that we don’t know the amount of losses being held by the financial institutions.

You see, it all comes full circle. If we demand financial education from the public and more transparency from corporate America, then maybe we can convince our elected officials to do the same.

Who And What To Believe? Or Just Ignore Them?

This is a posting that makes me think ignorance is more than bliss. It might make sense in some cases. But let’s look at why so many folks ignore the news and the news media. I also offer a great tool to make news gathering easier and more enjoyable.

LAS VEGAS, NV (September 20, 2008) – Michael is one of my business referral sources. He’s a salesperson who deals with major companies around the world. You would think he’d be up on all the news that’s happening. But he floored me when we had coffee the other day.

“I stopped reading and watching the news,” he told me. Before I could respond he added, “And my business has gone through the roof.”

He told me that he removed everything negative from his thinking and concentrated on the positive. As a result, his clients are buying. I don’t doubt Michael. He’s good at what he does and he’s honest. So, there’s no skullduggery here.

I understand his thinking. Plus, it’s hard to argue with his success. And, in part, I agree with him. The news is depressing and, worse, the facts are wrong. Take our financial crisis. Who do you believe?

Certainly not our government. Treasury and The Fed can’t get it right. First, we won’t bail out major Wall Street firms; now as I write this the breaking news says the bailout of firms holding bad mortgages will be close to $700 billion.

You can’t believe Wall Street. They helped get us into this mess. The top five investment banks were given enormous latitude to increase their lending ratios. Three of those five have either failed or needed rescue.

You can’t believe the media pundits. Why? They don’t know the answers either.

To be honest, no one does. The new financial instruments are so complex. But a failed regulatory system that stretches from Wall Street to Main Street along with a lack of economic education among the masses have helped put us in this mess. The next weeks, months, and years will be very revealing about the future of ours and the world economy.

You certainly can’t trust the politicians – especially our two presidential candidates. Check out FactCheck.Org and you will see a listing of false claims and outright lies from both sides.

Here’s what’s so amazing. Go to the Tax Policy Center to learn about the economic plans of McCain and Obama. The Tax Policy Center has to break down the plans into two reports. Get this! One report tells what the candidates and their surrogates have said on the campaign trail while the other report describes what the candidates have written on their websites. In other words, they’re telling you two different things. And do the mainstream media pick this up? No. So who knows where they stand? No one. In short, we will vote on gut.

No wonder Michael has stopped paying attention. Don’t you negate or block out compulsive liars? My long-time friend comedy actor John O’Hurley parodied a frustrated voter during the 1980 election, “I’m not going to vote. I don’t want to encourage any of them.”

Following the news and dealing with the distortions can be depressing. Frankly, there’s very little positive news these days.

But let’s put this into perspective. Michael and all of us still need to pay attention to the news.

First, apply some filters when watching the news. First, remind yourself that the news is not supposed to be uplifting. It’s supposed to be informative to help you live your life safely. It’s like going to the doctor for a check-up. It’s not fun, but necessary to staying healthy.

Second, don’t believe everything you hear and see on the news. Not that they’re purposely deceiving you, but news stories are just a snap-shot in time. What seems big now becomes trivial or an after thought in days or weeks to come. We have a tendency to get all worked up for no reason. Occasionally, the media gets it wrong. They’re human, too. Make sure you’re the most important journalist in your life; do as journalists should do, get confirmation from more than one source.

Economically speaking, this knee-jerk reaction to everything we hear could be dangerous. A lot of the selling on Wall Street earlier in the week was based on fear, not fundamentals. So, as grandma used to say, take it with a grain of salt. See if what the news reports say fit with the reality you see in your life and business. Obviously for Michael, much of the news reality runs counter to what his business is doing.

However, here’s where I disagree with Michael. Paying attention to the news media will help him know what his clients are hearing and thinking.

A good example was during this past historic financial week. One of my portfolio managers was reviewing clients’ portfolios while also watching CNBC. Normally, we tell folks to ignore the knee-jerk info you hear from the cable business network; not because the info is wrong, but their info speaks more to day-traders rather than long-term investors that we rep. However, my portfolio manager knew clients would be glued to the TV, so he wanted to hear what they were hearing so he could reasonably answer their questions.

I was not able to tell Michael this at our meeting. To be honest, I was more interested in how successful his sales efforts are. But I did tell him this. He needs to at least turn on local TV news in the morning for safety reasons. TV news does a great job of warning us about physical danger whether it’s the weather or a man-made catastrophe. At worse, you’ll avoid some early morning hassles.

In addition to that early morning TV news blast, you need a few minutes each day or at least every other day to scan the news.

This is where an RSS Feed is so valuable. All the stories you want come directly to your computer and you can read the synopsis or the first five paragraphs and move on to the next story. This way you can read four newspapers in 15 minutes.

Here’s how to do start an RSS feed for free.

Americans And Their News Are Changing

This is a posting on the latest trends in news gathering among Americans. Are we seeing a disparity in society along news gathering lines as many would have us believe is happening along economic lines? You might also want to sit down and talk to your daughters!

LAS VEGAS, NV (September 7, 2008) — The latest Pew Research on news consumption has good news and bad news – and more changes on the way.

First, the good news. More people are turning to the Internet for news and information. Although only 13-percent are voracious news gatherers on the web, that number seems to be growing.

Add to that the 23-percent that watch TV news but supplement their news gathering with information on the web, you get 36-percent who either solely use the web or in conjunction with TV news.

I believe this is a good sign. As I mention in my book, that combination is the best way to understand news events. Use the Internet and its wider array of sources to gain a fuller understanding of events; then go to TV to visualize and grab the emotion of an issue.

Despite the faults of TV news, the boob-tube has two benefits – immediacy and emotion. Breaking news is the forte of TV. Say what you want about our talking head friends (yes I was and probably still am one of them), but they excel at warning you. Sure, they may overdo it. But they rarely fail to shout out danger. That’s why I always recommend you turn on TV news in the morning while you’re getting ready for work or starting your day.

The hope is that news consumers are reviewing a variety of sites and sources to gain what Fox News claims but fails to deliver – fairness and balance. The Pew study doesn’t describe if these voracious news viewers check many points of views.

The other good news is that these interested news consumers are the most affluent and educated. As a result, the news media will start trying to reach them – using more intelligence.

And this is the change that continues to happen – thanks to technology. Once your big screen TV and your computer morph into one, (I think this will be ubiquitous by 2010) the news will be more directed to America’s smarter folks. Currently local TV news seems to cater to less affluent, less educated women from 25 to 45. As a result, we get more entertainment news from our local newscasts.

This leads to some bad news from the Pew Study. Thirteen-percent of people are totally “disengaged” from news. And most of these folks are young and women. That’s scary. Yes, they’re young and they have other more pedestrian, fun interests. I’m not saying we should deny them that. Heck, I watch sports with the zeal of a teenager. My fear is this: the older generations right now are spending a lot of the younger generations’ futures and these kids have no idea. We’re so anxious to secure the rights of the unborn; how about thinking about the young who are still in a womb protected from news and information? The flip side, and the study doesn’t mention this, is the increased interest of young folks in politics thanks to the Obama campaign.

Still, we need to make news and politics more relevant to our kids – especially our young women. In my book, I use the example of Amber Frey, the woman who was romantically involved with Scott Peterson, who is now in prison for killing his wife and unborn child and dumping their bodies into the ocean. Amber Frey failed to see news stories on Scott’s pleas for his missing wife – for five days. Although she was in no danger at that time, she could have been. Furthermore, her story reveals how out of touch she was. It’s frightening to think young women are so fixated on Britney, Lindsay, and Jessica. Maybe Gov. Sarah Palin is the answer here.

The other bad news is that 46-percent of news viewers get all their news from TV. Unfortunately, TV is an entertainment medium. So, folks will be getting information that has some drama or comedy. As a result, we get extremist or exaggerated view points that offer black and white, but fail to deliver gray.

This study proves some of my theories about America’s disenchantment and mistrust of the news media and the lack of knowledge and education most Americans endure.

The majority of Americans are not stupid or apathetic. They’re busy. Whenever I give a speech or seminar, someone always tells me how their work, their family obligations, their education, or caring for an elderly parent robs them of truly getting informed. Who can argue with them?

The news media has failed to meet the public’s needs – especially those who want real news. TV adds the entertainment bells and whistles to get a bigger audience while turning off the most important viewers. But that’s all TV knows how to do. It’s the same thing credit card companies do: who has the time to read the pages and pages of small print legalize that buries the hidden fees and surprise rates?

Unlike credit card companies that have bigger lobbyists, the news media realizes it is losing audience. I think (and here’s a buried gem that you may notice in the future) that a ten-minute newscast delivered on computer, Ipod, cell phone, or some device other than TV – with a balanced and fair perspective – might be a winner.

In the meantime, what can you do?

First and foremost, if you have a daughter, educate her on the importance of being informed. If not for the enjoyment of learning, at least implore her to “stay in touch” for her safety.

Second, read my book. Let me give you pointers on how to gather information quickly. With my tips, I’ll have you reading four newspapers a day in less than 30 minutes.

Third, talk about what’s happening in the world in an engaging way with others. Stop the partisan talk about how liberal Obama is or how far right McCain is running. Discuss an issue knowing both sides – not just the bloviating from cable and talk-radio yakkers. And make sure to listen to others.