Once introduced, Americans invariably inquire what business you’re in. While foreigners find the question a bit crass, it’s second nature to us. The question reflects our work ethic on the one hand, and our democracy on the other: it’s not who you are but what you do that defines you. We mean business. When you’re […]
America’s rich are now under greater scrutiny than at any time since the era of muckrakers and Robber Barons. What the rich are guilty of, it seems, is making money and being rich. It is certainly true that wealth is concentrated in relatively few hands, with just one percent of the country possessing 34 per […]
Solomon was a great king, but not a gardener. It turns out that, after all, there is an infinitude of new things under the sun. This is the essence of innovation and evolution, and the antithesis of tradition and the status quo. Thus, Darwin was, perhaps, the truest of all prophets. While I’ll never stand […]
A recent New York state lottery radio commercial bragged that it is “spending billions to educate millions”. I did a double take, thinking I misheard. Both liberals and conservatives should find this inadvertent revelation depressing. It seems that no one is concerned with productivity anymore, that it has become a “bad word”. However, gardeners know that you spend a little to get a lot.
In the same vein, the current mortgage…
