Markets – An additional country index I bought into was Austria. It is more stable than Germany’s and has a better uptick over the past couple years. My friend in Vienna has for several years pointed to positive business conditions with good reach into Eastern Europe. One of my investment advisor friends in the Middle East thinks that American stocks will outperform this year. Perhaps this is the year stocks such as HP and GE make a comeback.

Hillary Clinton – With the DP World (Dubai Ports) matter, I think she showed herself to be a crass opportunist instead of a responsible leader. She just pandered for votes. I won’t go for her.

Was just in DC and a guy is walking around near the White House running for president wearing a cardboard box which says on the front: Support X for President... on the back it says “He’s got issues.” At the Daughters of the American Revolution museum, they have a great children’s exhibition on “ookie” things from the basement that were used in everyday life in the 1700's; exhibit is free and runs through September. 

Exxon executive pointed out to me that when gas prices rise, their more profitable convenience store profits go down as people have less discretionary income to spend. Gas itself is not that profitable.

See my article this month about the H1B visa program. It is caught up in the political game of immigration but this really is about business competition in the global arena and is not about immigration. If you want to put Americans back to work, especially the ones in unions, we need more H1B visas, not less.

If you have babies around, you are listening to baby music. Perhaps you’re sick of Disney stuff. Even Baby Einstein is owned by Disney. Here’s some good stuff to listen to from Australia. The album is named for its hit song, Teddy Bear’s Picnic, with a good Australian sound, vocals and music.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005K9U1/qid=1142829470/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-5818137-4210256?s=music&v=glance&n=5174#moreAboutThisProductdf

Iraq – It’s not working out and I’m thinking that we’ve reached the point where we are just part of the problem and not part of the solution. Bush ought to sacrifice Rumsfeld and salvage the rest of his presidency. There is a national security interest worldwide that is being sacrificed because of a weak president and Iraq is just not worth losing the rest of the world over it. Whether or not you agree, it is clear that the withdrawal is being planned. Multinational companies operating in the Baghdad green zone have been issued orders to evacuate within the next few months. Saudi Minister Turk Al-Faisal said recently in a speech in San Francisco that the Osirak bombing by Israel in Iraq in 1981 was a good thing that saved the region from Iraq becoming a nuclear power.

The Iran issue is being dealt with by the marketplace. Nobody wants to invest there. Only China has dependency on them and is reducing its oil purchases from the Middle East because it sees the writing on the wall. Japan has no interest in helping Iran go nuclear either. Perhaps Congress will override the India agreement that Bush just negotiated; Pakistan is warning the US that the NPT Treaty will fall apart, but the US is distancing itself from Musharraf anyway. They seem to have calculated that he may not last but that if he doesn’t it is not likely to be taken over by Islamists. 

Israel Stuff – Olmert gave himself a good election push with that Jericho prison raid. Looks like the Israelis are going out seriously to see that Hamas fails at running the PA. Bank Hapoalim just cancelled all interface with the Palestinians. It was the only bank still working with them and this actually hurts Israel pretty bad; Israeli companies now can't accept Palestinian checks to pay their bills. Israel just nixed an investment conference that was to take place in Palestine this month. Read Ephraim Halevy’s recent book as to why the Mossad matters; he says that they did a lot of foreign relations reach-out when the government couldn’t officially meet with anyone. No big surprise that Kadima took fewer votes because many votes went to Labor after Olmert said a week before elections that he would form a government with any party that was in favor of withdrawal from territory. Those votes did not go to Likud because they could not eligible for the coalition under those terms. Now it remains to see how skillfully Olmert puts together his coalition and what kind of elements it contains....The issue about the cemetery in Jerusalem has raised some inquiries. It is a bit of a crock – the Mufti of Jerusalem had decades ago declared the ground was no longer sacred and had cleared the way for a hotel to be built on the site but the project died from neglect. A public comment period a few years ago (when the new museum that is being built there was tabled) passed without incident from any Arabs. Only after Hamas won the elections did the issue get raised again.

France -- 75% of Frenchies work for the government. The unemployment rate is very high among young people. Of course they don't favor a law that allows young people to be fired from jobs (right now it's nearly impossible to do so) because otherwise people won't hire them. A good number of young Frenchies go out of the country to find jobs. The government just withdrew the labor reform law after the protests. So how does France intend to get with the program and put its people to work? It is living in ooh-la-la land.

Getting ready to go to Miami for Passover recess. Over the holiday, I will be celebrating my 40th birthday. So far so good.

Travel Notes – Marco Island, Florida – Our first Family Vacation. 

Now the travel notes for family-type holidays stress things you want to know if you’re traveling with kids. Our first choice turned out to be an excellent one. Not on the obvious tourist track but excellent for this purpose. Marco Island is a vacation area on the west coast of Florida on the Gulf of Mexico. It was fine till the day after we came back and boo-boo, used to being the center of attention, had to be given the silent treatment till she got used to being left alone again.

From Miami it’s a 2:30 drive to Marco Island via Naples.  I-75 is a good way to cross the state. Tolls are only $2.50. Good eats from Tasti D-Lite on 41st Street if you’re leaving from Miami Beach. We got a car seat from Avis but it was really not useful to us or any small infant. Marco Island Ocean Resort very good rooms (1 bedroom suites for under $300 a night) and we enjoyed it a lot. Food and beverage was good; lots of ramps for baby carriages; nice service (I learned half the staff’s names during my 3 day stay which is amazing for a hotel); good pool, beach, fitness center. They don’t charge for the business center and don’t nickel and dime you either. This was a good choice for a family vacation with small children as long as the weather is decent and your idea of a fun day is to get up, go to the pool and beach, and drive to Naples for lunch or dinner and some strolling around. We went to the Marriott 3 doors away for a coffee shop one night for small dinner if all you want is a cheese sandwich and not much more. Very busy place with hopelessly Marriott food.  They have a spa there but it is very highly priced and I think the spas in America have just priced themselves out of the market. They cost more than a visit to Georgette Klinger in Manhattan. Ritz Carlton is a thumbs down – over twice the price for half the room and tour-bus city. Not on the ocean either. I think it is definitely overrated. It is 25 minutes north of Naples; Marco Island is 35 minutes south of Naples.  Lunch at Naples Tomato, an excellent Italian restaurant near the Ritz Carlton. Roasted fish on a wood plank, amazing grilled asparagus, home-made deserts with the highest quality ingredients and home-made pasta in an open kitchen. Quite a large takeout area with all kinds of Italian groceries. In Naples itself, 5th Avenue is a small shopping street. Nearby is 3rd Street in the Old Naples district. On Thursday nights during the winter, it’s a street party with performers on every block. Very festive and we found a good café inside one of the shopping plazas there. Very nice merchandise in the stores and Campiellos Italian Restaurant on 3rd Street also looked excellent but we couldn’t get a table. Make reservations there if you go for dinner (239.435.1166) or else go alfresco for lunch. For a nice sunset, either enjoy it from your room at Marco Island or go to Naples Pier or a few blocks away with fewer crowds. Pretty homes in the Naples and Marco Island areas. Fort Myers / Southwest Florida regional airport is very convenient halfway between Naples and Fort Myers, or about an hour from Marco Island. We found that not all airplanes have changing tables on them; it was quite an interesting experience trying to change diapers in the airplanes that do have them. We have also found out what happens when there are no elevators in an airport and you have to get around with a stroller – Newark is a problem for this. 

Passover Sermonette 2006

Each year the youngest asks the 4 Questions: Why is Tonight Different from all other nights? It is at the beginning of the Seder when none of the things he or she is asking about has happened yet. Ever wonder how he knows to ask the question? Perhaps remembering from last year – and why is he still waiting for an answer? There is no good answer. It’s just that way, but it brings to mind the question of why the meal isn’t right after Kiddush as it is on all other festive occasions but rather follows this long grueling order of events. 

The reason is that the meal which involves a feast of freedom is wrapped in the restrictions that came with that freedom. Liberation without restriction is chaos – witness Palestine today. The Mishna said that there is no Freedom without Torah – a set of rules. Maimonides said that at the meal you can have anything you want but you don’t have the meal till you’ve had 2 cups of wine, read the Haggadah, had Matzah and bitter herbs and you must finish the Afikomen dessert by midnight, have 2 more cups of wine and then eat no more afterward. Doesn’t leave much room for anything past the soup course. Purim, our festival of no-limits, is not the highlight of the calendar and only Yom Kippur eve, where there is no food at all, is holier. It seems that food is the first place the rabbis placed restrictions as it is the most animalistic act that humans do regularly. Famous Greek philosophers wouldn’t eat in public for the same reasons.

Yetziat Mitzarim (instead of Mitzrayim) means to go forth from our limitations – knowing and setting that balance is our liberation.

Happy Passover.

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