Category: Being Played

KLEPTOMAN

JANUARY 15, 2025 – I’m happy enough with my little stash of acorns—the exact location of which I know, unlike actual squirrels, who are notorious for amnesia—not to get too worked up about all the ways and means that the mega-wealthy in our society amass, stash and leverage their grand hoards of acorns. Academically speaking, …

CLOUD NINE

OCTOBER 12, 2024 – Today our granddaughter celebrated her ninth birthday. At our son’s request my wife and I “got scarce” for nearly the entire duration of the shindig, which was staged at our house. At first we were a bit miffed at being excluded, but as I observed the birthday girl’s mother and dad …

MY WORST BEST IDEA

FEBRUARY 5, 2021 – During my banking years, the “Best Practices” corporate fad worked its way into on-site drinking water. Senior management imposed quotas on lower management, and soon everyone was obsessed with generating “best practice” ideas just to mollify the Quota Police. The fad topped the agenda of my boss’s weekly direct reports meetings. …

THE MONOPOLY ROOM

AUGUST 16, 2019 – Wednesday’s edition of The New York Times included a front-page story about financier and influence peddler, Elliott Broidy. If you hadn’t heard of him, now you have: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/politics/elliott-broidy-donald-trump.html?searchResultPosition=1 I was aboard the bus on my way to work when I read this remarkable piece of investigative journalism. It exposes what goes on behind …