Dr. Riedy's Random Thoughts

Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Board, was quoted recently in calling income inequality the biggest challenge in America over the next decade.  Personally, I think the biggest challenge occupies an oval office at present, but that's a different topic for another day.  Powell was quoted in the Washington Post as saying "We want prosperity to be widely shared." He followed up with "We need policies to make that happen."  He did not exactly define who "we" are, but fortunately it seems he meant other government agencies, not the Federal Reserve.  The Fed's job is not social engineering, thankfully, but rather influencing money, credit and interest rates in such a way as to provide a reasonable balance among the competing goals of income/output growth, full employment and the rate of change in price levels in the American economy. Didn't income inequality exist 100 years ago?  I think so. Won't it exis...

June 6, 2019 marks the 75th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy, the largest seaborne invasion in history. Recently I learned about the possibility of honoring America's combat veterans with an exhibition of 75 of their portraits, along with ten of the iconic photos of the D-Day landing shot by Robert Capa, in Normandy, during this coming summer.  The cost of framing them, then insuring and shipping them to Normandy, was estimated to be $30,000, an amount I immediately volunteered to raise for The Greatest Generations Foundation.  The Foundation had been invited to provide the portraits and photos of the D-Day landing for a gallery exhibition, in Normandy, to run throughout the summer of 2019. The portraits already exist, having been taken by our son, John, a professional photographer who works with The Greatest Generations Foundation.  He has traveled the globe with these combat veterans for a decade, photographing them on the beaches, in the forests and on ...