I do not usually react when a performing arts celebrity passes away, but Paul Newman’s passing was different.  Over time, I came to realize that, in certain ways, he was a role model for me.

He was a person who achieved phenomenal success, but never became arrogant.  When I met him on two different occasions at fund-raising events, the first of which was at his Westport, Connecticut, home, he seemed like a very low-key, normal person well-grounded in reality.  He clearly did not appear to take himself too seriously.

What I most admired about him was his passion to keep expanding his horizons.  Had he just been an actor, he would have had a career that, by itself, would have been among the most distinguished of all performers.  However, he became an award-winning director, producer, and writer, all of which required very different skills from acting. (more…)

In the September 23 issue of the Financial Times, reporters Chris Bryant, Fiona Harvey, and Tony Barber, in an article entitled “Climate Change Fears After German Opt-Out”, reported that the German government had backed a decision to exempt virtually all of German industry from new EU rules that would force companies to pay for carbon dioxide emissions.  Not surprisingly, the Merkel government justified the decision on the basis that it would cost too many jobs.

Over the last decade, the United States has been soundly criticized by governments, as well as environmentalists, for refusing to endorse the Kyoto Protocol to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.  Global warming has been seen as such an imminent crisis of such horrible consequence that governments have implicitly assumed that addressing it had priority over all other public policy concerns.  Obviously, short-term job losses now trump global warming as a higher public policy priority in Germany.  The reporters state that opponents of the German government decision believe that it will trigger off similar decisions by other governments. (more…)

On Saturday, September 13, I was listening to a commentary by Geoff Colvin of Fortune magazine.  His topic was the increase in the number of items for which U.S. domestic commercial airlines are charging extra fees.  He particularly noted that U.S. Airways is now charging extra for water, except if it is needed for medication.

Having run businesses that had many different kinds of fees, particularly financial services businesses, and having been a consumer for many decades, I have some observations about what makes fees acceptable, and what causes them to be annoyances to consumers. (more…)

In the September 13 New York Post,  columnist George Will wrote a column entitled “Pension Perils,” which made the same point I have made in several blogs: governments at all levels have made irresponsible commitments for unsustainable retirement benefits for government employees that the governments are unable to honor without severely cutting services or increasing taxes.

But I want to focus on a broader point Will made in his column: (more…)

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Two news items pertaining to health-related legislation caught my attention this summer.  In the July 22 issue of The Wall Street Journal, in an article entitled “Exiling the Happy Meal,” reporter Sarah McBride discussed proposed legislation in Los Angeles that would ban fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s and KFC from opening in a 32-square-mile section of the city.  Not surprisingly, one critic referred to the proposed legislation as an “example of a nanny state.”  Another critic, the president of the California Restaurant Association, blamed the obesity epidemic on “sedentary lifestyles and lack of nutrition education.”

The article also referred to New York City’s law requiring disclosure of calories on the main menus above the counter, and noted that San Francisco also will implement calories disclosure legislation.

A second article, dated July 30, also in The Wall Street Journal, entitled “San Francisco Votes For New Tobacco Rules” reporter Ann Zimmerman describes San Francisco’s proposed law to ban tobacco sales at pharmacies. An article in the Journal the day before, also written by Ann Zimmerman, entitled “Drugstore Tobacco Sales Under Fire”  summarizes arguments from opponents of the legislation that suggest that the legislation will have little impact on smoking rates and will force retailers to deny members of the public something they want. (more…)