"A Few Reflections After Two Weeks at the Shore"

 As we arrived back home on Saturday and now as we enter August’s final week, I felt it appropriate to send some reflections about some of the world’s events that occurred while we were on the Jersey shore.

 

Photo: The view from our hotel window in Red Bank, NJ on the morning of our last full day.

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

Thought of the Day

“A Few Reflections after Two Weeks at the Shore”

August 25, 2025

 

“If I speak of myself in different ways, that is because I look at myself in different ways.”

                                                                                                                                Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)

                                                                                                                                The Complete Essays, 1580

 

In today’s world, with the ubiquity of social media and (not-so-smart) phones that provide a steady stream of headlines, it is impossible to cocoon one’s self away from the world. Nevertheless, my wife and I did manage to spend two weeks at a hotel close to the New Jersey shore without once turning on the television – so we avoided the prejudicial braying of talking heads, whether on Fox News, CNN or MSNBC. The photograph of the two of us at our beach club depict a happy couple seemingly unconcerned with the Ukraine’s bitter fighting for freedom versus the autocracy of Putin’s Russia, or Israel’s battle against Hamas and the forces of darkness. Or the disarming attraction of socialist Zohran Mamdani; the now-your-see-it, now-your-don’t Epstein files; the hypocrisy of opponents to Texas re-drawing its Congressional maps; the deployment of the National Guard to the Nation’s Capital to help fight street crime. Or the retribution embedded in the FBI’s early morning raid of John Bolton’s home. 

 

But that look of obliviousness was not totally fair. On my iPhone I receive headlines from the Washington Post and have on-line subscriptions to the New York Times, London’s Telegraph and The Spectator. And each morning I walked a half mile to the local Walgreens to purchase the Wall Street Journal. So, while not immersed in the news, I was not totally ignorant as to what was happening. 

 

While I was happy to see that Putin met President Trump in Alaska, my initial sense was that the meeting was a success for the Russian leader – the red carpet rolled out, the ride in the back of “the beast,” and the smirk on the face of the dictator. Mr. Trump, I suspect, recognized this, as lunch was cancelled. And while the end of this charade has not played out, I would not be surprised if more sanctions are applied against Russia. I smiled when I saw the photo of President Trump seated at his desk, with European leaders arrayed before him, like errant students fronting their principal, even as I found it discomfiting. As for Israel’s existential battle for survival, I am dismayed that while Israel is winning the fight, Hamas is winning the propaganda war. I find it disgusting that so much of the Western press accepts, without question, the word of Hamas terrorists as to responsibility for the devastation in Gaza. It reflects an anti-Semitism, masquerading as humanitarian concern, that has spread across much of the West.

 

While I remain a fan of free trade and worry about the consequences of tariffs, and admit to being nervous about the stock market, I also worry about things of which I know little – the valuations in private equity and cryptocurrencies, products that the Trump Administration wants to make available to 401Ks and other retirement funds. I also suspect we still feel the effects of interest rates that were held too low for too long. If we include both state and local debt, total government debt approximates $40 trillion. That would compare to about $7 trillion twenty-five years ago. In my opinion the call for lower interest rates today has less to do with the economy – that is more a matter for fiscal policy than monetary policy – and more to do with runaway government spending programs. 

 

Nevertheless, our two-and-a-half weeks away were restful, especially the last couple of days when we spent some time getting to know our daughter’s new puppy, a Cavapoo named “Louis.”