A R C H I V E

Like Aspen Colorado, Davos is a small ski town in the Swiss Alps that for the past 53 years has hosted the World Economic Forum, bringing together leaders from the business, political, academic and civil society sectors to discuss and collaborate on global issues.

Professor Klaus Schwab, the Founder of the World Economic Forum, is a visionary and a true global citizen, evidenced by the fact that this year the forum attracted dignitaries including the Presidents of the European Commission and European Parliament, the German Chancellor, as well as the President of the International Monetary Fund, heads of European and Japanese Central Banks, CEOs of global corporations, and other dignitaries wanting to see and be seen.

As a student of history, I believe everything is subject to cycles and, with that, posit that the world needs a new forum in a new place to discuss, debate, and advance the cause of human evolution. This belief is based on noting such hypocrisy as attendees flying private jets to rant about the dangers of global warming, or career diplomats and virtue-signaling limousine-liberals talking about the benefits of stakeholder capitalism…

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I am more of a reader than a watcher, but on a recent trip to LA to visit my family for the first time since the pandemic, I was forced to binge-watch an Israeli TV series on Netflix called Fauda.

Fauda in Arabic and Hebrew means Chaos. This 2015 award-winning series about a unit of undercover Israeli soldiers operating in Palestinian territories highlights the madness of the chaotic world we live in. The success of this series is due to its effective representation of the impossible position both the Israelis and the Palestinians currently find themselves in, where the lines between good and evil have blurred.

Last week I wrote about the perils of democracy and suggested that Israel is on the verge of civil war. A few members accused me of exaggeration and inquired why I thought this was the case. The story, acting, and cinematography of Fauda drives home this message…

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Like newborn babies, Democracies are fragile man-made constructs that need constant nurturing. The January 6, 2021 attack on our Capital, followed by copycat efforts in Brazil revealed the dark forces intent on destroying the foundation of democracy, and the will of the people, through fabricated stories of rigged or fraudulent elections.

Israel is a young, small, divided democracy on the verge of civil war. Like Catholics and Protestants, like Shias and Sunnis, the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews of Israel are fighting amongst themselves and disagreeing on the future course of their new state.

So here is the big question: Is Benjamin Netanyahu a Right Wing extremist destined to tear the country apart (Thomas Friedman), or is he Israel’s equivalent of Abraham Lincoln, destined to prevent or to incite a civil war? While only time will tell, here is an excellent article that sheds light on the topic. This is an essential issue because it is a harbinger of what might be in store for America…

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From its inception, City Club has had fun baked into its Vision Statement and its Charter. In fact, the central piece of art defining our community is a large diptych painting by Frank Sampson called “Celebration.”

I’ll be the first to admit that in the past we have focused more of our attention on foundational tasks like planning, building, and intellectual pursuits, over simply having fun. But, I am pleased to say, we are now more focused on celebrating and having fun by taking the following actions:

— The recent acoustic salon music series led by member Glenda Luck has served as an  excellent cultural gathering opportunity. This is the closest we have come to our ideal of a modern day18th-century French music salon…

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Last week I shared A Vision For The Future. This week I want to reflect on the crazy year we just lived through. If you don’t consider yourself a Stoic by the end of this list, you might want to investigate this Greek philosophy further.

— Getting through the third year of a pandemic, we learned that everyone, including Anthoney Fauci, essentially lied to us. The mental and financial damage done to the next generation is enormous.

— Generation Z members, born between 1997 and 2012, have “a high degree of anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicide and fragility.” The damage caused by social media, and what City Club member Oak Thorne calls “nature deficit disorder,” has caused this generation to valorize victimhood.

— The nation now suffers from massive inflation, far from “transitory,” due to an economic system flooded with cash purportedly to address the pandemic lockdowns…

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As I found myself struggling with the desire to build a community, in October 2003 I signed up for a week-long silent meditation retreat at Sunrise Ranch, near Loveland, Colorado, where it is said John Galt, the protagonist of Ann Rand’s Atlas Shrugged allegedly took refuge.

One day on a long hike, I was caught in a rainstorm and took shelter in a small log cabin which happened to be the ranch library, featuring a modest bookshelf on each wall, four worn leather reading chairs arranged around a coffee table, on which lay a book at the center called A Cosmic View Of The Bible, by Grace Van Duzen.

Hours later I returned to the ranch, bought a copy of the book, and asked whether Grace would be willing to sign it. The next day, book in hand, I knocked on Grace’s door and was greeted by her secretary who led me to her office where a Margaret Thatcher-like figure sat, fully erect, hair perfectly coiffured, with full makeup, oxygen tube in each nostril. I had barely recovered from my shock when Grace asked, “What’s on your mind?” Unable to answer quickly, she asked again, so I mumbled something about wanting to build a community like Sunrise Ranch.

Thereupon Grace opened my newly purchased book and asked “What is your name?” So she proceeded to write, “To Sina.” Then she asked, “What’s the name of your community?” After a few seconds of hesitation, I said “Highland something.” So she wrote, “at Highland Community.” Then she asked, “how many members do you plan to have?” Unsure of the answer, I mumbled, “ A couple hundred.” Seemingly irritated, Grace looked up from the page and said, “if you want to make a difference, you need to attract 144,000 members.”

By that point I was not sure whether Grace was cosmic or crazy and was ready to leave when she asked, “So what’s holding you back? What are you afraid of?” Without missing a beat I said, “I am afraid if I build it, they will not come.” Grace shot back saying “I’ll tell you what you should be afraid of – that you build it and the wrong people come.”

At this point Grace closed the book, her secretary stood up, and I was ushered out of the room where I proceeded to open the book to see the following message:

To Sina, at Highland Community, with Love as we serve the Lord and let His Light reach all corners of the Earth.

Grace Van Duzen

Nov. 1, 2003…

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I rarely re-publish my newsletter introductions but striving to come up with a relevant subject for this time of the year, I couldn’t help going back to the following piece I wrote two years ago based on Leonard Cohen’s song. Meanwhile, I am working on my year-end report our vision for next year.

— Sina.

You Want It Darker

Leonard Cohen

If you are a dealer, I’m out of the game

If you are the healer, it means I’m broken and lame

If thine is the glory then mine must be the shame

You want it darker

We kill the flame

Poet musicians like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen have a way of getting us in touch with subjects we rather avoid, like love, lust, betrayal, and death…

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Our vision for Highland, from its very inception, consisted of two mutually-reinforcing parts. The first was the Highland City Club, the premier social and business establishment you see today with great food, beautiful art, enchanting gardens, and enlightened members. The second was the Highland Institute, dedicated to furthering the Advancement of Humanity in ways yet to be defined.

Recent revelations have suddenly provided some clarity regarding the second part of this vision, highlighted in the above graph forwarded by member Stephan Van der Mersch for our review and discussion. Once I grasped the importance of the new and explosive field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), I realized its relevance as an element of the Highland Institute.

Coincidentally, AI happens to be the topic of Steve Smith’s upcoming Member Monday for 12/19/22, Chat GPT, specifically the way AI is rapidly finding its way into using deep learning to produce human-like text, voice, and creativity…

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Rituals are a feature of all known human societies, including prayer in organized religions and cults, celebratory rites of passage, and dedication ceremonies, to name a few. Rituals are the glue that bind societies.

Seasons, too, feature their own celebrations: Spring, a new life; Summer, new activity; Fall, abundance and harvest; Winter, the anticipation of light and renewal.

The approaching Winter, with its longer nights and darkness, urging us to hibernate, is a good time to remember that life is hard and in the end, we die. That said, we might look at common rituals as the way to celebrate our need for each other on our path to a meaningful and productive life…

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Those who have watched the movie Casablanca more than once undoubtedly know the main benefit of running a Club is the interesting people one gets to meet with and learn from. Whether it be our Congressman giving a talk on global warming, the Federal Reserve banker struggling to determine the real inflation rate, the ingenious professor or the creative entrepreneur wanting to apply technology for the betterment of the world, all sorts of interesting people make their way through Highland. Among the most interesting was past tenant Jim Collins who researched and wrote Good to Great, a practical guide on leadership, at Highland during my still formative business years.

Although Jim was both famous and hugely successful at the time, I still had the good fortune to hang out with him and learn many practical ideas such as The Flywheel Effect, and The Stockdale Paradox, to understand why it may take decades of hard work in order to to create an “overnight success.”

Jim posits that there are two ways to look at life when it comes to relationships i.e. would we rather be rich or be wealthy? Would we rather lead a successful life focused on doing transactions or lead a happy life marked by great relationships? Success requires focus; be an inch wide and a mile deep. Happiness, on the other hand, is necessarily expansive; be a mile wide and an inch deep.

A good life is one of balance between these extremes. Yin and Yang…

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It is said God created the universe in six days, resting on the seventh. Perhaps God avoided boredom on his day off by watching humans make plans and laugh.

The punchline: life never goes according to our plans and as a result, we invariably suffer, often severely. We may try to drown out our suffering with food, alcohol, drugs, porn, and work, but often to no avail.

The Greek Stoic philosophers of 2400 years ago who dealt with shipwrecks, imprisonments, and forced suicides certainly understood that life was suffering but nevertheless endeavored to lead a full and joyous life. We too might consider a similar approach as we encounter the sources of our own inevitable sufferings, whether they be illness, loneliness, injustice, grief, or failures, among the host of causes…

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This time of the year I love celebrating holidays like the Yom Kippur fast and the Thanksgiving feast because, on the one hand, they reinforce my Stoic belief that life is hard; on the other hand, these holidays are a reminder that with the adoption of an attitude of gratitude, I get to shift my focus from suffering with the belief that I do not have enough, to celebrating with the recognition I have all that I need.

Two weeks ago Constance and I finally caught the Covid virus. Though our physical symptoms were not too bad, I was shocked at the way the virus negatively affected my mental, emotional, and spiritual states. Perhaps this negativity was a reflection of the daunting efforts over the past three years to run a Club in the midst of the pandemic. Perhaps it stemmed from the Fed’s actions in raising interest rates to kill inflation by draining the extra liquidity from the system. Perhaps it’s simply a reflection of what older age looks and feels like. Whatever it is, I knew I needed help, so I decided to re-read Kurt Vonnegut’s Joe Heller poem and share it with our members as my Thanksgiving gift.

Personally, I am just so thankful to all of you for your continued emotional and financial support, without which there would be no City Club or Highland Institute…

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America just endured another “most expensive and divisive election in our history.” The next day no tanks appeared on the streets, the Red Wave did not manifest, the Trump-backed election-deniers did not win, and life went on as usual, realizing this election was not the prophesied “end of Democracy as we know it.” In light of this, maybe it is time to start thinking about the next election!

The attack on Pearl Harbor that finally forced America to enter WWII forced us to spend a fortune in blood and treasure to create a new world order, and ultimately secure nearly eighty years of relative global peace and prosperity.

I am a big fan of the theory outlined in The Fourth Turning, the subject of our Member Monday discussions on March 20, 2017 and again on July 6, 2020, which advanced the 500-year cyclical nature of Anglo-American history marked by sequential 80-year secula each containing four parallel twenty-year biblical (four score) cycles…

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The Stoics believe life is good but hard. Or, as Gilda Radner of Saturday Night Live fame used to say, “If it’s not one thing; it’s another.”

This year alone we experienced a 100-mile-per-hour wind that took down a massive tree we had planted 44 years ago, along with a fire that resulted in six-figure damages. During the 2008/9 recession, our budding club lost some key employees and nearly half our membership. The recent pandemic then resulted in the loss of more key employees and nearly half our revenue.

I could go on and on about how hard life is but the reality is, throughout this arduous process, we have been building, growing in size, and attracting outstanding new members. In short, we are both surviving and thriving. Two recent examples highlighted this notion for me:…

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Our upcoming November elections will probably be a cliffhanger, with election deniers possibly delaying the final results through year-end. But if you think America is in bad shape, you should see what’s happening across the pond in England, or what just happened in China where President-for-life Xi Jinping, better known as the “Chairman of Everything,” got re-elected to a third five-year term by a vote of 2,296 to 0. Then, for good measure, just to make sure nobody missed who was in charge, he watched former President Hu Jintao forcefully removed and publicly humiliated to make it clear who was the Alpha.

Using anti-corruption as a blunt instrument similar to the way Joseph McCarthy accused his opponents of being communists, Xi has moved the Chinese Communist Party and its 96 million members “to the Leninist left, the economy to the Marxist left, and China’s foreign and security policy to the nationalist right.”

This witch’s brew will not make China the great nation Xi envisions. Add to this mix China’s disastrous zero-covid policy resulting in 19% urban youth unemployment, its disintegrating real estate sector, and a desperate attempt to project the power of the State over the private sector, and one can see why real trouble is brewing ahead…

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From Napoleon Bonaparte to George Washington, every general knows “an army marches on its stomach.” At the most basic level, this means soldiers, workers, employees, or anyone else we expect to perform a task can't function properly unless they are well-fed.

For the past 43 years, food has been an integral part of our Community. From our initial tiny residential kitchen functioning on a sump pump, to the licensed luxury commercial kitchen we have today, our primary focus has been to efficiently serve our members the highest quality food at the lowest possible price.

To achieve the above objective, we previously focused on efficiency and cost, by limiting to one hour the duration of our popular self-service buffet lunches. However, the pandemic forced us to rethink our process, concluding that we must change our focus from cost-saving to providing the most accommodating food program for you, our members…

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The Department of Health & Human Services recently recommended that children ages 8 to 18 get screened for anxiety. Another Government medical advisory group recommended that American adults ages 19 to 64 get screened for anxiety. Each year over 1.2 million Americans attempt suicide.

Before our government starts adding Prozac, like Fluoride, to our drinking water, let’s ask ourselves whether modern life, with all its technology and time-saving devices, has become that much harder than yesteryear, or have we simply become softer? We might further probe whether our “it’s-a-jungle-out-there” mentality reflects healthy survival anxiety or is a sign of new existential angst.

The primary cause of our anxiety is our mortality and the fear of death, followed by big questions like who am I and why am I here?! Closely related is anxiety arising from the uncertainty of not knowing where and how we fit into our society. Do we want equal opportunity or equal results? Should we reward the winner, or give everyone a participation award? Should our military recruiters focus on “inclusion” or identify and attract “warriors?” Do we prefer capitalism’s unequal distribution of wealth or socialism's equal distribution of suffering?…

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Di·a·logue; a written or spoken exchange between two or more people, associated with the Socratic dialogue developed by Plato.

I like to think of City Club as a multi-faceted jewel. We have great food but are not a restaurant; we have beautiful art but are not a museum; we have delicious drinks but are not a bar; we have magical gardens but are not a park; we have quiet spaces in which to work but are not an office.

Instead, what we are, or aspire to be, is a safe space for our members to engage with others in the most authentic, open, and free manner, including openness to accept constructive criticism. Why? Because “a recent poll found that more than half of Americans have become afraid to voice their opinions freely for fear of retaliation or severe criticism.”…

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As a kid, when asked “what do you want to be when you grow up,” my answer was, “A Winner.” I didn’t want to be rich, powerful, or smart, but I was addicted to learning, growing, and striving to win the game of life.

It took a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering to learn that there are no winners in life. Instead, there are only winning teams, hence my desire to build a community, which is why I am so proud of Team City Club, without whose help we could not have survived the parade of horribles such as pandemics, recessions, labor shortages, flood, and now fire.

Last Tuesday at 2.25 a.m. the club’s Trash/Recycle/Compost structure spontaneously combusted from some of the oil-soaked papers disposed of by the painters, causing a raging Fire. (link to the video).

I recently wrote about my late-life pivot from an emphasis on planning to preparation, and this fire experience confirmed it. Within minutes of the fire’s outbreak, our neighbors called the fire department, followed a few minutes later by half a dozen police cars and two fire trucks to extinguish it…

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The once-in-a-generation tectonic shift in the dollar’s value, the global reserve currency, is bound to have unanticipated political and financial consequences we may be powerless to address.

In the name of fighting inflation in America, the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates, thereby creating global inflation by attracting foreign capital to the US seeking higher returns, resulting in the recent Euro/Dollar parity, a ~30% drop in the value of the British Pound, and a ~20% drop in the value of the Japanese Yen, not to mention the negative effects of our balance of trade with China as a result of the dollar trading at over seven Yuan.

Talking tough and acting like the second coming of Paul Volcker, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has suggested his impetus for raising rates is rooted in the need to tame the recent alarming inflation rate. This attempt is both disingenuous and dangerous because it ignores the fact that it was the Fed itself that created incipient inflation through its loose monetary policy over the past twelve years. The idea that inflation can be tamed in a meaningful way through tiny incremental interest rate rises is misguided as long as nominal rates are lower than the inflation rate…

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