Well, yippee kai yay little doggies! I just had the good fortune of spending five days in France (mostly in Paris but 36 hours in Normandy as well)...and once again had a wonderful time...Paris is all at once wonderful and horrific...the food, landscape and setting is the former and the traffic, signage and expense the latter...but I for one want to go on record and give you my view of our dear French friends...
...I really don't know where the French and the American relationship went astray...because it really has been my experience in a few visits to France that we have more common interests than differences...and that we have many reasons to want to get along...OK now don't go getting your coullotes in a bunch...because I know there are some legitimate points of disagreement...but all in all I actually enjoy the French a great deal...and here are just a few reasons why:1) They are really really smart. I have had the opportunity to speak to some French and let me just say that they are well educated, articulate, thoughtful and earnest. And I really enjoy being around smart people.
2) They enjoy a high quality of life. From their roads (sans litter!) to their cuisine to their bike share program to their monuments and common areas, they really have got it going on. Now, I know what is paying for all of this, but let me observe that the results are c'est magnifique.)
3) They know their history. I didn't say it was all worth knowing, but there is really an appreciation for the past in France, and how it has meaning (good and bad) for the present and the future. We could really use more of this attitude in the states.
4) They appreciate respect, civility and courtesy. There are times in France that I am really struck with how it reminds me of my grandparents treated conversations and discussions (albeit from Portugal and not France). But there was a level of honest inquiry, the process having value and not only the answers, a willingness to listen and to argue points fairly, and do this with a sense of dignity that I don't often see in America.
Now before you go getting all worried about me packing it in and moving to "gay Paree" there really are too many obstacles in life (way too many) to get me to ever consider such an action...but my trip there has once again left me with a deep personal impression that there is much we need to learn in the States...and yes, we do a great many things well but some things certainly need improvement...and it has been a good reminder to me of some quality of life issues I need to think deeply upon...it has been a good trip so far...and I look forward to a return in the next year or so...and a desire to travel to the country more beyond Paris...
...So what was I doing in Paris?...well, I was asked by some dear friends who have lived there for many years if I would come and speak on entrepreneurship...and they have formed a wonderful new association called Coherence...see http://coherenceparis.com/... so let me impress you now with the title of my remarks:
L’entrepreneur aujourd’hui :évolution, défis et opportunités
So I will be posting my lectures for you on this site...if you want to read more...but for now I will simply say au revoir!
Or full the full version you can check it out at 
...Boy is there a lot going on in the world!...and I had the opportunity to travel to Oxford University, which was quite nice...there is an awful lot to like about the Brits...first there is the public transportation system...reliable and inexpensive...and then there are the lovely towns and buildings...walking around ChristChurch College in Oxford was just incredible in the fall with the flowers still in bloom and the lawns perfectly striped...and then there is...ummm...there is....ummm....ehhh....oh yeah....they have the Beatles...well I guess not really...they only have Paul and Ringo...and I think Ringo lives in El Lay to avoid taxes....but as I was saying...everytime I travel to England it helps me understand how the whole Colonial thing got going here a couple of hundred years ago...I mean, they still cannot make a salad!...toilets?...they use 8 gallons to flush and make more noise than a Oster blender grinding on ball bearings...so much for going green...
...Well maybe not...sorry...but I have to tell you I am really concerned about just a couple of things...well, maybe a couple of hundred things in this economy...let's start with the lack of small business capital access and a looming tax increase that will crush thousands of entrepreneurs...the exact thing our Prez and Congress need to be helping right now...but the only stimulus package that appears to be heading down the pike is similar to the one I have just experienced at the doctor this morning....ouch!...and that employment remains tepid at the best...consumer confidence stinks......and what of the GE dumping NBC?...what does that tell you about their view of the future of mainstream entertainment for the next five years?...does GE need cash that bad to sell one of their jewels at this time when deals are so depressed?...makes one think that GE may be wanting to build more cash than they were thinking a year or so ago...and they already have lots of cash....
...which I think is the real wild card in this whole economy...and while so far the banks, REIT's, developers and government have been content to "kick the can down the road" there is only so much road to walk down before you hit a river, wall or pile of...ummm....manure....and while commercial real estate doesn't touch the homeowner's and ordinary consumer in quite the same way as residential real estate...it still is a much bigger thing than most of us think...and makes me glad that I am not over-invested in the stock market at this point...no more than 20% of my liquidity are in stocks...and I am sleeping better because of it...