Mark Knows It All

Whether we like or not, money makes the world go around. There are a number of ways to say it. He who pays the piper picks the tune. Then there is the “Golden Rule”: He with the gold, rules. How about: “Money isn’t everything. It’s just most everything.” Then there is Sophie Tucker’s “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. Rich is better!” And let’s not forget John Rockefeller’s answer to the question “How much money is enough?” He replied “A little bit more!” Those among us who spew platitudes argue that money isn’t everything, that money can’t buy happiness. Actually a recent study at the University of Kansas determined that it does buy happiness...at least to a degree. A generic family income of $75,000.00/year seems to be the magic number. People are happier above that number than below that number. BUT, there is also a leveling off. The happiness quotient seems to top at $75,000.00/year which leads me to believe what they actually were measuring was contentment ra...

I have been fortunate in my life to have come from a rather large maternal and paternal extended family living the gambit of the American economic experience. Within the confines of my aunts and uncles and cousins you will find those who are the wealthiest of Americans, those who sold shoes at Strouss’, folks who worked in the steel mills, folks who worked at General Motors. You will find a notorious and nationally known Congressman. You will find doctors and lawyers and teachers and social workers and grocers. You will find Mafia types. You will find inter racial marriages. You will find those who have and had a tough way to go coping with welfare and food stamps. I have seen all of America’s economic classes up close and personal. What I haven’t seen among this wide ranging group of people is class hatred and envy because all of us…and I mean all of us…came from Italian immigrant grandparents who literally did not have a pot to pee in when they came to America. They c...

Forty years ago this month my wife and I got engaged.  We were marrying young by today’s standards.  She was barely 20 and I was 21.  We met at Ohio State where we were both on blind dates with other people.  Back in the day, the dormitories were still sex segregated.  Guys were only allowed in the lobby of the women’s dorms.  Women had to be out of the guy’s dorms by midnight and the doors were locked.  There may have been rioting in the street, but Ohio State was still operating under 1940 rules.  The dorms still had maid service.  Can you imagine that today? Tracey Winbush is a friend of mine, and this past week she asked me to be a guest on her radio talk show Tracey and Friends (WSOM AM600 M-F 12:00-3:00).  We were talking about fracking, and I learned that this fat white guy can talk for three hours about a subject I know nothing about.  That’s why I am a lawyer and in politics.  At any rate, the stud...

This spring, in addition to the outstanding weather, northeast Ohio has been treated to some boffo night time planetary shows.   If you missed the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus several weeks ago, you should be ashamed.  Look up every now and then.  I am not an astronomer, but I know spectacular when I see it.  You can do it!!!  Put that smart phone away and treat yourself to the best free show in town.  The almost month long display ended with both planets lining up next to a crescent moon, mother nature taking her well deserved curtain call. Tonight we got another sky show.  My wife and were driving home from Cleveland just a little past dusk.  As we got onto the Ohio Turnpike from Route 44, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the sunset was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen.  Cars slowed down on the on ramp…talk about distracted driving; which was upstaged as we turned east on the turnpike proper. Behind the trees...

I have always tried to separate my political views from my religious views. It is becoming more difficult to do as each day passes. This year is special because Easter and Passover are celebrated the same weekend. The Resurrection story takes on new meaning…events real time, so to speak. Minimally, it showcases Christianity’s common history with Judaism. Here in America, it highlights our Judeo-Christian culture’s roots. Whether we like it or not, on both the sacred and secular levels, Christians and Jews are forever bonded together here in America. But this year, something is amiss. There has been uneasiness in the nation. There is a pervasive discontent. People are angry. Scarier still, people are angry at each other. I’m not sure people know why they are angry and feel disjointed. But I have been writing about it for three years, and now America is beginning to wake up to what is happening here. People always operate in a box of their life experience. The Jews in Nazi Ger...