News

On November 28, 1940, police were called to investigate a shot heard at the Sherry Netherland Hotel in Manhattan.  A man was dead, a suicide who had written an eight-page note which was found alongside him.  The police didn’t know it at the time, but the deceased was a Wall Street legend, one of the very best stock traders ever. 

They’re called giant sparrow hornets, Asian giant hornets, and murder hornets.  Their bright black, yellow, and orange colors are eye-catching, but don’t let their colorful appearance lull you into a feeling of safety. These hornets are the world’s largest, and some grow to nearly three inches long. Their stingers are three quarters of an inch long. And they are much more aggressive than their US counterparts. 

In the last two months, all of us were shocked by the stock market crash - but that was not the only blockbuster story to come out of Wall Street. The price of oil also crashed, and so did interest rates.  Will the next banner headline be about silver? 

According to an old saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” There’s a lot of wisdom in this observation, but it really needs updating because these days things aren’t staying the same. They are changing rapidly - and for the worse. A recent article in The New York Times is not only offensive but slanderous and bordering on anti-Semitic.

On April 20, the price of oil crashed, dropping to the lowest level ever recorded and plunging into negative territory for the first time in history.  By the close of trading, oil had dropped to -$38/barrel; that meant that sellers had to pay buyers nearly $40 to take a barrel of oil off of their hands. Traders and speculators watching the market had to rub their eyes to make sure they were seeing the numbers correctly.

If all goes as planned, in just a few weeks, life will begin looking normal once again. Shuls will conduct regular minyanim. It may be possible to work and to shop without a mask. And it may even be possible to go to a baseball game. But don’t be fooled into thinking that we will emerge from this crisis stronger or even the same as before. We won’t - and major changes could lie directly ahead.