KALAMAZOO, MI: You have to be blind to believe the US economy is rebounding sharply from the corona virus lockdown. There is no “V” shaped recovery. At best it’s a U, with business activity mucking along the horizonal bottom of the “U.” During seven late July days traveling in the Midwest, I visited places where commerce was just barely ticking over. City centers in Cleveland, Detroit, … Continue reading Midwest American Economy on Life Support
Painesville is a pleasant town on Lake Erie just a few miles east of Cleveland. Through it runs the Lake Shore railroad constructed in the mid-19th century, a gateway to the west from Albany, Buffalo and Erie. In 1861 the train carrying president-elect Abraham Lincoln from Springfield to Washington stopped in Painesville where citizens, aware that war was likely, turned out to greet the prairie lawyer on … Continue reading Painesville, Ohio: Past and Present
On May 29 Germany’s Angela Merkel vetoed President Trump’s plan to host this year’s Group of Seven summit in Washington at the end of June. Chancellor Merkel said the still active corona virus made it impossible for her to travel to the US. Merkel’s public declaration did not sit well with the president who envisaged a face to face gathering of global leaders as an electoral … Continue reading President Trump Wants to Expand the G7. Can He Do That?
Ernest Hemingway wrote from his hospital bed in Milan in October 1918 that people dying from the Spanish flu “drowned in mucus, choking, unable to breathe.” At that time the 19-year-old writer was recovering from wounds sustained while he was an ambulance driver in Italy during World War I. The same month Hemingway’s physician father Clarence wrote from the Chicago suburb of Oak Park that for … Continue reading The Heartland: Coping with Pandemic Then and Now
For newspapers the internet revolution brought savage disruption from which there’s been no recovery. The industry that initially downplayed the digital challenge now pays the price as only the NY Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal have viable online strategies. For more than 100 years newspapers were cash cows with revenues from classified ads, subscriptions and advertisements making fortunes for their owners. With hindsight … Continue reading Newspapers: Disruption, Decline, ….Collapse?
Barry D. Wood 