Sep 22, 2020 | Alan's Letter
“While I was growing up, my father admonished me” is how my last letter to you started–such a brilliant opening that I’ll use it again, only this time the admonishment was: “if you don’t vote, you’re voting for the other side.” Voting had unusual significance for my...
Sep 8, 2020 | Alan's Letter
While I was growing up, my father admonished me to never count other people’s money, which is ironic because he was an accountant and all he did was count other people’s money. (BTW, accounting is genetic, so you’ll notice I tend to throw out a lot of numbers in these...
Aug 25, 2020 | Alan's Letter
Many years ago I went to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls. I was standing–waiting to run– on a spot that happened to be a part of the road that got cleared by police just before the race began to allow more room for runners further back. I was very disappointed,...
Aug 11, 2020 | Alan's Letter
I want to say something about Donor Advised Funds, which have rightfully come under a lot of criticism lately (rather than repeat the criticisms, I’ve attached Alan M. Cantor’s terrific piece from the Chronicle of Philanthropy): I am guilty as charged–my foundation...
Aug 4, 2020 | Alan's Letter
I recently came across an outstanding critique of billionaires by Professor Mehrsa Baradaran in a debate before the Oxford Union (“It Is Immoral To Be a Billionaire”), at which she manages to articulate her case in the affirmative in just nine...
Jul 21, 2020 | Alan's Letter
If you know someone who doesn’t think sending in federal “troops” to Portland to quash constitutionally protected civil disobedience is a scary thought, you have to wonder what that person was doing in high school while all of his classmates were in history class....
