politics

How Divide and Conquer Works (And How To Avoid Falling Prey To It)

By Chris Carosa on February 16, 2021

While getting his MBA from Duke, a college classmate of mine was asked by a visiting speaker why my classmate thought he (the speaker) preferred hiring ex-athletes?

Now, my classmate was the perfect person to ask this question to. He’s played hockey from his youth to well into his adult years. He is the ultimate athlete, the ultimate team player, and the ultimate performer. I don’t know if the speaker knew his background prior to asking the question, but he could sure guess it once my friend offered his answer. This is how the young MBA candidate responded:

“You prefer to hire ex-athletes because of the following traits: alignment toward a common goal, teamwork, communication, trying to perform your best, etc.”

The speaker said that was all good, but it wasn’t the biggest reason he hired former Continue Reading “How Divide and Conquer Works (And How To Avoid Falling Prey To It)”

Posted in Business Tips, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Buffalo Bills, business, Chinese, Commander, Duke, Henry Segal, Korean War, Marv Levy, politics, POW, Psy-Ops, psychology, Robert Cialdini, sports, war

Trump, Truth, and Confirmation Bias

By Chris Carosa on July 26, 2016

I’ve been retired from active politics for more than two decades. In that time, I’ve focused on my primary business – picking winning stocks and avoiding losing stocks. It’s almost impossible to bat a thousand doing this, but I believe (and hope I’ve demonstrated) there’s a way to increase your odds.

Shortly after I left the political realm, I began in earnest to take on the financial industry establishment. (Truth be told, as readers of my initial run as publisher of The Sentinel know, I actually started this years before.) As a new firm, I had to find a position that differentiated our services from our competitors. Taking on the establishment wasn’t a rebel yell, it was a marketing imperative. Quite simply, no new business can survive if it Continue Reading “Trump, Truth, and Confirmation Bias”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged behavioral economics, Donald Trump, Modern Portfolio Theory, MPT, Neil Cavuto, politics, psychology, Ronald Reagan, Rorschach Test

Will Bush Use the No-Huddle?

By Chris Carosa on February 9, 2012

[This Commentary originally appeared in the February 7, 1991 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

The following might have been more apparent if the Buffalo Bills would have won the Superbowl, but the concept holds nonetheless.

In the week prior to each of the three playoff games in which the Buffalo Bills participated, sports reporters from across the nation asked Head Coach Marv Levy if he intended to use his quick scoring no-huddle offense from the outset. With a poker face, Levy regularly answered, Continue Reading “Will Bush Use the No-Huddle?”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Buffalo Bills, fiduciary, George H. W. Bush, Iraq War, Kodak, Marv Levy, politics

Goodbye My Leather Jacket

By Chris Carosa on December 15, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the December 13, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

It came to me in a plain brown cardboard box as I prepared to catch a midday flight to Washington DC four years ago. The dark brown many-pocketed WWII Bombardier’s Flight Jacket had caught my eyes a few weeks before. I really didn’t expect it to arrive before I left for the political conference. Imagine my joy when the UPS truck pulled up into my driveway.

Since my earliest days the spirit and the zest of the fighter jock secretly boiled far down within my soul. To counter this inner desire lay a cautious sense of responsibility. Yet, I could not deny deep-seated feelings. I knew, just like most people, I had undertaken some “daring” adventures. While not life threatening, these encounters certainly Continue Reading “Goodbye My Leather Jacket”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Don Cesar, Harmonica, leather jacket, Manning & Napier, politics, Reagan, Red River, South Lawn, Tampa, Washington DC, White House, Young Republicans

The New Pearl Harbor

By Chris Carosa on December 8, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the December 6, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

Thirty-nine years ago, the United States government misinterpreted some very clear signals being sent by the Japanese. Depending on your point of view, a very naïve or very calculating Franklin Delano Roosevelt failed to prepare for the growing military aggression Japan would soon unleash upon an unsuspecting United States.

In his best-selling book At Dawn We Slept, Gordon W. Prange maintains the Japanese should have never surprised the Continue Reading “The New Pearl Harbor”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Foriegn Policy, Japan, PAC, politics

Taxes, Social Spending and Recessions

By Chris Carosa on September 29, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the September 27, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

There’s a demon looming on the horizon. It hasn’t been around for a long, long time, but it’s there. People have been talking about it for a few years, though it remains just beyond the edge of our view. Some folks have even said it’s been seen, yet only by limited regions of the country and only for a short time.

Nobody knows how bad this demon will be. Nobody’s even sure if the demon will show its face. Still others will argue the demon stands in our midst now.

The evil has an evil aura about it. People fear the very thought of it, even those who Continue Reading “Taxes, Social Spending and Recessions”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged class warfare, economics, economy, Grace Commission, politics, recession, social spending, tax, taxes

The Great Tax Battle of 1990 – Winner #2: The Democrats

By Chris Carosa on July 26, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the July 26, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

Part two in a series discussing the ramifications of the announcement in June by President Bush to increase tax revenues.

In the spirit of last week, let’s begin with some expository gibberish which permits the reader to know exactly where I stand:

I grew up in the heart of a Democrat stronghold in the shadows of an old fashioned blue collar steel mill. All that was fair, all that was honest was taught to me by my grandparents and their friends in the name of FDR. All that was innovative, all that was accomplished by youthful zest was brought to me by my parents and their friends in the name of JFK.

Of course, my elders rendered these common sense philosophies without the burden of Continue Reading “The Great Tax Battle of 1990 – Winner #2: The Democrats”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged politics, Reagan, taxes

The Great Tax Battle of 1990 – Winner #1: George Bush

By Chris Carosa on July 21, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the July 19, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

Let’s get one thing out quickly. I don’t like taxes. I don’t think the government does a good job spending our money. When it comes to the national budget, I think I could make better decisions in three minutes than some Washington Bureaucrat can make after a three year study. I hate taxes. I believe they suck the blood from an otherwise vigorous nation.

Of course, I am rational enough to realize the government must provide services (like Continue Reading “The Great Tax Battle of 1990 – Winner #1: George Bush”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged George Bush, politics, taxes

Mendon Water Tower Redux

By Chris Carosa on June 16, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the June 14, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

You can look elsewhere in this paper for a report on the June 7 meeting between concerned Mendon citizens and the Monroe County Water Authority (MCWA). The following merely comments on those proceedings in as fair and unbiased a fashion one can expect from a resident of Mendon.

The meeting last Thursday night showed a few interesting things. First, it looks like everyone agrees we’ve got a water problem in southeast Mendon. Second, those Continue Reading “Mendon Water Tower Redux”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Mendon, Monroe County Water Authority, politics

D.C. Turf Wars

By Chris Carosa on June 9, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the June 7, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) currently has regulatory responsibility for stock index futures. The Bush administration recently announced plans to introduce legislation shifting control to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). Both Investor’s Daily and The Wall Street Journal have faithfully presented both sides of the debate.

The critical questions, however, relate not to who’s in charge, but to the impetus behind the territorial maneuvering. In analyzing the 1987 stock market crash, official Washington, the news media and even some well respected financial gurus have blamed stock index futures – in particular their use in program trading – for the Continue Reading “D.C. Turf Wars”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged derivative, finance, futures, politics, Stock market, volatility