When East Meets West

If you live in Chicago for 10 years you will lose your sense of direction. Or rather, gain a unique sense of direction. The lake is always east, so head east into the city. Always.

Just like it took me a decade to realize the beaches in Oregon weren't sand-so-hot-it-makes-your-feet-burn type beaches, nope don't need an umbrella, and yes it is freezing, usually. Almost always. Forget about shorts (turn up the heat and wear them at home, not at the beach).

So East means the lake, downtown. It has taken 20 years in the Portland area but I think I have finally overcome this geographic challenge. When coming from the airport do Not head east, unless you are going to the Gorge. I finally get it.

A book I read (mostly, lets see the number of books I have actually finished might be able to occupy all my fingers..) recently was about how the "West" is winning, for now. As in West (US and Europe as the industrialized West), and the East has caught up and at points in history over the past millenia or three just hasn't kept pace. The East as in China mainly.

Past performance is not an indicator of future results. This is the first thing you read in any stock portfolio. So who says the West will always rule?

I did not believe Mr. Bush (remember, our former President) had sincere objectives about "freedom" and "democracy". I mean he used the term "free trade" to mean whatever the heck he wanted it to mean, and kept all the ag subsidies, exploitative labor in countries we would purchase goods from, etc. It wasn't free trade, and still isn't. So, why should I believe anything he said about freedom and democracy.

Three days later it is no longer favored US policy to stick close to "allies" just because they are safe and secure, if their people are oppressed. Maybe Bush was right.. Or maybe it is the north/south thing and it is the south's turn at the table. To be heard. To live free lives.

When East meets West. Well in Chicago I guess if you kept heading East, I mean kept at it, swim across Lake Michigan, travel across the Midwest, across the Atlantic, across Europe, Asia, and back on land in California, across the plains, across the farm states, well eventually, you would end up on the West side of Chicago.

Where East meets West. Where North meets South. Its a very long way, but they eventually do meet up.