KEY WEST LOU / 9/11 LIKE YESTERDAY

9/11/2001 feels like yesterday. Not 22 years ago.

Time does fly. Especially as one gets older. As I have. Each year moves faster, is shorter. December 31 comes more swiftly following January 1.

I do recall 9/11. The disaster of it all! The shock! Some persons deigned to attack the World Trade Center. Killing some 3,000 people in the process. How dare they!

I recall also what I was doing when I learned of the event. Sitting in my office in Utica in a meeting with John and Lori and our bankers. We used to meet once a year to recap the year’s events, what we were doing, what new legal fields we were engaging in, etc.

The year was the best the firm ever experienced. Everything had and was coming up roses. Quality clients, excellent cash flow.

The telephone rang. Turn on your TV. I did. The disaster was revealed.

The “quality” year ended. The legal work kept coming in. Payment for services rendered died. Our practice primarily represented national corporate clients. The fear of God was in them. They stopped paying their bills. The legal ones for sure. Uncertainty made them do so. However, they still expected their work to be done. Don’t worry was the message. We’ll start paying our bills soon.

The balance of the year was a disaster. We were busy as hell. No money coming in however for services rendered. Savings and bank loans kept us afloat. Things began turning around after the first of the year. The old payments did not come in a deluge. However, they did begin coming in. At the same time, current billings were being met. It took us a good 8-9 months to get caught up financially.

Such was life.

The G20 Summit in New Delhi. Seemed like a gang up on the U.S. re Ukraine. The meeting turned into a success party for India’s Prime Minister Modi. A powerful man in an emerging more powerful India.

G20’s position re the Ukraine was less strong than in its previous meeting and not reflective of the feelings of most of its attendees. They were pro-Ukraine, but at the same time recognized a need to be supportive of a position Modi required politically. So they gave Modi “his day.” Russa was not “named” as a culprit.

Even Biden and France’s Macron went along with the ploy.

Simply stated, the problem at the G20 Summit was Modi’s need to be a Donald Trump in power. The powerful head of his political party. Modi had effectively replaced even his political party as Trump had the Republican Party.

The G20 meeting was an event “staged” to portray Modi as a “man of power.” Even New Delhi was controlled to portray a false image. G20 delegates were not permitted to freely move about. The poor were “purged” from the city. The slums screened off. Roads barricaded and traffic shut down. The City “quiet as death.” A kumbaya atmosphere created. All is well the false feeling presented.

The Republican House will use “Modi’s success” in their attempts to cut U.S. funding for Ukraine when that vote comes up in the next few weeks. House Republicans will portray the meeting as a “disaster” for Biden, the nations no longer solidly behind him and the Ukraine.

As to Vietnam, Biden is to be credited for his efforts to build an Asian group to stand strong against China. Similar to NATO in Europe and its established strength against possible Russian aggression.

Novak Djokovic won the U.S. Open yesterday in 3 sets. His 24th Grand Slam victory.

An interesting Citizens’ Voice comment. Right on: “New York City imposed strict short-term rental laws on its Airbnb/VRBO thereby saving its local housing market. Key West can do the same. Too bad, hosts. Writing is on the wall.”

Key West’s problem is whether our local Commissioners have the courage to do the same thing. It take’s political courage. The type of courage that will bring the wrath of God down on them by the vested Airbnb people. Even though it is the right thing to do. Our community has a severe affordable housing problem that has to be resolved.

A Republican has finally strongly stepped forward to condemn Senator Tommy Tuberville. He is House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas). On CNN’s State of the Union sunday, he said: Tommy Tuberville is “paralyzing the Department of Defense.”

Nothing to be proud of. Florida is ranked #3 nationally for children living in poverty. Close to one million. The county with the most is Miami-Dade with 95,520 children ages 0-17. The number represents 18.1 percent of its children.

Number 1? The State with the “biggest mouth.” Texas.

Enjoy your day!

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