Dear valued client,
Despite markets dropping slightly this week, optimism was demonstrated on the consumer side of the economics equation as consumer confidence rose for the first time in four months, with the Conference Board’s monthly index showing an increase from 97.5 in April to 102 in May, surpassing economists’ estimates. The expectations index, reflecting the short-term outlook for income and labor conditions, saw its largest increase since July. Despite ongoing concerns about inflation and interest rates, Americans continue to spend heavily on travel, with the TSA recording the highest number of travelers screened in a single day last Friday for Memorial Day weekend in the U.S. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged a “tragic mistake” after an airstrike in Rafah killed at least 45 Palestinians, including women, children, and older adults who were sheltering in a tent camp. This strike, one of the deadliest in the months-long conflict, drew international condemnation and intensified criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza. Israel stated the strike targeted senior Hamas militants but admitted to civilian casualties. The incident, which has exacerbated international calls for a ceasefire, led to increased scrutiny from global leaders and demands from the International Court of Justice to halt the offensive in Rafah.
There has been much tribulation in the media since President Donald Trump was convicted on all 34 criminal counts related to a hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The jury took less than 10 hours over two days to reach the verdict. Trump faces a possible four-year prison sentence, but a lengthy appeals process likely means he will not face consequences before the election. Despite the conviction, Trump, the likely Republican presidential nominee, can still run for president and vote – as long as he is not in jail on Election Day. Reactions to the verdict are polarized, with Trump calling the trial rigged and leveraging the conviction for fundraising, while public opinion on him remains largely unchanged. Many on the political right have characterized the entire trial itself as a weaponization of the justice department against a presidential candidate; the logic being these charges would never have been brought forth but for the motivation of keeping Trump off the ballot. Having followed the Trump phenomenon the past few years, my guess is that this will only embolden his supporters and increase his chances of retaking the White House in November.
I’d like to leave you with a poignant excerpt from the Daily Stoic newsletter:
Marcus Aurelius was not some weak, flabby philosopher. He was active. He was athletic. He rode horses and hunted. He trained in the fighting arts at the gymnasium.
He was proud of these accomplishments and almost certainly found the discipline they demanded to be a metaphor for life. And yet, in the pages of Meditations, we find him chiding himself over his dedication to these hobbies.
“A better wrestler?” he asks, rhetorically. “But not a better citizen, a better person, a better resource in tight places, a better forgiver of faults?” He was noticing how much energy and effort he was putting into his physical improvement and how disproportionate it seemed to his personal development. Many of us are guilty of this. Who among us works as hard at improving as a parent as they do as a professional? We track our appearance in the mirror, but monitor our morals much less.
There are lots of talented people out there. Lots of great wrestlers. Lots of great accumulators of wealth. Lots of beautiful faces. But the Stoics remind us that our choices make us beautiful too. The choice to be kind. The choice to open the door for someone—not just literally for a stranger, but also to open the door to help others succeed in your profession.
When the Stoics talk about the virtue of justice, they didn’t just mean what happened in a court of law. They were talking about what Marcus Aurelius was talking about—actively working to be a better citizen, a better person, a better resource, a better forgiver of faults. It takes work to be a good person, perhaps more work than it does to be a great (that is successful or famous) person. But it’s the most important work you can do. The world depends on us doing it. Who we are going to be depends on it.
Have a terrific weekend,
PW
