Author Archives: edpirie

I have been watching the run-up in the U.S. stock market very closely this fall and early winter. I was rather puzzled by it as a driver for such a run-up, namely earnings growth, did not seem to be there, or was not being presented. It seemed to me like some over blown speculation that […]

I suggest you read the above opinion piece from today’s “New York Times.” I have been trying for the last three plus years to understand the 2016 election, and also the changes occurring in the American electorate. I have bounced around a lot of opinion pieces and articles, even books, but I think this piece […]

The Founding Fathers worried about a president like President Trump. They wrote about their fears, and they wrote about when impeachment would be a necessary remedy. Yes, it overturns the results of an election, and it has rarely been used in our history. We are at one of those times now when the acts of […]

I was listening to “Vermont Edition” yesterday on VPR and the program was a panel response to the 3rd Democratic debates. The panel was comprised of a Dartmouth professor, a Middlebury professor, a Norwich professor, and Bob Kinzel from VPR. I picked up on a couple of points that resonated with me. One was made […]

My favorite season is upon us, the season of church suppers. Last night our church in Waits River had a Baked Bean and Ham Supper. If you like church suppers, this is one of the best, and I baked the beans. Yup, I did, and this is our church in Waits River in the picture. […]

Yea, like I’m Bill Gates, and I am going to put out a summer reading list. Well, not exactly, and as you can imagine – “not exactly” is an understatement (that is, me being like Bill Gates). I am a great reader though, and I always have at least half a dozen books with bookmarks […]

Sometime during World War II, my grandfather bought an old Vermont hill farm in the town of Washington. The farm was typical of the farms in this part of Vermont, mostly hills, small fields, a couple of apple orchards, and lots of woods, about 600 acres all together. There were a couple of small barns, […]

My cynicism and skepticism with  the American political system are no secret. I do not hold back my thoughts or keep my beliefs a secret – I put them out there. This morning I listened to another politician, the current Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, walk away from things he said four years ago. I have […]

Thank you James Taylor. You wrote an anthem for many of us (“Fire and Rain”). This past weekend, my high school class (1969 – Spaulding High School) celebrated our 50th reunion. Fifty years – where did they go, and why aren’t we all here? Both, hard questions, and no easy answers – life happened is about […]

As a young boy, about once a month, or when my mother said I needed a haircut, I found my way to one of our local barber shops. The barber had a odd nickname, “Peanut.” Well, Peanut was a wealth of knowledge, sort of the male gossip central. I listened and learned a lot about […]