Acknowledgments
Most importantly thanks to my parents, Irv and Marge, who by word and deed have been the most wonderful of parents and grandparents to me as well as my brothers, our wives, our children and occasionally to some of my friends. Without them nothing would have been possible.
My good friend John Lutz, managing partner of the New York office of McDermott Will & Emery LLP, was a good sounding board on early book ideas and was most helpful with legal advice for this and my other books. He continues to combine a great legal mind and a sense of humor. Jessica Brewer Donofrio and John indulged me when I threw out ideas about this book, well before it was written.
A special thank you goes to Mark Shenkman and Justin Slatky, the co-CIOs of Shenkman Capital, for giving me a wonderful opportunity at a great firm and being so supportive. I have benefitted from their knowledge, experience and especially their friendship. Also thanks to Adam Kurzer, vice chairman of Shenkman Capital, who has put up with me through several decades at two firms and always done so with a distinctive laugh and great advice. Over the years I have gotten a bevy of great insights from these three people.
It is not an easy task to be able to consistently develop unique macroeconomic concepts while seamlessly and entertainingly connecting them to very specific investment markets; that is what Dr. Neal Soss has done for decades at Credit Suisse. I am very grateful that I have had the chance to learn so much from him about life, the world and a pragmatic approach to economics and all its interconnections. The lessons usually included a good laugh too. I have never seen him take an economic number at face value. I am sure we have discussed many of the ideas in this book and I hope he will read it and let me know all the parts he disagrees with or that I got wrong.
For the much needed help with mind, body and soul over the last few years, whether it involves hitting a pad, a target or the right mental state, thanks to: Juan Berrios of Englewood Krav Maga (who gets the most out of our scarce resources and leaves no doubt if he is happy with your work or not), BK Lee at JCC on the Palisades (who forces efficiency through insisting on proper form and smiles at pain) and Ivan Rosas at Mendez Gym, NYC (who gets the maximum utility of each day by bringing energy and a smile at 5:00 A.M.).
Finally, I want to give an apology to all my co-workers, friends and family who unsuspectingly listened to me bounce ideas off of them that are in this book, and many that are not.