March 13, 2010

LaGrange Area Table Tennis and Estate Planning

What do wills, trusts and ping pong have in common? All three will come together for the Second Annual LaGrange Area Table Tennis Tournament on Saturday, March 20, 2010 at 10 am sponsored by the Law Offices of Wilson & Wilson.

The tournament will take place at Park Junior High School, 325 Park Road in LaGrange Park. Anyone 16 or older may enter by just showing up at 10 am at the school. Trophies and cash prizes ranging from $1000 to the 1st Place Champion to $100 to the 6th Place Winner will be awarded.

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February 28, 2009

Deregulation and the Financial Crisis

The Wall Street Journal had a piece this week about the Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act of 1999. This is the first time I have read a detailed explanation of why GLB was not a contributing cause of the current financial crisis.

GLB repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act (from Great Depression times) and allowed banks, securities companies and insurance companies to affiliate under a financial services holding company.

The WSJ article points out:
1) If GLB were the problem, the crisis would have originated in Europe where they never had Glass-Steagall;
2) The financial firms that failed, like Lehman, were the least diversified while those that survived, like JP Morgan, were the most diversified; and
3) GLB did not deregulate anything but established the Federal Reserve as a super-regulator overseeing all Financial Services Holding Companies. All activities of financial institutions continue to be regulated on a functional basis by the regulators that had regulated those activities prior to GLB.

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November 21, 2008

Serve Up a Good time

I recently came upon this quote by Jonathan Adler, an interior designer, “There is only one game to play at Thanksgiving, and that’s Ping-Pong. It’s perfection – my favorite way to work off that pumpkin pie.”

These are my sentiments exactly.

This clip from You Tube features players who are about as good as I’ve ever seen. I hope they happen to be neighbors of my brother who lives in Kentucky and who is hosting my family’s Thanksgiving Dinner this year. I’d love to have a game or two with them.

Happy Thanksgiving.

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October 22, 2008

The Perfect Dinner Party

Have you ever thought about whom you would invite if you could invite any group of six people to your house for dinner on Saturday? I don’t mean people you know. I mean if you could invite absolutely anyone.

I know my sons, who are teenagers, would invite professional athletes. Somewhere at the table would be sitting Jacoby Ellsbury or Jonathan Papelbon.

In my mom’s case, it would be a Who’s Who of daytime television show hosts. Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters are likely choices.

In my case, I can tell you exactly who it would be: Jerry Seinfeld, Kim Strassel, Steffi Graf, Larry Kudlow, Reese Witherspoon and Sue Murrey. Can you imagine the great information you could get from Kim and Larry? Then you turn to Reese and find out what’s on the mind of someone who is incredibly talented, hardworking and has her priorities in order. Then you have the chance to hear from Steffi, the greatest woman tennis player ever. And in between all this, you have Jerry making hilarious comments that have you falling off your chair. I can’t imagine a better time.

You may ask, who is Sue Murrey and why is she there? The answer is I’ve known her since seventh grade, and I have to have someone there I can relive the evening with every time we play golf.

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September 23, 2008

Cubs and Red Sox Looking Good

The Cubs just clinched a play-off spot. The Red Sox are one win away from clinching. As I see it, all is right with the world.

I grew up in a Chicago suburb in the 60's and 70's. I have three older brothers, but when my dad caught a foul ball (bare handed) at a Cubs game in 1971, I was the one he turned to and handed the ball. I was the fan. He knew that.

For the last 20 years, I lived an hour from Boston. It didn't take long before I became a part of Red Sox Nation. Following a team which hadn't won a World Series for decades and decades was a natural for me. I also learned that a true Red Sox fan detests the Yankees to a degree surpassed only by his devotion to the Sox.

I recently moved back to Chicago. I've been to two games at The Cell when the Red Sox were playing, and I was given tickets to a Cubs game in July, eighth row, behind the visitor's dug out -- the usher asked me who I knew.

I hope October lasts forever. I hope it's the Cubs vs. the Red Sox in the World Series. And, don't tell my sons or my friends back East, but I hope this is the year that Cubs fans find out what it's like to sit back and watch as your team wins it all.

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