1/21/19

My dear Friend and President, DJT,

Where to start? Where to start this letter? Where to start dealing with the complex problems of our times? Where to start on our home repairs? Getting started is so hard to do! At least for me it is. Unfortunately, the article in today's WSJ, An Antidote to Procrastination, was not much help at all. It said, "Procrastination happens because there is an asymmetry between the costs that you have to pay now and the rewards you expect in the future." Then it suggested trying to "make the current experience more rewarding and fun." Easier said than done, don't you think? 

https://gettingbusinessresults.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/how-do-business-owners-eat-an-elephant/

My dad used to say to eat an elephant, you have to take the first bite. That has been my approach - stop worrying about the whole job and just start on it. I suggest that you just start on opening up the government. Do it one bite at a time. Get the Senate to write a law to pay the TSA and to provide half a billion dollars to hire some immigration judges. Next get them to write a law to get the IRS back to work and provide another half a billion for some surveillance equipment. Do that ten times and eventually the border will be secure and the government will be open.

Have you met Gita Gopinath, the new Chief Economist at IMF? She is an economic genius! She's getting some press at Davos this week because she lowered the forecast for economic growth. The WSJ says, "many of the sources of concern are self-inflicted wounds from political dysfunction" as well as trade tensions, especially between us and China. I encourage you to invite her to the WH so she can give you some advice including some suggestions about trading with India, which is the fastest growing economy in the world. I think you'd like her. She's young, attractive and has a lilting Indian accent. She seems quite down-to-Earth for a Harvard professor. I'd like to meet her, myself.

Let's get it started!