SPOKES VOL. LXV NO. 46 May 28, 2019
Ted Weber and Bill Roberts were our greeters this morning.
President Odland opened the meeting with “Our Country ‘tis of Thee” and Art Ayers provided the invocation.
Guests:
We had several guests this morning, including Chris Wellington from Bronson Health Care, Nick and Hans Schippers from “Parley for the Oceans”, their hosts Jack and Mary Ann Kennedy and welcomed back John Hamilton who had to leave the club for a couple of years to deal with health issues.
Spotlight:
Nick and Hans Schipper did a brief presentation on their work and travels. The recently completed a tour of the west coast for “Parley for the Oceans” talking to students about the damage that plastics can cause and are causing to our environment. They especially advocated for eliminating single use plastics from our lives. They are traveling to Toronto in their blue bus to begin a tour through Canada, ending in Vancouver. Thanks to John Kucola, who has his own connection to saving the ocean, for finding these two interesting gentlemen.
Tom Fleming pointed out that our area Shell gas stations sell reusable drink cups. He was heavily fined even though he is helping the environment.
Announcements:
- Blessings in a Backpack last filling will be on Friday June 7.
- The We Care Golf Outing will be held on June 3rd at Hawkshead. They are also raffling a Taylor Made driver. See Dan Thompson or Bob Straits for tickets and information.
- Our annual change of officers’ dinner will occur on June 25th at Hawkshead. There will also be a golf outing before the dinner and Dan Thompson has the signup sheet.
- Thursday potting soil will be placed in the flower boxes on the bridge and flowers planted the following day.
- Tom Ruesink reported that he visited Tony Martorano who indicated that his knee replacement surgery went well but he is battling some other medical issues. Tony enjoys getting phone calls.
Songs
Jim Davis was our song leader today as Bob Boerma was nowhere to be found.We began with “I Want A Girl”, the follow-up to an earlier hit by the same song writers, "I'd Rather Have a Girlie Than an Automobile". (Maybe that song should be added to our repertory.)“Let Me Call You Sweetheart” was our next effort, a huge hit in 1910 by the Peerless Quartet.We finished with “That Rotary Wheel”.
50/50
Tom Rummel had the lucky ticket this morning but drew the “3”.Hopefully he will have better luck getting to his office this week.Paul Hemmeter was the big winner, walking away with $2.
Fines:
- Jerry Gruber was pleased to announce his grandson reached and survived his 21st birthday las week.
- Steve Miles and his lovely wife Kathleen celebrated an anniversary this week.
- Kevin Schooley’s son, who is a study abroad trip to Madrid, celebrated his birthday Spanish style.
- Ted Weber is celebrating his son’s birthday this week.
- We sang, rather poorly, a Ludington style birthday song today.
- Tom Noverr also remembered that he had missed a couple of birthdays over the winter.
- Tom Ruesink talked about a couple of car shows – the Auburn Show with hundreds of award winning cars, including a couple of Red McFadden’s and our own local show this Saturday, June 1st.
- Dene Hadden silently paid a fine for describing Foundry Hall’s programs as “problems” in last week’s Spokes, proving that at least one member reads Spokes each week.
Mark Odland introduce our own Paul Hix for his program offering an overview of our economy.
Paul had folders for each of us but indicated the most important piece of information is the handout about end of life plans. Also he included a handout on the best ways to invest in the pot business for anyone interested.
Paul’s talk focused on the economic outlook in the late innings of the Bull market.
First, Paul told us an interesting tidbit: In the third year of a presidency, regardless of whom that president is or their party, the market typically gains 17%.
Our current recovery has lasted 120 months so far while the average recovery lasts 58 months.
Paul spoke about the importance of education to individuals and to society as a whole and to the need for a strong middle class.
The role of the independent Federal Reserve Board is two-fold: to keep full employment and to keep inflation in check. Currently inflation and unemployment are low and the GDP is growing at just over 2% a year.
Trade tensions could affect the economy as tariffs act like a tax, cutting into disposable income, lowering consumer spending and eventually slowing production.
Paul is a big advocate of a balanced portfolio, and provided a chart that shows how a balanced portfolio, held since 2000 until now, would have grown 174% and a portfolio that tries to follow trends was significantly less.
President Odland thanked Paul for his always interesting presentation and provided him with one of our fabulous speaker’s gifts.
President Odland closed the meeting with the Four Way Test.
Next week’s program: Club Assembly as we head into our busy summer season.
Greeters: Barry Winkel and a volunteer.
Editarian: Dene Hadden