SPOKES VOL. LXVII NO. 40
http://www.southhavenrotary.
President Thompson began our virtual meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance followed by Art Ayer’s invocation with a reminder to appreciate our blessings and special thoughts for Bob and Dee Stickland and continued prayers for Mike Livovich and a recovering Jane Copping.
Our guests this morning included prospective members Emily Gruber and Yolanda Blunt.
Announcements:
The Bronson Sneak Peak tour has been postponed as they deal with the latest COVID-19 surge.
We donated the entry fees for four South Haven students who qualified for the History Club nationals. Congratulations to these youngsters!
We are still looking for a Membership Committee co-chair and Public Affairs Director.
Griffin Graham will be inducted on May 11th.
If you are scheduled to provide a program for May or June, please let Bill Roberts know what the program will be.
Board meeting next week.
A Touch of Humor
Bob Copping had an interesting story of a Louisiana farmer with a swimming pond, some skinny-dippers and feeding his alligators.
Member Spotlight Art Ayers
Art Ayers was featured as our Spotlight this week.
50/50 and Fines
Emily Gruber drew her own number for our big prize this morning and then drew Don Hodgman’s number for the smaller of our two prizes.
Fines were charged to:
Tom Renner celebrates three birthdays this week: Granddaughters Carolyn and Zoey and his son-in-law.
Tom Ruesink’s son’s mother is celebrating a birthday today with her husband.
Bob Stickland was very pleased to announce that Dee will be receiving her last radiation treatment today.
Larry Wittkop provided a cheerful birthday song this morning.
Our speaker this morning was our own Paul Hix with his financial outlook program.
Paul, although he started a bit gloomy, expressed his usual cheerful and confident attitude about our country and our financial future.
His most important point was the role that the Federal Reserve plays in driving the market. He stated that if you want to succeed financially, you need to follow the Fed. The fed is currently holding interest rates down, working hard to keep inflation down and reaching full employment. One way they are doing this right now is by buying corporate bonds.
The current COVID-19 “hangover”, as Paul describes it, is what is left over from a very fast 31% drop in GDP but he believes that applying a stimulus to the economy is helping us recover from the hangover. We will suffer some transitory inflation as the market gets back to a more normal supply pattern.
It seems clear that vaccination is the way out of this crisis and its hangover.
Perhaps Paul’s biggest point is the need for diversification in any investment program. He gave several examples of how different segments of the economy were either hurt or benefitted from the crisis and how diversification and investment in strong companies made a positive difference in portfolios.
He continues to express the belief that the we must continue to maintain our status as the world’s reserve currency but that we need to look hard at our deficit and should be prepared to raise taxes to keep this status.
Paul concluded by stating that looking forward, looking for growth, especially in technology is exciting and to support education every chance we get.
President Thompson thanked Paul for is informative and positive presentation.
We closed the meeting with the Four Way Test
NEXT WEEK: State Representative Mary Whiteford, who chairs the Health and Human Services Committee in the Michigan House of Representatives, will be our presenter.
Editarian: Dene Hadden