The Dismal Optimist
The Dismal Optimist is an essay produced by Peter T Treadway on a regular basis regarding investment strategy and global economic problems. To be put on the email list send a request to pttreadway@hotmail.com. Include your phone number and work affiliation.
Titans of the financial world have long been patrons of the arts. An example is Lorenzo de' Medici, aka Il Magnifico, ruler of Renaissance Florence and head of the Medici Bank. Numerous artists worked at his court and Michelangelo lived for a time with Lorenzo and his family. Unfortunately under Magnifico's leadership the Medici Bank was run into the ground. Worse, under the leadership of the infamous Dominican friar, Girolamo Savonarola, the Medicis were expelled from Florence in 1494. Savonarola wanted to eliminate excess consumption in Florence. Sound familiar?-
The above painting by well known American painter Barnett Newman hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, in the Kathy and Richard Fuld, Jr. Gallery. The viewer can draw his or her own conclusion regarding the painting's spiritual or aesthetic meaning. Richard Fuld, Jr. of course was the former CEO of Lehman Brothers.
