Perspective on legacy, an update on inflation and earnings, and a note on year-end charitable planning.
I made a trip to Dallas this past weekend and took time to visit the Sixth Floor Museum. For those unfamiliar, it is a museum housed in the former Texas School Book Depository overlooking Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas. It explores the life, assassination and legacy of President John F. Kennedy. It is the building where Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shots on November 22, 1963.
Both fascinating and unsettling in different respects, the walk through the sixth floor brought forward a mix of fleeting hope and immeasurable grief. I was struck by the walk back in time when the country was polarized in ways as acute as we are today. Civil rights, the Cold War, the role of federal government and religion were pulling at the seams, with some of those issues becoming even more turbulent following Kennedy’s death.
On one wall were empowering words from one of Kennedy’s last speeches at American University: “Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”
Kennedy only served for a bit more than 1,000 days. His legacy was less about legislative accomplishments than the hope and sense of purpose he inspired. But in that museum, on the sixth floor, in the same space where hope was cut down by violence, I could not help but think about how we are all trying to navigate inhabiting this small planet, mortal as we are, and cherishing our future and the future of those we love. And in an instant, everything can change.
We face a myriad of problems; not the same as those we faced in 1963, but no less complicated. Like then, many of our problems do not have easy solutions. More ships sank in the Strait of Hormuz. The war between Russia and Ukraine intensified. A long-delayed bridge connecting China and North Korea opened. There are escalating humanitarian crises in too many places to name.
And, as reported this week at home, inflation advanced at a much too hot 3.7% annual growth rate. There were double-digit price gains across nearly every key category of expenditure since 2020, and we are all feeling that reality when we buy groceries, fill a gas tank, or review our monthly bills. While retail sales reported a jump in September, some of those gains were due to rising gasoline prices, though consumers notably continue to spend despite higher inflation and borrowing costs.
Big banks kicked off earnings season this week and reported a favorable but overall mixed bag: They called out higher rates, slower deal activity, geopolitical risk and some uncertainty over AI spending as factors to watch. But they were not dire. While inflation, higher rates and geopolitics are having an impact, the overall strength of the capital markets, capex spending on AI, and consumers still plugging along signaled to them that we are decidedly not on the verge of recession.
So why do so many feel so hopeless? The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment report released late last week showed that sentiment remained near the lowest levels recorded in the survey’s 74-year history. Consumers feel worse than they did in the 2008 financial crisis and the measure’s value was lower than at the start of all six U.S. recessions since 1978!
Perhaps we all feel as though the fight has been going on for too long and that progress on the issues that matter most remains frustratingly elusive. And I don’t mean progress in the sense of technological advancements or breakthroughs in science. Those happen every day in amazing, marvelous and terrifying ways. I mean progress in the ways that bind us together as humans.
Kennedy notably asked American citizens to serve numerous times during his life, but I always loved his exhortation that “One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.”
Every day, in my office in the Prudential Tower, I am bowled over by the generosity of clients like you to the causes you care about. You give with your time and your treasure, and you make change happen. We process hundreds of transactions a day to help you make gifts to your families and to your charities, and to make a difference in the world. So please don’t get stuck on the metaphorical sixth floor, believing the worst. Like our friendly neighborhood Mr. Rogers once said, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
If you are considering making a charitable gift of stock or cash, we are ready to help you. With markets near record highs and so many variables between now and year-end, like mid-term elections, Federal Reserve meetings, and geopolitical strife, consider acting now on charitable gifts you might otherwise make in November or December. Thank you for being one of those helpers, and for how you inspire me!
Written by a human.