In the Beginning...
On a lovely late spring day, Ojai Rotarians came together for friendship and service under
the gavel of
President Elect Deirdre Daly.
Frank Finck led the Pledge of Allegiance and
Matt gave a profane and funny inspirational message.
Deirdre thanked all of the people who made the meeting possible. There were no visiting Rotarians; guests included
Michael and John Bee and
Deidre’s brother-in-law
Kevin Daly, who was today’s speaker.
Announcements
· Dave Brubaker announced that our upcoming programs will include a talk on genetics from Sid Cohn’s son and Mike Malone’s demotion party on June 29.
·
Jack Jacobs gave a very abbreviated overview of the results of the Board
Retreat.
Officers for next year include: Cheree Edwards, President Elect; Betsy Watson, Public Image; Suzanne Scar, Club Services; Sandy Beuchley, Treasurer; Leslie Bouche, International; Nathan Kahler, Community Services; Bryant Huber, Youth Services. The post of Vocational Services is vacant.
· There will be no service to mark the death of Jerry Kaplan.
· Lerie Bjornstedt is doing better and would appreciate any written messages; she is not yet strong enough to receive visitors.
· Several Rotarians are celebrating anniversaries and birthdays. Bill Weirick made the touching observation that he was grateful he still had his parents.
Cartoon
Fining
Leslie Bouche did a splendid job in extracting fines from members by asking questions about the obscure origins of various superstitions. She asked Rotarians to elucidate the meanings behind such phrases as: “Knock on wood”, “don’t spill salt”, “don’t walk under a ladder”, etc. Most amusing.
Program: Kevin Daly
Introduced her Brother-in-law
Kevin Daly, an investment analyst for Aberdeen Standard Investments, the second largest money manager in Europe with over $778 Billion under management.
Kevin titled his talk “Fear and Loathing in Global Financial Markets”. It was an apt title to his presentation because, while he featured the opportunities in EM, he also focused on the risks.
The principal risks are:
Donald Trump’s unpredictability
Politics and political upheaval in Italy, Mexico, Middle East, Brazil, etc
Destructive Policies such as protectionism, tariffs, deficits, etc.
China
After reviewing the opportunities and risks, Kevin summarized with these concluding remarks:
1. Emerging Markets are generally healthy for now
2. There is the possibility of a slowdown in 2020
3. Budgetary (fiscal) policies will be strained
4. Trump and the Fed are wild cards
5. The major political risk is from Italy and the ME
6. Brexit will not have a major impact
7. Emerging Markets will remain high risk-high reward.
Final Thoughts:
"Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants."
Epictetus