Happy Birthday, Jesus!
December 27, 2024
Leyendecker Executive Search
Welcome to This Week’s Leyendecker View
Three words tell us the key to success: Always exceed expectations.
–Yours Truly
THINKING OUT LOUD
Happy Birthday, Jesus!
Okay, it’s a belated Happy Birthday, Jesus.
Despite the fact that the story of Jesus is most relevant to Christians and Jews, it’s well known across the world and has had some degree of influence on all people on earth.
The story’s literal message is of sacrificing one’s own life for the betterment of others’ lives—something very few of us will ever do. Its metaphorical message is to be of service to others— something every one of us can do daily.
As the narrative goes, one man, Jesus, gave his life to save the rest of mankind. One man convinced a good many in the world that no matter your material wealth, it is your spiritual wealth that would take you to the afterlife of heaven.
And what is the foundation of this spiritual wealth that can eclipse material wealth? To do good, keep doing good, always seek to do good, and always seek to do better.
This narrative has its origins in the Ten Commandments, which Moses, a Jew, brought down from Mount. Sinai 1440-ish years before Jesus even arrived on the scene. The Commandments are:
The 10 Commandments are a list of rules on how one should live his or her life. Break any of these rules, and one has harmed God as well as their community. Those who do not seek to abide may not feel guilt. But those who do seek to abide will feel guilt.
So, in a way, guilt is at the foundation of Jewish and Christian cultures. And when we think about guilt, it should motivate us to strive for better, to do better, to be better.
This drive to be better is not just at the foundation of Judaism and Christianity, it is also at the foundation to Western culture and economy.
Europe and its progeny, the United States, have had economic success because our spiritual and emotional DNA is to improve, to learn from our mistakes, to do better the next time and to serve our fellow humans.
This motivation to do better and to serve our community is at the foundation of innovation upon innovation upon innovation.
Maybe Christianity is the foundation of The Land of Opportunity. Maybe Christianity is the foundation of the innovation that started when Gutenberg, living in Christian-dominated Europe, seeded Western culture’s economic explosion.
How can we make things better? How can we make people’s lives better?
The drive to do and be better started when Moses brought us the 10 Commandments. Jesus then reinforced these rules of civilized life as a prophet and in sacrificing his life for the world.
So while we’re taking down our Christmas tree, ornaments, lights and other decorations, and as we’re enjoying our family, friends and the gifts we received, let’s remember to wish Jesus a Happy Birthday.
We would not likely be here in our land of plenty without Jesus. We would not likely be here in our land of plenty without Moses. How interesting it is that in this year Jesus’ birthday and the start of Jewish holy days of Hanukkah coincided.
Maybe thoughts like these are starting to rekindle in our society.
The trend of religion declining may be reversing
Bible sales are booming
A Christian revival grows in the UK
Denzel Washington becomes a minister
ECONOMIC NEWS
Economy
The post-election and holiday haze still has room to run.
US consumer confidence is dropping
Is a productivity miracle around the corner?
America’s riskiest borrowers are in trouble
Labor
Is more labor strife coming as AI and technology destroy jobs?
Workers want an at least $81K starting salary
More Starbucks workers strike
Top performers hate RTO
But there are not enough desks for RTO
BUSINESS
Nike may be turning it around
US CEOs are cashing in and stepping down
Finance
Can lower rates rescue private equity?
Leverage loan defaults at 4-year high
Private credit may have problems
PE payouts have fallen 50%
Is the era of low rates over?
Real Estate
The cost of a home has become a burden.
Insurance and taxes cost more than a mortgage
2025, the office reckoning year
November home sales shoot up
Want to know your neighbor’s politics?
Tech
AI is quickly changing legacy tech.
AI hallucinations may be valuable
Microsoft is shoving AI down our throats
AI wants more of everything
The gold rush to Washington’s hydropower
Wanna have a 15-min call with ChatGPT?
Energy Transition
Clean and cheap do not seem to go together.
The energy transition that couldn’t
Demand for US LNG is declining
While the US’s gas footprint is growing
Trump wants Europe to be a customer
The EU keeps purchasing Russian gas
THE NATION
The Washing-Tone
Are we in the calm before the next storm?
The man behind Trump’s foreign policy
Don’t expect a Trump policy steamroller
Millions could get a Social Security raise
Can Washington cut red tape like Ohio did?
Is Nvidia a geopolitical risk?
Social Trends
We’re in a moment where various ideas are crashing with reality.
Americans feel pessimistic about the future
AI images prompting a photography renaissance
Big education faces a reckoning
Elton John is against legalized marijuana
Immigrants dominate US population growth
GEOPOLITICS
Ant geopolitics blow away human geopolitics
See history with maps that go back in time
Europe
It could be a cold and bleak economic winter in Europe.
Germany’s immigration mistake
UK economy enters stagnation
Europe wants out of Musk’s satellites
EU rapidly burns through gas surplus
European consumers are gloomy
Global
Are we still experiencing a Covid lag effect?
South Korea’s political turmoil deepens
Is Russia fighting the wrong enemy?
Brazil’s economy is in trouble
The global baby bust
Ukraine
Is the Ukraine war a result of Western arrogance?
Russia ready for Ukraine talks
Russia shoots down passenger jet
Russia launches big Christmas day attack
Russia’s largest cargo ship sinks
Middle East
Is Iran out and Turkey in?
It’s all about Israel and Turkey now
Turkey to help Syria create a 300,000-person army
Can Syria form new productive leadership?
History suggests it would be a giant challenge
Assad loyalists are striking back
War Creep
Can Trump keep us out of WWIII?
China launches biggest war ship yet
US to sell Egypt $5B in arms
Tech goes after the Military Industrial Complex
China and Australia settle trade differences
China
China seems like the Western world’s wayward stepbrother.
China’s industrial profits are collapsing
Xi pushes for self-reliance
Does China have imposter syndrome?
US farmers need China
MAKING A BETTER YOU
Mind
Get more quiet time.
How to appreciate what you have
We may not be aware of our limitations
Learn from the 2,000-year-old Pantheon
Body
Get more outside time.
Eating for a long, healthy life
To improve your gut, get more nature time
Has the US reached peak obesity?
FUN STUFF
Let your hair down, baby! Even if you’re all alone.
The Extraordinary
Octopuses will take over when humans are gone
A 1,000-year-old seed grows a tree
Dozens of new species found in Peru
Music That Found Us
Ulysses Owens Jr. & Generation Y
A jazz improv of Nirvana’s “In Bloom.”
These cats jam!!!
Worth a Watch
It’s holiday movie time!
The Count of Monte-Cristo trailer.
Karate Kid: Legends trailer.
Superman teaser trailer.
Netflix’s Hot Frosty trailer.
The Yum Yums
Welcome to golden age of American bakeries
Time for a New Year’s day meal…
Perfect prime rib
Roasted rack of lamb
Sausage and apple stuffed pork roast
Beet and orange salad
Savory roasted root vegetables
Garlic grits casserole
The perfect latke
THE RANDOMS
I wonder who is the more popular Christmas icon, Jesus Christ or Santa Claus?
Not sure if it was just being so busy, but we did not put up a Christmas tree or lights this Christmas. All we had was a sweet nativity scene in the dining room. Next year, I’ll be looking for one to put up in our front yard.
Could the shrinking of religious values and the growth of secularism and agnosticism be the cause of the Western world’s moral decline?
How is it that Western democracies allow dictators like Syria’s Assad, Venezuela’s Maduro, Iran’s mullahs, and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to exist? Is it because other dictators like Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi support them economically? Or has it been this way because President Obama was a foreign policy putz?
If someone is elected president, no matter what we think, they surely have some worthwhile qualities in them.
The S&P 500 index will likely continue to rise until the day I decide to buy it.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
What Is The Leyendecker View?
December 20, 2024
Thoughts on Inflation
December 13, 2024
Just a sample text from heading element.