No One Consciously Wants to Die

By: Yoram Yahav

“Even those who want to go to heaven, don’t want to die”, Steve Jobs.

My loving mother died a few months ago. She was still young and active, desired to live a long life and definitely did not want to die. Fortunately, when it happened it was quick and painless. Even more fortunately, the whole family was all around. With great sadness, we kissed her calm face and said goodbye. Now we have all accepted her passing and moved on in life to spend more time and enjoy my wonderful dad.

I ran across an article written by an 85 year-old who found out that he was about to die. My translation is an appropriate reflection of some of my thoughts on life… Here is what he wrote:

“If I were to live my life again, I would allow myself to make many more mistakes and not try to be so perfect. I would rest more, lie on my back more and play foolishly more frequently.” More

Lester Thurow – A Tribute to a Man Greater Than Life

Yoram Yahav and the Yoyah Group

A dear friend, mentor and vital member of the Yoyah Group, Lester Thurow, passed away last week.

A larger than life, amazing personality, Lester touched all of us with whom he worked with his intellect, vision, charm and warmth. Changing and educating an management culture of a country to ‘go global’, is one thing, but convincing Lester Thurow the guru of globalization, to come to Israel to guide the effort is a whole different story.

As we men quite often say, there is a great woman behind every great man (a mom is considered one as well…). As an Israeli citizen, Anni, “the Love of His Life” as Les called his wife, literally told him that there was no question about his helping Israeli companies and management. That was the beginning of our amazing friendship. More

Warmer, Hotter and Drier

By: David Miron-Wapner

“Hot today and even hotter tomorrow”.

A weather forecast that is becoming all too familiar, even in the middle of winter. All of us are feeling it. Everywhere temperature records are falling, both short and long-term records.  They say no one can predict the future, nor is it like the past. It seems a safe bet that records will continue falling, just not global temperature. If this were a sporting event, we might celebrate these records, but this is not a game. It is real life.

None of us can predict the future, but as the evidence mounts, climate scientists’ most dire warnings are being corroborated. So it seems a sure bet that next year will again see the hottest global average land surface and ocean temperatures.  More

Cheap Oil -Why Is It Bad News?

By: Shlomo Maital

All too often, economic analysis seems to many like a good news/bad news joke. No economic news is ever completely happy, is it?

Take for instance oil prices. The price of oil has fallen below $30, and with Iran about to add millions of barrels to the excess supply every day, it looks like the price of oil will remain low for some time.

So this is good news, right? Cheaper gasoline, more discretionary income to spend, cheaper energy prices, and indirectly, cheaper goods and services… all good news. Because, when the past oil shocks (1973/4, 1978/9) zapped oil prices way up, the result was recession. So the opposite should cause…boom?   Right?  More