Who Am I?
I was born and raised in Southeast Pennsylvania.
I was both a nerd and jock in high school, taking six years of Latin and various AP classes, and earning a varsity letter for wrestling all four years.
I majored in Mathematics at Reed College, which I recognized for its demanding intellectual climate.
I worked to help pay for my college education and took a year off to earn enough money to further offset the costs of college.
That turned out to be a key decision, and an eye opener. The jobs available to a guy without a college degree were not going to support a comfortable life.
That became an incentive to double down on my studies when I returned to college and set my sights on careers that would provide opportunities to make a larger contribution and get a better paycheck
Business school would be a step to those opportunities, but it had to be deferred while I worked again to build savings for tuition.
I spent those years working on issues in the public utilities industry. This experience gave me some insights into some of the big topics of our time: power generation and pricing.
I went on to MIT for business school and majored in finance which was challenging but flowed naturally from my mathematical training.
A career in banking and investments followed. That gave me the opportunity to be a Wall Street bond trader, a portfolio manager, and a risk manager.
Being a risk manager opened the door to roles in product development and in helping teams of portfolio managers to understand their positions better and provide better returns for their investors with lower risk than their peers.
The grit I developed in high school helped me meet the demands of these positions, including pulling all-nighters when necessary and regular international business travel.
After decades in the finance industry, I retired and live simply to shepherd my resources.
Why Am I Running for U.S. Congress?
I see the United States as being at a fork in the road. With interest in socialism rising, I am running to preserve the exercise of freedoms spelled out in the Declaration of Independence: Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
One of my ancestors, Robert Morris, signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America. He risked a public execution at the hands of the British if the Revolution were not successful.
His bravery and dedication to the American Project have inspired me to stand up for the country, and against those who practice the politics of envy and greed.
His life after the Revolution also provides a warning about the risks of running up huge debts with uncertain income, as he went bankrupt due to a leveraged land speculation deal that failed.
For years, our representatives in Congress have been spending much more than the IRS has been taking in through taxes. The deficit has been growing by almost $2 trillion a year for the last decade. Over the same period, the economy has been growing by about $1.3 trillion, creating a growing gap.
As Herbert Stein said: “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” Without a change in direction, the U.S. will go into default.
Let’s save the Republic from economic failure!
The least painful way to lower spending is to stop fraudulent payments.
We can have discussions about priorities if it comes to cutting programs, but everyone publicly agrees that fraud should have no place in public spending.
Nevertheless, fraudulent practices by the recipients of benefits and lack of oversight by bureaucrats have bled resources from federal programs. The government employees should be watching out for the taxpayers’ interests. There must be accountability for bad actors.
The next least painful way is to reduce the number of recipients for federal benefits:
- The Federal government should not be giving benefits to undocumented immigrants, including women and children.
- Congress should reinstate the requirements that had been in place when several of my ancestors arrived at Ellis Island: any potential immigrant had to provide proof that they would not need to rely on government pay-outs.
- The Federal Government should make annual reviews of the cases of people receiving disability payments to confirm their status.
Making these changes will not be easy, but if the alternative is national failure, I am willing to work hard with anyone who will work with me in good faith to address these issues.