The San Francisco Experience

Author of eleven books, Adam Hochschild discusses the 1917 to 1921 period a tumultuous but little studied period in US history spanning our involvement in WWI. The war plays out against a backdrop of social upheaval at home: Labor versus Capital, Nativists versus Immigrants and Black versus White. 

As Black History Month draws to a close, Jonathan Speed profiles the highly decorated 92nd All Black Division, in which his uncle, Bill Perry served with distinction. The 92nd earned more than 12,000 decorations and citations, as well as two Medals of Honor - America's highest award for for military valor in action.

Philanthropy plays an outsize role in animal welfare. The EE Mori Foundation and the South Florida SPCA are collaborating to assist in the care of larger mammals like horses, cows and other animals who are abandoned and overlooked. Mark Lees the Vice President of the EE Mori Foundation and Chris Septer the Executive Director of the South Florida SPCA discuss philanthropy for larger mammals.

Salesforce has been one of Silicon Valley's big success stories. But in 2022 the company's fortunes suffered a setback resulting in 8000 layoffs and five shareholder activist groups demanding change. While the company is profitable and counts Walmart and Amazon among its biggest customers, change is coming. Will CEO and founder Marc Benioff lead the company to continued growth and profitability ? 2023 will be a critical year for the company.

2022 saw trends like Energy Security, US China Rivalry, emergence of a Global Authoritarian block and Deepening Digitization dominate global markets. Chris Watling, founder of Longview Economics puts emerging global trends in perspective  for investors, avoiding pitfalls to enhance investment returns.

W.E.B. Du Bois and the African American Experience in the First World War is the subject of the book. 380,000 African Americans served  in the War and their experience  both on the battlefield in France and when they returned home was a seminal moment for American Society in the 20th Century.  The after effects are still reverberating to this day. Historian Chad L. Williams walks us through this little studied chapter in American history.

Raquel Welch and Stella Stevens, two iconic actresses of the 1960s and 1970s passed away last week. Both were hardworking and driven to succeed in the film industry and left a lasting legacy in popular American culture through their screen personas. Shaun Chang discusses their careers.

Oliver Stone's JFK film popularized a conspiracy theory that was set in New Orleans. The District Attorney Jim Garrison, crusaded or grandstanded - depending on your point of view -  a weak case that ended up putting Clay Shaw on trial. He was acquitted and the conspiracy theory rejected by the jury after one hour of deliberation.

In the business cycle, the first quarter of the year in corporate America is Performance Evaluation season, where you sit down with your boss to review the past year's performance and discuss compensation. Gone are the days of Jack Welch's forced ranking system but what new evaluation techniques are being implemented post Covid ? Matthew Boyle of Bloomberg News gives us an update.

California for all of its' wealth and abundance has the highest poverty rate in the nation. Overburdened with regulation that makes housing unaffordable, skilled jobs hard to access , criminal justice in short supply and education too ideological, Michael Tanner's report prescribes 24 reforms to level the playing field and make the economy more inclusive.