THE SENIOR MEN'S CLUB OF NEW CANAAN
Minutes of the Regular Meeting of May 21, 2010
President Nick Zaccagnino opened the meeting with 135 of 468 members present (3 applications pending). Also, he introduced John deCsepel and Bob Stone of the Greenwich senior men's group.
MINUTES: Roger Langevin read the minutes of the May 14, 2010 meeting.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Nick Zaccagnino cited Dave Hunt (monthly newsletter) and Jim Yanicelli
(press releases) for their work on SMC communications, more kudos for other "behind the scenes"
work at later meetings. Roger Colson covered the special 6/25 and 6/27 safe driving course $14/pp
($12/pp if AARP member), which can save 5% or more on auto insurance.
ACTIVITIES: 4F's Luncheon today at "123". Bridge as usual. Golf 5/24 at Sterling Farms, 6/14 at
Ridgefield, and 6/30 at Whitney Farms. Tennis starts 5/24 ($50 for seasonal senior pass). Also 5/24,
annual Paddle party, 6PM at Waveny ($5/pp). Bike Club 5/26 as usual. Amateur Chefs changed to 6/24
and Lobster Fest now on 7/15. Camera Club shoot and Trailblazers walk TBA. Racquetball 4-?-?.
COUTH: Nick Zaccagnino showed slides of Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty trip. Mike Allocca reported
New York Botanical Gardens trip was great! 6/17 Belmont Racetrack trip ($70/pp, including lunch).
HUMORIST: Jack Messert told about a boy who was saved from choking on a nickel by a bystander's
firm grip on his private parts. Asked by the father if she was a doctor, she replied no an IRS agent.
SPEAKER: Vice President Bob Goldblatt introduced Brad Higgins, who spoke on the unintended
costs and consequences from Iraq and the war on terror. After 25 years on Wall Street Street, Brad
served 5 years in the Federal Government, starting with a trip to Iraq to resolve a large budget shortfall
in the Coalition Provisional Authority, leading National Security Council Iraq assessment teams,
and serving as senior advisor to US Ambassador Khalilzad. He worked with such top US officials as
Ambassador Bremer and Secretary Rice. Reflecting on our country's financial stability problems, Brad
finds relevance in the famous Pogo quote, "We've met the enemy and it is us!". He noted that our
launching the "war on terror" was the first time we went to war with no draft, no rationing and no tax
increase. In the mantra of our then president, "We will pay any price for security." Brad concluded that
actually we are not paying for it because our kids are going to pay for it --- we cut taxes and have
borrowed every single dollar. Bin Laden's goal was to break the US financially --- his investment of
around $250,000 in 9/11 has led to over $2,000,000,000 in our true costs to fight terrorism. Brad cited
as some issues in these burgeoning expenditures: the high costs of personal security details ($10 to $15
million), the fallacy of "wishing for" 100% security, the need to balance security vs. all else, the reality
of fighting an unconventional war, the imbalance in service expenditures between the 70% for Navy/Air
Force and 30% for Army/Marines (the latter being the front line in the war against terror), the "bottom-
up/no incentive to cut" budget process, and the use of last year as the base with no pressure to justify
what we got for that base. The result is for agencies to fight for themselves rather than the greater
good. Bureaucracy is to blame, recognizing that
political appointees
are only .2% of the Federal work
force. Brad's recommendations: freeze the Federal budget, establish national priorities, create greater
transparency and accountability, reward innovation, and pass a Fiscal Responsibility and Financial
Management Act (with CFO as the top position, filled with a private sector executive). Brad also
underscored his remarks by emphasizing that financial purse strings are the most powerful Federal tool
for change. The Q&A covered the impact of lobbyists, importance of public action, possibility of
the US becoming another Greece, potential consequences of not meeting our fiscal challenge, possible
effect (if any) of term limits, significance of "off shore" tax cheating, reimbursement (if any) to the US
from Iraq oil receipts, and Rice and Clinton as Secretaries of State.
Don Hudson, Assistant Secretary