On March 16, 1802, 221 years ago today, an Act of Congress established the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a separate and permanent service branch responsible for founding and operating a U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Precisely 80 years after establishing the military school (March 16, 1882), the Senate ratified the First Geneva Convention of 1864 for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field, which defined new rules of Public International Law through the Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflicts designed to protect the lives of sick and wounded soldiers during wartime. The 1864 convention was the brainchild of Henry Dunant (1828-1910), a Genevan businessman who, in 1859, unexpectedly witnessed the gruesome aftermath of Emperor Napoleon III’s Battle of Solferino in the Second War of Italian Independence. The experience was so profound that in 1862 Dunant published both his heart wrenching first-hand account of the grisly fallout of the battle, and a compelling call for leaders from all nations not to stop waging war – but to convene a diplomatic meeting in Geneva to create volunteer relief groups trained to treat the wounded and to offer humanitarian assistance for all those affected by the horrors of war. Henry Dunant won the 1901 Nobel Peace Prize for inspiring military powers from all around the world to adopt a series of Geneva Conventions to reduce widespread suffering in societies plagued by wars. Conventional wisdom suggests that the U.S. ratified the First Geneva Convention to bestow legitimacy upon the International Red Cross and the American National Red Cross, not-for-profit organizations that mobilize networks of volunteers and donors primarily to prevent and alleviate human suffering during wartime, like Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, as well as in many other types of extreme emergencies caused by natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes, and unnatural disasters like the chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio. For TeamPOAA, these major March 16th milestones offer an interesting contrast between the founding of a military academy to train new leaders of warfighters on the grounds of a strategically located fortress and oldest continuously occupied regular army post in the U.S., and the Senate ratification of the establishment of more humane rules of warfare from the first diplomatic convention in a relatively small city of a tiny country renowned for private banking, precision timepieces, and neutrality during wartime. That contrast, however, does not focus on the differences between war and peace－rather, it highlights the contrast between an ever-increasing ability of governments to engage in the bloody slaughter and heartless torture of countless innocent and helpless citizens caught in war zones, and the new international rules for more compassionate wars. It is also interesting to note, however, that on March 16, 1955 President Eisenhower unilaterally declared that the United States would only use its atomic weapons in the case of war. Indeed, there are many national, regional and local laws that prohibit ordinary citizens and nongovernmental organizations from even owning chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons, but the international calls for governments to enter into disarmament agreements and end all violence in the world simply have not garnered the same support as the Geneva Conventions. Do you believe that such contrasting concepts can also create a healthy tension between conventional wisdom and UNCONVENTIONAL WISDOM? 

Last year, price inflation hit a 40-year high. In turn, our Federal Reserve turned to a novel idea known as quantitative tightening, as well as the tried-and-true tactic of raising interest rates to combat the inflationary pressures. The Federal Reserve, however, rapidly raised interest rates from near zero to 4.50-4.75%, which also rapidly undercut bond prices, including the older-vintage Treasuries held by many banks. This week, public and private financial experts are suggesting that the bottoming out of the bond market was a significant factor that stymied efforts by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank to raise the billions of funds necessary for those banks just to remain solvent. Experts are also expressing concerns that many other banks could soon suffer the same demise. So, on Monday of this week our Federal Reserve started a new Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) for eligible depository institutions to help assure that banks can meet the needs of all their depositors. Conventional wisdom suggests that the new Fed BTFP initiative is not simply a bail out for SVB, but it is also necessary to avoid a run on our banking system. Does that conventional wisdom resonate with you? Will it hold true for banks without influential depositors like the venture capitalists and technology companies working with SVB? Do you think that financially troubled local banks in East Palestine, Ohio would be eligible for the BTFP? If so,why? If not, why not? Do you ever agree with the unconventional pundits? Do you agree with pundits who are suggesting that the U.S. financial system could soon come crashing down? Again? Do you generally go along with conventional wisdom, or do you more often find yourself coming up with some UNCONVENTIONAL WISDOM?