Author: Rich Marin

Fiction/Humor Memoir

Pharmatastical

By Rich Marin | by Rich Marin

The pharmaceutical industry is enormous, representing one of the world’s largest and most valuable sectors. The global pharmaceutical market is valued at approximately $1.5-1.6 trillion annually as of recent years, with consistent growth of 4-6% per year. This includes both prescription and over-the-counter medications. The industry is dominated by large multinational corporations like Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Roche, Novartis, and Merck, with individual companies often generating $40-80 billion in annual revenue. The industry employs millions…

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Fiction/Humor Memoir

Flotsam & Jetsam

By Rich Marin | by Rich Marin

Flotsam and jetsam are maritime terms that refer to different types of debris found floating in the ocean or washed up on shores, though they’re often used together colloquially to mean “odds and ends” or “miscellaneous items,” and especially things that have no control over their provenance and at at the mercy of fate. Flotsam refers to wreckage or cargo that floats on the water after a ship has sunk or been wrecked. It comes…

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Memoir

Going Fast or Going Slow

By Rich Marin | by Rich Marin

About a year ago, our friend Melisa decided that she wanted to put in a zen garden in the front of her house in a spot defined by the alcove created by her home’s architectural design as determined by a large boulder that sits imbedded in the earth in that alcove. These giant granite boulders that are strewn all over these hillsides in this part of the state are sometimes of defined size and shape…

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Memoir

Untraveling

By Rich Marin | by Rich Marin

If you read my blog, you know by now that I have been threatening to reduce my international travel for a number of years and I have continued to wrestle with the issue because every time I try to find my way to a reduction plan, I end up doing what I’ve done this year, which is to plan three international trips during the year which is somewhere between one and three too many. My…

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Business Advice Politics

Pondering Consequences

By Rich Marin | by Rich Marin

The other day I read a piece about the supposed consequences of electing Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City, a notion that has gripped the financial press for a few weeks now. I even saw a post from my favorite financial writer, Bill Cohen, that stated that his conversations in the market indicated that Wall Street was far less worried about the U.S. bombing Iran than they were about Mamdani winning the Democratic…

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Business Advice Politics

Pondering Consequences

By Rich Marin | by Rich Marin

The other day I read a piece about the supposed consequences of electing Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City, a notion that has gripped the financial press for a few weeks now. I even saw a post from my favorite financial writer, Bill Cohen, that stated that his conversations in the market indicated that Wall Street was far less worried about the U.S. bombing Iran than they were about Mamdani winning the Democratic…

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Memoir

Artificial Everything

By Rich Marin | by Rich Marin

Today I read an article about the assault on higher education being perpetrated by Chat GPT and other AI bots. It was a disturbing article because it seemed far too relatable to my own experience. I was teaching a business ethics course at University of San Diego in November 2022 when Chat GPT was released. That semester was over, so the first semester that Chat GPT was in full swing with the student population was…

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Love

Seeking and Finding

By Rich Marin | by Rich Marin

I am sitting here in my garden on my hilltop in the middle of summer of my 71st year. I can hear some distant traffic noises but mostly I’m in the quiet of the garden with all sorts of birds chirping and singing and generally going about their morning routines. I have come down to the lower garden with my vinegar sprayer to beat back the incessant arrival of weeds. It’s what I would call…

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