We have milestones this year. We celebrate 250 years of US history in a place where the war between France and Britain, known as the French and Indian War, preceded and arguably precipitated the trajectory to America’s independence. We fished on Passamaquoddy Reservation land and lunched at Dana Point. The tribe’s history stretches back 3000 years. During the French and Indian War, the Passamaquoddy fought on one side and then the other. Both the French and the British used and then abused this tribe and others in the region.
We celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Global Interdependence Center (GIC). GIC, www.interdependence.org, now organizes this gathering. Many GIC members and sponsors attend. Over the years, GIC’s program leadership has developed more and more of the discussion panels. This year was the most intensive evolution of the passage of programming to the GIC.
This is also the 25th anniversary year acknowledging 9/11. It was the year after 9/11 that this gathering grew in scope. Prior to that, we were just a few guys going fishing for a weekend and enjoying a quiet place to discuss world events and financial and economic affairs. Most of the time, I would invite folks, and they would say no. They didn’t want to go “all the way up there.” They were busy with other things. They didn’t like the woods. On and on.
After 9/11, those of us who attended the NABE meeting that day in the hotel ballroom attached to the South Tower had a reunion. One after another came to me with a surprising statement: “You know that place you asked me to go fishing with you in Maine? I have always said no. This time I want to go.” That statement was repeated and repeated. And the group’s size grew.
In a quarter century, we have grown to an event with about 50 people, usually with a waiting list since we get sold out quickly. While it started out as just a few boys in a fishing lodge, it is now certainly men and women from around the world. They are professionals in various disciplines, not just economics. The collective assets supervised or administered or managed by the participants is approximately a trillion dollars. We know because we conduct an annual survey.
Each year the discussion topics vary. And most of the conversation takes place under Chatham House Rules. But by agreement some elements of the week are now public and filmed and quoted and shared with thousands (maybe millions) of people around the world. More than half the participants publish reports from the gathering. And major media has covered the event. This year, the Wall Street Journal participated and was welcomed.
People ask me how the name came about. I didn’t coin the name “Camp Kotok”. It originated with an interview I was doing from the lodge deck with Steve Liesman of CNBC. It was 8:30 in the morning, and we were broadcast live on Squawk Box. We had a camera and a live truck but no monitor, so we could not see what the viewers saw. CNBC cut to a commercial break. Someone in the control room created a banner that said, “Camp Kotok.” When we resumed, Becky Quick asked Steve and me, “How are things at Camp Kotok?” We didn’t know there was a banner, but we answered nicely and described the place and the fishing. The nickname stuck.
This year, the conversations were diversely focused and intense. Themes ranged from war to tariffs to debt/deficits, to food and climate and to the wild and crazy politics we all see every day. Remember, this gathering is in Maine. In the past we have had special guests, including Senator Susan Collins. And remember, Maine shares a huge border with Canada. In the past, we have had numerous Canadians attending. I recall one time that the entire group stood together in fellowship and sang the “Star-Spangled Banner” and “Oh, Canada.” We sang together as one robust assembly.
It’s Sunday morning. I’m going fishing after breakfast and then gathering with those comrades and colleagues for a barbecue lunch at the lodge. Let me leave it to others to relate this year’s observations.
Tight lines from Leen’s Lodge.
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