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By the mid 1300s, the Republic of Florence in modern day Italy had experienced one of the greatest economic booms in human history. In less than a century, Florence had grown from a tiny, irrelevant backwater to become one of Europe’s largest cities and preeminent financial center. The expansion was truly impressive. Florence’s
First thing’s first– I screwed up. Yesterday I wrote to you about the US government’s initiative to loan money to small businesses, and I was wrong about an important detail. I said the maximum amount of the loan was equal to 2.5x a company’s annual payroll expense. That’s incorrect. The correct maximum loan
[Editor’s note: this article was corrected on 30 March 2020; the proper way to calculate your loan is based on your average monthly (not annual) payroll multiplied by 2.5] As you’ve probably already heard, the US government unleashed a giant tsunami of money on Friday, passing a $2 trillion stimulus bill to help
Are you ready for this week’s absurdity? Here’s our Friday roll-up of the most ridiculous stories from around the world that are threats to your liberty, your finances, and your prosperity… and on occasion, poetic justice. Alcohol to go: Why wasn’t this always a thing? You realize how absurdly micromanaged the economy is
Yesterday the Chair of the FDIC released an astonishing video asking Americans to keep their money in the bank. Accompanied by soft piano music playing in the background, the official said: “Your money is safe at the banks. The last thing you should be doing is pulling your money out of the banks
One day back in the late 1990s when I was a wide-eyed 20-year-old cadet at West Point, we were told that a distinguished visitor was coming to speak, and to be seated in the auditorium by 1pm sharp. This was pretty routine; one of the great things about attending West Point was the
[Editor’s note: This letter was written by Tim Staermose, Sovereign Man’s Chief Investment Strategist and Editor of the 4th Pillar newsletter.] I’m writing from my remote rural villa in Southern Bali. I made a mad dash to get back here from Hong Kong before the borders effectively shut to visitors, and airlines cancelled
Well, at least there’s a bit of good news from the Corona Virus. In a few cases, it at least seems to be making government more efficient, and calls into question why so much bureaucracy existed to begin with. We think there’s a LOT more to come in terms of streamlining government. Millions
On November 6, 2000, then US presidential candidate George W. Bush told a crowd of cheering supporters, “they misunderestimated me.” Now, if English is not your native language, allow me to clear the air: ‘misunderestimate’ is not a word. But then again, George W. Bush was legendary for hilarious slip-ups like this. There
As you might have heard, Puerto Rico is now on lockdown. Government offices and private businesses are closed, and no one is allowed to leave their homes except to buy food, attend medical appointments, etc. This is quickly going to become global policy, at least in the West. If these measures haven’t hit
Are you ready for this week’s absurdity? Here’s our Friday roll-up of the most ridiculous stories from around the world that are threats to your liberty, your finances, and your prosperity… and on occasion, poetic justice. Solved: why is Mississippi is so fat? Jail time for diet advice Mississippi is officially the fattest
We certainly live in extraordinary times. Even people who have been irrationally dismissive of the Corona pandemic up until this point finally had to wake up and smell reality yesterday. The NBA. Tom Hanks. European travel ban. Our human brains, while magnificent and inspiring, are also wired in bizarre ways. We’re filled with
The year 1348, in the words of historian A.L. Maycock, was the closest that humanity ever came to going extinct. That was the year the Black Death descended on the European continent. And many historians today estimate that it killed as much as 60% of Europe’s population. Italy was hit especially hard by
[Editor’s note: This letter was written by Joe Jarvis, a Sovereign Man team member based in Puerto Rico.] Do you ever wonder what your bank account would look like today if you had made different career and life decisions? Well, a UK judge took the liberty of answering that question for one woman
This is going to be a rough day for a lot of folks. But it’s one that I’ve been writing about for quite some time. I’ve been saying for years that, at some point, there will be a severe financial reckoning. We wouldn’t know how, and most likely, we would have very little
