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We’ve spent a lot of time in our regular conversations talking about the looming retirement crisis around the world. The data is horrific. Pension and Social Security programs in nearly every developed nation are woefully underfunded. In the United States, senior government officials including the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Labor,
Exactly ten years ago, in the middle of the summer of 2008, the world was only two months away from the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression. At the time, the size of the US economy as measured by Gross Domestic product was around $14.8 trillion– by far the largest in
Today I just wanted to send you a quick note to highlight a great example of a company that’s using Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) to solve a real-world problem. I thought this would be important given that most of the noise in the crypto space these days is still almost invariably focused on
On March 29, 1879, a widely circulated newspaper called the American Register published a scathing editorial stating that “it is doubtful if electricity will ever be [widely] used” because it was too expensive to generate. Several months later, the Select Committee on Lighting and Electricity in the British House of Commons held hearings
What I’m about to tell you is a true story that highlights just how pathetic the banking system has become. A few months ago I was presented with a compelling opportunity to invest with a prominent, well-established private business based in the UK. And, after extensive due diligence, I decided to make the
It’s considered the worst merger in history. Back in January 2000, AOL bought Time Warner for $162 billion, which was considered an astonishing amount of money back then. Their goal was to create a tech/media giant. And they failed miserably. Time Warner was having a difficult time establishing an online presence, so they
In the year 6 AD, the Roman emperor Augustus set up a special trust fund known as the aerarium militare, or military treasury, to fund retirement pensions for Rome’s legionnaires. Now, these military pensions had already existed for several centuries in Rome. But the money to pay them had always been mixed together
By the time Louis XIV passed away in 1715, seven decades of his absurd extravagance had nearly bankrupted France. His reign was marked by constant warfare and the most excessive spending imaginable, from opulent palaces (including Versailles) to a costly welfare state– public hospitals, parks, monuments, museums. Louis XIV had turned France into
It’s hard to imagine, but today is actually Sovereign Man’s 9th birthday. Nine years ago, on June 19, 2009, I sent out the first ever Notes from the Field email. To commemorate the occasion, I thought I’d republish that first article… because I think it still captures the challenges we face, as well
On January 23, 1995, President Bill Clinton signed into law a piece of legislation that had been almost unanimously approved by both the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. It was called the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995– CAA. The idea behind the CAA was to force Congress to abide by
Earlier this week while most of the world was transfixed on the World Cup, the Trump/Kim handshake, or a multitude of other sundry events, Julius Malema, aka the Hitler of South Africa, was busy telling white people in his country that he’s not going wage genocide against them. Yet. In an interview with
It’s typically pretty hard to find anything exciting to say about drywall. Yes, drywall… as in, the building material that’s used for interior construction. Drywall, also known as wallboard, is manufactured from rehydrated gypsum to produce a calcium sulfate plaster, that’s later mixed with mildew-resistant foaming agent. . . hello? Are you still
Hallelujah. After almost a decade since Bitcoin was created, the SEC announced last week the creation of a new, senior position to coordinate the agency’s cryptocurrency and ICO efforts. As usual, the government showed up late to the party. But at least they showed up. The good news is that the person chosen
Two days ago the respective Boards of Trustees for Medicare and Social Security released their annual reports for 2018. As usual, the numbers are pretty gruesome… and the reports plainly stated what we’ve been talking about for years: the trust funds for both Social Security and Medicare are going to run out of
This morning after my plane landed from Bangkok, I was having breakfast in the business lounge in Sydney and glanced at the local paper, The Australian. The front-page headline told the story of yet another banking scandal: “Cartel case nets six bankers” The article was about how six prominent investment bankers in Australia