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Dealing with Recessions A look at how Four Seasons founder Isadore Sharp learnt to handle recessions in one of the most...
6th Oct 2026
2

Dealing with Recessions

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

6th Oct 2026
A look at how Four Seasons founder Isadore Sharp learnt to handle recessions in one of the most cyclical industries known to man.
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The Power of Our Behavior Why is any reduction in consumption posed in terms of unbearable sacrifice, when no sacrifices are...
23rd Jan 2025
32

The Power of Our Behavior

from oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith [alt+shift+b] in finance

23rd Jan 2025
Why is any reduction in consumption posed in terms of unbearable sacrifice, when no sacrifices are necessary to consequentially reduce consumption? When we think of the word power, we associate it with external forces: energy, technology, the government, etc. But our own...
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The Best Summary of Atlas Shrugged A brief, no-fluff, summary of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. If you want to learn how capitalist...
9th Jul 2026
3

The Best Summary of Atlas Shrugged

from Farnam Street [alt+shift+b] in finance

9th Jul 2026
A brief, no-fluff, summary of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. If you want to learn how capitalist countries become socialist, this book will help you. Let’s dive in. Atlas Shrugged: The Simple Version The world depends on a relatively small number of people who build, invent, and...
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Feb ’24: Envyidia I’ve had quite a lot of culture to enjoy in February. Aside from some travel for the Six Nations...
3rd Mar 2024
142

Feb ’24: Envyidia

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

3rd Mar 2024
I’ve had quite a lot of culture to enjoy in February. Aside from some travel for the Six Nations rugby, I’ve been to two shows – one in London’s Royal Opera House and one on the south coast. Both events were either full or practically full. Covid feels fully behind us now. But...
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August ’24: From triumph to tragedy Looking back on the month, it was more eventful than Augusts are reputed to be. In the UK we are...
7th Sep 2024
127

August ’24: From triumph to tragedy

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

7th Sep 2024
Looking back on the month, it was more eventful than Augusts are reputed to be. In the UK we are getting used to our new government. And, in some cases, violently testing its boundaries with some summer rioting. We’ve seen some dreadful street behaviour, frequently of a racist /...
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Global Crypto Regulation: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? Global crypto regulation is confusing. So I surveyed the information available and created a...
25th May 2022
49

Global Crypto Regulation: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not?

from balajis.com [alt+shift+b] in finance

25th May 2022
Global crypto regulation is confusing. So I surveyed the information available and created a heatmap.
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Issue 78 – President on brink of bailout for bitcoin Trump tries to breathe life back into the crypto markets’ “Trump pump” while federal regulatory...
3rd Mar 2025
47

Issue 78 – President on brink of bailout for bitcoin

from Citation Needed [alt+shift+b] in finance

3rd Mar 2025
Trump tries to breathe life back into the crypto markets’ “Trump pump” while federal regulatory agencies wash their hands of any crypto industry oversight
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A review of Number Go Up, on crypto shenanigans A review of Zeke Faux's Number Go Up, with some bonus commentary on financial journalism and Tether...
29th Sep 2023
54

A review of Number Go Up, on crypto shenanigans

from Bits about Money [alt+shift+b] in finance

29th Sep 2023
A review of Zeke Faux's Number Go Up, with some bonus commentary on financial journalism and Tether specifically.
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Financial systems take a holiday Ever wondered about what happens when banks are closed or why some apps have operating hours? It's...
29th Feb 2024
143

Financial systems take a holiday

from Bits about Money [alt+shift+b] in finance

29th Feb 2024
Ever wondered about what happens when banks are closed or why some apps have operating hours? It's fascinating.
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Issue 50 – Bitcoin busts Governments seize huge quantities of bitcoin, and a few people seem to be yearning for the days of...
2nd Feb 2024
131

Issue 50 – Bitcoin busts

from Citation Needed [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Feb 2024
Governments seize huge quantities of bitcoin, and a few people seem to be yearning for the days of peak crypto mania.
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Goodhart's Law Isn't as Useful as You Might Think Goodhart's Law is useless. It tells you about a phenomenon, but it doesn't tell you how to solve it....
11th Jan 2023
120

Goodhart's Law Isn't as Useful as You Might Think

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

11th Jan 2023
Goodhart's Law is useless. It tells you about a phenomenon, but it doesn't tell you how to solve it. We look at how organisations actually prevent Goodhart's Law, and illustrate this with Amazon's Weekly Business Review as an example.
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Lee Walker and the Dell Growth Plateau How Lee Walker overcame Dell's biggest growth plateau in 1986. A story about capital, imagination,...
16th Aug 2023
81

Lee Walker and the Dell Growth Plateau

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

16th Aug 2023
How Lee Walker overcame Dell's biggest growth plateau in 1986. A story about capital, imagination, and creative deal-making.
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The 2023 Commoncog Recap Everything that we covered in 2023, and what to expect now that Commoncog has a new direction.
4th Jan 2024
129

The 2023 Commoncog Recap

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

4th Jan 2024
Everything that we covered in 2023, and what to expect now that Commoncog has a new direction.
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Mar ’26: Iran clobbers markets In March the rain stopped. We started March with North London already having seen 2x its usual...
12th Apr 2026
1

Mar ’26: Iran clobbers markets

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

12th Apr 2026
In March the rain stopped. We started March with North London already having seen 2x its usual rainfall for this point in the year. And thankfully in the middle of March, it stopped. As I write this I have actually needed to start watering the garden, something that felt a very...
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Why the CrowdStrike bug hit banks hard Regulation-induced monocultures meet unfortunate but explicable engineering decisions.
31st Jul 2024
135

Why the CrowdStrike bug hit banks hard

from Bits about Money [alt+shift+b] in finance

31st Jul 2024
Regulation-induced monocultures meet unfortunate but explicable engineering decisions.
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Two Americas, one bank branch, and $50,000 cash Ever wondered what happens if you try to take $50,000 in cash out of a bank? Answer: a year of...
5th Mar 2025
83

Two Americas, one bank branch, and $50,000 cash

from Bits about Money [alt+shift+b] in finance

5th Mar 2025
Ever wondered what happens if you try to take $50,000 in cash out of a bank? Answer: a year of investigative journalism.
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Why We're Helpless When Things Break Down Only then do we realize that by optimizing profit and efficiency, we've also optimized systemic...
1st May 2026
1

Why We're Helpless When Things Break Down

from oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith [alt+shift+b] in finance

1st May 2026
Only then do we realize that by optimizing profit and efficiency, we've also optimized systemic failure. In my essay AI, Money, Human Nature and the Problem with Problems, I refer to boundary conditions but didn't offer a thorough explanation of the role this concept plays...
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A Quarter Century of Investing Lessons learned from twenty-five years of enterprising investing
6th Jan 2025
1

A Quarter Century of Investing

from The Rational Walk [alt+shift+b] in finance

6th Jan 2025
Lessons learned from twenty-five years of enterprising investing
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✈️ A FLIGHT THAT ALMOST ENDED VERY DIFFERENTLY October is here, the markets are coming off a pretty choppy September, and there’s a lot happening...
1st Oct 2026
2

✈️ A FLIGHT THAT ALMOST ENDED VERY DIFFERENTLY

from Mazdak [alt+shift+b] in finance

1st Oct 2026
October is here, the markets are coming off a pretty choppy September, and there’s a lot happening beneath the surface.
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Jan ’26 January media seemed dominated by Greenland and Davos. As part of my efforts to avoid amplifying...
8th Feb 2026
1

Jan ’26

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

8th Feb 2026
January media seemed dominated by Greenland and Davos. As part of my efforts to avoid amplifying unstable narcissistic media-whore leaders, I haven’t got much to comment about. London has been pretty wet and miserable, as is January’s reputation. Meanwhile, markets were up quite...
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Anatomy of a credit card rewards program Credit card rewards are mostly funded out of interchange, a fee paid by businesses to accept cards.
29th Mar 2024
113

Anatomy of a credit card rewards program

from Bits about Money [alt+shift+b] in finance

29th Mar 2024
Credit card rewards are mostly funded out of interchange, a fee paid by businesses to accept cards.
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LinkedIn Goes All In on Vertical Video For years, platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts have dominated the short-form...
4th Feb 2025
46

LinkedIn Goes All In on Vertical Video

from Mazdak [alt+shift+b] in finance

4th Feb 2025
For years, platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts have dominated the short-form video space.
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All Property Becomes Cryptography For 99%+ of what's valuable, for every financial asset and capital asset, we will secure it onchain.
28th Jul 2025
52

All Property Becomes Cryptography

from balajis.com [alt+shift+b] in finance

28th Jul 2025
For 99%+ of what's valuable, for every financial asset and capital asset, we will secure it onchain.
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America's $175 Trillion Problem The true state of the global financial system, in ten charts.
25th Jul 2024
132

America's $175 Trillion Problem

from balajis.com [alt+shift+b] in finance

25th Jul 2024
The true state of the global financial system, in ten charts.
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Money laundering and AML compliance A brief overview of what money laundering is, what financial institutions do about it, and why.
10th Feb 2023
52

Money laundering and AML compliance

from Bits about Money [alt+shift+b] in finance

10th Feb 2023
A brief overview of what money laundering is, what financial institutions do about it, and why.
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Stablecoins are non-fungible, bank deposits are fungible On Twitter/X, I recently suggested that the network effects of the stablecoin market are massive....
14th Jan 2025
32

Stablecoins are non-fungible, bank deposits are fungible

from Moneyness [alt+shift+b] in finance

14th Jan 2025
On Twitter/X, I recently suggested that the network effects of the stablecoin market are massive. Tether, which has four times more wallets than all other stablecoins, is locked-in as the stablecoin lingua franca, just like English has been locked-in as the global language of...
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May ’26: Angelic timing May was an enjoyable month. I kept reasonably busy, as well as doing a bit of travel around the UK....
17th Jun 2026
1

May ’26: Angelic timing

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

17th Jun 2026
May was an enjoyable month. I kept reasonably busy, as well as doing a bit of travel around the UK. I visited King Charles’ Poundbury for the first time, as well as the south coast and the Cotswolds for a weekend. Meanwhile, the news has been dominated by Trump’s Iran war, and in...
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Bond Villain When Powell devalued bonds, he destroyed the economy.
4th Jul 2023
46

Bond Villain

from balajis.com [alt+shift+b] in finance

4th Jul 2023
When Powell devalued bonds, he destroyed the economy.
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June ’24: Election fever June was busy. I travelled more than usual in June. Partly in the UK – visiting Glasgow, the west...
9th Jul 2024
148

June ’24: Election fever

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

9th Jul 2024
June was busy. I travelled more than usual in June. Partly in the UK – visiting Glasgow, the west country, the south coast and the Isle of Wight; partly overseas – I visited Ibiza for a few days of R&R. Meanwhile, the election campaigns were in full swing. Nigel Farage did his...
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The Wisdom and Madness of Crowds: Market Prices as Political Predictors! In this, the first full week in November 2024, the big news stories of this week are political, as...
7th Nov 2024
31

The Wisdom and Madness of Crowds: Market Prices as Political Predictors!

from Musings on Markets [alt+shift+b] in finance

7th Nov 2024
In this, the first full week in November 2024, the big news stories of this week are political, as the US presidential election reached its climactic moment on Tuesday, but I don't write about politics, not because I do not have political views, but because I reserve those views...
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Binance reopened its doors and $3.6 billion walked out Binance’s first day back, OpenAI wants a nicer word for data centers, Google prices space compute at...
a week ago
1

Binance reopened its doors and $3.6 billion walked out

from Mazdak [alt+shift+b] in finance

a week ago
Binance’s first day back, OpenAI wants a nicer word for data centers, Google prices space compute at 100x, and a benchmark where the best AI scores 12%.
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Aug ’23: … A belated write-up of the month of August. Thinking back a month, two stories pop out for me. One...
18th Sep 2023
86

Aug ’23: …

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

18th Sep 2023
A belated write-up of the month of August. Thinking back a month, two stories pop out for me. One was the death of Russian mutineer Yevgeny Prigozhin – a larger-than-life modern day warlord, responsible for the ‘little green men’ at the start of the Russian/Ukraine war in 2014,...
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Why Write Why write an essay when you can type a few words and have AI generate one for you? Why write an...
9th Mar 2023
121

Why Write

from Farnam Street [alt+shift+b] in finance

9th Mar 2023
Why write an essay when you can type a few words and have AI generate one for you? Why write an email when AI can auto-respond for you with all the typical pleasantries and talking-points? While AI doing these things for you is likely to happen, it’s not necessarily a good thing....
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The Winner’s Edge A lot of otherwise talented people are too pessimistic to actually do anything. They are paralyzed...
19th Apr 2023
183

The Winner’s Edge

from Farnam Street [alt+shift+b] in finance

19th Apr 2023
A lot of otherwise talented people are too pessimistic to actually do anything. They are paralyzed by risks that don’t exist and greatly exaggerate them where they do, preventing them from being one of the best. Consider this lightly edited excerpt from a conversation between...
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Issue 54 – Cases continue Crypto-related litigation is in full swing, as the Terra civil fraud trial has kicked off and two...
2nd Apr 2024
143

Issue 54 – Cases continue

from Citation Needed [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Apr 2024
Crypto-related litigation is in full swing, as the Terra civil fraud trial has kicked off and two other cases against crypto companies have survived motions to dismiss.
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The business of check cashing Check cashing, as a business, is a poorly understood "alternative" financial service.
30th Jan 2024
146

The business of check cashing

from Bits about Money [alt+shift+b] in finance

30th Jan 2024
Check cashing, as a business, is a poorly understood "alternative" financial service.
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The Global Trade Game: Jokers Are Wild There may be no winners of the game of Global Domination (tm), and that is likely the best outcome....
2nd Apr 2025
49

The Global Trade Game: Jokers Are Wild

from oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Apr 2025
There may be no winners of the game of Global Domination (tm), and that is likely the best outcome. Okay, players: jokers are wild, but with a twist: the entire deck is jokers. Since everyone at the table will have five Aces, nobody wins. Welcome to the Trade War Poker...
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Putting the Jobs to be Done Interview to Practice Things we wished someone told us, before we put the JTBD interview to practice.
9th Jul 2025
55

Putting the Jobs to be Done Interview to Practice

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

9th Jul 2025
Things we wished someone told us, before we put the JTBD interview to practice.
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Network School 2025 Network School reopens March 1 with double the capacity. Apply now at ns.com.
2nd Feb 2025
82

Network School 2025

from balajis.com [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Feb 2025
Network School reopens March 1 with double the capacity. Apply now at ns.com.
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Credit card debt collection Credit card debt is the waste stream of consumer finance. The debt collection industry ends up being...
11th Aug 2023
43

Credit card debt collection

from Bits about Money [alt+shift+b] in finance

11th Aug 2023
Credit card debt is the waste stream of consumer finance. The debt collection industry ends up being sordid, for complex structural and microeconomic reasons.
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The Capital Cycle What a famous investing framework — part of the modern canon of value investing — tells us about the...
20th Sep 2023
125

The Capital Cycle

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

20th Sep 2023
What a famous investing framework — part of the modern canon of value investing — tells us about the expertise of capital in business.
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Warren Buffett on Berkshire’s Valuation Warren Buffett has typically avoided commenting on Berkshire's stock price, but he has provided some...
3rd Mar 2025
1

Warren Buffett on Berkshire’s Valuation

from The Rational Walk [alt+shift+b] in finance

3rd Mar 2025
Warren Buffett has typically avoided commenting on Berkshire's stock price, but he has provided some clues that are worth considering.
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Stock Prices, Earnings and Cashflows: The AI Effect plays through! In a post at the end of August 2026, I talked about interest rates in 2026 and marveled at the...
8th Oct 2026
2

Stock Prices, Earnings and Cashflows: The AI Effect plays through!

from Musings on Markets [alt+shift+b] in finance

8th Oct 2026
In a post at the end of August 2026, I talked about interest rates in 2026 and marveled at the capacity of equities to keep rising in the face of rising rates. I argued that the resilience of stocks during the year could be traced to higher-than-expected earnings being reported...
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Trillions Flow into AI: The New Infrastructure Arms Race 🌐 Big Tech Bets Trillions on AI Infrastructure
26th Jun 2025
66

Trillions Flow into AI: The New Infrastructure Arms Race

from Mazdak [alt+shift+b] in finance

26th Jun 2025
🌐 Big Tech Bets Trillions on AI Infrastructure
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Begging Bowl '25: I'm Looking for Two Readers Willing to Help Me Buy a New Thrift-Store Shirt The goal is to move incrementally toward a kind of happiness that actually makes us happy. That's...
2nd Feb 2025
32

Begging Bowl '25: I'm Looking for Two Readers Willing to Help Me Buy a New Thrift-Store Shirt

from oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Feb 2025
The goal is to move incrementally toward a kind of happiness that actually makes us happy. That's the goal of my work. I admire unvarnished honesty, which is scarce. And like everything else that's increasingly scarce, it behooves us to hoard our stash. In the unvarnished...
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Renovatio monetae This silver pfennig from the Archbishopric of Magdeburg (1152-1192) was subject to a policy of...
8th May 2024
27

Renovatio monetae

from Moneyness [alt+shift+b] in finance

8th May 2024
This silver pfennig from the Archbishopric of Magdeburg (1152-1192) was subject to a policy of renovatio monetae. Twice a year whoever held it had to bring it in to be changed for new coins at a rate of four old coins to three new coins. That suggests an annualized tax rate on...
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Google: Monopolized? Is Google too big? For years, the tech giant has dominated the search market, facing little...
1st Dec 2024
65

Google: Monopolized?

from Mazdak [alt+shift+b] in finance

1st Dec 2024
Is Google too big? For years, the tech giant has dominated the search market, facing little competition.
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The Irresistible Temptations of Centralized Power The only "reform" that changes our lives in a fundamentally positive way is radical decentralization...
1st Sep 2026
1

The Irresistible Temptations of Centralized Power

from oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith [alt+shift+b] in finance

1st Sep 2026
The only "reform" that changes our lives in a fundamentally positive way is radical decentralization via distributing centralized power. Presidents like to deal with the CEOs of corporate monopolies for self-evident reasons: Rather than engage in the tedious, contentious...
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Buffett Completes Succession Plan Warren Buffett has completed Berkshire's succession plan as he steps down as Chairman.
18th Sep 2026
-3

Buffett Completes Succession Plan

from The Rational Walk [alt+shift+b] in finance

18th Sep 2026
Warren Buffett has completed Berkshire's succession plan as he steps down as Chairman.
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Economic Tailwinds and Headwinds After the election in November 2016, I pointed out that the economy was solid, that there were...
1st Apr 2025
61

Economic Tailwinds and Headwinds

from Calculated Risk [alt+shift+b] in finance

1st Apr 2025
After the election in November 2016, I pointed out that the economy was solid, that there were significant economic tailwinds and that it was unlikely that Mr. Trump would do everything he said during the campaign. See: The Future is still Bright! and The Cupboard is Full.  I...
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Trump Jr.-advised prediction markets invite bets on president’s demise President Trump’s deregulatory agenda emboldened prediction markets to push boundaries around...
2nd Sep 2025
60

Trump Jr.-advised prediction markets invite bets on president’s demise

from Citation Needed [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Sep 2025
President Trump’s deregulatory agenda emboldened prediction markets to push boundaries around permitted event contracts. Now sites advised by his son are allowing bets on his death.
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Dec ’24 – 2024 in review And we’re off, into 2025. Before we get too far, it’s time to take stock (pardon the pun) of 2024....
7th Jan 2025
93

Dec ’24 – 2024 in review

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

7th Jan 2025
And we’re off, into 2025. Before we get too far, it’s time to take stock (pardon the pun) of 2024. I’ll follow the 7 point approach I’ve used for the last few years, starting with the wider market context. Q1 How did markets do? December saw falls across most asset classes –...
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Using the Quartz Crisis to Make Sense of Technological Disruption Also: the quartz crisis isn’t really about quartz at all. A sensemaking exercise for those who want...
3rd Jul 2026
1

Using the Quartz Crisis to Make Sense of Technological Disruption

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

3rd Jul 2026
Also: the quartz crisis isn’t really about quartz at all. A sensemaking exercise for those who want to get better at making sense of possible AI disruption.
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Is This a Moat: Mailchimp and PayPal’s Algorithmic Advantage Two case studies of real world competitive advantage, followed by a question: was this a moat or...
12th Dec 2022
104

Is This a Moat: Mailchimp and PayPal’s Algorithmic Advantage

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

12th Dec 2022
Two case studies of real world competitive advantage, followed by a question: was this a moat or not?
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AI Agents vs. SaaS: Is This the Beginning of a Structural Reset or Another Tech Overreaction? Public software companies just had one of their worst weeks in years—and the market reaction was...
9th Feb 2026
1

AI Agents vs. SaaS: Is This the Beginning of a Structural Reset or Another Tech Overreaction?

from Mazdak [alt+shift+b] in finance

9th Feb 2026
Public software companies just had one of their worst weeks in years—and the market reaction was swift, brutal, and emotional.
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Caroline Ellison: A woman with agency or a helpless pawn? Why did the former Alameda Research CEO receive only two years imprisonment for her role in the FTX...
2nd Oct 2024
83

Caroline Ellison: A woman with agency or a helpless pawn?

from Citation Needed [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Oct 2024
Why did the former Alameda Research CEO receive only two years imprisonment for her role in the FTX collapse?
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Feb ’23: taking profits February was cold, but mercifully dry. The days are becoming a welcome bit longer. London is filling...
14th Mar 2023
70

Feb ’23: taking profits

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

14th Mar 2023
February was cold, but mercifully dry. The days are becoming a welcome bit longer. London is filling up again, post covid, though Mondays and Fridays remain subdued to put it mildly. Market movements in February In the markets, February started strongly, but then something...
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The Bitcoin ETF is the spiritual reversal of Executive Order 6102 Back in 1935, they seized the gold. But now, digital gold is back.
11th Jan 2024
128

The Bitcoin ETF is the spiritual reversal of Executive Order 6102

from balajis.com [alt+shift+b] in finance

11th Jan 2024
Back in 1935, they seized the gold. But now, digital gold is back.
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Risk and AI: It's Tricky The possibility that AI will end up unleashing waves of 'Anti-Progress'--malicious uses,...
1st Jul 2026
1

Risk and AI: It's Tricky

from oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith [alt+shift+b] in finance

1st Jul 2026
The possibility that AI will end up unleashing waves of 'Anti-Progress'--malicious uses, untrustworthy output and uncontrollable floods of slop--also doesn't occur to those confined in the current belief construct. A funny thing happens on the way to understanding risk: we...
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We Still Have No Idea Whether Passive Investing is a Meaningful Risk Plus! Complements and Strategy; Privacy, Competition, and Scale; Platforms and Ownership; KYC;...
26th Nov 2024
44

We Still Have No Idea Whether Passive Investing is a Meaningful Risk

from The Diff [alt+shift+b] in finance

26th Nov 2024
Plus! Complements and Strategy; Privacy, Competition, and Scale; Platforms and Ownership; KYC; Tariff Man
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Issue 90 – Crime szn bro The Trump administration cracks down on software to limit surveillance of crypto transactions, while...
13th Aug 2025
40

Issue 90 – Crime szn bro

from Citation Needed [alt+shift+b] in finance

13th Aug 2025
The Trump administration cracks down on software to limit surveillance of crypto transactions, while celebrating a “deregulatory blitz” tailored for its billionaire benefactors
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Question #3 for 2025: What will the unemployment rate be in December 2025? Earlier I posted some questions on my blog for next year: Ten Economic Questions for 2025. Some of...
1st Jan 2025
47

Question #3 for 2025: What will the unemployment rate be in December 2025?

from Calculated Risk [alt+shift+b] in finance

1st Jan 2025
Earlier I posted some questions on my blog for next year: Ten Economic Questions for 2025. Some of these questions concern real estate (inventory, house prices, housing starts, new home sales), and I posted thoughts on those in the newsletter (others like GDP and employment will...
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Notes on a non-profit indicted for bank fraud Well-regarded non-profit runs domestic intelligence agency; distributes intelligence product;...
1st May 2026
1

Notes on a non-profit indicted for bank fraud

from Bits about Money [alt+shift+b] in finance

1st May 2026
Well-regarded non-profit runs domestic intelligence agency; distributes intelligence product; achieves adoption in financial infrastructure; recruits agents and allies; intervenes against U.S. political fundraising.
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To Bitcoin or not to Bitcoin? A Corporate Cash Question! In this post, I will bring together two disparate and very different topics that I have written...
18th Jul 2025
50

To Bitcoin or not to Bitcoin? A Corporate Cash Question!

from Musings on Markets [alt+shift+b] in finance

18th Jul 2025
In this post, I will bring together two disparate and very different topics that I have written about in the past. The first is the role that cash holdings play in a business, an extension of the dividend policy question, with an examination of why businesses often should not pay...
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The Only Thing That Matters Business skill, as the ability to cut a messy business problem down to a single, most important...
3rd Nov 2025
18

The Only Thing That Matters

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

3rd Nov 2025
Business skill, as the ability to cut a messy business problem down to a single, most important thing.
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Routers, Apps, AGI Plus! Diff Jobs; Peripheral Bets; Fragmentation and Industry Maturity; Deepfakes as Pull Quotes;...
20th Oct 2025
1

Routers, Apps, AGI

from The Diff [alt+shift+b] in finance

20th Oct 2025
Plus! Diff Jobs; Peripheral Bets; Fragmentation and Industry Maturity; Deepfakes as Pull Quotes; Benchmarks; Platforms
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AI is polytheistic, not monotheistic And ten more thoughts on AI.
3rd Aug 2025
61

AI is polytheistic, not monotheistic

from balajis.com [alt+shift+b] in finance

3rd Aug 2025
And ten more thoughts on AI.
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2024 Tax Strategies for Optimization and Savings The new year dawns, not just with fresh resolutions, but also the opportunity to reassess and...
3rd Jan 2024
126

2024 Tax Strategies for Optimization and Savings

from Mazdak [alt+shift+b] in finance

3rd Jan 2024
The new year dawns, not just with fresh resolutions, but also the opportunity to reassess and optimize your tax strategy. While taxes may not be the most exhilarating topic, savvy planning can significantly reduce your liability and boost your financial well-being. So, grab your...
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How Experts Sensemake Two decades ago, the US military funded some research into how humans sensemake. This piece is about...
7th Apr 2026
1

How Experts Sensemake

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

7th Apr 2026
Two decades ago, the US military funded some research into how humans sensemake. This piece is about that theory — the best theory of sensemaking that we have — why it matters for expertise, and how you can apply it to make sense of AI.
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You Aren't Learning If You Don't Close the Loops Every experimentation and iteration loop looks the same, but the vast majority of folk in business...
2nd Nov 2022
112

You Aren't Learning If You Don't Close the Loops

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Nov 2022
Every experimentation and iteration loop looks the same, but the vast majority of folk in business don't seem to have the discipline to execute till the end. Why this is, and why it's hard.
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The Long Shadow of Checks A lot of more modern financial infrastructure follows the paths blazed by checks, at least in the...
13th Dec 2023
127

The Long Shadow of Checks

from Bits about Money [alt+shift+b] in finance

13th Dec 2023
A lot of more modern financial infrastructure follows the paths blazed by checks, at least in the U.S.
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What I’ve Been Reading Thoughts on the books I read in Q1 2025
3rd Apr 2025
1

What I’ve Been Reading

from The Rational Walk [alt+shift+b] in finance

3rd Apr 2025
Thoughts on the books I read in Q1 2025
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It’s a treasure trove of health insights! Use Insulin wisely Life on Earth started simple. For nearly 2 billion years, tiny single-celled...
21st Oct 2024
132

It’s a treasure trove of health insights!

from Seeking Wisdom [alt+shift+b] in finance

21st Oct 2024
Use Insulin wisely Life on Earth started simple. For nearly 2 billion years, tiny single-celled organisms dominated. Then, a lucky accident changed everything. One cell swallowed another, and the swallowed cell became mitochondria, the powerhouse of complex cells. This chance...
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Data Update 9 for 2025: Dividends and Buybacks - Inertia and Me-tooism! In my ninth (and last) data post for 2025, I look at cash returned by businesses across the world,...
5th Mar 2025
60

Data Update 9 for 2025: Dividends and Buybacks - Inertia and Me-tooism!

from Musings on Markets [alt+shift+b] in finance

5th Mar 2025
In my ninth (and last) data post for 2025, I look at cash returned by businesses across the world, looking at both the magnitude and the form of that return. I start with a framework for thinking about how much cash a business can return to its owners, and then argue that, in the...
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The Situational Awareness Blow-up: The Collateral Damage from Investing Conviction! Earlier this year, I was asked what I thought about Leopold Aschenbrenner and I admitted that I knew...
11th Aug 2026
1

The Situational Awareness Blow-up: The Collateral Damage from Investing Conviction!

from Musings on Markets [alt+shift+b] in finance

11th Aug 2026
Earlier this year, I was asked what I thought about Leopold Aschenbrenner and I admitted that I knew little about him other than what I had read about him, more in social media, than in the press - that he was a 25-year-old wunderkind who had started at OpenAI but had left to...
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The Digest #226 Warren Buffett donates $1.15 billion to his family foundations
26th Nov 2024
1

The Digest #226

from The Rational Walk [alt+shift+b] in finance

26th Nov 2024
Warren Buffett donates $1.15 billion to his family foundations
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Feb ’26: Before Iran So, for the avoidance of doubt, the end of the month is the last trading day of the month. Which for...
16th Mar 2026
1

Feb ’26: Before Iran

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

16th Mar 2026
So, for the avoidance of doubt, the end of the month is the last trading day of the month. Which for February, meant Friday February 27th. The fact that the Israelis and the Americans invaded Iran on February 28th is going to impact March, not February. Which is just as well...
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Issue 63 – RobConf 2024 Coinbase responds to campaign finance violation allegations, Trump panders to bitcoiners, and I chat...
7th Aug 2024
118

Issue 63 – RobConf 2024

from Citation Needed [alt+shift+b] in finance

7th Aug 2024
Coinbase responds to campaign finance violation allegations, Trump panders to bitcoiners, and I chat with Lyn Alden about sexism in bitcoin.
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Being an Amazon Seller in 2021; Year in Review I’m the founder and CEO of Viahart (est. 2010), an e-commerce focused educational toy company. We...
23rd Jan 2022
27

Being an Amazon Seller in 2021; Year in Review

from Molson Hart's Blog - Molson Hart [alt+shift+b] in finance

23rd Jan 2022
I’m the founder and CEO of Viahart (est. 2010), an e-commerce focused educational toy company. We did $8.8 million in sales in 2021. This article is going to tell you what it was like to run this business in 2021 vs. 2020, amidst threats like the Amazon aggregators, supply chain...
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10 year review Wahoop! I have made it through ten years. In fact, I’ve had a trackable portfolio for over 20 years....
20th Jan 2023
83

10 year review

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

20th Jan 2023
Wahoop! I have made it through ten years. In fact, I’ve had a trackable portfolio for over 20 years. But 10 years ago I started tracking my portfolio in a consistent, monthly way – unitising its performance so I could measure its return. It wasn’t until 2015 that I started this...
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The Joy of Small Markets If you want to get rich, the irony is that small markets are often better than large ones.
2nd Sep 2025
45

The Joy of Small Markets

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Sep 2025
If you want to get rich, the irony is that small markets are often better than large ones.
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Why We Shouldn’t “Buy the Dip” “Buying the dip” is buy stocks whenever there is a short-term decline in stock prices, under the...
29th May 2023
22

Why We Shouldn’t “Buy the Dip”

from Molson Hart's Blog - Molson Hart [alt+shift+b] in finance

29th May 2023
“Buying the dip” is buy stocks whenever there is a short-term decline in stock prices, under the assumption that asset prices will quickly revert, enabling you to make money. This article explains why a government-driven culture of “buying the dip” can be damaging to you and...
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Sam Bankman-Fried: guilty on all charges Jurors spent less than five hours deliberating before returning the verdict.
3rd Nov 2023
59

Sam Bankman-Fried: guilty on all charges

from Citation Needed [alt+shift+b] in finance

3rd Nov 2023
Jurors spent less than five hours deliberating before returning the verdict.
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Deposit franchises as natural hedges Many observe that banks seem to be blowing up due to predictable consequences of rising interest...
5th May 2023
45

Deposit franchises as natural hedges

from Bits about Money [alt+shift+b] in finance

5th May 2023
Many observe that banks seem to be blowing up due to predictable consequences of rising interest rates. How did we get here?
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Is the wholesale marketplace Faire right for your e-commerce business or brand? My company has sold $2.6 million on Faire over the past 4.5 years. As selling on Amazon has become...
6th Feb 2026
1

Is the wholesale marketplace Faire right for your e-commerce business or brand?

from Molson Hart's Blog - Molson Hart [alt+shift+b] in finance

6th Feb 2026
My company has sold $2.6 million on Faire over the past 4.5 years. As selling on Amazon has become tougher and tougher, we are thankful for the growing sales Faire has brought us. That said, it's a difficult, counterintuitive marketplace to operate on, and one that is getting,...
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Oil, War and the Global Economy: The Market's Narrative in March 2026 Markets play an expectations game, and in March 2026, we saw the process play out, with all of its...
1st Apr 2026
1

Oil, War and the Global Economy: The Market's Narrative in March 2026

from Musings on Markets [alt+shift+b] in finance

1st Apr 2026
Markets play an expectations game, and in March 2026, we saw the process play out, with all of its upsides and downsides. The month started with a war in the Middle East, which quickly percolated into soaring oil prices and dropping stock prices, but the overwhelming factor was...
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Minimal Impact to Insurers from Icelandic Volcano Eruption At least for now, most air travel restrictions caused by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull...
11th Aug 2026
1

Minimal Impact to Insurers from Icelandic Volcano Eruption

from The Rational Walk [alt+shift+b] in finance

11th Aug 2026
At least for now, most air travel restrictions caused by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano have been lifted throughout Europe.
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Warren Buffett’s Thanksgiving Letter Warren Buffett's Thanksgiving Letter sheds more light on why he decided to retire.
11th Nov 2025
1

Warren Buffett’s Thanksgiving Letter

from The Rational Walk [alt+shift+b] in finance

11th Nov 2025
Warren Buffett's Thanksgiving Letter sheds more light on why he decided to retire.
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The Inevitable Drift Down from "Can't Lose" Owning Stocks to "Can't Win" Even if an AI program advises selling everything and walking away from the market for five years,...
3rd Nov 2025
1

The Inevitable Drift Down from "Can't Lose" Owning Stocks to "Can't Win"

from oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith [alt+shift+b] in finance

3rd Nov 2025
Even if an AI program advises selling everything and walking away from the market for five years, how many of us would take this advice? Only those who experienced the heady euphoria of the late 1990s dot-com bubble in tech stocks know what the shift from "can't lose"...
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25 Years of Higher Interest Rates Ahead? Interest rates are linked to inflation, but they're also linked to risk. As a result of...
2nd May 2025
36

25 Years of Higher Interest Rates Ahead?

from oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd May 2025
Interest rates are linked to inflation, but they're also linked to risk. As a result of recency bias, where we assume the recent past is a permanent state of affairs, many believe near-zero interest rates are "normal." They aren't. As the chart of 10-year US Treasury...
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Working Out Will Change Your Life Do you want to lose weight? Have more energy? Sleep better? Improve your mood? If so, then you need...
8th Aug 2023
39

Working Out Will Change Your Life

from Mazdak [alt+shift+b] in finance

8th Aug 2023
Do you want to lose weight? Have more energy? Sleep better? Improve your mood? If so, then you need to start working out. Working out has a myriad of benefits that can improve your life in many ways. Here are just a few of the ways that working out can change your life:
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Issue 61 – Soft war by the enemy How will recent Supreme Court decisions affect the crypto world? Also, more absurdity from the...
5th Jul 2024
134

Issue 61 – Soft war by the enemy

from Citation Needed [alt+shift+b] in finance

5th Jul 2024
How will recent Supreme Court decisions affect the crypto world? Also, more absurdity from the crypto lobby, and some new regulatory actions.
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In the Future, Every AI Lab is a Neocloud for Fifteen Minutes Plus! FDE Crunch; Fable!; Egg Futures?; Becoming IBM; Surtaxes
2nd Jul 2026
1

In the Future, Every AI Lab is a Neocloud for Fifteen Minutes

from The Diff [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Jul 2026
Plus! FDE Crunch; Fable!; Egg Futures?; Becoming IBM; Surtaxes
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Longreads + Open Thread Funds, Slop, Schools, Lookism, Automation, Bots, Efficiency, Magnitogorsk
1st Aug 2026
2

Longreads + Open Thread

from The Diff [alt+shift+b] in finance

1st Aug 2026
Funds, Slop, Schools, Lookism, Automation, Bots, Efficiency, Magnitogorsk
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Jan ’24: A giant tax bill lands One of several highlights for me in January was visiting Salisbury cathedral, which I did on an...
10th Feb 2024
141

Jan ’24: A giant tax bill lands

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

10th Feb 2024
One of several highlights for me in January was visiting Salisbury cathedral, which I did on an impulse while travelling back from the Coastal Folly. My main frame of reference to the cathedral being those notorious Russian nerve agent assassins citing it as their reason for...
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What do LLMs Want? Plus! Governance; Implementation Risk; Jailbreaking; In-Kind Deals; Revalued Inputs
1st Dec 2025
1

What do LLMs Want?

from The Diff [alt+shift+b] in finance

1st Dec 2025
Plus! Governance; Implementation Risk; Jailbreaking; In-Kind Deals; Revalued Inputs
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Bank of Canada Holds Rates Steady, Inflation Progress Seen as Insufficient The Bank of Canada (BoC) opted to maintain its key interest rate at 5% today, signaling a cautious...
6th Mar 2024
102

Bank of Canada Holds Rates Steady, Inflation Progress Seen as Insufficient

from Mazdak [alt+shift+b] in finance

6th Mar 2024
The Bank of Canada (BoC) opted to maintain its key interest rate at 5% today, signaling a cautious stance on inflation despite recent declines. Governor Tiff Macklem acknowledged progress in bringing inflation down to 2.9% in January, but emphasized the need for continued...
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Longreads + Open Thread Radio, Startups, History, Bally's, Dead Internet, Caesars
1st Feb 2025
53

Longreads + Open Thread

from The Diff [alt+shift+b] in finance

1st Feb 2025
Radio, Startups, History, Bally's, Dead Internet, Caesars
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Evaluating Information: Find the Signal in the Noise We are drowning in information. Most of that information is irrelevant. If only we could sort what...
3rd Aug 2022
78

Evaluating Information: Find the Signal in the Noise

from Farnam Street [alt+shift+b] in finance

3rd Aug 2022
We are drowning in information. Most of that information is irrelevant. If only we could sort what matters from what doesn’t. The good news is that you can train your brain to evaluate the quality of information. Not only can you quickly determine if someone knows what they are...
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Primary Sources Consulting primary sources represents table stakes for intelligent investors and responsible...
11th Feb 2025
1

Primary Sources

from The Rational Walk [alt+shift+b] in finance

11th Feb 2025
Consulting primary sources represents table stakes for intelligent investors and responsible citizens.
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The Network School We’re starting a new school near Singapore for the dark talent of the world. Apply online at...
16th Aug 2024
144

The Network School

from balajis.com [alt+shift+b] in finance

16th Aug 2024
We’re starting a new school near Singapore for the dark talent of the world. Apply online at ns.com/apply.
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"I didn't launder the cash, your honor. The robot did." Crypto enthusiasts protest the trial of Alexey Pertsev As the multiple Tornado Cash legal cases...
11th Jun 2024
23

"I didn't launder the cash, your honor. The robot did."

from Moneyness [alt+shift+b] in finance

11th Jun 2024
Crypto enthusiasts protest the trial of Alexey Pertsev As the multiple Tornado Cash legal cases wend their way through courts in the Netherlands and the U.S., we continue to learn how society's money laundering laws will be applied to some of the more unique financial...
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June 2025: Show times I really want to stop mentioning Trump. Even when he sends troops into LA, one of my favourite...
11th Jul 2025
57

June 2025: Show times

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

11th Jul 2025
I really want to stop mentioning Trump. Even when he sends troops into LA, one of my favourite cities. But when he launches 30kt bombs on Iran, it is very hard to avoid talking about him. In the context of what Trump’s been up to, the welfare reform screw-ups by the Labour...
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Seeing like a Bank The structural reasons why banks sometimes behave bizarrely in interactions with customers, like...
7th Nov 2023
125

Seeing like a Bank

from Bits about Money [alt+shift+b] in finance

7th Nov 2023
The structural reasons why banks sometimes behave bizarrely in interactions with customers, like forgetting things which customers tell them.
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Greg Abel’s Unique Challenge Greg Abel takes over as Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hathaway on January 1, 2026, a job that...
31st Dec 2025
1

Greg Abel’s Unique Challenge

from The Rational Walk [alt+shift+b] in finance

31st Dec 2025
Greg Abel takes over as Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hathaway on January 1, 2026, a job that will involve at least three major challenges.
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How to Become Data Driven The answer, like most things from Statistical Process Control, is more surprising and more obvious...
6th Feb 2023
106

How to Become Data Driven

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

6th Feb 2023
The answer, like most things from Statistical Process Control, is more surprising and more obvious than you might think.
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A Few Notes on Moats Some non-obvious, even surprising things about building competitive moats, including when they might...
11th Feb 2026
1

A Few Notes on Moats

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

11th Feb 2026
Some non-obvious, even surprising things about building competitive moats, including when they might not be necessary.
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How to Become an Asian Tycoon Every Asian tycoon becomes a tycoon in the exact same way. Learning to see this core pattern is half...
1st Apr 2025
56

How to Become an Asian Tycoon

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

1st Apr 2025
Every Asian tycoon becomes a tycoon in the exact same way. Learning to see this core pattern is half the battle.
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America Underestimates the Difficulty of Bringing Manufacturing Back On April 2nd, 2025, our president announced major new taxes on imports from foreign countries...
6th Apr 2025
107

America Underestimates the Difficulty of Bringing Manufacturing Back

from Molson Hart's Blog - Molson Hart [alt+shift+b] in finance

6th Apr 2025
On April 2nd, 2025, our president announced major new taxes on imports from foreign countries (“tariffs”), ranging from 10% to 49%. The stated goal is to bring manufacturing back to the United States and to “make America wealthy again”. These tariffs will not work. In fact, they...
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Warren Buffett’s Final Brushstrokes Warren Buffett is retiring as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway but he may still make a few final...
5th May 2025
1

Warren Buffett’s Final Brushstrokes

from The Rational Walk [alt+shift+b] in finance

5th May 2025
Warren Buffett is retiring as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway but he may still make a few final brushstrokes on his canvas as Chairman.
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Imperfectly Enforced Rules Create Bad Local Maxima Plus! Ads; Marketing; Pricing; Take Rates; SPVs
1st Sep 2026
1

Imperfectly Enforced Rules Create Bad Local Maxima

from The Diff [alt+shift+b] in finance

1st Sep 2026
Plus! Ads; Marketing; Pricing; Take Rates; SPVs
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Jon McNeill: How Elon Musk Makes Decisions Jon McNeill is the former President of Tesla and the co-founder and CEO of DVx Ventures. Elon Musk...
a week ago
1

Jon McNeill: How Elon Musk Makes Decisions

from Farnam Street [alt+shift+b] in finance

a week ago
Jon McNeill is the former President of Tesla and the co-founder and CEO of DVx Ventures. Elon Musk believes speed creates a competitive advantage, whether it’s speed of decision, speed of cash, or speed of response. But what does that look like day to day, and how do you build a...
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California Is Not A Democracy It's a one-party state. They hold elections, but the Party always wins.
10th Jun 2024
147

California Is Not A Democracy

from balajis.com [alt+shift+b] in finance

10th Jun 2024
It's a one-party state. They hold elections, but the Party always wins.
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Decentralizing Education with Synthesis I'm co-leading a round in Synthesis, a startup scaling the custom school built for Elon Musk’s kids.
21st Apr 2022
37

Decentralizing Education with Synthesis

from balajis.com [alt+shift+b] in finance

21st Apr 2022
I'm co-leading a round in Synthesis, a startup scaling the custom school built for Elon Musk’s kids.
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Reflections on the Software Dark Factory Q&A Some thoughts from watching a demo of a Software Dark Factory.
3rd Jun 2026
1

Reflections on the Software Dark Factory Q&A

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

3rd Jun 2026
Some thoughts from watching a demo of a Software Dark Factory.
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The Best Age to Start Taking Social Security: It's Not What You Think When you reach full retirement age (FRA), you can start taking Social Security benefits. But you may...
18th Sep 2023
42

The Best Age to Start Taking Social Security: It's Not What You Think

from Mazdak [alt+shift+b] in finance

18th Sep 2023
When you reach full retirement age (FRA), you can start taking Social Security benefits. But you may want to consider taking them sooner, even if it means a smaller monthly check. Here's why: Your benefits will grow by 8% per year for each year you delay taking them, up to age...
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How should money laundering laws apply to DeFi? Everyone agrees that money laundering laws apply to DeFi. The question is: how to apply them? DeFi,...
14th Sep 2024
25

How should money laundering laws apply to DeFi?

from Moneyness [alt+shift+b] in finance

14th Sep 2024
Everyone agrees that money laundering laws apply to DeFi. The question is: how to apply them? DeFi, or decentralized finance, is an emerging segment of the broader financial industry that delivers traditional financial services, say like trading or lending, using a novel type of...
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Focus Is Saying No To Good Ideas Several stories about one of the hardest maxims to put to practice in business.
18th Oct 2022
111

Focus Is Saying No To Good Ideas

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

18th Oct 2022
Several stories about one of the hardest maxims to put to practice in business.
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Claude vs. ChatGPT: A Comprehensive Comparison In today’s rapidly evolving AI landscape, two names stand out in the realm of conversational...
4th Mar 2025
59

Claude vs. ChatGPT: A Comprehensive Comparison

from Mazdak [alt+shift+b] in finance

4th Mar 2025
In today’s rapidly evolving AI landscape, two names stand out in the realm of conversational assistants—Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Although both are built on large language models, they diverge sharply in design philosophy, technical implementation, safety...
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Meet Trump’s memecoin dinner guests Trump's crypto-for-access dinner triggers broad ethics alarms, and 73% non-US attendance raises...
7th May 2025
51

Meet Trump’s memecoin dinner guests

from Citation Needed [alt+shift+b] in finance

7th May 2025
Trump's crypto-for-access dinner triggers broad ethics alarms, and 73% non-US attendance raises fresh concerns over foreign influence
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There Is No Truth in Business, Only Knowledge 'Knowledge' here is defined as 'theories or models that help you predict better'. How an idea from...
4th Apr 2023
108

There Is No Truth in Business, Only Knowledge

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

4th Apr 2023
'Knowledge' here is defined as 'theories or models that help you predict better'. How an idea from W. Edwards Deming may well be a working philosophy of business.
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Make Every Day Count It was a 2012 evening, and I was driving home from the office. I was worried about finishing a big...
1st Nov 2023
169

Make Every Day Count

from Seeking Wisdom [alt+shift+b] in finance

1st Nov 2023
It was a 2012 evening, and I was driving home from the office. I was worried about finishing a big project at work on time. I’d made the journey from the office to my home so many times, my car almost seemed to know the way by itself. My hands were on the wheel, but…
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[Outliers] Charlie Munger’s Interview with Todd Combs I’m excited to share this previously unreleased 2022 conversation between Charlie Munger and Todd...
1st Oct 2026
1

[Outliers] Charlie Munger’s Interview with Todd Combs

from Farnam Street [alt+shift+b] in finance

1st Oct 2026
I’m excited to share this previously unreleased 2022 conversation between Charlie Munger and Todd Combs.  Public Release: Oct 6th. Members have access now.Join us. As with any Munger talk, the subjects are both deep and wide. I’ve pulled out the ideas that most resonated with me....
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Who Decides What AI Can Do? Plus! Diff Jobs; Fun Trades; Insiders; M&A; Two-Tier Rounds; Switching Costs
2nd Mar 2026
1

Who Decides What AI Can Do?

from The Diff [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Mar 2026
Plus! Diff Jobs; Fun Trades; Insiders; M&A; Two-Tier Rounds; Switching Costs
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Apple’s 2025 Product Unveiling: What’s New and What Actually Matters Apple’s latest keynote delivered a sweeping set of updates across AirPods, iPhones, and the Apple...
9th Sep 2025
59

Apple’s 2025 Product Unveiling: What’s New and What Actually Matters

from Mazdak [alt+shift+b] in finance

9th Sep 2025
Apple’s latest keynote delivered a sweeping set of updates across AirPods, iPhones, and the Apple Watch lineup.
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1st Sept 2026: An Increase in Membership Prices Commoncog is increasing membership prices on 1st September 2026. If you’d like to lock in the old...
11th Aug 2026
1

1st Sept 2026: An Increase in Membership Prices

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

11th Aug 2026
Commoncog is increasing membership prices on 1st September 2026. If you’d like to lock in the old prices, you should probably sign up before then.
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Setting the Business Expertise Series Free Removing the paywall on The Business Expertise Series, which covers the work of Lia DiBello and her...
6th Jun 2023
110

Setting the Business Expertise Series Free

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

6th Jun 2023
Removing the paywall on The Business Expertise Series, which covers the work of Lia DiBello and her collaborators.
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The Corporate Life Cycle: Managing, Valuation and Investing Implications! As I reveal my ignorance about TikTok trends, social media celebrities and Gen Z slang, my children...
20th Aug 2024
27

The Corporate Life Cycle: Managing, Valuation and Investing Implications!

from Musings on Markets [alt+shift+b] in finance

20th Aug 2024
As I reveal my ignorance about TikTok trends, social media celebrities and Gen Z slang, my children are quick to point out my age, and I accept that reality, for the most part. I understand that I am too old to exercise without stretching first or eat a heaping plate of cheese...
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Controlling the Narrative Is Not the Same As Controlling the World This is Essay #9 in the series Truth Be Told. The core dynamic of this era is the notion that...
a week ago
1

Controlling the Narrative Is Not the Same As Controlling the World

from oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith [alt+shift+b] in finance

a week ago
This is Essay #9 in the series Truth Be Told. The core dynamic of this era is the notion that controlling the narrative controls the world, as persuading the populace to believe something is true controls their convictions which then control their behaviors. Centralized...
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Why Healthcare Is in a Death Spiral: Follow the Money If each of these is not a part of any 'reform,' than all that is being done is pouring money into a...
1st Dec 2025
2

Why Healthcare Is in a Death Spiral: Follow the Money

from oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith [alt+shift+b] in finance

1st Dec 2025
If each of these is not a part of any 'reform,' than all that is being done is pouring money into a monopolizing cartel, just in a slightly different way. Unbeknownst to those of us with little inside knowledge of the complex financial plumbing of the US healthcare system,...
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Should Congress be Allowed to Trade? Plus! Norms Trading; Point-of-Sale; Trade Trench Warfare; AI and Ads; Bluffing Your Way to Better...
1st May 2025
19

Should Congress be Allowed to Trade?

from The Diff [alt+shift+b] in finance

1st May 2025
Plus! Norms Trading; Point-of-Sale; Trade Trench Warfare; AI and Ads; Bluffing Your Way to Better Management
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What Do Brontosauruses Know about Uncoordinated Conspiracies? Brontosaurus skeleton at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History (allegedly) Let’s pretend for a...
2nd Sep 2024
33

What Do Brontosauruses Know about Uncoordinated Conspiracies?

from Molson Hart's Blog - Molson Hart [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Sep 2024
Brontosaurus skeleton at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History (allegedly) Let’s pretend for a moment that brontosauruses are made up, despite them being accepted by the public and scientific community, having ample evidence for their existence, and appearing in museums all...
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Demystifying financial leverage Leverage is actually reasonably easy to understand, both in the math and in the implications for...
11th Nov 2022
38

Demystifying financial leverage

from Bits about Money [alt+shift+b] in finance

11th Nov 2022
Leverage is actually reasonably easy to understand, both in the math and in the implications for financial firms.
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Twitter vs. Instagram Threads: The Battle for the Short-Form Social Media Crown Twitter and Instagram are two of the most popular social media platforms in the world. They both...
8th Jul 2023
42

Twitter vs. Instagram Threads: The Battle for the Short-Form Social Media Crown

from Mazdak [alt+shift+b] in finance

8th Jul 2023
Twitter and Instagram are two of the most popular social media platforms in the world. They both offer users a way to share short-form content, but they have different approaches to how that content is displayed and consumed. Twitter is a more public platform, where anyone can...
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The Two Types of Data Analysis Broadly speaking, there are two approaches to data analysis in business. The two approaches have...
3rd Nov 2023
112

The Two Types of Data Analysis

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

3rd Nov 2023
Broadly speaking, there are two approaches to data analysis in business. The two approaches have different worldviews, and express different tradeoffs. Here's why that matters.
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How to Improve at Sensemaking AI? What we can learn from the disorienting changes hitting the software industry, and how we can use...
3rd May 2026
1

How to Improve at Sensemaking AI?

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

3rd May 2026
What we can learn from the disorienting changes hitting the software industry, and how we can use that to improve at sensemaking this uncertain new technology.
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In Credit Underwriting, Better is Worse Plus! IRR; Structure; Financial Epiphytes; Shale; Weakening the Cartel
2nd Jan 2025
61

In Credit Underwriting, Better is Worse

from The Diff [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Jan 2025
Plus! IRR; Structure; Financial Epiphytes; Shale; Weakening the Cartel
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Amazon’s Pricing Policies Promote Inflation The state of California has sued Amazon in what may be the biggest antitrust case for 25 years, when...
30th Apr 2023
25

Amazon’s Pricing Policies Promote Inflation

from Molson Hart's Blog - Molson Hart [alt+shift+b] in finance

30th Apr 2023
The state of California has sued Amazon in what may be the biggest antitrust case for 25 years, when 20 states joined the US Department of Justice to sue Microsoft. These cases revolve around whether consumers are harmed by the company’s actions. The case against Amazon focuses...
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The Hospitality Solution in Your Business A look at the main provocation of Will Guidara’s Unreasonable Hospitality: that you can solve...
11th Sep 2024
122

The Hospitality Solution in Your Business

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

11th Sep 2024
A look at the main provocation of Will Guidara’s Unreasonable Hospitality: that you can solve (certain) business problems with hospitality, and that it only takes a little thoughtfulness to do so.
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Nov ’25: Coastal Folly loan repaid Trump dominated the headlines again. This time partly due to some very biased editing by the BBC of...
14th Dec 2025
2

Nov ’25: Coastal Folly loan repaid

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

14th Dec 2025
Trump dominated the headlines again. This time partly due to some very biased editing by the BBC of a Panorama show about Trump before the US election. There was also the omnipresent UK Budget. Which has had more than enough coverage. I did a ‘damage assessment‘ at the time and...
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Oct ’23: Terror erupts from Gaza It’s the Middle East again. I don’t have any perspective on it, sadly, other than that I hear of...
5th Nov 2023
110

Oct ’23: Terror erupts from Gaza

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

5th Nov 2023
It’s the Middle East again. I don’t have any perspective on it, sadly, other than that I hear of some nasty low level youth violence/intimidation/vandalism in North London in Jewish neighbourhoods by pro-Palestinian, dare-I-say-it pro-Hamas hotheads. But in most of London life...
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The Amazon Weekly Business Review Everything you need to know about the Amazon Weekly Business Review: how it works, why it works, and...
2nd Jul 2024
176

The Amazon Weekly Business Review

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Jul 2024
Everything you need to know about the Amazon Weekly Business Review: how it works, why it works, and how it helps Amazon win.
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Feb ’25: The top comes off What’s in the news? The Trump, is in the news. He gets more than enough coverage without me adding...
15th Mar 2025
61

Feb ’25: The top comes off

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

15th Mar 2025
What’s in the news? The Trump, is in the news. He gets more than enough coverage without me adding to it. From the point of view of what affects portfolios like mine, a few things happened What’s going on with me? My personal life was quite busy in February. I visited the UK city...
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Anatomy of a Market Crisis: Tariffs, Markets and the Economy! I was boarding a plane for a trip to Latin America late in the evening last Wednesday (April 2), and...
7th Apr 2025
54

Anatomy of a Market Crisis: Tariffs, Markets and the Economy!

from Musings on Markets [alt+shift+b] in finance

7th Apr 2025
I was boarding a plane for a trip to Latin America late in the evening last Wednesday (April 2), and as is my practice, I was checking the score on the Yankee game, when I read the tariff news announcement. Coming after a few days where the market seemed to have found its...
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Business Ecosystem Change Takes Time The birth of Sony, and the possibility that private corporations and private individuals can change...
11th Jun 2024
141

Business Ecosystem Change Takes Time

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

11th Jun 2024
The birth of Sony, and the possibility that private corporations and private individuals can change broader business ecosystems.
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May ’23: Magic megatech May has been election month. In the UK, some (but not all – and not London) local councils had...
4th Jun 2023
91

May ’23: Magic megatech

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

4th Jun 2023
May has been election month. In the UK, some (but not all – and not London) local councils had elections. The Tories took a drubbing, as expected. And overseas the notable election seemed to be Turkey, where autocratic Erdogan won (however fairly) another five year term – taking...
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Deposit insurance maximization as a service In the wake of the recent banking crisis, there is some attention to deposit insurance limits. Some...
5th Apr 2023
40

Deposit insurance maximization as a service

from Bits about Money [alt+shift+b] in finance

5th Apr 2023
In the wake of the recent banking crisis, there is some attention to deposit insurance limits. Some products increase them; here is how.
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Data Update 4 for 2026: The Global Perspective! If you have read my first three data updates in 2026, I won’t blame you if you skip this one,...
2nd Feb 2026
1

Data Update 4 for 2026: The Global Perspective!

from Musings on Markets [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Feb 2026
If you have read my first three data updates in 2026, I won’t blame you if you skip this one, because you found them long and boring. I won't take issue with you either if you viewed them as too US-focused, because I did spend my second data update, looking at US equities, and my...
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Is China Taking Over US Retail? Yes. Let me explain. Amazon made it easy for Chinese companies to sell their products directly to...
17th Aug 2021
24

Is China Taking Over US Retail?

from Molson Hart's Blog - Molson Hart [alt+shift+b] in finance

17th Aug 2021
Yes. Let me explain. Amazon made it easy for Chinese companies to sell their products directly to American consumers. In response, the Chinese, after having hollowed out American manufacturing, have moved up the value chain to do the same thing to American wholesale and retail....
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All the Demand Ideas from The Heart of Innovation, Simply Stated All the ideas of the Heart of Innovation, compressed into one piece.
3rd Mar 2026
1

All the Demand Ideas from The Heart of Innovation, Simply Stated

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

3rd Mar 2026
All the ideas of the Heart of Innovation, compressed into one piece.
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What are the Key Properties of Bitcoin? There are plenty of unwritten rules when it comes to proposing protocol changes in Bitcoin. Some are...
11th Jan 2025
22

What are the Key Properties of Bitcoin?

from balajis.com [alt+shift+b] in finance

11th Jan 2025
There are plenty of unwritten rules when it comes to proposing protocol changes in Bitcoin. Some are philosophical, some are technical, and some are a blend.
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Setting Up For The Second Half of 2024 A new set of cases for two concept sequences, and the end of the Data Driven Series.
19th May 2024
178

Setting Up For The Second Half of 2024

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

19th May 2024
A new set of cases for two concept sequences, and the end of the Data Driven Series.
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The Greed & Fear Tango: The Markets in April 2025! I started the month on a trip to Latin America, just as the tariff story hit my newsfeed and the...
3rd May 2025
55

The Greed & Fear Tango: The Markets in April 2025!

from Musings on Markets [alt+shift+b] in finance

3rd May 2025
I started the month on a trip to Latin America, just as the tariff story hit my newsfeed and the market reacted with a sell off that knocked more than $9 trillion in market cap for global equities in the next two days. The month was off to a bad start, and tariffs remained the...
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The infrastructure behind ATMs ATMs are connected to banks by networks which operate little-understood payment rails.
2nd Jan 2023
47

The infrastructure behind ATMs

from Bits about Money [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Jan 2023
ATMs are connected to banks by networks which operate little-understood payment rails.
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Power and Impunity Those acting with impunity are confident that their powers or god-like because they appear so in the...
2nd Feb 2026
1

Power and Impunity

from oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Feb 2026
Those acting with impunity are confident that their powers or god-like because they appear so in the human realm. But there are limits to everything in the human realm. One of the first things we learned about the Internet is that anything sent via email could readily become...
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Dec ’25: 2025 in review It’s over. The year of 2025, the thirteenth year I’ve been systematically tracking my investment...
19th Jan 2026
1

Dec ’25: 2025 in review

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

19th Jan 2026
It’s over. The year of 2025, the thirteenth year I’ve been systematically tracking my investment portfolio every month, is over. One of the reasons I blog is to track my performance with a bit more discipline and rigour than I might manage otherwise. And part of that process is...
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Under The Hood How do you shape employee culture? How do you win employee commitment? Under The Hood has a coherent...
12th Nov 2024
85

Under The Hood

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

12th Nov 2024
How do you shape employee culture? How do you win employee commitment? Under The Hood has a coherent model for building this skill.
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May 2025: market springtime I’ve had quite a busy May. It’s been a lovely month, featuring a wedding in the country, a trip to...
8th Jun 2025
74

May 2025: market springtime

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

8th Jun 2025
I’ve had quite a busy May. It’s been a lovely month, featuring a wedding in the country, a trip to the Isle of Wight, my first visit to a dairy farm in 40+ years, a lovely trip to the Cotswolds, and more. If you can identify any of the locations above feel free to shout… Continue...
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Danny Meyer’s Business Expertise Let's break down Danny Meyer's business expertise as an exercise in biography reading.
7th Aug 2024
120

Danny Meyer’s Business Expertise

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

7th Aug 2024
Let's break down Danny Meyer's business expertise as an exercise in biography reading.
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Tobi Lütke: AI Agents, Better Decisions, and the Future of Work Shopify founder and CEO Tobi Lütke joins Shane Parrish to discuss AI agents, better decision-making,...
10th Sep 2026
1

Tobi Lütke: AI Agents, Better Decisions, and the Future of Work

from Farnam Street [alt+shift+b] in finance

10th Sep 2026
Shopify founder and CEO Tobi Lütke joins Shane Parrish to discuss AI agents, better decision-making, and the future of work. He explains how he uses an AI council to examine his hardest decisions and why taste, judgment, and responsibility become more valuable as AI becomes more...
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Issue 53 – Choose rich Euphoria has risen along with crypto prices, but nothing has changed from the last bubble.
13th Mar 2024
121

Issue 53 – Choose rich

from Citation Needed [alt+shift+b] in finance

13th Mar 2024
Euphoria has risen along with crypto prices, but nothing has changed from the last bubble.
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Understanding the Stock Market Cycle The stock market cycle is a crucial concept for investors aiming to navigate the financial markets...
7th Jun 2024
144

Understanding the Stock Market Cycle

from Mazdak [alt+shift+b] in finance

7th Jun 2024
The stock market cycle is a crucial concept for investors aiming to navigate the financial markets effectively. It represents the period from a market low to a peak and back again. Understanding the dynamics behind these cycles can help investors maintain their strategies during...
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Warren Buffett’s Final Brushstrokes Warren Buffett is retiring as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway but he may still make a few final...
5th May 2025
1

Warren Buffett’s Final Brushstrokes

from The Rational Walk [alt+shift+b] in finance

5th May 2025
Warren Buffett is retiring as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway but he may still make a few final brushstrokes on his canvas as Chairman.
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Case for indexing Warren Buffet made a compelling case in favor of indexing in the 2021 Berkshire Hathaway’s AGM. In...
5th Feb 2023
49

Case for indexing

from Seeking Wisdom [alt+shift+b] in finance

5th Feb 2023
Warren Buffet made a compelling case in favor of indexing in the 2021 Berkshire Hathaway’s AGM. In 1989, 65% of the top 20 global companies were domiciled in Japan. After three decades, 65% of the top 20 global companies are from the US. No companies from Japan made into the top...
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Mental Strength in Judo; Mental Strength in Life Results of a four month accelerated expertise experiment in Judo. Or: "I expected to learn about...
3rd May 2023
178

Mental Strength in Judo; Mental Strength in Life

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

3rd May 2023
Results of a four month accelerated expertise experiment in Judo. Or: "I expected to learn about deliberate practice but instead learnt a ton about my mental shortcomings."
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Issue 69 – Nice Coinbase threatens me that continuing to report on their activities would be “.... unwise”. Also,...
2nd Nov 2024
89

Issue 69 – Nice

from Citation Needed [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Nov 2024
Coinbase threatens me that continuing to report on their activities would be “.... unwise”. Also, election spending hits a fever pitch, with several new crypto PACs coming out of the woodwork.
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Focus on the process, not the outcome Woorkeri Raman, a former Indian cricketer and former coach of the India women’s national cricket...
12th Aug 2024
149

Focus on the process, not the outcome

from Seeking Wisdom [alt+shift+b] in finance

12th Aug 2024
Woorkeri Raman, a former Indian cricketer and former coach of the India women’s national cricket team, has two non-negotiables. As an offspinner, you must never get cut, and you must never get driven through the covers. Even when Ravichandran Ashwin takes five wickets, Raman will...
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Dec ’23 – 2023 in review It’s the start of a calendar year. Let’s take a look at what 2023 did to me financially. I’m...
2nd Jan 2024
128

Dec ’23 – 2023 in review

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Jan 2024
It’s the start of a calendar year. Let’s take a look at what 2023 did to me financially. I’m following the same structure I’ve used for the last few years (2022, 2021, and 2020). Overall, 2023 was a good year on almost all measures – thanks in particular to Q4 which saw the US...
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The Mirrortable Mirrortables are to cap tables what stablecoins are to fiat currencies. They streamline and...
26th Dec 2021
42

The Mirrortable

from balajis.com [alt+shift+b] in finance

26th Dec 2021
Mirrortables are to cap tables what stablecoins are to fiat currencies. They streamline and internationalize the logistical mess of angel investing.
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Data and the Capital Cycle: How Koch Became an Empire How Koch Industries became an empire. We draw on ideas from both the Becoming Data Driven series and...
11th Dec 2023
112

Data and the Capital Cycle: How Koch Became an Empire

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

11th Dec 2023
How Koch Industries became an empire. We draw on ideas from both the Becoming Data Driven series and the Capital Expertise series.
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A glass half-full take on Caucasus sanctions evasion Ed Conway of Sky News recently published a very good investigation on sanctions evasion being...
2nd Oct 2024
25

A glass half-full take on Caucasus sanctions evasion

from Moneyness [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Oct 2024
Ed Conway of Sky News recently published a very good investigation on sanctions evasion being carried out through the Caucasus. He visits the Lars border crossing between Georgia and Russia to document how smugglers are openly moving British and German luxury cars into Russia, in...
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Being an Amazon Seller in 2020; Year in Review I’m the founder and CEO of Viahart, an educational toy company. We did about $7.4 million in sales...
3rd Jan 2021
25

Being an Amazon Seller in 2020; Year in Review

from Molson Hart's Blog - Molson Hart [alt+shift+b] in finance

3rd Jan 2021
I’m the founder and CEO of Viahart, an educational toy company. We did about $7.4 million in sales in 2020, mostly through e-commerce channels like Amazon and Walmart.com. This article is going to tell you what that was like and how things were different in 2020 than in 2019. To...
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Issue 81 – Crypto crime is legal Trump continues to dismantle crypto enforcement while expanding his personal crypto empire
8th Apr 2025
48

Issue 81 – Crypto crime is legal

from Citation Needed [alt+shift+b] in finance

8th Apr 2025
Trump continues to dismantle crypto enforcement while expanding his personal crypto empire
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Nov ’24: 3x London life I’ve been keeping busy as winter in London sets in. The Christmas lights are all out and...
7th Dec 2024
110

Nov ’24: 3x

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

7th Dec 2024
London life I’ve been keeping busy as winter in London sets in. The Christmas lights are all out and looking resplendent, and both the West End and the City are feeling pretty buzzy. For all the general ‘UK stuck in the weeds’ economic commentary, we feel a long way from any talk...
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Open Banking and payments competition Why the banks really hate fintechs that allow businesses to learn your account number easily.
13th Aug 2025
38

Open Banking and payments competition

from Bits about Money [alt+shift+b] in finance

13th Aug 2025
Why the banks really hate fintechs that allow businesses to learn your account number easily.
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You’re Always Selling to a Situation, Not an ICP One simple idea that falls out of the Heart of Innovation book — that you can use immediately — is...
19th Jun 2025
50

You’re Always Selling to a Situation, Not an ICP

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

19th Jun 2025
One simple idea that falls out of the Heart of Innovation book — that you can use immediately — is this idea of selling into situations, not selling to ideal customer profiles. It’s what the pros do anyway.
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Debanking (and Debunking?) Crypto advocates kicked off a recent, somewhat politicized, discussion of debanking. Strap in for...
9th Dec 2024
117

Debanking (and Debunking?)

from Bits about Money [alt+shift+b] in finance

9th Dec 2024
Crypto advocates kicked off a recent, somewhat politicized, discussion of debanking. Strap in for scintillating banking compliance trivia.
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When Labor is Scarce, Equity is the Mezzanine Tranche Plus! What Goes Up; Refinancing; Investor Relations; Scaling; Infrastructure
2nd Apr 2026
1

When Labor is Scarce, Equity is the Mezzanine Tranche

from The Diff [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Apr 2026
Plus! What Goes Up; Refinancing; Investor Relations; Scaling; Infrastructure
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More Creators Can Now Make Money on YouTube YouTube Lowers Monetization Requirements for Creators. New Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino Sets Out...
13th Jun 2023
42

More Creators Can Now Make Money on YouTube

from Mazdak [alt+shift+b] in finance

13th Jun 2023
YouTube Lowers Monetization Requirements for Creators. New Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino Sets Out Vision for the Platform. YouTube Makes It Easier for Small Creators to Earn Money YouTube is lowering the eligibility requirements for creators to make money from their channels....
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It’s Time to Build… Assets? One of the main reasons for the decline in goods and services in the United States, and to a lesser...
28th Mar 2026
1

It’s Time to Build… Assets?

from Molson Hart's Blog - Molson Hart [alt+shift+b] in finance

28th Mar 2026
One of the main reasons for the decline in goods and services in the United States, and to a lesser extent, the world, is the financialization of our economies by excessive money printing. Let's break that down into simpler language. The quality of the things and services you buy...
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Look Out Below As I often note, making Plans B and C is free. The stock market is always looking past "bad...
7th Oct 2025
1

Look Out Below

from oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith [alt+shift+b] in finance

7th Oct 2025
As I often note, making Plans B and C is free. The stock market is always looking past "bad news" to front-run "good news." Once it became clear that the Titanic was indeed going to sink, the stock market would rally on the prospect of sharp growth in lifeboat shares. In...
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What Expenses Can You Write Off Against Your Business Income? Taxes are an inevitable part of running a business, but that doesn't mean you have to pay more than...
6th Feb 2024
122

What Expenses Can You Write Off Against Your Business Income?

from Mazdak [alt+shift+b] in finance

6th Feb 2024
Taxes are an inevitable part of running a business, but that doesn't mean you have to pay more than your fair share. Fortunately, the law allows you to deduct certain expenses from your business income, lowering your taxable amount and saving you money. But navigating the world...
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Buffett Completes Succession Plan Warren Buffett has completed Berkshire's succession plan as he steps down as Chairman.
18th Sep 2026
1

Buffett Completes Succession Plan

from The Rational Walk [alt+shift+b] in finance

18th Sep 2026
Warren Buffett has completed Berkshire's succession plan as he steps down as Chairman.
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July ’23: Markets up, Coutts down It’s been a dismally wet July here in London. About 50% more rainfall than normal (which, before ye...
2nd Aug 2023
86

July ’23: Markets up, Coutts down

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Aug 2023
It’s been a dismally wet July here in London. About 50% more rainfall than normal (which, before ye scoff, isn’t that much – London is a fairly dry city – drier than Rome and much drier than Sydney). It has been long trousers weather, for the first time in several years. But at...
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Introducing Xmrit Some free software to create, modify, experiment with and share XmR charts. Unlock the ability to...
10th Apr 2024
144

Introducing Xmrit

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

10th Apr 2024
Some free software to create, modify, experiment with and share XmR charts. Unlock the ability to become more data driven today.
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July ’26: An IPO, and France It feels as if the World Cup was ages ago, already. Yet only a few weeks ago, I was gripped. And for...
9th Aug 2026
2

July ’26: An IPO, and France

from FIRE v London [alt+shift+b] in finance

9th Aug 2026
It feels as if the World Cup was ages ago, already. Yet only a few weeks ago, I was gripped. And for once I thought England had a world-class side…. but hey ho, football hasn’t come home for another four years. I had a road trip through France in July, which was lovely. I am…...
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Meta's Fake AI Profiles, the TikTok Ban, Telegram Updates, and Microsoft's $80 Billion AI Investment... Meta's AI Experiment: What Went Wrong?
4th Jan 2025
77

Meta's Fake AI Profiles, the TikTok Ban, Telegram Updates, and Microsoft's $80 Billion AI Investment This Year...

from Mazdak [alt+shift+b] in finance

4th Jan 2025
Meta's AI Experiment: What Went Wrong?
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An Ode to Restraint: Lessons from the Tim Cook Legacy Through time, we have glorified conquerors and empire builders in politics, civic life and business,...
6th May 2026
1

An Ode to Restraint: Lessons from the Tim Cook Legacy

from Musings on Markets [alt+shift+b] in finance

6th May 2026
Through time, we have glorified conquerors and empire builders in politics, civic life and business, from Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan to the tech titans of today. That is no surprise, since these individuals have oversized personas and often change the course of history,...
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Activist Investing in Asian Conglomerates How do Asian conglomerates play in capital markets, given pliable governments and weak regulators?...
3rd Mar 2025
58

Activist Investing in Asian Conglomerates

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

3rd Mar 2025
How do Asian conglomerates play in capital markets, given pliable governments and weak regulators? We examine the career of one activist investor, to see what that tells us about the Asian tycoons we’ve been studying.
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Greg Abel’s 2026 Letter to Shareholders Greg Abel's first letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders emphasized the need to keep the...
2nd Mar 2026
1

Greg Abel’s 2026 Letter to Shareholders

from The Rational Walk [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Mar 2026
Greg Abel's first letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders emphasized the need to keep the company's unique culture.
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Modeling Life: Linear Algebra This is the 4th post in my series summarizing the key takeaways from reading the book Modeling Life....
2nd May 2024
140

Modeling Life: Linear Algebra

from Seeking Wisdom [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd May 2024
This is the 4th post in my series summarizing the key takeaways from reading the book Modeling Life. I recommend reading my previous posts first to gain a solid understanding on how to model dynamic systems. This post focuses on how linear algebra is employed in modeling dynamic...
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The Creation of a Skilled Tycoon What it looks like when an Asian tycoon gets good at the game of business.
8th Dec 2025
1

The Creation of a Skilled Tycoon

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

8th Dec 2025
What it looks like when an Asian tycoon gets good at the game of business.
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One Definition of Wisdom Charlie Munger’s biggest business mistake, and what it tells us about wisdom.
14th Feb 2024
123

One Definition of Wisdom

from Commoncog [alt+shift+b] in finance

14th Feb 2024
Charlie Munger’s biggest business mistake, and what it tells us about wisdom.
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The Scaling and Profitability Trade off: Venture Capital's Weakest Link! It is undeniable technology companies have found their most hospitable setting in the United States...
2nd Sep 2026
1

The Scaling and Profitability Trade off: Venture Capital's Weakest Link!

from Musings on Markets [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Sep 2026
It is undeniable technology companies have found their most hospitable setting in the United States and while there are many reasons for the US dominance of technology, easier access to capital for young businesses has been a key ingredient. Venture capital in the US, in its...
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The Network State Book A new book on starting new countries. Available on Kindle and for free at thenetworkstate.com.
19th Mar 2022
34

The Network State Book

from balajis.com [alt+shift+b] in finance

19th Mar 2022
A new book on starting new countries. Available on Kindle and for free at thenetworkstate.com.
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Issue 65 – World Liberty Fiasco Even the most pro-Trump crypto faithful think Trump’s new crypto scheme is a terrible idea.
6th Sep 2024
111

Issue 65 – World Liberty Fiasco

from Citation Needed [alt+shift+b] in finance

6th Sep 2024
Even the most pro-Trump crypto faithful think Trump’s new crypto scheme is a terrible idea.
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Few thoughts on life, psychology, and mindset I’ve been writing my thoughts on life, psychology, and mindset for some time. I’ve considered...
2nd Sep 2023
130

Few thoughts on life, psychology, and mindset

from Seeking Wisdom [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Sep 2023
I’ve been writing my thoughts on life, psychology, and mindset for some time. I’ve considered transferring some of these writings from Notion into this post. In physics, three laws can explain 99% of observations. However, in life, psychology, and mindset, 99 laws can barely...
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A “Fairly Highly Valued” Market: A Fed Chair Opines on Stocks, but should we listen? In December 1996, Alan Greenspan used the words "irrational exuberance" to describe the stock market...
6th Oct 2025
43

A “Fairly Highly Valued” Market: A Fed Chair Opines on Stocks, but should we listen?

from Musings on Markets [alt+shift+b] in finance

6th Oct 2025
In December 1996, Alan Greenspan used the words "irrational exuberance" to describe the stock market at the time, and those words not only became the title of Robert Shiller's cautionary book on market bubbles, but also the beginnings of the belief that central bankers had the...
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15 mental Abilities & Traits Which Make You Successful But Are Not on an IQ Test 1. Empathy 2. Dexterity 3. Persuasion 4. Musicality 5. Confidence 6. Ambition 7. Grit 8....
2nd Jun 2024
26

15 mental Abilities & Traits Which Make You Successful But Are Not on an IQ Test

from Molson Hart's Blog - Molson Hart [alt+shift+b] in finance

2nd Jun 2024
1. Empathy 2. Dexterity 3. Persuasion 4. Musicality 5. Confidence 6. Ambition 7. Grit 8. Creativity 9. Flexibility 10. Energy 11. Individualism 12. Willpower 13. Stoicisim 14. Objectivity 15. Allure
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THE SLOW, EXCRUCIATING, DISASTEROUS DUMBING DOWN OF AMERICA Austin is a more pleasant place to live than Dallas because people are smarter on average. This does...
24th Sep 2023
26

THE SLOW, EXCRUCIATING, DISASTEROUS DUMBING DOWN OF AMERICA

from Molson Hart's Blog - Molson Hart [alt+shift+b] in finance

24th Sep 2023
Austin is a more pleasant place to live than Dallas because people are smarter on average. This does not mean there are not smart people in Dallas. There are. What it does mean is the typical Austinite is just a little sharper. This makes for more pleasant conversations. It’s...
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