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Congress mandated that the Federal Reserve promote maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates. That was in 1978. Unsurprisingly, the nation was reeling from years of high unemployment, rapidly inflating prices, and soaring long-term interest rates. In the decades since, the Fed has done a remarkably good job at meeting their specific mandate. But like all systems buil
Hope all goes well… “A nation’s exchange rate is the single most important price in its economy; it will influence the entire range of individual prices, imports and exports, and even the level of economic activity. So it is hard for any government to ignore large swings in its exchange rate,” said Paul Volcker, Federal Reserve Chairman from 1979-1987. Overall: “It was meant to be a tool providing
“Feels like we’re at a historic crossroads,” said the CIO, an early venture investor in digital assets and the blockchain entrepreneurs who engineer them. “The rise of China, their deliberate advance, their vision for humanity, their disregard for human rights,” he continued. “And here, the inequality, growing division, political conflict, social clashes. We struggle to find common ground on even
Hope all goes well… In early 2000, the Nasdaq soaring, American businessman Dennis Tito planned a trip to space. He paid $20mm to spend 8-days on the International Space Station (ISS), and then watched the 2001 bust from orbit. He was the first private citizen to leave earth. In 2008, Richard Garriott paid $30mm for 12-days on the ISS. On his 3rd day in orbit, he watched Lehman declare bankruptcy
“Augmented/Virtual reality (AR/VR) is being adopted at six-times the pace that was expected one year ago,” said the scientist. “The content is good enough, the technology fast enough and the price sufficiently low for adoption curves to start turning up hard,” he continued from the valley. “This is the next platform, merging reality and fantasy into something altogether new.” Big tech is racing to
Hope all goes well… “Drift. Apathy. Distrust,” barked Biggie Too, feeling it, already in a groove. “Frustration. Irritation. Uneasy anticipation,” continued the chief global strategist for one of Wall Street’s Too-Big-To-Fail affairs. “Biggie got this deep dark feeling he’s way too early,” whispered Too, lips pursed, right at home in 3rd person. “We lost our faith in politicians and the media. Ins
Hope all goes well… “I think it’s probably a little early to make that call Dad,” said Teddy, soaked to the bone, muddy, holding a fistful of poison ivy like a trophy. I’d asked whether he and Charlie would someday spend their weekends weeding in the rain with their kids. “I suppose it depends how your experiment works out Dad,” said Charlie, pulling pokeweed. “What experiment is that?” I asked, l
Hope all goes well… “The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in ‘Metcalfe’s law’ becomes apparent: most people have nothing to say to each other! By 2005, it will become clear that the Internet’s impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine,” wrote Nobel economist Paul Krugman in 1998. “Bitcoin isn’t a new innovation; it’s been around since 2009, and in all
The Fed cut rates to what had once seemed an impossibility. It then left them there. Skepticism that rates would remain perpetually low eventually gave way to acceptance, which was soon followed by financial engineering. Back then, in 1993, with overnight rates held at 3.00%, yield-enhanced structured products offered 4.00% yields, 5.00%, sometimes higher, but only if overnight rates remained unch