Capitalogix

The 2015 Gates Annual letter - The Big Bet for the Future

Each year, Bill and Melinda Gates' Letter is a worthwhile read. 

This year they discuss their Big Bet for the Future.

 

 

 

via Gates Notes.

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekend Reading

Most people say they want the unpleasant truth, rather than the comforting lie ...

 

 

What do you think?

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking Warn of Artificial Intelligence Dangers. (Mashable)
• An Open Letter to Everyone Tricked Into Fearing Artificial Intelligence. (Popular Science)
• 70's Rock Legends In Their Parents' Homes! [Photos]. (Peewee)
• The Hair of Men: What Hairstyle is Best for You. [infographic]
• How Exercise Changes Our DNA. (NYTimes)

 

Trading Links:

• US Debt Soared By $100 Billion on Last Day of 2014, Hit Record $18.14 Trillion. (ZH)
• Chinese Attacks Cost U.S. Defense Department Over $100M. (GigaOM)
• The Real Story Behind Saudi Arabia's Oil Games. (Money)
• After Warning About 2008, Yale's Robert Shiller Has Another Concern. (Valuewalk)
• Countries Begin The Race To Repatriate Their Gold. Are They Concerned About a Potential Financial Crisis? (Valuewalk)

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekend Reading

Bad Lip Reading pours its talents on into the mouths of unsuspecting football players, just in time for the Pro Bowl and  Super Bowl.

 

 

 

via YouTube.

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• Google's Larry Page: The Most Ambitious CEO in the Universe. (Fortune)
• Decrypting Google: Examining the Growing Giant's Business Methods. (Economist)
• 25 most commonly used password list 2014. (Visual.ly)
• 10 Fad Diets, Debunked. (Io9)
• Woman Sends Bank Angry Letter After They Bounced Her Check. This Is Gold. (Tickld)

 

Trading Links:

• The Best and Worst Hedge Funds of 2014 - and Everyone In-Between. (ZeroHedge)
• Top 5 Chinese Trends That Will Shape The Global Economy in 2015. (GeekTime)
• Top 10 Trading Movies. (Futures Mag)
• A Venture Capitalist's Five Predictions for 2015. (Fortune)
• 3 Reasons Why Legal Marijuana is Happening Now. (Wall Street Cheat Sheet)

How the Average Hours Worked Per Week Decreased in the the Last 150 Years

The average human now lives about 75 years.

We spend about a third of that time sleeping ... a number that probably hasn't changed much across human history.

What has changed is what we do with the remaining time.

As the following chart shows, over the past 150 years, there has been a profound shift in what we do with our waking hours.

 

Our World in Data.

 

In 1870, employed persons worked close to 3,000 hours per year ... which is roughly 10 hours per day, 6 days a week, 300 days a year. That number has almost halved for the most productive countries.

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekend Reading

Hope you are having a Happy New Year!

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• How to Form a Habit:  A Scientific Approach. (Sqwiggle)
• What Peter Drucker Knew About 2020. (Harvard Business Review)
• The Unusual Books That Shaped Billionaires and Prodigies. (Tim Ferriss)
• Kermit the Frog Gives a TEDx Talk, and Twitter Loves It. (TED)
• Why Sadness Lasts Longer Than Other Emotions. (BPS Research Digest)

 

Trading Links:

• 2014 Portfolio Review: What Strategies Worked & What Didn’t? (PragCap)
• David Tepper Warns 2015 Is Poised To Be Like 1999. (ValueWalk)
• Saudis Tell Shale Industry It Will Break Them; Plans to Keep Pumping. (NakedCap)
• The Leading Robo-Advisers Now Manage $19 Billion and Continue to Grow. (BI)
• Florida Becomes 3rd Largest State Following CA & TX, NY Drops to 4th; Political Implications. (Global Economic Analysis)

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekend Reading

Apple figured out what caused some early iPhone 6 Plus phones to bend.

 

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• The 12 Best Business Books of All Time. (Motley Fool)
• Automation Makes Us Dumb. (Wall Street Journal)
• The Business Value of Pervasive Analytics. (Data Science Central)
• How to Get in Shape Using Psychology: 6 New Tricks from Research. (Time)
• Another Reason to Spend Money on Experiences Rather Than Things — The Positive Benefits of Anticipation. (Quartz)

 

Trading Links:

• Central Bank Credibility … Now Here's a Bubble. (Forbes)
• ▶ Masters in Business Podcast: Dallas Mavericks Mark Cuban (Audio). (SoundCloud)
• 10 Reasons The Stock Market Rally Still Has Legs. (Investing)
• Putting the “Underperformance” of Active Managers in Perspective. (Pragmatic Capitalism)
• Elon Musk’s Next Mission: Internet Satellites. SpaceX, Tesla Founder Explores Venture to Make Lighter, Cheaper Satellites (Wall Street Journal)

Is Obamacare Really Driving Up Health Costs?

You've heard the stories ... "I had better insurance and much lower rates before all the ObamaCare Affordable Care Act mess started."

Healthcare premiums are rising; but, slower than before (according to the Kaiser Family Foundation's annual survey of employer health benefits).

Obamacare, Assessed

Start with the basics. On average, the cost of employer-sponsored health insurance increased 26 percent from 2009 to 2014. But costs increased faster before the law was enacted: From 2004 to 2009, costs increased 34 percent. From 1999 to 2004, they went up 72 percent.

 

 

Are premiums rising faster for small employers? No, actually, the opposite is true. For companies with 200 workers or more, average 2014 premiums were $17,265, or 3.3 percent higher than in 2013. At companies with 3 to 199 workers, annual premiums in 2014 averaged $15,849 -- 1.7 percent more than in 2013, when average premiums were 2.2 percent higher than in 2012.

None of that takes away from the economic hardship imposed on people whose premiums have gone up since the law was passed.  My premiums are certainly higher.  This just helps put things in perspective.

Related articles

Surviving Our HealthCare System

A Thought for Thanksgiving

Be Thankful

Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don’t know something,
for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations,
because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge,
because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes.
They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you’re tired and weary,
because it means you’ve made a difference.

It’s easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who
are also thankful for the setbacks.

Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,
and they can become your blessings.

~Author Unknown

 

Best wishes for a happy holiday season with family and friends.

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekend Reading

Turkeys don't often have happy Thanksgivings ...

 

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• Are You Doing The Wrong Things Right - or the Right Things Poorly? (Forbes)
• Will Artificial Intelligence Destroy Humanity? Here are 5 reasons not to worry. (Vox)
• A Manifesto for Playing God with Human Evolution. (New Scientist)
• The Divorce-Proof Marriage. (The Atlantic)
• This Website Will Tell You Which Stores Have the iPhone 6 in Stock. (Time)

 

Trading Links:

• Inside The 2014 Forbes 400: Facts And Figures About America's Wealthiest. (Forbes)
• Raising Capital: The Advice Andreessen Horowitz Gives Its Founders. (A16z)
• CyberCriminals Eye Financial Markets for a Better Return On Investment. (FT)
• Banks Agree Not to Blow Each Other Up Too Quickly. (Bloomberg View)
• Images Showing How Surprisingly Small One Year's Worth of Mined Commodities Is. (BusinessInsider)

Surviving Our HealthCare System

I'm very thankful for the quality of our medical care and the state of medical technology.

Many news cycles talk about ObamaCare and how our medical system is broken. However, I had surgery last week, I was impressed with the process and the outcome.

I'm still a baby, after all these years. I didn't want to get surgery.

 

 

I put it off as long as I could.  I don't like needles ... and I didn't like the idea of diminished capabilities, potential loss of strength or feeling (or dozens of other excuses).

I had something called a "trigger finger". What that means is that if I shut my hand, my left index finger wouldn't reopen. It was painful and inconvenient.

For what it is worth, I remember some distant uncle who had a finger like that when I was young.  I remember, because when I would shake hands with him, one of his fingers was tickling my palm ... It felt like a secret handshake.

Fixing it was easier than I expected; I was at the hospital, for the actual surgery, for less time than it would take to see a movie.

On one hand, it was relatively minor surgery. On the other hand, see for yourself.

 

 

Pretty cool, actually. I'm already using the hand to open doors, hold my phone, and wash my hair.

As bad as things may be regarding the state of our healthcare system, it is still pretty awesome. Kind of like Democracy. Perhaps it sucks a little; but it is still a good bet to beat the alternatives.