Capitalogix

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekend Reading

Saw this and laughed.  The too true story of life as an entrepreneur.

via Gaping Void.

Here are some posts I saved this week.

 

Lighter Links:

• 17 Handy Tools for Entrepreneurs, Startups, and Marketers. (MarketingProfs)
• Brexit Will Not Affect 'Game of Thrones' Production. (Mashable)
• Frequent-flyer Programs are Too Complicated to Understand, the US Government Has Concluded. (Quartz)
• Why Bose’s New Wireless Headphones should Always Be in Your Hand Luggage. (TNW)
• Hillary: the New Mother Teresa? (DailyReckoning)

 

Trading Links:

 

• Goldman Sachs’ Favorite Books List – General Books on Investing. (ValueWalk)
• Warren Would Give a Middle Finger to Wall Street as Clinton's Vice-president. (TheGuardian)
• Indonesia Considers Onshore Financial Center after Tax Amnesty. (Reuters)
• The Short- and Long-Term Economic and Market Impact of a Brexit. (InstitutionalInvestor)
• Getting Serious About Trumponomics. (Apple)

Each State's Biggest Export Trading Partner

Despite Canada's considerable geographic challenges, a friend sent me this as a reminder.

This chart shows the country to which each state exports the most.  The states that border Mexico send a lot of goods there, while 35 states have Canada as their biggest export partner.

 

via Business Insider.

 

Back to the chart ... International trade is a big part of America's economy, and a factor in each of the fifty state economies that constitute it.

The Census Bureau publishes annual figures on each state's international trade. In addition to the top 25 goods imported and exported by each state, the Bureau reports the 25 countries each state imports the most from and exports the most to.

In addition, here is a list of the U.S.'s largest trading partners (including a different list showing countries of which U.S. is the largest trading partner).

Finally, here is a link to a map showing U.S. states renamed for countries with similar GDPs.

 

A Scary Chart That Questions the Future Economic Power of the U.S.

By 2030, more than 70 percent of people will live in cities.  In many respects, these cities matter a lot more than the countries that they’re in.

Mega-city clusters will dominate the world economy.  In many countries, the capital city or financial center often represents up to half or more of the national GDP.  By 2030, we could have as many as 50 such urban hubs anchoring the global system. 

What does this map tell us?

 

Parag Khanna via Washington Post.

 

This map attempts to accurately represent not only where people will be, but also the economic value of what they will do.  It looks at the entire world’s population and plots it by density, and then superimposes the largest urban archipelagos, the mega-cities, with those ovals to show the value of those cities vis-à-vis the national economy. 

It isn't as hard to predict as you might guess.  To predict the number of 18-year-olds in fifteen years, start with the number of 3-year-olds now.

Kind of scary?

There is opportunity in knowledge.

Related articles

Almost All of the World's Biggest Cities Will Be In Asia and Africa by 2030

$60 Trillion Of World Debt In One Visualization

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

Just a saw an interesting Elon Musk quote:  "Boil things down to the most fundamental truths, and reason up from there."

 

 

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• How to Build a Culture of Originality. (Harvard Business Review)
• 9 Influential Speeches that Changed the World. (BusinessInsider)
• Jet App Allows You to Share Flights with Celebrities. (CNBC)
• Questions, Answers on New Rules for Americans Visiting Cuba. (AP News)
• One of the World's Top Aging Researchers Has a Pill to Keep You Feeling Young. (FastCo)

 

Trading Links:

• Fintech’s Tipping Point is Imminent, New Report Says. (CoinTelegraph)
• BANK of AMERICA: Long Robots, Short Humans. (BusinessInsider)
• The Uberization of Banking. (Wall Street Journal)
• A 40-Person Startup Just Bought a 1,100-Person Company, Because 2016. (Mashable)
• For Stan Druckenmiller this is "The Endgame" - His Full 'Apocalyptic' Presentation. (ZeroHedge)

An Epic Time-Lapse Map of Europe and the Middle East Over the Past 1,000 Years

The temporary nature of things is once again highlighted as Britain considers leaving the European Union.

Here is a fascinating look at a thousand years of history (via border changes).  Watch as the empires, nations, kingdoms, armies and republics come-and-go in fast forward.

   

 

via YouTube.

For a different look, click here or here.

Whether through geo-politics or military actions ... Change appears to be the only constant.

After the Bombings, Jakarta Returned to Normal Quickly

I was in Jakarta during the bombings last week.  

Restaurants and Malls emptied.

Yet, crazy returned to calm quickly.

Kids went to school the next day.

A day later, I went to a wedding (hence the balloon).

Normal is nice ... and nice is normal!

It serves as a reminder that time is the most precious resource we have.  

Use it wisely.

Have You Seen the New Surcharge Being Added to Restaurant Bills in San Francisco?

Last week, I spent some time in San Francisco for meetings.

At lunch, I saw something new.  They're adding a 5% surcharge to offset "the cost of doing business in San Francisco."

 

 

They didn't simply raise the prices. The prices are the prices ... Then they add a surcharge.

Pretty Bold!

Once In a Blue Moon ... or every couple of years

I was in New York for a quick visit last week.  

Seems I get there often recently.

A little more rare, I got a chance to see a concert (U2 at Madison Square Garden) and eat Junior's Cheesecake.

Meanwhile, Friday marked the second full moon of July, a phenomenon referred to as a “Blue Moon.”

  

  

Though the phrase “once in a blue moon” is used to describe a rare event ... a blue moon is not really that rare; nor does imply that the moon appears blue.

Technically, the term “blue moon” describes the second full moon in a single calendar month.

Most years only have 12 moons, but this year has 13 (which happens every two to three years).

Weekend Links

Hillary Clinton may have to deal with more fall-out from her deleted e-mail fiasco.

 

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• The Economist Explains: The End of Moore's Law. (Economist)

• Big Data Explained in Less Than 2 Minutes - To Absolutely Anyone. (DSC)

• A Preliminary Taxonomy of the Voices Inside Your Head. (Digest)

• Disney’s Research Lab Figures Out How To Put Words In Your Mouth. (TechCrunch)

• 'What I Would Tell My 20-Year-Old Self'.  (Fortune)

 

Trading Links:

• Tech Boom 2015: What's Driving Investor Insanity? (Forbes)

• This Is Your Brain on Money: How Investors Trip Themselves Up. (WSJ)

• These 2 Simple Slides Show Just How Hot FinTech Is Right Now. (BizInsider)

• Soros Says China Is Major Risk For World War 3. (ValueWatch)

• China’s Yuan Has ‘Long March’ To Reserve-Currency Status. (MarketWatch)

China Tries to Prevent a Market Crash

It has been a tough several weeks for Chinese markets.

As such, the Chinese government has taken some extreme measures to intervene and minimize the selloff.

Some of these measures include more than half the companies on the exchange "voluntarily" suspending trading.

But, it has not worked yet.

    

via WSJ.

 

Stratfor posits:  Beijing has an underlying interest in ensuring that China's stock markets do not collapse, even though any intervention risks exacerbating whatever financial and political fallout may come from an eventual market decline or crash. Therefore, the government will likely continue to intervene to the best of its ability, propping up markets and market sentiment whenever the risk of a major sell-off becomes too great.

This does not mean that stock prices won't slide further, or that the market will stabilize — indeed, it could well become even more volatile over the coming months. Until Beijing invents more avenues for investment, or unless it embraces interest rate hikes and any post-crisis restructuring, it will have to rely on the few tools available to ensure that citizens can generate the wealth and financial security they need to consume.