To The Moon

Our poorest towns don’t even function the same way as the rest of the nation.Photo by ev on UnsplashImagine, in your head, a town on the edge of collapse. High poverty levels, high crime levels, declining population, and declining job opportunities.Hopefully, you’ve never had to live in one. If you have, though, you’ll have a clear image of what “downtown” or the “commercial” area looks like. For those who don’t, it’s this:Dollar storeCheck-cashing agency (likely also says “WE BUY GOLD”)Liquor storeBail bondsSome weird no-name convenience store that has 4-day-old buffalo wings in a warmerAnother liquor storeUsed car lot with about 12 cars for sale, all older than 2009Maybe a questionable defense attorney (not guaranteed)You won’t see a Walmart. You won’t see a Publix or Shoprite or whateve

The problems in our housing market are expanding, not contracting.Photo by Brandon Griggs on UnsplashWe’ve now entered the “bad for everyone” stage of the housing market.Well, almost everyone. More on that in a moment. But for now, our existing owners, prospective buyers, and renters are all experiencing some form of suffering when it comes to housing. Given that those groups make up the majority of the population that’s…not great.Rental prices remain sky-high in Canada, the UK, and the United States, sticking about a third of each population with borderline insufferable costs. Coupled with “first, last, and down payment” requirements, the new rental prices essentially make moving into an apartment the equivalent of a small house down payment. Of course, if renters had a small down payment

When the second-largest bank collapse in U.S. history occurs, the guy whose profile starts with “ex-banker” should probably write something about it.A lot of my employees and colleagues who know my employment history have been picking my brain on this subject for a while now, as have more than a few of the folks that I report to. I find the subject interesting, and it really provides both a great case study in mismanagement and a good example of how banks operate in the modern economy.I’ve been kicking this story around for a bit, all while watching others take their stab at it. As one could expect in today’s climate, most people immediately seized on Silicon Valley Bank $SVB Financial Group(SIVBQ)$ as an opportunity to talk politics. One side of

Or “Confessions of a Lapsed Libertarian”Photo byJon TysononUnsplashYears ago I read something about the old, high-end Hilton hotels. Apparently, they were each built with an “Atrium” towards the top of the property where the Operations Director or General Manager would live. That always hit me as a bit too on the nose, so to speak: they were literally looking down on their employees. At the same time, it sounded pretty neat as far as hospitality management went.But now that I live in Ivory Tower Town — sometimes referred to as Naples, Florida, other times “The Paradise Coast” — I don’t think the Hilton GMs were a problem. Not by comparison, at least. Because of after years of living in an area best described as the epitome of oligarchical, caste-type living, I have been forced to confront

Taking a look at the current state of work in the developed world.Photo byJordan WhitfieldonUnsplashWhat happens when an economic system breaks down? Not in the sense of colossal bank failures, runs on money, or a total upheaval into a new system, but when an existing one just starts rusting out and falling apart. What is the result when the various regulations and free-market initiatives cease striking the proper balance and portions of the system stop functioning as a result?We might soon know. In certain areas, we’re seeing it already. It’s a broken labor market, a distressed workforce, and paper-mache economies. Push hard on any one section and, like the dead plant whose roots long gave way, the whole thing tips over effortlessly.It’s easy to poke holes in various parts of the economy

Finding a better way to tell a storySome red herrings.Created by DeepAI.Did you know? We’re currently experiencing the best economy of the last 50 years, at least in America. The same goes for Canada and the UK, too. Why? The unemployment rate, of course!See, I recently wrote a piece about how we’re already in something of a recession in many ways. It was mostly well-received here but, as is typical, social media had a different opinion. Put simply, with the unemployment rate as low as it is, the economy can’t be nearly as bad as I was describing. Well… as Julius in Pulp Fiction would say, allow me to retort.Unemployment, like nearly all of our metrics, has some serious flaws. Unlike most metrics, its flaws are severe and obvious. The reason why I — as a resea

Welcome to the slow-motion recession.Photo byAdeolu EletuonUnsplashIf you’re going to lay off 12,000 people, you should at least make an effort at telling them first.Unfortunately, Google didn’t get that memo, with some of their employees only discovering their laid-off status after their name badge failed to grant the building access that it had on every other day of their employment. Surprise! Turns out the company conducted layoffs via…email. But if you have some sense of boundaries and don’t check your emails at 5:55 A.M. before heading to work each morning, you’d have missed it.Not a tactful way to do business, particularly for such a momentous event in your employees’ lives. Perhaps the hope is that it would go unnoticed amongst the other news of economic tur

A refresher course on some bad spending habits.Photo bySteve SawuschonUnsplashBusiness strategy is very simple when you get down to it. There are only two ways to increase your bottom line: raise revenue, or cut costs. Everything else is just an offshoot of those two basic principles.Personal finance is no different. If you’re having difficulty paying the bills, you’re left with the same two options: cut your spending or increase your income. I spend a lot of time talking about the obstacles to that latter part, and have written countless words on the subject. Today, I’d like to tackle the other half of the equation: why do we sacrifice our own futures so easily and readily?We really are our own worst enemies. This is often true in our social lives, health, and plenty of other ar

Welcome to the new normal.Photo by Jason Pofahl on UnsplashA friend of mine recently said that if we re-termed “recession” as “fiscal cooling” people would panic a whole lot less. I think it’s time for that rebranding, then, because recessions are coming. Yes, plural. And they’ll be with us for a while.There are a lot of large, societal items that are going to make living in the next 100 years significantly different than the experience of the last 100. Changes to climate, changes to the labor force, changes to societal norms, etc. My bet? Increased or near-constant recessions will be a part of that, at least if we continue to define them the way we do now.But to my friend’s point, does it even matter? We’ve (in the U.S.) had recessionary environments for about four of the last 2

Our organs are already showing damage, best to start addressing the causePhoto by Craig Marolf on UnsplashI spent most of my twenties living with dependence and addiction. It’s amazing how quickly people write off fairly obvious, major problems as “youth” or “typical excess.” My life was anything but typical and I’ve yet to meet another young person who had similar issues.The cover only works for so long. Then, just with any long-term substance abuse situation, you’re forced to take ownership. Whether you like it or not.I’m here to say to the developed world, from one addict to another: stop. It takes one to know one, after all. Developed nations definitely have their own dependencies. Our addiction, though, is tomore. More vehicles. Bigger houses. More debt. More useless gadgets. Mor