Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (February 1, 2026) The subject of this month’s blog is about how to address the (global) problem of the gross inequality of the distribution of both wealth and income, and how to tackle this issue while at the same time conserving the earth’s resources and halting the destruction of the natural environment.  In my December 2025 monthly financial and economic blog I discussed the issue of “estate planning” – necessary for everyone but at its highest level a vehicle which allows multinational corporations to legally avoid taxation – not a good thing and the way in which wealth becomes ever more concentrated at the very top of society. Note: this is based upon a real-life proposal which addresses both the grossly unequal distribution of wealth & income and which addresses climate related issues as well (environmental degradation / climate change / global warming).  This requires a globally-concerted effort.  If not, it will never succeed.  This has nothing to do with “socialism” or “communism” as those on the extreme political and social right wing claim.  This is in fact supported by a very broad political and economic spectrum including everyone else outside of the extreme right wing including interests such as mainstream conservatives, the center-right and interests in business, finance and politics.  As we shall see, the global distribution of wealth is so grossly lopsided that those at the very top deserve tax brackets all their own – including the British Royal family (who own 21 percent of the earth’s surface land) and the likes of billionaires such as Elon Musk who as the earth’s wealthiest individual has a net worth almost 3 times as much as the second richest individual on earth. We must first quantify in monetary terms the value of all global…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (January 2, 2026) The subject of this month’s blog is about the political history of the United States going back to the time before the USA declared its independence from the British Empire in 1776.  The USA is among a few modern day nation states which has a parliamentary system largely inherited from England.  This system is called a “first past the post system” in the modern day UK where seats in parliament are contested by individual districts across the entire country and not awarded according to “proportional representation” as they are in much of the rest of the world.  This latter system traces historical roots to the French Revolution of 1789.  Many authoritarian governments around the world have representative parliaments with governments of “national unity” which do allow for multiple political parties – but these parties are not allowed to go against the will of the national government – examples here include the People’s Republic of China, North Korea and the former German Democratic Republic (1949 to 1990). Modern democracies with a “first past the post” parliamentary electoral or voting system include the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.  Most democratic electoral and voting systems in the rest of Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia use proportional representation or even a hybrid system using some of each of the two described systems.  The political system of the modern day UK traces much of its parliamentary origins to the “Magna Carta” of 1215 in which the nobility obtained concessions from the ruling monarch (king). It is much more difficult to have third or multiple political parties in a “first past the post” system whereas in a parliamentary system we often see many smaller political parties who are represented in parliament.  The two…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (December 1, 2025) The subject of this month’s blog has to do with how corporations legally avoid paying taxes worldwide.  This is the reason why so much of the wealth in the world has been literally transferred from the middle classes not just to the upper classes but specifically to the oligarchy of the small but very powerful billionaire class of about 3,000 individuals and families around the globe. This is the highest level of what one would call estate planning – something which concerns everyone on the planet.  The most basic form of an estate plan is for someone to write and sign a last will and testament.  Even if someone has no financial or physical wealth this person would need a last will and testament if they have children.  They would state who would raise their minor children in the event of their incapacity or death – say siblings (aunts and uncles) or parents (grandparents of the children). The second level of estate planning which also concerns everyone (even people with little or no financial or physical wealth) is something called a living will or medical power of attorney.  In the even one becomes incapacitated or one has a terminal health condition a person should state if they do or do not want to kept “artificially” alive.  Most people would say “no” but in any case this is a very necessary and important decision to make. The third level of estate planning concerns everyone with financial and physical assets.  In the event of a death if one only has a last will and testament these assets will go into legal probate – a very expensive and lengthy process which eats up too much money and time and leaves legal heirs in an…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (November 1, 2025) The fiscal predicament of the American federal government continued to deteriorate at an alarming rate in the month of September 2025.  At least 60 percent of what the federal government now spends is money we do not have – brand new debt in the form of credit created out of thin air and backed by nothing.  The amount of “new” debt issued in calendar year 2025 equals the following:  US Treasuries = $5.657 TRILLION, federal agency securities = $1.6926 TRILLION and municipal bonds = $0.6762 TRILLION = a grand total of USD $8.0258 TRILLION.  The federal government portion alone = USD $7.3496 TRILLION.  Tax receipts in calendar year 2024 were USD $4.9 TRILLION and they are falling this year due to the collapsing economy and due to the “big beautiful” tax cuts plus a 40 percent staff cut at the IRS.  Here is a 24-minute video detailing the upcoming collapse of the bond market featuring speakers such as Jamie Dimon and Ray Dalio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwOuTMa9iLs&t=1127s.  The reports in late October 2025 with respect to the increase in the national debt of the USA have gotten even worse.  The national debt of the federal government has surpassed USD $38 TRILLION and it surpassed USD $37 TRILLION only two (2) months ago.  If this is the case tax revenues have to be collapsing due to multiple reasons: the so-called tax cuts in the “Big Beautiful Bill,” tariff revenue in no way making up for these cuts, no taxpayer audits being done at the IRS (due to the government shutdown and due to reduced human resources / personnel), and on top of all this a collapse in consumer spending which leads to a collapse in economic activity which leads to a collapse in government tax…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (October 1, 2025) The labor market is facing lethal headwinds not just due to the impending deflationary collapse (like the “Great Depression” from 1929 although it will be much more severe this time around) but due to the rise of “Artificial Intelligence” (AI).  Here is a video with a chilling message – forecasting global unemployment of not merely 10 percent but of a staggering 99 percent:  https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOK9DmVAFxC/?igsh=MTliNGVuOHB6NWV6Yg%3D%3D. As I said in my September 2025 monthly blog, the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” is a terrible mistake.  Many people who voted for both of the two major American political parties feel this way – this is not strictly a political issue.  Ideally the entire bill should be overturned, the tax cuts especially for corporations rescinded and the cuts in social programs restored to their previous levels.  The majority of the population depends upon the major entitlement programs for their basis sustenance and here I refer to the likes of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Healthcare Act (“Obamacare”) and SNAP (“Food Stamps”).  We are still at a point where the cost of living is rising and purchasing power is falling, so we are not yet at a point where these programs can be cut.  Furthermore it is a huge mistake to increase the military budget to USD $1 TRILLION – this should be cut by at least 90 percent.  We simply cannot afford this madness. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a fantasy.  It is real and it is already in the process of permanently displacing millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions and eventually billions of workers all over the planet.  It is also helping to make the centi-billionaire, the deca-billionaire, the billionaire, centi-millionaire and deca-millionaire class ever wealthier and more powerful.  These are the…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (September 1, 2025) The recently passed so-called “big beautiful bill” has net interest payments on the national debt of the USA (federal government only – does not include state & local governments, nonprofit organizations or the so-called private economy of corporations and individuals) making up an incredible 18 percent of federal government revenues.  What is the rest?  Here it is: Social Security (31 percent), Medicare (18 percent), National Defense = War (17 percent), and Medicaid (13 percent).  This equals 97 percent.  There is actually much more in many smaller programs but we would go well over 100 percent due to the annual deficit = i.e., spending much more money than we have. What does this mean?  The Western Roman Empire fell in A.D. 476, the Eastern Roman Empire fell in 1453, the Aztec Empire fell in 1521, the Inca Empire fell in 1572, the Mexican Empire fell in 1867, the French Empire fell in 1870, the Korean Empire fell in 1910, the Tsarist Russian Empire fell in 1917, Austria-Hungary fell in 1918, the Prussian-German colonial empire fell in 1920, the Ottoman Turkish Empire fell in 1922, Nazi Germany fell in 1945, the Empire of Japan fell in 1947, the USSR collapsed in 1991 and the USA is not far off. Everyone should ignore the mouthpieces of the Administration in Washington, D.C. and the mainstream media.  This YouTube channel by Michael Bordenaro normally comes out of Florida where he lives.  This particular episode was recorded in Marin County, California but what he says about the current economy, employment market and real property market is one hundred percent factual and true:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rIXyAlkhRo&t=760s.  Things are extremely bad (not just somewhat bad or a little bad) and they are about to get very much worse. Yet another YouTube…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (August 1, 2025) The peak of the global real estate market likely happened during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021.  This was an entirely unnatural and unhealthy situation from many standpoints, especially the way it was handled by governments around the world.  In hindsight, social distancing, face masks, remote work from home, vaccine mandates and “stimulus” (printed money which went mainly to those in the top tier of the population) were all terrible ideas.  The stimulus and the remote work from home mandates in particular made people do things they never should have done.  In the case of the real estate market, people moved to places they never should have moved to in the first place. The payback time for these bad decisions is now upon us.  Nicholas Gerli of the “Reventure Consulting” channel seen on YouTube says that the first phase of the crash is with us now and he is entirely correct.  The property markets I follow specifically in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Georgia, Arizona, New Mexico and California have already fallen by as much as 48 percent in value.  These markets include metro areas such as greater New York, Hampton Roads-Tidewater, Atlanta, Phoenix, Tucson, Santa Fe and the San Francisco Bay Area.  Keep in mind that we are merely in the first phase of this asset value collapse – we have yet to experience the second phase which will obliterate whatever happens to be left over.  Understand that the many real estate investment giants who “guestimate” values (such as Zillow, Realtor, Redfin, Xome, Trulia, etc.) already have so-called values over a very broad range – from pie-in-the-sky too high to rock bottom and below for cash on the barrel.  The current state of the economy (pretty much worldwide…