"The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist."

Technology is deflationary. Our economic systems were not built for a world driven by technology where prices keep falling. They were built for a pre-technology era when labour and capital were inextricably linked, an era that counted on growth and inflation, an era where we made money from scarcity and inefficiency. That era is over.We're currently living in a fast-pace changing world. What works today won't work tomorrow. Technology is moving too fast and it will only move faster from here.Growth is driven by easy credit, which is being created at a pace that is hard to comprehend.

Introduction: The End of Inflation

All around the world we encounter with rising prices, but this rise in prices is artificially driven by an enormous rise in credit and debt.Governments and central banks will do almost anything to stop deflation.Debt combined with deflation is a toxic combination, because borrowers have to pay the same for their interest payments while earning less.<ul><li>Total debt in 2000: $62 T</li><li>World economy in 2000: $33.5 T</li><li>World economy in 2018: $80 T</li><li>Total debt in 2018: $247 T</li></ul>To achieve a $46 T of global growth it has taken approximately $185 T of global debt.

Inflation, Credit & Debt

Prior to the 2008 crash experts expected the world to continue in the manner in which they were accustomed. This didn't change until they were well past the edge of the cliff.It wasn't housing itself that caused the 2008 bubble. If it hadn't been housing, it would've been somewhere else that easy credit was flowing to.The continuing rise of debt that cannot be paid back was at the heart of any crisis. A bubble pops when people wake up and realize that the debt can never be paid off.Then, credit is removed - and because easy credit was the main thing causing the run-up, assets collapse.

2008 Crisis

"The Federal Reserve is not currently forecasting a recession." - January 10, 2008

"We are in danger of a broad systemic collapse, and action needs to be taken urgently to head it off. We need the authority to spend several hundred billion." - September 18, 2088

One of the pillars of capitalism is a free-market system. A near-constant flow of innovative entrepreneurs breaking monopolies and then themselves creating new ones.The term "creative destruction" was coined by Austrian American economist Joseph Schumpether (1883-1950). In his vision of capitalism entrepreneurs are the disruptive force which sustains economic growth.E.g. Blockbuster dominated the physical movie distribution, with over 9000 stores over the US. They had the monopoly, but they didn't see digital streaming coming. Then Netflix created and Blockbuster was destroyed.

Creative Destruction

"Creative destruction doesn't happen at a steady rate over time. At certain points in history, there is more opportunity for entrepreneurs to create disruption."

"Through economies of scale, the bigger a company was, the more buying power and leverage it had to squeeze out competitors. In contrast, a network effect exists when the value of a product or service gives more value to each user as the number of users increases."

Our thinking is determined by our cognitive biases, resulting in us accepting information which fits our actual beliefs and refusing those which opposes our beliefs. Let's take a look to two common cognitive biases:<ul><li>Anchoring effect happens when our minds put too much weight on initial information when making decisions.</li><li>Sunk-cost bias happens when you continue to invest time or money into something because of the time or emotion you already put in.</li></ul>Cognitive biases fool us and trick our brain to keep a narrow thinking.

It's Hard to Think Differently

"As we navigate our lives, we normally allow ourselves to be guided by impressions and feelings, and the confidence we have in our intuitive beliefs and preferences is usually justified. But not always. We are often confident, even when we are wrong, and an objective observer is more likely to detect out errors than we are."

"Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."

Progress within the technological field is constantly speeding up. This growth can be understood through Sigmoid Function Curve of Technology which works as follows.S curves resemble an S shape where growth is first quite slow, then exponential, and then it slows before reaching another step change, which creates the new S of the exponential rate before slowing again.It is almost incomprehensible to imagine how much technology speeds up and what will happen next.Let's see technologies that will enter mainstream in the near future:<ul><li>Self-driving cars</li><li>VR & AR</li><li>Additive manufacturing & 3D printing</li></ul>

The Technology Boom

Let's take a look to the first and second laws of thermodynamics:<ul><li>First law states that energy cannot be created or destroyed and that the total amount of energy in the universe must remain the same.</li><li>Second law states that energy always moves from higher to lower concentrations,heat dissipates.</li></ul>The actual energy industry is based on an inefficient route which consumes lots of energy and resources until the final energy is obtained.This inefficiency makes energy a more expensive resource than it should be.Fossil fuel plants are still running despite polluting and being in heavy losses.

Energy Nowadays

Solar energy changes everything. With the actual technology the surface area required to generate all of our needed energy is 496,805 square km.The price per watt with solar energy has dropped from $256 in 1954 to 82 cents today.With the creation of a more efficient way of acquiring energy, costs are dramatically reduced and therefore production of any technology becomes cheaper.With a transition to a cleaner energy source like solar energy we also reduce environmental pollution. And not only that, cheap energy will allow us to remove carbon dioxide from our environment efficiently.

Solar Energy

"In from three to eight years, we will have a machine with the general intelligence of an average human being."

Nowadays most of the success in AI is really machine learning or "narrow" artificial intelligence, not general purpose AI. But while it is easy to dismiss narrow AI and believe in our own superiority, AI that can beat humans at different domains has enormous implications. At one point, instead of training AI, we won't be needed.Bayesian method states that you can learn any problem as long as you had a starting probability and enough cycles to update the probabilities.Our Intelligence, as computers and AI is based on error correction and refinement of hypotheses through iterations.

The Future of Intelligence

"True ignorance is not the absence of knowledge, it's the refusal to acquire it."

"Power tends to corrupt, and asbolute power corrupts absolutely."

The future will be ruled by those who hold the keys to AI and technology. Within this race for power we distinguish different actors:<ul><li>Public entities such as governments.</li><li>Private corporations such as Google and Huawei.</li></ul>Depending on who holds the power the interests may vary, for some actors privacy is a must and for others it is control.Information and knowledge have been expanding exponentially as we build on past learnings and as we improve our technology. Soon - perhaps already - that rate of growth will be too fast for our own minds to keep pace. [...] Then who will be the masters?

Who Will Be the Masters?

"Watch your thoughts, they become words;watch your words, they become actions;Watch your actions, they become habits;watch you habits, they become character;watch your character, for it becomes your destiny."

"The need to belong is a powerful, fundamental, and extremely pervasive motivation, much of what human beings do is done in the service of belongingness."

Our need of belongingness is inherent to us, as humans we are constantly categorizing ourselves and others into groups. F.e. nationality, religion, job, personality...Groups don't necessarily need to be formal, we can belong to hundreds of groups, from your friends' group to a nation that you are proud to call home.These differentiatons in our minds are often about being not only different but better in some way. Those groups make us stand out by saying, "I'm like this, those people are like that." "Here is why you and I belong, why we understand each other."

Us Versus Them

In 1943, American psychologist Abraham Maslow proposed a theory that all humans possess a hierarchy of needs from basic need to self-actualization: some needs were more important than others, and needs on one level must be satisfied before the next can be addressed.Understanding needs and desires and then targeting them is at the heart of persuasion. This work by Maslow helped propel marketing and communications in countless industries and brands.Advertising and marketing deliberately play on our desires and biases to guide our thoughts, therefore influencing our decisions.

The Power of Understanding Needs and Desires

"Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamentals standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority."

You and a friend are caught by police for committing a crime together. The time in prison for the crime are ten years. Police hold you in separate cells with no communication possible.They don't have enough evidence to charge you with a more serious crime, but they do for a lesser crime which will have you both spending one year in jail.To convict you or your friend with the more serious crime, the police will need either your or your friend's confession.The police come into your room and tell you the following:

The Prisoner's Dilemma

<ul><li>If you confess and your friend does not, you will go free. You will spend zero years in prison and your friend willl get the full ten years.</li><li>If you both confess, you will each get five years in prison</li></ul>You must assume that they are about to give your friend the same offer or already have. What should you do?Prisoner's dilemma is one of the most famous examples in game theory. It is an example of a non-zero-sum game, where the actions of each player could make their combined situation better without taking from each other.

Despite being just a hypothetical situation, prisoner's dilemma reflects in an accurate how we tend to behave. Oftentimes the decisions that are best for us are at odds with each other.We can see some examples of this:<ul><li>Drugs or doping in sports: if no one uses them those who best train are awarded, if any athlete cheats he can get caught and exploit the fair results.</li><li>Military spending: if no country had an army that'd mean no war, but if just one country had an army it could rule the world.</li></ul>

A World of Self-interest 

"Now consider all the things technology is, and will soon be, making abundant. Things that are incredibly valuable but because of abundance fall in price precipitously.In a world where technology is concurrently driving deflation and abundance, maybe eventually, one of the forcing functions that makes cooperation more likely to stick is the very fact that there will not be a large economic incentive to "cheat" or "betray" - abundance minimizes the payoff.Or maybe we should attempt to create an economic system that works that way."

"Every company that was designed to have success in the twentieth century is designed to fail in the twenty-first century."

According to Ray Dalio there are only four levers governments can pull to escape debt crisis:<ul><li>Austerity - spending less</li><li>Debt defaults/restructuring</li><li>The central bank printing money or other guarantees</li><li>Wealth transfer - much higher taxes for the rich</li></ul>Because of deflation, austerity would create a vicious feedback cycle and a collapse in asset prices, combined with lower employment that'd result in debt defaults or restructuring. Because of that, lever 1 and lever 2 are inextricably linked.Both levers are extremely painful for society to bear in the short term, hence why dialogue on them is avoided.

How to Escape Debt Crises?

In this scenario we have continued low or negative interest rate environment, central bank printing, modern monetary theory, or other guarantees to keep the party going.The greatest irony of this camp is that it has the highest belief in a free-market economy and capitalism but at the same time doesn't realize that free-market capitalism is not what is happening today.In the short term, this approach can be successful because people feel richer, until the bill is due.Soner than later we'll realize that the only thing driving our economies is the explosion of debt.

Printing Money & Other Guarantees

This strategy has only one endgame:<ol><li>Higher inequality.</li><li>People losing hope in the system due to not being able to mke ends meet.</li><li>More polarization.</li><li>A rise of leaders that use the polarization to create "us versus them" narratives to consolidate power.</li><li>Commonplace revolution and wars.</li></ol>

This line of thinking in politics is the liberal/socialist/communist camp. It goes by the principle that the system should be fair for the disadvantaged, so we must tax the wealthy more to pay for the services to the poor.One of the more prominent proposals in this camp is universal basic income. The idea is simple in premise: raise taxes on the wealthy to give a minimum basic income, whether people work or not, topping people up if they work to a maximum amount but also not requiring them to work for their wage.

Higher taxes on the wealthy, guaranteed basic income

Determining the right amount of basic income differentiated for needs becomes difficult to reasonably achieve.The most important problem with the solution is simply this: it does not deal with the root cause. Deflation is being caused by technology and, because of that, it will ride the same exponential wave technology does. That means that the rate of deflation (without printing more money) will only accelerate from here.The abundance that technology provides us doesn't require net new jobs around the world. It obliterates the work and the jobs we already have.

Since global debt is already so high and expanding quickly, a reset of debt is needed in any truly viable solution.Controlling the value of money can lead to abuse of power - especially if the currency is underlying other currencies.A system that is controlled by one nation and is the backbone of all other currencies might work for a time, until the country's domestic issues force it to unilaterally deliver economic benefit to the nation in control of the currency while hurting all others.Example of this is when the US in 1971, unilaterally terminated the conversion of the US dollar to gold.

Who Controls the Money?

Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) is an attempt at a solution. The promise of Bitcoin was to create a system that was decentralized in nature, unable to be manipulated by anyone - including governments. With Bitcoin limited supply to twenty-one million Bitcoins tries to fix unlimited printing money problem.It creates a peer-to-peer ledger without any central control: the blockchain.As an open, distributed ledger, it offers security and trust by verifying transactions with consensus instead of through a central authority.

Bitcoin as Solution

Occam's razor states: a simpler solution is more likely to be correct than a complex one.What if, instead of trying to stop deflation at all costs, we embrace it? As technology spreads, deflation happens at the rate it should. Deflation becomes something celebrated because it means that we are getting more for less. We allow ourselves to accept abundance.As technology removes jobs and fewer overall jobs are needed, prices will keep falling, allowing those who lose jobs a way to share in the benefit of technology abundance without massive transfers of wealth.

The Simple Solution

If technology-driven price declines continue to the point of something becoming free, we let that happen too. People will no longer have to be on an endless treadmill to pay for things that are constantly rising in price.Prices of all things would fall, yes, but those creating value would be paid for their value creation - at a rate that matched the new realities of supply and demand and our digital world. And those who lose out in our societies would be less at risk.Central banks and governments won't let this happen, but who knows if Bitcoin will surpass their power with a network effect...

"A currency only holds value because of the deemed trust we have in it. Beyond that, it is just a piece of paper with faces and numbers on it."

"Asking big questions is sometimes more powerful than the solution itself because it inspires knowledge of the world to solve it and, as such, brings diverse ways of solving problems."

In this brilliant book, Jeff Booth explains his vision of the near future with the influence of technology on it.

We live in an extraordinary time. In a world that moves faster than we can imagine, we cannot afford to stand still. In this extraordinary contrarian book Jeff Booth details the technological and economic realities shaping our present and our future, and the choices we face as we go forward-a potentially alarming, but deeply hopeful situation.

crypto

Cryptocurrency

moneyandinvestments

Money & Investments

technologyandthefuture

Technology & The Future

"Your world view will transform instantly" - SALIM ISMAIL, Bestselling Author of Exponential Organizations We live in an extraordinary time. Technological advances are happening at a rate faster than our ability to understand them, and in a world that moves faster than we can imagine, we cannot afford to stand still. These advances bring efficiency and abundance--and they are profoundly deflationary. Our economic systems were built for a pre-technology era when labour and capital were inextricably linked, an era that counted on growth and inflation, an era where we made money from inefficiency. That era is over, but we keep on pretending that those economic systems still work. The only thing driving growth in the world today is easy credit, which is being created at a pace that is hard to comprehend--and with it, debt that we will never be able to pay back. As we try to artificially drive an economic system built for the past, we are creating more than just economic trouble. On our current path, our world will become profoundly more polarized and unsafe. We need to build a new framework for our local and global economies, and soon; we need to accept deflation and embrace the abundance it can bring. Otherwise, the same technology that has the power to bring abundance to us and our world will instead destroy it. In this extraordinary contrarian book, Jeff Booth, a leading mind and CEO in e-commerce and technology for 20 years, details the technological and economic realities shaping our present and our future, and the choices we face as we go forward--a potentially alarming, but deeply hopeful situation.

Jeff Booth

The Price of Tomorrow

<ol><li>Hold stocks for the long term</li><li>Be choosy about where to invest - by understanding the business</li><li>Ask yourself"Is the business going to keep producing more money all the time?"</li><li>Extreme diversification is the right approach if you do not have enough time to sort through the businesses. The solution is low-cost index tracker funds</li><li>If you have time to  put in the effort, try to find about 6 wonderful businesses.</li></ol>

How to use Buffet's 5 tips to build Wealth

"What we really want to do is buy businesses that we will be happy to hold forever"

Quote

This article provides two key tracks about investment in terms of time available. 

If I'd learnt about these five Warren Buffett tips at the age of 30, I'd likely be a lot richer now... and here's why.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

With no savings at 30, I'd use Warren Buffett's 5 tips to build wealth

Doing so lets you take advantage of the power of compounding. Try to invest!

Start Saving Early

Ask these questions before you want to buy something.<ul><li>Is this something I need?</li><li>Do I have something similar already?</li><li>Do I want this more than I want to become a millionaire?</li></ul>

Avoid Unnecessary Spending and Debt

Although there's no correct answer here, most <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/financialplanner.asp">financial planners</a> say that, depending on your age, you should save at least 15% of your annual <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/grossincome.asp">gross income</a> if you're aiming for a nest egg for retirement.

Save 15% of Your Income

<ul><li>Asking for a pay increase (if you think you're due for one)</li><li>Working extra hours</li><li>Getting a second job</li><li>Getting training to increase your earnings potential</li></ul>

Make More Money

<a href="https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/092313/how-manage-lifestyle-inflation.asp">Lifestyle inflation</a> happens when you spend more money just because you have more to spend.

Don't Give In to Lifestyle Inflation

An advisor can help you choose investments, set up a budget, and make plans to reach your goals.

Get Help if You Need It

I hope everyone can manage their money wisely

It's easy for some people to become millionaires. But what if you don't have a high-paying job or family money? You still can.

career

Career

6 Steps To Become a Millionaire by 30

Your salary negotiation — which routinely takes less than 5 minutes to conclude — has an outsized influence on what your compensation is.That makes your negotiation five very important minutes. Indeed, you can trivially pick up $5,000 in salary negotiations just by sucking less.

The Importance of Negotiation

The reality is that rich, successful people negotiate. It is an all-day-every-day thing in much of the business world, which is where most rich people get their money.

Successful People Negotiate

Salary negotiations are very asymmetrical.  Companies know this and routinely exploit it. Job seekers don’t, perhaps because they think doing so would be unfair and the word “exploit” makes them acutely uncomfortable. So we often default by pretending that the employer is evaluating the negotiation like we would. This is not true, and acting like it is true will harm both your interests and the interests of your future employer.

Negotiations Are Asymmetrical

The job of recruiters is to get you signed with the company as cheaply as possible, but generally a recruiter is not super motivated to do so, because it is not spending its money to hire you. A recruiter is spending its budget.This is an interesting perspective that can be leveraged to increase the salary even by an “insignificant” number.

The Job of Recruiters

Only negotiate salary after you have agreement in principle from someone with hiring authority that, if a mutually acceptable compensation can be agreed upon, you will be hired.

When To Negotiate

If you think about it, you’ll quickly reach the conclusion that the company has spent thousands of dollars just talking to you, and that doesn’t even count the thousands they spent deciding to talk to you instead of whoever isn’t in the room right now.For this reason, they really want to reach an agreement with you.When you have the offer, you are now in control of the company, because they want you and spent a lot of money to arrive to you. Thus, it is in their interest to hire you.

The Company Wants to Reach an Agreement

You are an expert in your own skill set, life story, and (ideally) value you can create for the company. However, the person you are talking to is not.If they ever resist about something which you want, consider reaching into the treasure chest that they are buying mostly blind and revealing one of the many glittering jewels inside. They are going to get them all anyhow if they buy the chest, but each one you bring out decreases the perceived risk of buying it and therefore increases its perceived value.

Reveal Your Glittering Jewels

“Interesting” is a wonderful word: it is positive and non-commital at the same time. If they tell you a number, tell them it is an “interesting” number, not a “wonderful” number.

Micro-tip

We are used to think that negotiating salary is bad and we tend to compare it to exploitation, however, the sooner we realize that this is objectively false the better.

Salary negotiation advice, mostly for engineers. Running total of raises negotiated due to this essay: $9M+.

teamwork

Teamwork

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More Valued

Peter Schiff is a stockbroker who is famous for warning people about a potential financial crash before 2008 happened. He has also written a book on the topic called Crash Proof.There are five clear messages that run throughout the book. They are:1. Economics is a complex topic and we still don't know everything about it.2. There are many factors that can drive an economic crash.3. We need to learn from the past in order to prevent future crashes.4. Economics is important and we need to do better at teaching it.5. We need to be careful with our money and make wise decisions.

Takeaways

The economy has been growing because it now takes us less time to provide the same resources. An increase in productivity has allowed food, shelter, smartphones, and supercars to become more readily available to the general population. This is the goal of an economy. For an economy to increase its productivity, then, savings are required to facilitate innovation.

Increasing productivity is the goal of any economy

Peter Schiff provides a clear and enlightening illustration of how the economy grows and why it crashes. Each type of savings has a different effect on the economy. Money saved for a rainy day does not help the economy grow, but money lent out to those in need can really help an economy grow. Money invested also helps the economy grow.

Savings are important for everyone, including economy

One way to think about productivity is by considering how having people specialize in specific fields is integral to productivity. For example, imagine a society where everyone does everything themselves. This would be really inefficient and people would not have as much leisure time. However, if people specialize in what they are good at, and then trade goods with each other, they will be much more productive and have more leisure time.

Comparative advantages boost economic performance

Governments provide services that are important to the economy, like security and justice. However, when governments provide services like healthcare, infrastructure, education, and banking, it's important to ask if they can provide these services more efficiently than the private market can. Politicians want to be reelected, so they sometimes spend money in a way that's not economically wise. On the flip side,  private lenders are more careful. If the government spends money in a way that's not wise, it can slow down or even crash the economy.

How the governments complicit in stunting economic growth

Banks are important in our society because they help us save money in a safe way, and they also help us invest money in more educated ways than we would know how to do on our own. However, the relationship between the government and banks can limit our productivity. The government can interfere with the price and production of goods, and they can also set the price of money by deciding the interest rates. This can be harmful to our economies because it incentivizes spending instead of saving, and it also encourages the misuse of credit and leverage.

Banks are integral to whether an economy grows

Peter Schiff wrote a book about the economic crashes that have happened throughout history. He talks about how inflation, deficit spending, and central banking can all be driving factors.

Straight answers to every question you've ever had about howthe economy works and how it affects your life In this Collector's Edition of their celebrated How anEconomy Grows and Why It Crashes, Peter Schiff, economic expertand bestselling author of Crash Proof and The RealCrash, once again teams up with his brother Andrew to spin alively economic fable that untangles many of the fallaciespreventing people from really understanding what drives an economy.The 2010 original has been described as a “Flintstones”take economics that entertainingly explains the beauty of freemarkets. The new edition has been greatly expanded in both quantityand quality. A new introduction and two new illustrated chaptersbring the story up to date, and most importantly, the book makesthe jump from black and white to full and vivid color. With the help of colorful cartoon illustrations, lively humor,and deceptively simple storytelling, the Schiff's bring the complexsubjects of inflation, monetary policy, recession, and otherimportant topics in economics down to Earth. The story starts withthree guys on an island who barely survive by fishing barehanded.Then one enterprising islander invents a net, catches more fish,and changes the island’s economy fundamentally. Using thisstory the Schiffs apply their signature take-no-prisoners logic toexpose the glaring fallacies and gaping holes permeating the globaleconomic conversation. The Collector’s Edition: Provides straight answers about how economies work, withoutrelying on nonsensical jargon and mind-numbing doublespeak theexperts use to cover up their confusion Includes a new introduction that sets the stage for developinga deeper, more practical understanding of inflation and the abusesof the monetary system Adds two new chapters that dissect the Federal Reserve’sQuantitative easing policies and the European Debt Crisis. Colorizes the original book's hundreds of cartoonillustrations. The improved images, executed by artist BrendanLeach from the original book, add new vigor to thepresentation Has a larger format that has been designed to fit most coffeetables. While the story may appear simple on the surface, as told by theSchiff brothers, it will leave you with a deep understanding ofHow an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes.

Discover the world of business and economics.

economics

Economics

books

Books

Straight answers to every question you've ever had about how the economy works and how it affects your life In this Collector's Edition of their celebrated How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes, Peter Schiff, economic expert and bestselling author of Crash Proof and The Real Crash, once again teams up with his brother Andrew to spin a lively economic fable that untangles many of the fallacies preventing people from really understanding what drives an economy. The 2010 original has been described as a “Flintstones” take economics that entertainingly explains the beauty of free markets. The new edition has been greatly expanded in both quantity and quality. A new introduction and two new illustrated chapters bring the story up to date, and most importantly, the book makes the jump from black and white to full and vivid color. With the help of colorful cartoon illustrations, lively humor, and deceptively simple storytelling, the Schiff's bring the complex subjects of inflation, monetary policy, recession, and other important topics in economics down to Earth. The story starts with three guys on an island who barely survive by fishing barehanded. Then one enterprising islander invents a net, catches more fish, and changes the island’s economy fundamentally. Using this story the Schiffs apply their signature take-no-prisoners logic to expose the glaring fallacies and gaping holes permeating the global economic conversation. The Collector’s Edition: <ul> <li>Provides straight answers about how economies work, without relying on nonsensical jargon and mind-numbing doublespeak the experts use to cover up their confusion</li> <li>Includes a new introduction that sets the stage for developing a deeper, more practical understanding of inflation and the abuses of the monetary system</li> <li>Adds two new chapters that dissect the Federal Reserve’s Quantitative easing policies and the European Debt Crisis. </li> <li>Colorizes the original book's hundreds of cartoon illustrations. The improved images, executed by artist Brendan Leach from the original book, add new vigor to the presentation</li> <li>Has a larger format that has been designed to fit most coffee tables. </li> </ul> While the story may appear simple on the surface, as told by the Schiff brothers, it will leave you with a deep understanding of How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes.

Peter David Schiff is an American stock broker, financial commentator, and radio personality. He is CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc., a broker-dealer based in Westport, Connecticut.

Peter D. Schiff

Andrew J. Schiff is an accomplished writer whose work has resonated with readers around the world. Andrew J. Schiff has published several books that explore a range of topics, from fiction to nonfiction, and has received critical acclaim for the ability to weave compelling narratives. Andrew J. Schiff's writing style is known for its depth and authenticity, and has earned quite a loyal following of readers.

Andrew J. Schiff

How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes

<ul><li>They expect fresh concepts to fail. They assume society isn't ready for or capable of change. Even worse, they want to drag others down into their tomb.</li><li>If you're hopeful and ambitious, they'll try to convince you your ideas are impossible. They'll say you're wasting your time. Don't believe them.</li><li>The real world isn't a place, it's an excuse. It's a justification for not trying. It has nothing to do with you.</li></ul>

"That would never work in the real world."— Don't believe them

<ul><li>If you're solving someone else's problem, you're constantly stabbing in the dark. When you solve your own problem, the light comes on. You know exactly what the right answer is.</li><li>Best of all, this "solve your own problem" approach lets you fall in love with what you're making.</li><li>What you do is what matters, not what you think or say or plan.</li><li>We had the itch, so we scratched it.</li></ul>

Solve your own problem

<ul><li>Don't let yourself off the hook with excuses. It's entirely your responsibility to make your dreams come true.</li><li>Besides, the perfect time never arrives.</li><li>As you get going, keep in mind why you're doing what you're doing.</li><li>Great businesses have a point of view, not just a product or service.</li><li>Design them to be simple.</li></ul>

No Excuses

<ul><li>Service businesses (e.g., consultants, software companies, wedding planners, graphic designers, and hundreds of others) don't require much to get going. If you're running a business like that, avoid outside funding.</li><li>You need less than you think.</li><li>Great companies start in garages all the time. Yours can too.</li><li>Start a business, not a startup.</li></ul>

Avoid Outside Funding

<ul><li>Don't hold everything else up because of a few leftovers. You can do them later.</li><li>Build the necessities now, worry about the luxuries later.</li><li>Meetings are toxic</li><li>Judo solutions are all about getting the most out of doing the least.</li><li>Problems can usually be solved with simple, mundane solutions.</li><li>Remember, you can usually turn good enough into great later.</li></ul>

Necessities Now, Luxuries Later

<ul><li>Everyone should be encouraged to start his own business, not just some rare breed that self-identifies as entrepreneurs.</li><li>Instead of entrepreneurs, let's just call them starters.</li><li>You don't need an MBA, a certificate, a fancy suit, a briefcase, or an above-average tolerance for risk. You just need an idea, a touch of confidence, and a push to get started.</li></ul>

Enough with "entrepreneurs"

<ul><li>There are just too many factors that are out of your hands: market conditions, competitors, customers, the economy, etc. Writing a plan makes you feel in control of things you can't actually control.</li><li>If you write a big plan, you'll most likely never look at it anyway.</li><li>Decide what you're going to do this week, not this year.</li><li>Premature hiring is the death of many companies.</li></ul>

Planning is guessing

<ul><li>Workaholics aren't heroes. They don't save the day, they just use it up. </li><li>The real hero is already home because she figured out a faster way to get things done.</li></ul>

Workaholism

<ul><li>You want your customers to say, "This makes my life better." You want to feel that if you stopped doing what you do, people would notice.</li><li>If you're going to do something, do something that matters.</li><li>The easiest, most straightforward way to create a great product or service is to make something you want to use.</li><li>The most important thing is to begin.</li></ul>

This Makes My Life Better

<ul><li>A business without a path to profit isn't a business, it's a hobby.</li><li>You need a commitment strategy, not an exit strategy.</li><li>Lots of things get better as they get shorter.</li><li>Nail the basics first and worry about the specifics later.</li><li>You often can't recognize the details that matter most until after you start building.</li></ul>

Burn The Boats

<ul><li>Don't be afraid of sharing.</li><li>Go behind the scenes.</li><li>Nobody likes plastic flowers.</li><li>Don't be afraid to show your flaws.</li><li>Press releases are spam.</li><li>You want an easily digestible introduction to what you sell.</li><li>Marketing is not a department.</li><li>How long someone's been doing it is overrated. What matters is how well they've been doing it.</li><li>Forget about formal education.</li><li>Hire great writers.</li></ul>

Show Your Flaws

<ul><li>You don't have to live with a decision forever. If you make a mistake, you can correct it later.</li><li>A curator is involved, making conscious decisions about what should stay and what should go. There's an editing process.</li><li>It's the stuff you leave out that matters.</li><li>Be a curator. Stick to what's truly essential.</li></ul>

Be A Curator

<ul><li>Once your product does what it needs to do, get it out there.</li><li>The quicker it's in the hands of customers, the better off you'll be.</li><li>If you already spent too much time on something that wasn't worth it, walk away.</li><li>Your estimates suck.</li><li>Break the big thing into smaller things.</li><li>Start making smaller to-do lists too. Long lists collect dust.</li><li>Make tiny decisions.</li></ul>

Launch now

<ul><li>When you make tiny decisions, you can't make big mistakes.</li><li>Say no by default.</li><li>If I'd listened to customers, I'd have given them a faster horse.--HENRY FORD</li><li>Don't confuse enthusiasm with priority.</li><li>Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking. Great writers know how to communicate.</li></ul>

Say No!

Hire them for a miniproject, even if it's for just twenty or forty hours. You'll see how they make decisions. You'll see if you get along. You'll see what kind of questions they ask. You'll get to judge them by their actions instead of just their words.

Test-drive employees

<ul><li>When something bad happens, tell your customers (even if they never noticed in the first place).</li><li>People will respect you more if you are open, honest, public, and responsive during a crisis.</li><li>A good apology accepts responsibility.</li><li>Take a deep breath.</li><li>People are creatures of habit. That's why they react to change in such a negative way.</li></ul>

Own your bad news

<ul><li>There are four-letter words you should never use in business. They're not f*ck or sh*t.</li><li>They're need, must, can't, easy, just, only, and fast.</li><li>Stop saying ASAP.</li><li>If you want to do something, you've got to do it now. You can't put it on a shelf and wait two months to get around to it. You can't just say you'll do it.</li></ul>

Four Letter Words

"Try, Try Again, or Maybe Not"

Rework shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in business. Most business books give you the same old advice: Write a business plan, study the competition, seek investors, yadda yadda. If you're looking for a book like that, put this one back on the shelf. Read it and you'll know why plans are actually harmful, why you don't need outside investors, and why you're better off ignoring the competition. The truth is, you need less than you think. You don't need to be a workaholic. You don't need to staff up. You don't need to waste time on paperwork or meetings. You don't even need an office. Those are all just excuses. What you really need to do is stop talking and start working. This book shows you the way. You'll learn how to be more productive, how to get exposure without breaking the bank, and tons more counterintuitive ideas that will inspire and provoke you. With its straightforward language and easy-is-better approach, Rework is the perfect playbook for anyone who’s ever dreamed of doing it on their own. Hardcore entrepreneurs, small-business owners, people stuck in day jobs they hate, victims of "downsizing," and artists who don’t want to starve anymore will all find valuable guidance in these pages.

entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship

Rework shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in business.  Most business books give you the same old advice: Write a business plan, study the competition, seek investors, yadda yadda. If you're looking for a book like that, put this one back on the shelf. Read it and you'll know why plans are actually harmful, why you don't need outside investors, and why you're better off ignoring the competition. The truth is, you need less than you think. You don't need to be a workaholic. You don't need to staff up. You don't need to waste time on paperwork or meetings. You don't even need an office. Those are all just excuses.  What you really need to do is stop talking and start working. This book shows you the way. You'll learn how to be more productive, how to get exposure without breaking the bank, and tons more counterintuitive ideas that will inspire and provoke you. With its straightforward language and easy-is-better approach, Rework is the perfect playbook for anyone who’s ever dreamed of doing it on their own. Hardcore entrepreneurs, small-business owners, people stuck in day jobs they hate, victims of "downsizing," and artists who don’t want to starve anymore will all find valuable guidance in these pages.

Jason Fried is the co-founder and President of 37signals. Jason believes there’s real value and beauty in the basics. Jason co-wrote all of 37signals books, and is invited to speak around the world on entrepreneurship, design, management, and software.

Jason Fried

David Heinemeier Hansson is a Danish programmer and the creator of the popular Ruby on Rails web development framework. He is also a partner at the web-based software development firm 37signals based in Chicago, Illinois.

David Heinemeier Hansson

Rework

There are some people who live to work. They relish being a hustler, grinding it out. They chortle at your nine-to-five regimen, and they can’t understand <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/09/01/quiet-quitting-anti-work-job-lying-flat-china-us-economy-global/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=reader&tpcc=reader">why anyone would be attracted to “quiet quitting.” </a>

More young people are rejecting hustle culture and embracing a slower pace of life that rejects capitalism and prioritizes self-care.

timemanagement

Time Management

business

Business

Millennials want to live a 'soft life,' and it's changing how they work

<ul><li>Consistency</li><li>Trends</li><li>Intrinsic meaning</li><li>Competitive Comparisons</li></ul>

What To Look For When Examining A Company For Investing

The hallmark of good management, as well as of an attractive long-term investment, is the consistency of results delivered. If profit margins are consistent and changing at a consistent rate, the company is predictable — and most likely in control of its markets. Inconsistent ratios reflect inconsistent management, competitive struggles, and cyclical industries, all of which diminish a company’s intrinsic value.

Consistency

These ideas show how you can make sense of financial data from 4 different angles.

Start With What You know: A Beginner’s Guide to Making Stock Investment Decisions

Find 100+ Ideas and Facts about Money - Curated from interesting sources like Books, Podcasts & Articles - Genuine Insights from like-minded Users like You!

The Price of Tomorrow

With no savings at 30, I'd use Warren Buffett's 5 tips to build wealth

6 Steps To Become a Millionaire by 30

Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More Valued

How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes

Rework

Millennials want to live a 'soft life,' and it's changing how they work

Start With What You know: A Beginner’s Guide to Making Stock Investment Decisions

Burgernomics: How can a burger determine the value of a currency?

How to Win at the Sport of Business

It's time to
Read like a Pro.

The Price of Tomorrow

With no savings at 30, I'd use Warren Buffett's 5 tips to build wealth

6 Steps To Become a Millionaire by 30

Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More Valued

How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes

Rework

Millennials want to live a 'soft life,' and it's changing how they work

Start With What You know: A Beginner’s Guide to Making Stock Investment Decisions

Burgernomics: How can a burger determine the value of a currency?

How to Win at the Sport of Business

It's time to Read like a Pro.

It's time to
Read like a Pro.