Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (September 1, 2026) I traveled for six weeks in the Philippines (Cebu, Bohol, Panglao, Manila and Makati), Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan and in the San Francisco, California Bay Area and made a number of observations. China is a fully developed country and its massive southeast megalopolis including Hong Kong, Macao and Zhuhai are every much as affluent as North America and Europe.  While in Macao I saw one (1) person who could be classified as “homeless.”  Most people work at average jobs to make ends meet as do most people all over the entire world.  There are also a (not small) number of people who are very affluent or even wealthy.  Most of these are business people from the rest of mainland China – the People’s Republic of China (PRC).  Life is not much different than in North America or in Europe.  The Internet was not blocked where I visited and people lead normal lives.  Macao is the most densely populated territory on earth which means that space (real property) sells at an absolute premium.  Most people in Macao and in all large cities all over the world reside in “dense” housing such as apartments, condominiums and townhomes.  Only a few people or families have the financial means to afford single family homes which are more often than not more like mansions or palaces – huge in size and with at least three floors.  In Macao such homes sell for more than the equivalent of USD $100 million or nine (9) figures. Moving down the ladder or pyramid one finds high rise glass structures where “units” are similar in living space to large single family homes (say more than 3,000 square feet) and these dwellings sell for more than the equivalent of USD…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (August 2, 2026) The demographic situation in the world today with respect to race is not unlike that in southern Africa when it moved from white minority rule to majority rule based upon one person, one vote (universal suffrage).  The Republic of South Africa was about 29.02 percent white / Caucasian / Indo-European from 1797 until the census of 1897 and in the 2022 census this was down to 7.3 percent of the population – the figure for 2026 is likely closer to 6.3 percent of the entire population of the country. Majority rule in the Republic of South Africa under the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) since 1994 has seen evolutionary as opposed to revolutionary change.  Both South Africa and Namibia chose a moderate way to achieve change whereas Zimbabwe (formerly southern Rhodesia) destroyed its economy due to radical change plagued with kleptocracy.  Ownership of land and assets in South Africa due to rule by the former National Party (1948 to 1994) was 87 percent white in 1994 and remains 72 percent white today.  Globally, the entire planet was about 35 percent white / Caucasian / Indo-European in the year 1900 when European colonial power was at its peak.  Today, that figure is down to no more than 8 percent of the earth’s human population. The geopolitical, socio-economic and financial changes now underway are influenced by this reality.  European colonial power (which includes major powers “mimicking” Europe such as the USA and Japan) reached a peak in 1914 before the onset of World War One (1914-1918).  World Wars One (1914-1918) and Two (1939-1945) can be seen as a European “civil war” or also as the “30 Years War” of the 20th Century – the original 30 Years War took place mostly…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (July 1, 2026) The USA and almost all countries on earth are faced with similar existential problems which include the precarious predicament of fiat currencies (collapsing purchasing power and the skyrocketing cost of living due to deficit spending and soaring levels of debt), environmental tribulation due to the demands of swollen human population numbers and pollution due to fossil fuel usage – not to mention endless wars, political corruption on steroids and an economic pyramid in which the global middle class has all but disappeared.  The human population on earth is now divided into roughly 2 percent “haves” versus 98 percent “have nots.”  Not only is this unacceptable from a moral standpoint but it also leads to extreme social instability which threatens peace, stability and democracy. Wealth and income distribution have become so severely uneven for the simple reason that corporate income tax has become so miniscule.  Corporations are owned by their shareholders, and corporate shareholding is very heavily concentrated at the top of the economic population pyramid.  In the USA annual corporate profits now run at USD $13.87 TRILLION of which a paltry 0.94 percent is paid to the IRS. Individual income taxes (your form 1040) comprise 54 percent of IRS receipts.  Social Security and Medicare taxes (since the Presidential Administrations of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson, respectively) currently comprise an additional 32 percent of IRS receipts.  All of this is very good and necessary to maintain a decent standard of living.  Beyond this we get into the much smaller portions of IRS revenue.  Tariffs (which do much more harm than good to the overall domestic and global economy) comprise 8 percent of current IRS revenue.  Tariffs depress consumer demand which makes up 70 percent of GDP.  Tariffs are levied upon…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (June 1, 2026) In last month’s blog I discussed the historical background for representative government on earth going back to its beginnings in the modern era.  We also discussed supra-national and world government entities which are necessary to tackle all-important issues which affect all life on earth – to reach a more just distribution & use of income and wealth, to address the real issue of environmental degradation and to use our resources more wisely to improve the overall standard of living for everyone with no exceptions.  The goal here is more fairness, more inclusion, more equity, more sanity, more stability, mutual respect, prosperity for all and for a final end to war and armed conflict. The main global governmental body since 1945 is the United Nations (UN) which is based in New York City.  The UN has 193 member and 2 observer nations – some of these nations in turn have dependent territories (formerly called “colonies”).  The supra-national regional entity which has evolved the furthest to date is the European Union (EU).  The EU was formally established in 1952 and today has 27 member nations with a combined human population of 451 million.  The EU has its administrative base in Brussels, its central bank in Frankfurt, its judiciary in Luxembourg and its parliament in Strasbourg.  The United Kingdom (UK) may soon seek to rejoin the EU.  Greenland (an autonomous country within the Danish Realm) may also seek to join the EU.  There are a number of other countries now applying for EU membership.  These include Montenegro, Albania, Serbia, Moldova, North Macedonia, Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo and Turkey.  Beyond this are countries contemplating possible application to the EU including Norway, Iceland, Armenia, Belarus, Canada, Russia, San Marino, Switzerland, the Faroe Islands (part of the…