01-01 Deflation
Governments can fix inflation but they can’t fix deflation. Central banks are printing money and governments are giving it away. My grandfather said there was a lot he did not understand because he did not have an “edumacation”. Well. I have been a student and an educator all my life. And the more I learn…
01-02 Births and Deaths
15% of small firms will disappear as a result of the Coronavirus. But they will all be replaced with new ventures. During the 1987 International Small Business Congress in Nagoya, Japan, I had an opportunity to do a little site-seeing. And I noticed a small firm with a large sign in Japanese leaning against the…
01-03 Consumer Demand
Consumer spending will not provide the lift that is needed to rebuild the economy until everyone is vaccinated. My mother’s Sunday roasts were really something. But for the rest of the week she wasn’t much of a cook. And she was always serving wieners. Something I have never bought after 65 years of marriage. Why,…
01-04 Trade
The pandemic is slowing domestic demand and trade. Smart governments will encourage investments in renewable energy. The 1992 signing of the draft of the new North American Free Trade Agreement was a moment in history. The key players in the photo are President Carlos Salinas de Gortari of Mexico, President George H W Bush of…
01-05 Money Laundering
Converting dirty money into clean money is a $2 trillion global business. Unless societies can curb money laundering they cannot control criminal organizations. I had never heard of FinCEN, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which is a bureau of the US Department of the Treasury, until I got into author Noel Hynd’s series on FinCEN…
01-06 Vertical Farming
Growing crops indoors on vertically stacked layers. Artificial lighting, no soil, water with nutrients, no herbicides or insecticides. The future of agriculture? I will never forget visiting farms in China in 1985 that combined raising ducks with fish farming. A farmer’s home surrounded with water full of fish and ducks everywhere. Some fish food for…