A Short History of Financial Euphoria
John Ken Galbraith
Summary
A brief history of bubbles from a world famous economist written in the early 90s. Lots of lessons and similarities to where we are in this everything bubble
Rating: 4/5
Notes
All speculative assets go up and this increase attracts new buyers who continue to bid the assets up. The specualition building on itself proceeds on its own momentum
The rule, supported by centuries of evidence: the speculative episode always ends not with a whimper but with a bang
Speculation buys up the intelligence of those involved
Criticis who point out the bubble are told to keep quiet and support those indulging their euphoric vision
Financial genius is before the fall (SBF)
All crises have inovlved debt that has become dangerously out of scale in relation to the underlying means of payment (crypto and leverage) - stablecoins and yield farming
In the aftermath of speculation, reality is ignored, specifically how the speculation started
Learn about John Law and the Mississippi company - established the company, said to find gold in Louisiana (wasn’t there) and sold shares to the public where shares were then traded and kept being bid up till you had the bubble
South sea company in England set up by Robert Harley was the same
- Isaac Newton lost a ton of money doing this and got caught in the bubble
Most of who have sizeable amounts of money to invest or manage investment operations are Republican in their politics
The 1929 bubble started in Florida real estate in the mid 20s - where Charles Ponzi made his money)
During 1929, you could buy stocks on 10% margin (10% collateral, 90% from the lender)
The most leveraged firm in 1929 was Goldman Sachs (ring a bell for 08?)
Financial memory lasts, at no more, than 20 years
There are few references in life so common as to the lessons of history. Those who don’t know it are doomed to repeat it
There is possibility of error-prone behaviour on the part of those closely associated with money
When a mood of excitement pervades the market, when there is a chain of unique opportunity based on special foresight, all sensible people should exercise caution
One thing is certain: there will be many more of these episodes in the future
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Make Something Wonderful
Steve Jobs
Summary
The life of Steve Jobs in his own words
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Make something wonderful and put it out there
‘You appear, have a chance to blaze in the sky, then you disappear’
When you’re a stranger in a place, you notice thing you don’t otherwise (Jobs after India trip)
Whenever you start with nothing, always shoot for the moon. You have nothing to lose.
You never achieve what you want without falling on your face a few times
Never be afraid to fail. You never achieve what you want without falling flat on your face a few times
We are never taught to listen to our intuitions, to develop and nurture them. But if you do pay attention to these subtle insights, you can make them come true
Creativity equals connecting previously unrelated experiences and insights others don’t see
Believe that some of what you follow with your heart will come back and make your life richer. And it will. And you will gain even firmer trust on your instincts and intuitions
Make your avocation your vocation. Make what you love your work.
The journey is the reward. The reward isn’t in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it’s in crossing the rainbow
To find A+ talent, if experienced, look at their track record and results
The world we know is a human creation and we can push it forward
The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do (read whole ad ‘here’s to the crazy ones)
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit - Aristotle
Hire people better than you are
You can’t plan to meet the people who will change your life
It’s impossible to connect the dots looking forward, but they make sense looking backwards so you have to trust the dots will somehow connect in your future
Everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you
***
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Free E-book download here
