Analytics

When injustice reaches a certain point, even soldiers and policemen refuse to obey – as witness the French, Russian, Chinese, Indo-Chinese, and other revolutions…. The moment a state, grown too powerful, too weak, or too misguided, ceases to make the citizens feel they are governed justly, they have the right to insist on a change – peacefully if they possess the means, by force if they do not. Ten to one there will be some imbecile who will deduce from these paragraphs that I am preaching revolution, just as there were some who asserted that I was recommending political assassinations. It is worth repeating, then: I am against violence. And it is precisely in order to forestall it that I have examined the conditions in which it usually breaks out.” Pierre Elliott Trudeau

When thinking about various diasporas around the world, we should remember the following three points

To reach excellence in education it is important to clearly articulate the desired results. For example, in South Korea, schoolchildren study all day long, as the goal of the school education system is to guarantee entry into top universities. Schoolchildren in Finland, on the other hand, do minimum homework, as the goal is to raise not only intelligent, but also psychologically and socially-balanced kids. Singapore views education as an ecosystem, which means schools, universities and employment are all interlinked.

During the last fifty years the world’s population has more than doubled, from 3.7 bn. in 1970 to 7.8 bn. in 2020, and will likely reach 11.0 bn by 2100. The growing number of people around the world is one of the main causes of global warming. From this perspective it is hard to argue that the Earth needs more people.

Exponential growth means if Armenia’s GDP per capita grows at about 10% per year, it will rise from $4,000 in 2020 to more than $20,000 in 2041. For various scenarios of GDP and population growth, see Tables 1 and 2 below.

We must distinguish between two types of sovereignty – domestic and international. In domestic matters, the Emir of Qatar has more autonomy (or sovereignty) than the President of the United States, simply because the American society has placed stricter limits “on the right of one man to rule another.”

By definition, strategy and vision are about the long-term. People, businesses and organisations often develop strategies, but can a country or a nation have a vision or strategy? Do countries such as France, Canada or Britain have a strategy, and if yes, where is it written?

“A truly great business must have an enduring “moat”. The dynamics of capitalism guarantee that competitors will repeatedly assault any business “castle” that is earning high returns. Therefore, a formidable barrier (the moat), such as low-cost or a powerful brand is essential for sustained success. Business history is filled with companies whose moats proved illusory and were soon crossed.

Reading time ~ 7 min. This is Part II of our three-part research note on Money, Debt, Inflation & Wealth Preservation. In part one we argued that we should not be paying too much attention to money supply (and money printing) statistics. As shown in Chart 1 below, the relationship between money supply and inflation broke down a long time ago.

Lots of people around the world are worried about their lifetime savings. A friend recently asked: “My father-in-law has left my wife an inheritance of US$ 100.0 million in cash. As you know, my wife and I make a good living and don’t really need that money. We have decided to leave the entire inheritance to our kids.