Genuine Report
-
Still Stands
-
It all falls apart.
-
Frought with instability.
-
Time for the Saver’s
-
上海合作组织 / Шанхайская Организация Сотрудничества
-
The original bat-and-ball game.
-
The 27 Club
-
A newer resolution.
The World
Still Stands
It’s 2023, with worry of recession and war, yet inspiring hope of transformation and new unions.
Globe /
The world population hits 8B, China’s Chang-e Rover discovers Helium-3 on the moon, ChatGPT is released for free with an un-understood impact to society as a whole, US Energy Dept. achieved ignition in Nuclear Fusion program, Nobel Prize winners in Physics determine entangled particles communicate faster than the speed of light, Argentina’s World Cup win solidifies Messi in annals of Football history.
Europe /
Ukraine’s stranglehold on key bridges turn the war and winter against Russia’s hold, the Nord Stream II pipeline sabotage reveals future covert tactics of future warfare, U.K’s Truss gov’t last 44 days and new PM Rishi Sunak can start anew. Italy accepts Meloni’s new budget raising deficit to 4.5% GDP.
Asia /
Xi Jinping marks 3rd term as head of CCP, U.S. is placing restrictions on U.S Technology to be made or shipped to China, North Korea fires test missiles at Japan, , Imran Khan challenges foreign interference in Pakistani elections resulting in assassination attempts. 154 people killed in nightclub stampede in South Korea. Indonesia criminalize non-marital sex, Australia reverses recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel.
South America /
Unrest in Peru as democratically elected Pedro Castillo removed from power and international community is divided, Brazil elects Lula replacing Bolsonaro and warming relations with Venezuela, in Colombia Gustavo Petro will invest in rural communities to replace coca crops with legal crops.
North America /
Haiti is declines involvement from Western powers in battling local gangs, Canada bans purchase, sell or transfer handguns, U.S. midterms re-elect Democratic powers despite high inflation due to a disjointed GOP, Canada opens Dental coverage to low-income children, first official Marijuana dispensary opens in New York City.
Africa and Middle East /
Iran battles protestors against modest rules and police brutality, , through coalition Netanyahu regains control of Israel for 6th term as PM, Saudi Arabia steadfast on developing ‘the Line’ and 2030 initiatives. Yemen and Saudi peace-talks do not look to slow conflict in 2023. Zimbabwe to stop export of lithium. Uganda’s President Museveni’s son sends threats to neighbours via Twitter.
Business
It all falls a part….
Hyperinflation crashing 107 economies in 69 countries, and in these headwinds leaders have lost their fortunes in a similar sensationalism in which they earned them.
Donda - Ye loses Balenciaga, Adidas and remaining Hip-Hop comrades, but gains Parler and Right-wing support.
Twitter - Musk is upheld to 45B purchase, to now build a Western equivalent to WeChat with crypto pay function, potentially at the impact of Tesla’s success.
Meta –Apple set new tracking restrictions in 2021 and it hits 10B in ad revenue for Meta, Zuckerberg’s push for Metaverse lost even more.
TikTok – is removed from U.S. House of Representatives phones, U.S. public likely to follow in 2023 as it’s classified as Spyware.
Be Real – App data collection at a new level, as kids flock to post real-time photos in method to escape the over curation of Instagram.
Is the FTX saga a death knell for the Crypto Markets?
(November 12th 2022 - Toronto)
FTX, the second largest Crypto exchange, run by Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has filed for bankruptcy within the chaos of one week and the Crypto markets have been shook to their core. The $1T Crypto market saw a loss of $250B as investors pull back funds and watch venture capitalist and celebrities lose over 10B in FTX and its FTT token this week.
The largest Crypto exchange, Binance had a stake in FTX. The CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ) held $2B in FTT token, and on November 6th 2022 liquidated the FTT token due to a personal concern with SBF. The move weakened the platform, and trust in investors bottomed out until trades were frozen.
In FTX’s case, the Exchange utilized a token, FTT to allow users to trade with no fees on their crypto exchange. The token, although not backed, was used as collateral for Alameda Research to loan them $6B in USD, and this is where the crux of business dealing falls apart. The CEO of Alameda Research, Caroline Ellison was once an ex-girlfriend of SBF and closely intertwined with their group of MIT and Jane Street alumni all living in Bahamas. FTT only works if people think it works, there is no inherent value, and this reveals more than it wants about the Crypto market as a whole?
The outcome reveals more regulations are needed in Crypto markets, otherwise centralized exchanges will operate with impunity.
Markets
Frought with Instability
Ø Gold – is up this quarter, but is stable compared to start of 2022. Projected volatility in 2023, has many looking at Gold for stability.
Ø Oil – forced pricing by U.S. for Mid-term elections looks to blowback, pushing many to new exchanges and challenging U.S. Petrodollar.
Ø Crypto – As XRP v. SEC determines Crypto as a commodity and not a security, can regulation be determined to control the market woes.
Forecast
A Time for ‘Saver’s’
(December 31st 2022 - Toronto)
High Interest Rewards Savers
With Interest Rates sky-rocketing from 0.5% to 4.5% (+) in the West, there are places where ‘Savers’ can start to make a solid returns on their liquid funds. For those who can recall back to the 1980’s if you opened a Bank Account, you have noticed a deposit each month from the bank returning a Savings Interest to your overall account.
Most institutions provide High Interest Savings (HISA) accounts with no monthly fee, and as they are intended for saving and don’t often come with a debit card or cheques as the intention is for conserving, not daily spending.
High Interest Savings Accounts (HISAs)
o 1.0% annual is $1,000 = $10/year
o 5.0% annual on $10,000 = $500/year
“HISA interest is usually presented as an annual percentage yield, but the interest is normally calculated daily and paid back into the account monthly. This means you’ll earn compound interest (interest on the interest) in your HISA, which is ideal for helping your savings grow faster. For example, let’s say that you put $10,000 in your HISA with an interest rate of 1%, and then you don’t touch your account for one year. You will have earned $100.50 in interest by the end of the year, so your HISA will contain $10,100.50”. (Hannah Logan and Clay Jarvis)
However, the CRA will classify this as income and you will need to report these earning via a T5.
GIC vs HISA
Another financial product similar to a high-interest savings account is a Guaranteed Investment Certificate, or GIC.
With a GIC, you deposit money into a financial institution for a predetermined length of time in exchange for a guaranteed rate of interest. The length of GIC terms varies; some are as short as a month, others can be several years. The longer the term, the more interest you’ll typically earn.
With a HISA, you can withdraw your money anytime you like. With a GIC, you may be required to pay a penalty if you try to retrieve your money before the term expires.
Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) sponsored by Apple
For those who don’t have time for saving, and will wait for a rainy day to start, Apple has developed a new product to appeal to the Pay Later crowd for easy credit.
Apple has created a feature to allow Apple Pay users to pay in 4 installments with zero interest or zero fees if the vendor accepts Apple Pay
Existing Digital Lenders are hit are dramatically
Sport & Combat
The original bat-and-ball game
The Men’s International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup championship will kick off in India on Feb 9th, 2023.
(December 26th 2022 - Toronto)
The flagship Cricket tournament is the 13th inaugural event, since its origin in 1975 in England, and started soon after the first authorized ‘One Day International’ (ODI) took place in 1971. This event is the most viewed Cricket tournament, long since challenging the supremacy of the multi-day events of Test cricket and enhancing much of the 1909 Imperial Cricket Council’s founding principle.
There are a few iterations of the Cricket game, with the most popular being the ODI or ‘Limited Overs International’ (LOI) limited to 50 overs (~9-hours). However, as fast-paced life progress’ in the 21st Century, a new iteration of the ICC approved Twenty20 (T20) International may challenge for supremacy in the near future. The T20 version is limited to 20 overs (~3 hours) and in 2007, the T20 World Cup began to run every two years.
In the upcoming 2023 World Cup, the favourites are England who return as victors from the 2019 tournament and have recently won the 2022 T20 World Cup. However, New Zealand holds the heights at the ICC ODI rankings with Australia not far behind, but India will have a home advantage that may indeed allow them to take the trophy for a third time.
Rundown of Cricket
In 1744 the game was drafted and later codified in 1788. The 42 Laws of Cricket are maintained by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in London, and have been re-coded 6 times, with the last in 2017 and coming into force in 2019.
Laws of the Game and How it’s Played
Cricket is a ‘bat-and-ball’ game that challenges 2 teams to earn the highest score in a set number of innings. Each team of 11 players meet on a circular ground and at its center there is a short grass rectangular pitch (3m x 20m) with a wicket at each end. The teams take turns to defend and attack, with the offensive earning the chance to add runs to their overall score.
The defending team assigns a skilled bowler to throw the game ball into play towards opposing teams’ batsmen who will attempt to hit the ball and also protect their wicket (3 wooden stumps holding up 2 bails). The bowler has 6 attempts to knock down the wicket, and if unsuccessful then the Over is called and a new bowler pitches to the batsman on the other end.
The Pitch and Play
The bowler surpasses the batter and knocks down a bail on the wicket – the striking batsman is eliminated, or
The striking batsman hits the ball into play amongst the defending teams’ fielders, then
The ball is caught in midair by a fielder then the striking batsman is eliminated, or
The ball is not caught, then the two-batsman run back and forth between the safe-haven of the wickets, scoring a point with each successful pass of a wicket, and the batsman continue back-and-forth until a wicket is disturbed by the defenders throwing the ball knocking off a bail.
The team will switch roles when a set number of Overs have been met, which depending on the type of game.
The Score and Winners
The team with the highest number of runs at the end of the set innings is the winner.
If the team who bats last does not earn enough runs before the teams are dismissed due to time or other environmental factors, then the winning team wins by runs.
If the team who bats last wins in the last inning, then the number of remaining batters add to their score.
If the team who bats last does not even need to bat, then they have won by innings and number of runs.
Politics & Religion
上海合作组织 / Шанхайская Организация Сотрудничества
(December 3rd 2022 - Punta Cana)
On June 15, 2001 the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (The SCO) was formed when Uzbekistan was added to The Shanghai Five, the world’s largest Regional Organization. Throughout the 21st century new Observer states joined with India and Pakistan becoming members in 2017, and now Iran joining in 2023.
At the recent 2022 summit in Samarkand “Beijing was clear in its support for advancing SCO expansion, signing off on Iran’s admission for membership, endorsing the review of Belarus’ membership application, and adding Bahrain, the Maldives, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Myanmar as dialogue partners”.
The goal of the SCO is for joint communication on security, military exercises, economic and cultural sharing. The cooperation shares information on extremism, terrorism, separatism through the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS). Although not a military alliance, the shared information programs run in support of peace missions. Despite its intention for inclusivity, the U.S. applied for Observer status it was rejected in 2005.
In 2008, Iranian writer Hamid Golpira had this to say on the topic: "According to Zbigniew Brzezinski's theory, control of the Eurasian landmass is the key to global domination and control of Central Asia is the key to control of the Eurasian landmass....Russia and China have been paying attention to Brzezinski's theory, since they formed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in 2001, ostensibly to curb extremism in the region and enhance border security, but most probably with the real objective of counterbalancing the activities of the United States and the rest of the NATO alliance in Central Asia".
From a Financial perspective, there is also the BRICS community that is coming together to build bridges and partnerships to look beyond 2030. The South-South support framework is managed through the New Development Bank (AA++ Rated), Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), as ways to support Belt and Road Initiatives (BRI) to support global infrastructure developments.
Originally introduced in 2001 as a term for investment via Jim O’Neill, Roopa Purushothaman and Goldman Sachs. In 2009, the Yekaterinburg Summit was held together with the first BRIC Summit – with a firm message they wanted a bigger quota in the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
It is noted BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) are looking to recruit, and Saudi Arabia wants access – and with this move BRICS+ can look to develop a new global currency to challenge the supremacy of the U.S. Dollar with a drive to secure a gold backed reserve currency “That’s notable because both Russia and China have been accumulating gold reserves at a rapid pace compared to other countries, and the BRICS nations are gold producers”. One consideration, however, the U.S. and Europe currently hold the world’s largest reserve.
As the geo-political alliances continue to play out in the 21st Century, the emerging economies at the beginning of the century have found strength in coming together. Following the playbook established by the United Nations in the 1950’s, these new infrastructures and unions are bringing together the South without interest of either the West or North joining in the club.
Mixtape
twenty XX
seven VII
(October 27th 2022 - Toronto)
As the idealism of the 1960’s Free Love and Peace movements degraded into the grittier 1970’s Sex, Drugs and Rock n’ Roll mantra, the realism of excessive partying set in and left its wake. Talented musicians addressed the highs and lows of fame with drugs and alcohol, and those at the greatest heights like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison all crashed out and died at the ripe age of 27.
“Though humans die regularly at all ages, there is a statistical spike for musicians who die at 27” Charles R. Cross
As time passed on each generation appeared to leave behind artists taken earlier then their time, at the age of 27. A legend began to build when Kurt Cobain commit suicide, and renewed in the 21st century when Amy Winehouse fell victim to fame and addiction. The connections had others look to the past, to note Robert Johnson, Brian Jones (The Rolling Stones), Ron ‘Pigpen’ McKernan (Grateful Dead) and Jean-Michel Basquiat were apart of an exclusive club.
The loss of this talent, and romanticism of their youth, fueled a thought that carved out a little slice in Heaven where they all jam together at their best.
Health and Wellnesscape
A Newer Resolution
(December 30th 2022 - Toronto)
As we come into another January, we will see gym memberships skyrocket and bar tabs drop.
It’s common to set ‘Resolutions’ to better ones self and practice the self-care that we identified throughout the year, habits that we should have tackled earlier and got a better handle on.
There are two traditional buckets; to either add new lifestyle practice that makes yourself better or to remove habits that make you feel bad. Regardless of the approach, unless you can learn a new discipline then the goal will likely fade just as they had throughout the year with your fad diets.
Additive
Exercise More
Eat Healthier
Earn More Money
Elimination
Stop Binging Media
Selective Drinking
Spend Less Money
To avoid disappointment there are some approaches to consider when setting goals and achieving them. It is good to dream up big lofty goals, even those that are almost unattainable, but if not careful you may end up feeling like a failure when they cannot achieve the end result.
Tips to Succeed at Achieving a Resolution - e.g., Exercise More
Make small achievable goals - Begin a new work out regiment
Ensure you have your full buy-in on the goal - I am excited to start my first session
Become very specific - Focus on cardiovascular health
Set measurable markers – Hit the treadmill for 30 minutes 2x a week
Write down goals or use an App - Posting a goal on the fridge or track them in an App makes them real
Envision the 3/6/12-month outcome – ‘Immediate’ results will take time to run a 5 mile race
Don’t get discouraged when you face a set-back - Missing a week is simply part of the process
When eliminating habits these may be tied to physical obstacles and drives holding you back from success.
Brainspotting (BSP) – Identifying the impact of past trauma on our physical mid-brain connected to central nervous system.
Simplified Model
o Identify your cravings when they happen, when you desire a Hamburger and trace your thought and also how your physical body feels. The idea is to link you mental craving with the drivers in your brain and ultimately your entire body. By connecting these dots, you can link your primordial instincts and desires to draw logical understanding and opportunity to redraft new brain pathways.
o Hold on to this craving for 10-15 minutes, and hopefully it will subside.
Proper Approach
o If this an area of interest in this technique discovered by Dr. David Grand in 2003, here is a directory of trained Therapist supporting this technique.
Be sure to consult a doctor, or medical support when making impactful life changes to your lifestyle.
