You know Peter Thiel as one of the few people in Silicon Valley who backed presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2016. Thiel was also a co-founder of PayPal with some guy named Elon Musk. And he was an original backer of Facebook. The guy knows a thing or two about startups. Which is why I recently reread his book Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future. You and I know that technologists tend to think about the future in terms of technology, much like a farmer thinks about the future in terms of farming. It’s what they do. Which is why, as an investor, I found this … [Read more...]

Inflation is high, and looks to remain so. Joe Biden has no plan to stop the unrelenting increase in the prices Americans pay for food, gasoline, and other necessities, and he even seems to be intent on adding to their pain with policies that restrict oil production and drive up costs for everyone. Gwynn Guilford reports on the latest inflation numbers in The Wall Street Journal, writing: U.S. inflation accelerated slightly in September, as pandemic-related shortages of labor and materials continued to push up prices. The Labor Department said the consumer-price index—which measures what … [Read more...]

You have read all about shortages of fuel, food, lumber, gas, ammo, computer chips, and many other things Americans need every day. A shortage in truckers is contributing to each of those other shortages, as it becomes more difficult to move material and finished products across the country. Angela Yang reports in the Boston Globe: Local coffee shop constantly out of your favorite ingredient lately? Can’t find what you’re looking for at the store? Packages arriving late? The problem might be as simple as having too few people to drive the stuff around. A shortfall of truck drivers is … [Read more...]

“How’s it going?” I ask. “Good,” he replies. “I don’t know anything.” And with that, I know he’s good because he’s been telling me that for twenty years now. Now, I can assure you when he says he “don’t know anything,” he knows quite a bit. Because you see, he quit a lucrative job in his 30s to go to medical school simply to try his hand at being a doctor. He, we’ll call him Doc now, is still working part-time as a doctor in his 70s. When telling me the story, his brother-in-law, also a client, tells me Doc’s the smartest guy he’s ever met. Another client, the brother-in-law’s best … [Read more...]

You can’t put a price tag on freedom, or maybe you can. Because, if you know what you’re paying your bank every month to live in the house they own, you know exactly the price. Yesterday, I received an email from a married couple. They’re clients. And it just so happens they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary the day before and have decided to pay off their mortgage. Do you remember when you paid off yours? I do. It felt great. And the only reason it happened was because Becky and I were motivated to get it done. Why? Because we never forgot the arrogance of the mortgage lender … [Read more...]