“Just when trust has become more important than ever …, it also has become scarcer than ever.” – Thomas Friedman (4/14/23) In a recent editorial in the New York Times, Tom Friedman focused on how trust has evaporated. Although his subject was U.S.-China relations, the sad...
“Homo Sapiens has invented many ways to destroy itself.” – The Lonely Realist How can the human race self-destruct? Let me count the ways! There’s nuclear holocaust, man-made pandemic, “natural” pandemic, meteorological catastrophe, AI knowledge engineering, genetic engineering error, and/or a permutation or combination of the...
“By every measure and employing any number of standards, America’s education system is failing.” – The Lonely Realist Shockingly, America ranks behind 21 other countries in math, reading and science. The world has progressed and American education quite simply hasn’t. Progress requires the decision to change...
“The canaries have stopped singing.” – Cassandra “The canaries are nervously pacing their cages.” – The Lonely Realist Cassandra’s warnings in prior TLRs presaged today's widely-held conclusion that the global economy has passed a tipping point. The failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Credit Suisse, First Republic and...
"SVB's excessive duration risk punched a government bailout ticket.” – The Lonely Realist The recent failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) spotlights fatal flaws in America's banking system. America's bankers (as well as its uninsured savers) are being rewarded rather than punished for mismanaging their risks,...