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October 29, 2014 Region VII, Chile Among the masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci’s “La Scapigliata” stands out distinctly from the rest. The unfinished painting is of a common woman with disheveled hair. It’s remarkable particularly for depicting not the exceptional, but the real. Part of da Vinci’s genius was the
October 28, 2014 Region VII, Chile The killer lurked outside in the rainstorm, his axe still dripping with the blood of his last victim. Inside, the sorority girls gossiped about their missing sisters who had mysteriously disappeared the week before. –Stop me when this sounds familiar… it’s the standard plot of hundreds of
October 28, 2014 Region VII, Chile In the early days of human civilization during the time of hunter-gatherers, every day was a struggle. Satisfying an empty stomach was the primary function of life. Thus, every waking moment was devoted to finding food. Everyone was simply living from one kill and gather to the
October 28, 2014 Region VII, Chile The Treasurer of Australia (equivalent to the Secretary of the Treasury in the US, or Finance Minister in most European countries) has made a stunning admission. Joe Hockey stated that the policy of ultra-low interest rates hasn’t spurred economic growth; instead it has mainly had one effect—making
October 27, 2014 Region VII, Chile This morning some of the biggest financial news of the year made huge waves all over Asia. Yet in the Western press, this hugely important information has barely even been mentioned. (CNBC.com, for example, has yet to report on this story as of 11:45am Eastern…) So what’s
October 23, 2014 Santiago, Chile When I was growing up, my father was able to support his family of four on a single income. And when he was growing up, his father could do the same. This sort of security simply doesn’t exist anymore. These days, it typically takes two working parents just
October 22, 2014 Santiago, Chile The US government’s debt is getting close to reaching another round number—$18 trillion. It currently stands at more than $17.9 trillion. But what does that really mean? It’s such an abstract number that it’s hard to imagine it. Can you genuinely understand it beyond just being a ridiculously
October 21, 2014 Santiago, Chile I walked in the door this morning to my apartment in Santiago, happy to be back in Chile after a week away. (One of the things that I really love about this place is the weather. The weather forecast in the entire central region of Chile is typically
October 17, 2014 New York, USA At present, US dollar accounts for roughly 61% of the world’s foreign exchange reserves. It’s still a safe bet for most, not because the currency is actually strong, but because so many others are already so reliant on it. Between those with reserves in and pegs to
October 15, 2014 En route to New York “John Galt is Prometheus who changed his mind. After centuries of being torn by vultures in payment for having brought to men the fire of the gods, he broke his chains—and he withdrew his fire—until the day when men withdraw their vultures.” Sick of the overbearing
October 15, 2014 En route to New York [Editor’s note: This is the third piece in our series covering exciting startup locations in thriving markets around the world. See also, Medellín, Colombia, and Vilnius, Lithuania.] A strong community of other entrepreneurs and mentors makes all the difference for a young startup. Through a
October 14, 2014 Buenos Aires, Argentina In the pantheon of utter political stupidity in our time, the competition is pretty fierce to see who ranks #1. But I have to imagine that, even with so many rivals, Argentina’s Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner makes a pretty compelling argument to be the champion. And though
October 13, 2014 Santiago, Chile A man in a uniform dashes up to you with a badge pinned to his chest and says “that man over there is a thief! Quick, help me get him!” What do you do? You would probably run and tackle the guy down, right? To get to the
October 13, 2014 London, England [Editor’s note: Tim Price, London-based wealth manager, is filling in for Simon today.] “When sorrows come,” wrote Shakespeare, “they come not single spies, but in battalions.” True. And Jeremy Warner for the Daily Telegraph identifies ten such sorrows in his ‘ten biggest threats to the global economy’: 1)
October 10, 2014 Santiago, Chile I just got off a two-hour conference call with the board of directors of our agricultural investment company. I’m fortunate that our board is comprised of some incredibly smart people, including a senior executive at one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, another investment banking
