Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.
Here’s an interesting diagram showing the percentage growth in millionaires over the decade 2014 to 2024. Some places warm the heart, such as former Eastern Bloc city Warsaw. Other places are no surprise, such as the Bay Area and Shanghai. And some places are kind of revolting like, say, Washington, D.C. I never knew that the purpose of government was to get rich, but that’s the new reality.
When this week began, I mentioned there were going to be three big “events” over the next nine days. First, the announcement from the US/China trade talks; second, the CPI report (coming out tomorrow morning before the open), and third, the FOMC Kabuki Theatre next Wednesday. Of these three, it was the first one that had me by far the most worried. Thus, when I saw the equity futures start gyrating wildly, I rushed back to my computer to see what the news was. And…………..
I use Grok (for obvious reasons) almost exclusively for AI stuff. I’m pleased to see that the company has grown so much in value, from $1 billion early last year to about $113 billion (!!!!) today.
Here’s an illustration of how large the “shadow” economy (drugs, criminal activity, black market, etc.) is in various countries as well as the percentage of the economy overall. For instance, the shadow economy in the U.S. is fairly small (5%) but is the largest in absolute terms, whereas over one-fifth (!) of China’s economy is “shadow”, I suppose because it is such an oppressive and tyrannical state.
