In today’s world we are familiar with giant international corporations that dominate industry, commerce, and technology. But one of the largest in history dates back to the year 1600 in England—The British East India Company. It rose to become not only a trading corporation, but a nation-state as it reaped massive profits primarily from places […]
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY Read More »
In this episode, LAPD detectives Aguilar and Lee are pursuing a serial killer who is terrorizing the area in the Harbor/Gateway District along Sultan Road. On the chance that Ben Williams’s killers would turn up at the offices of the South Bay Neighborhood Association the next day to get paid, Aguilar and Lee drove to
AN EXCERPT FROM SULTAN ROAD Read More »
Surging inflation has forced central banks including the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. Their objective is to cool down the economy without disrupting normal activities in financial markets. Interest rate increases initially impact financial institutions that borrow from central banks. From there the increases are gradually passed on to other lenders in the chain
WHAT HAPPENS TO FINANCIAL MARKETS WHEN INTEREST RATES RISE? Read More »
Last February, Vladimir Putin, Russia’s President, sent a 200,000 man army across the border from Russia into the sovereign nation of Ukraine. He apparently believed that the Ukrainian forces would fall easily, as the size and strength of his invading force has proven to be inadequate for the job it was assigned to do. In
CAN UKRAINIAN FORCES DEFEAT RUSSIA? Read More »
The Berlin Wall was arguably the most significant symbol of the Cold War. After the end of World War II, Germany became a divided country between the Soviet Union in the east, and Western powers. Before long, tensions between the Soviet Union and the Western powers began to increase over disputes surrounding the administration of
THE BERLIN WALL: THE SYMBOL OF THE COLD WAR Read More »
Owning your own home in this country has long been thought of as the American Dream. Home ownership at any affordable cost has been the aspiration of American families since colonial times. It meant lots of hard work and sacrifice, and a long-standing debt that required monthly payments. It’s often the largest single investment an
HOME OWNERSHIP…IN CHINA Read More »
It’s been nearly seven months since Russia’s military forces invaded sovereign Ukraine. The response in Western Europe and North America has been to levy sanctions against Russia in an effort to hobble its economy, and force it to seek peace in the region. These sanctions have also unleashed a backlash from Russia that’s resulted in
ARE THE ECONOMIC SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA WORKING? Read More »
Much of the Western United States has been in the throes of a serious drought that has been carrying on for nearly six years. Las Vegas, Nevada, resides in the middle of the desert, and gets most of its water from Lake Mead and the Colorado River. But Lake Mead’s water supply is shared with
HOW LAS VEGAS DEALS WITH ITS WATER PROBLEMS Read More »
In May of 1845, Sir John Franklin led an expedition of two British Navy ships to seek out the waterway through the North American Continent that would connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They never returned. It’s a mystery to this day as to what exactly happened to them. Passageway for East/West Commerce: Both the
THE DOOMED FRANKLIN NORTHWEST PASSAGE EXPEDITION Read More »
Most of you know that I recently took a cruise to Alaska on Princess Cruise’s Crown Princess. But perhaps only a few of you know that I formerly worked for Princess Cruises as their Assistant Controller back in the 1980’s. In those days the business consisted of only three ships and was owned by a
CRUSING THEN AND NOW Read More »