The gig economy has never exactly been flawless, but some recent trends are throwing off a delicate balancing act between workers and customers that might (accidently) be exposing some much deeper underlying problems. On the surface our unemployment rate looks really good right now. Sure It has trended up slightly in the wake of a long string of mass layoffs, but by zooming out we can see it is still hovering around all time lows.Sounds great right?... well… It’s no secret anymore that jobs data has had some… reliability problems… in recent years, and one of the biggest blind spots is people moving into the gig economy instead of becoming formally unemployed.For a lot of people who have lost their jobs it’s quicker (and often easier) to register as an uber driver than it is to register as unemployed and you only really need to look at the numbers to see this is happening. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics over the last 5 years, the total number of people classified as unemployed has fallen by about 3 million, which “sounds” good… but over that same time frame, the number of active uber drivers has increased… by roughly 3 million people according to company financials… Now to play devil's advocate, even if these “jobs” aren’t the best, having readily available and highly flexible work with low barriers to entry could actually be a good thing when the alternative is people going straight onto unemployment… and we will get to that… But the problem right now for the workers entering the gig economy; is that there is a rapidly growing roster of drivers looking to chauffeur around a $50 burrito, and a shrinking pool of customers that are still willing to pay for it.
Understand How Banks Really Work—And How They Quietly Shape The Entire Economy.
The word “unprecedented” is seeing an… unprecedented amount of use in the world at the moment. Its prevalence has roughly quadrupled over the last 2 decades…In 2020 it was Oxford's word of the year, and since then it seems like everything, everywhere is… unprecedented… Now obviously the internet is not afraid to use a little bit of hyperbole and emotive language to drive clicks or panic purchases… but there is more to it than that… Within just the last month France, Japan and Lithuania all had their Prime Ministers resign in varying levels of disgrace… Nepal’s was literally chased out of his country… and Brazil sentenced their former President to 27 years in prison…mass protests are taking place right now in the UK, Spain, Italy, Serbia, Indonesia, Angola, Slovakia and France, (although that last one may be more newsworthy if they weren’t protesting). The new richest man in the world Larry Ellison made more money in a single day than any person in history. And now he and the number 2 spot (Elon Musk) are currently worth more than every billionaire in the world was back in the year 2000.And of course last week's headlines were dominated by stories of political violence. Now this channel is not about the world's problems, it’s about business, finance and economics…unfortunately that’s exactly the point… People who are financially comfortable are not normally this discontent. You can blame this all on whatever particular politician or group you don’t like, but they are a symptom of wider problems, not the origin. The unprecedented trend of unprecedented trends is longer and wider than any single person's influence and it’s showing up in more places than you realise. Debt, Inequality, Fraud, Political Polarisation, rhetoric, Influence, Wealth, Corruption… even stuff like video games… if you are playing online for some silly reason like “fun”... prepare to get dumpstered by someone trying to make it their career….everything is seemingly more extreme than it ever has been before… So the question is… why?
If you ever feel like the world has become incredibly focused on short term results… that’s probably not your imagination…People are living paycheck to paycheck, Companies are being managed earnings report to earnings report, financial markets are waiting for the next interest rate movement, political decisions are being made for the next election cycle, entire industries have been created just to be sold to the next biggest investor and all of this is being held together by loans that are being written to last just long enough to be bundled up into fixed income assets…This month people were losing their minds because for the first time since it was introduced, the Bureau of Labor Statistics did NOT publish its monthly jobs report because the household survey data could not be collected during the government shutdown.Now this may be a sign of bigger issues under the surface, but the most immediate problem right NOW is that the Fed can’t set interest rates without completely up to date information.These decisions SHOULD be made based on long term strategic plans, not noisy (and lets be honest, questionably) month to month data… but a few things have changed which for a lot of markets means that bad news is good news. A lot of people are actually hoping for MORE unemployment, because job losses force the Fed to lower interest rates, and lower interest rates means cheaper borrowing, and cheaper borrowing means debt fueled speculation can go on a little bit longer… Now if you think this is all a little bit dumb that’s because it is… but at the center of all of these issues there is the question of… Is our entire economy just surviving quarter to quarter?
Jobs are temporary, raises don’t keep up and you're probably going to be replaced by an AI
Some of us here dropped out of college. But before we made that call, we asked ourselves these questions.
Every self-made millionaire passes the same 3 tests.
how they really get the job, what they actually do all day, the power games, luxury, and pressure behind the 5 secrets they never talk about.
How much worse can home prices possibly get? The MEDIAN age of a first home buyer is now approaching forty, not even accounting for the people who will never buy a house, 1% down mortgages are becoming increasingly common and so too are 40 year terms, The median family now needs to spend almost 40% of their income to cover the median loan repayment and that’s BEFORE counting income taxes and other expenses like insurance, property dues and maintenance.In certain cities this number is over 90%! (which effectively just means that the average family cannot afford the average home). For most people, the only feasible way to BUY a house, is to have just SOLD a house, with first time buyers now representing the smallest share of the market since economists started collecting this data over 4 decades ago… These numbers are… not great… but at least they seem to suggest that affordability can’t get any worse… right? Well I hate to break it to you… BUT there are a LOT of emerging factors that could make home prices… much… much worse.
Recent reports have found that less than 30% of American workers are on track to retire at all, and even fewer think they will have a comfortable retirement and they might be right. I know you didn’t want to hear this, but there are a few BIG factors at play in the world today that are going to act to keep most younger generations in the workforce indefinitely. This is all before considering the major hiccup that the covid 19 pandemic has been. A global event that has actually worked to widen the gap between younger generations with fewer assets and more precarious employment, versus older generations which tend to be more secure. Now you might think you are different, you contribute to your 401k, save diligently, subscribe to How Money Works and even invest regularly into the stock market. Well that’s all great, but I might still have some bad news for you. There are lot’s of issues at play here… Housing, the stock market and a series of broader economic conditions which might threaten the general assumptions we make about indefinite growth.So it’s time to learn how money work’s to find out why we will all be on that grind until we are 120 years old.
Late last week the US shocked economists with a report that contained results they were not really expecting. The economy had grown at a shocking 3.8% pace in the second quarter, seemingly “putting to rest” all of the concerns that the naysayers had about a softening job market, trade wars, the cost of living, skyrocketing defaults, declining labour force participation, sector wide crises, and slowing productivity. Sounds great right? Well as you might have already guessed there is… a lot… to unpack from these numbers.GDP isn’t a flawless measure, even in normal times, and as I am sure you have probably noticed… There is… a lot… going on at the moment. But if you do what nobody else wants to do, and actually read the data behind these figures it tells three very interesting stories that challenges a lot of assumptions that we have about how our economy “should” work.This goes well beyond just simply growing inequality, that’s not exactly shocking news anymore. BUT if you ARE looking for a sign of just how “healthy and balanced” the current market is, a new report has revealed that there are now more private equity firms in America… Than there are McDonalds… And the reason is very simple… if all of these numbers needed a headline it would probably be:… You Don’t Matter Anymore… (economically speaking of course)...
In this episode we drive deep into the insane truth about Youtube and debunking all stories behind the secret of Youtube's success
Explore the 7 powerful forces that explain why some countries grow rich while others fall into poverty.
Over just the last 6 months the job market has changed dramatically… again… Back in the good old days of 2024 all workers had to worry about was ghost jobs, quiet firing, job washing, career cushioning, invisible overtime, application black holes, resenteeism, digital downsizing, compensation compression, Burnout Attrition and when all else fails, good old fashioned rolling layoffs… but today the job market is dealing with a whole new set of trends… (and don’t worry, they come with a whole fresh list of dumb corporate buzzwords)New economic data (if we are allowed to believe that anymore) is revealing some stark realities about the ways that people are finding a job, keeping a job and progressing in a job.Unfortunately (as you have probably already guessed) a lot of these changes are throwing young workers (and in particular young men) out of the frying pan and into the fire. For the first time ever, unemployment amongst young male college graduates is the same as non-graduates, the share of unemployed people entering the job market for the first time is the highest it has been since 1988 and job mobility has effectively frozen. Now I know what you might be thinking, all things considered, the unemployment rate still looks pretty good right? Well that might actually be part of the problem. And if all of this wasn’t bad enough already… there is now a good chance that art history majors are earning more than you are!
Late last week, Sam Altman said the quiet part out loud when he suggested that AI and the industries surrounding it… might be in a bit of a bubble.
This simultaneously shocked absolutely everyone AND absolutely nobody at the same time.
The value of the ENTIRE stock market has nearly doubled over the last 5 years.
This has been driven almost entirely by just ten companies whose growth was in turn driven almost entirely by the promise of AI.
Most people understand that this isn’t sustainable, but they also understand that technology like this has changed the world before.
Improvements are slowing down as new models are showing disappointing improvements, but every day we are discovering new things we can do with these products.
For every argument there is a counter argument.
You don’t need to watch another video speculating about the future of AI because the truth is nobody has a damn clue,
BUT, what we CAN do is look back over these last three years and find out how much this whole game has cost us… because the numbers are… not good…
Discover the 6 most common paths to becoming a self-made billionaire and how you can start building your own fortune.
00:00 - Intro
00:39 - Inheriting Wealth
02:27 - Path 1 | Starting a Business
04:26 - Path 2 | Owning a Business
05:54 - Alux App
06:54 - Path 3 | Tech & Disruption
08:37 - Path 4 | Fame
09:54 - Path 5 | Investing
12:09 - Path 6 | Diversification
Invest in yourself today
How does an orphan with no money or connections build the most famous watch brand in the world? A lot of Rolex's history is shrouded in mystery and secrets, but today, we’re looking deeper into the incredible rags to riches story of Rolex, and answering the question: Why are rolexes really so expensive? Today, they're considered an investment by many, instead of just buying a watch. But, the story of Rolex begins with Hans Wilsdorf, the company’s innovative and mysterious founder. Hans was born in Germany in 1881, to parents Anna and Johan Wilsdorf, and his early childhood was filled with love, laughter and happiness - but that was cut tragically short when at age 12, both his mother and father passed away unexpectedly just a few months apart. Hans suddenly went from having two loving parents to being an orphan, and he had to go live with his uncles, who sent him off to boarding school.
In this Episode we drive deep into obvious signs if you are rich.
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Cornelius Vanderbilt left school at just 11 years old with very little education or prospects. By the time of his death, he was not just one of the richest men in the world, but one of the richest in history. This rags to riches story of Cornelius Vanderbilt looks at the epic life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, the original magnate. However, the history of Cornelius Vanderbilt includes plenty of controversies, from using brutal tactics to crush his competitors, to helping to start a war in Nicaragua. Cornelius was hated or feared by most people he met, and the story of Vanderbilt's life is an epic tale of wealth and power. I hope you enjoy!