Whoathat was a close call. It took us nearly 60 years of disappointment, observation, and regret to get it. We didnt want to lose it.

You dont develop cynicism overnight. It takes business deals gone badpolitical promises that we never meant to be keptinnovations and inventions that didnt work outpublic policies that were idiotic when they began, and disastrous when they ended.

In todays world, where would you be without cynicism? Doing five years in the can for visiting the Capitol building without a permit? Joining the Ukrainian army to protect our democracy? Buying Nvidia and trusting that the Fed really does know what it is doing?

We cant even write those words without chuckling to ourselves. It was only two years ago that the Fed forecast inflation for 2023 at 0.1% now they say it will be 5.6%. They were only off by 5,500%!

Stronger, richer, freer?

Last week, US Government debt passed US$32 trillion. And it is growing fast up by US$10 trillion over the last four yearsand now increasing at US$2.1 trillion per year.

And what do you think? Did a single penny of that debt make the US stronger, richer, and freer? How young do you have to be to believe it?

As the debt rises, so do interest rates. Year over year, the Feds interest payments are up nearly 50%. Next year, more tax money will be needed to support the debt than to support the Pentagon.

The private sector is also paying higher interest rates. Companies that took on billions of debt at 3% interest now have to refinance at 7%. And they cant print money.

From Wolf Richter:

companies that only made it this far thanks to Easy Money are now getting hung out to dry.

Bankruptcy filings will whittle down the corporate debt overhang. Many companies will emerge from bankruptcy with less debt, and theyll be nimbler and more able to thrive. Others will be sold off in bits and pieces, making room for appropriately managed companies not encumbered by these issues.

There is a cleansing aspect to this part of the credit cycle that needs to be allowed to do its job to get rid of the excesses and the deadwood at the expense of investors. This cleansing process that has now just started is long overdue.

Mass VC extinction event

And heres Garrett Baldwin at Postcards from the Florida Republic:

Venture Capital has imploded over the last 18 months. Last week, the Wall Street Journal released a distressing analysis. Theyve found many startups are now unable to secure the funding they need. To say VC has been suffering is an understatement. Tom Loverro, a general partner at VC shop IVP, has said The Mass Extinction Event for startups is underway. Venture capital losses ov...

Its 3:42am and todays Daily Reckoning Australia finds me in a reflective mood.

My elderly fathers health is failing.

One fall too many has forced him to surrender his highly prized independence.

We knew this day of reckoning was comingbut its still sad to watch.

A tour of the assisted care facilities provided me with a stark reminder of what constitutes a rich life.

When a financial publication usually mentions the term rich, it tends to be associated with money or a vein of ore.

Not this time.

Dont get me wrong, money is important especially when it comes to paying the not-so-insignificant Refundable Accommodation Deposit (RAD). However, when the final tally on your life is done, true net worth is measured by other factors.

Money cant buy love

In 1964, the year when the last of my parents five children was born, The Beatles hit single Cant Buy Me Love was released.

In Paul McCartneys own words, his motivation for the song was

Cant Buy Me Love is my attempt to write a bluesy mode. The idea behind it was that all these material possessions are all very well but they wont buy me what I really want.

Growing up in a working-class family, material possessions were few and far between. Money was needed for the basicsshelter, transportation, food, clothing, and education. Precious little was left for material indulgences.

Society has changed quite a bit since then.

Credit-funded consumerism has literally consumed the developed and a good chunk of the developing world.

The quip, we buy things we dont need, with money we dont have, to impress people we dont like originally referred to Hollywood. These days, it extends well beyond the zip code of Beverly Hills.

And this increasing obsession with look at me on social media suggests the penny has not yet dropped on true love extending beyond self.

Of the limited number of possessions Dad can take with him, the most prized are his photos of family and friends. These are his permanent reminders of a rich lifeone that money alone cannot buy.

When it all gets distilled down, material goods become immaterial and its not how much you love yourself, but how much you are loved by others.

In the final tally, love and respect are what matters most.

Money cant buy happiness

Long before The Beatles were singing Tell me that you want the kind of things that money just cant buy, Roman philosopher Seneca (4 BC to 65 AD) wrote a letter to his mother.

The titleOf Consolation: To Helvia

Heres an extract

Consider in the first place how many more poor people there are than rich, and yet you will not find that they are sadder or...