2017 Wrap Up
- dejongistani
- Jan 6, 2018
- 3 min read
As 2017 comes to a close I look back on the year to assess my actions and plan for 2018. I find it important to look back and review actions taken to understand what I did that worked and what didn’t, what contributed to my goals and what didn’t. The point of all of my actions should contribute to my goals. I feel this way about myself and my personal life and I feel the same way about the organizations I participate in and the country in which I live.
When it comes to government I write this blog as a means to vent my frustrations and clarify my views. I have strong opinions which nobody really wants to hear but I need to get out and thus dejongistan.com was born.
So what happened in 2017 and was it good, bad or indifferent?
2017 Highlights:
Trump Russia investigation
European elections
Racism
Bitcoin explosion
US taxes
The UN
Fake news
North Korea nukes
The migrants crisis
Privilege
I’m writing this article a bit late, already 2018 and I’ve decided to leave out references as this is just my opinion about the year.
My list of highlights are the headlines of most news articles that made an impact in my life and made it onto my radar. Sadly most of the articles were negative either journalist reporting someone or some group doing wrong to others or coverage of the evils of the journalists. It’s quite sad that seemingly the entirety of news and alternative news was focused on negativity.
If one were to only read the news one might conclude that all hope is lost. There are a number contradictory stats that make it hard for me to really understand if 2017 was the last gasp of the business cycle about the stall or a plateau for the next leap higher. Looking at just the US, China and Japan we can see that stock markets are higher across the board and GDP numbers look healthy as well leading one to believe that the best is yet to come. Then at the same time it’s clear that all of the growth is built on mountains and mountains of debt. The economies are just not real, it’s just money printed and injected to float asset prices higher and higher. China has taken over Japan as the biggest debtor developed country with more than 200% debt to GDP and the US has a debt growth rate that has anyone with common sense running for hard assets before inflation kicks in and savings are wiped out.
These contradictions are paralyzing for investors and average citizens alike. Enter Bitcoin and the crypto currencies. These all seem to be a big F U to the banking and capital markets which are clearly corrupted beyond belief. Markets have gate keepers and middlemen to protect investors and ensure smooth market operations. Much of this setup is based on pre-computer markets and a less technically advanced world. These days bankers and brokerages don’t earn their gate keeper status either due to scandal or ineptitude (failure to innovate) so crypto is an attack on an unguarded flank that just may prove to be fatal.
With all that being said I believe 2018 will be another year of the geek and tech will continue to disrupt and delight business and consumers alike. Looking forward to change and innovation with cautious optimism that positivity will win out and logic will prevail over sophistry.
