I’m learning a lot with this African-Country-a-Week series. Like: Western Sahara is not part of Morocco. While I was crossing Morocco off the map, I noticed that a goodly area that looked like it was part of the country was actually disputed territory. Here’s the story: This was once a Spanish colony, known as Spanish… [Read More]
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Egypt: “The Yacoubian Building” by Alaa Al Aswany
The situation in Egypt is moving far too quickly for me to give you a solid investment recommendation. I doubt anyone could right now; this country is a gamble. Egypt has an educated population and a diversified economy, but the economy has not been growing and it does not have oil. This has greatly contributed… [Read More]
Paying for college: Beanie Babies, hobbies, and investments
In financial terms, an investment is something that increases in value because it generates streams of money from dividends, interest, or rent. A store of value is something that, over the long term, is expected to increase at the rate of inflation but no more. Examples would be land and commodities or land. The problem occurs… [Read More]
A great good fortune
From Lao Sze Chuan in Chinatown, Chicago.
Libya: “In the Country of Men” by Hisham Matar
Libya has six million people and lots of oil, making it a wealthy country by the standards of North Africa. Nevertheless, it is a country with a lot of problems. My original plan was to find a book on the history of Libya but was scared off by the number of screeds about the attacks… [Read More]