Author: Steve Ainslie

I recently finished reading “Not Born Yesterday“, by Hugo Mercier. In this book, he makes the argument that people are not fooled, misled or deceived by propaganda, authority figures or cult leaders. Nor do any of these have a significant ability to change peoples’ minds. Through numerous examples ranging from Hitler’s propaganda during WWII to…

When I was living on the road a few years ago I spent most of the time in Arizona and New Mexico camping on BLM and National Forest lands. Sometimes I was in areas close to the US/Mexico border. I recall one night driving around searching for the Walmart in Nogales AZ, when suddenly I…

I read this line many years ago in a motivational self-help book written by a (self-professed) successful businessman. His point was that whoever was providing the money was in control of the final decisions – regardless of how important the players were, the employees were, personal feelings and “fairness”. His advice was that if you…

I just finished reading the book, Earning The Rockies by Robert Kaplan. In it, he makes a road trip across the US from Maine to California stopping along the way in major metro areas, suburbs, small towns and rural communities. He listens to conversations from people along the way and intermingles these current day stories…

This is what all the rich people say who have plenty of money. After inheriting or earning their millions or billions there is a certain percentage of the uber-wealthy who decide they want to be famous. They write their memoir, run for political office, or run a PR campaign to position themselves as an “inspiration”…

“Economists have accurately predicted 9 of the last 4 US economic recessions” is the punchline to a joke based on something economist Paul Samuelson said about the stock market in 1966. My formal economics education consists of one college level microeconomics course so clearly, I’m no expert. But, what I am able to do is…

I recently was listening to a podcast with an author who was discussing US history, industry and society. He talked about early US settlers who arrived from Europe to escape poverty, famine and a monarchical regime. In arms of earning a living, he said that many of these settlers became America’s first farmers. It was…

In order to lose weight, I always have to eat less. At various times in my life I had to give up fast food, big restaurant meals, ice cream and peanuts for dessert, chips, nachos, ranch dressing and other favorite foods. I like being lean and lightweight. The trade-off is that I cannot eat as…

I was watching a home improvement video where the homeowner had painted her kitchen in an unconventional palette of colors. She also modified her cabinets and added custom woodworking. She said that some people asked, “Aren’t you worried that this will hurt your resale value?” Her reply was that she wanted to live in the…

I was surprised to calculate that I owed money on my taxes for 2024 for the first time in several years. The good news is that my investments performed well in the past few years. The bad news is that when I sold some shares to pay for my new windows, I realized capital gains…