News and insights

Freed from the shackles of censorship, the anti-boundaries protagonists of the 1960’s anti-establishment evolved into the alternative thinkers that defined Silicon Valley and Jobs, the poster child for how computers would free the consumer and citizen.

Past performance may not be indicative of future results. Asset allocation it relies to some extent on the past. And the past is a long time. One of our key human weaknesses is the tendency to overweight the recent past in any analysis of the future.

Disseminated at a hyperbolic rate through social media’s ‘telescreens’, the ‘Ministry of Truth’ distributes ‘Newspeak’. Not George Orwell’s 1984, but now. Such truth has no intrinsic value, but it is shaping our world as audiences no longer trust ‘facts’.

The welfare state today is not fit for purpose. Its architects had not conceived it for a world of 90-year longevity, mass migration or a low interest rate environment. The mathematics of ‘Baby Boomers’ retiring plus low birth rates just does not add up.

With its history of hyper-inflation and populist governments, Latin America is frequently overlooked. Corruption, a shrinking economy and a deadly virus might sound like a script for a Hollywood movie, but could the region see democracy returning?