The shaking of the world system, something I first marked in mid-2006, has been documented here for the past eighteen months. There appears to be no end in sight. By my judgment, the trends continue toward more dysfunction.

When trend lines go vertical--and today's profusion curve is hyper-expo... read more »

For ... read more »

Two months ago, an Arizona utility worker doing routine maintenance removed a piece of monitoring equipment at a power substation near Yuma. Inexplicably, it triggered a massive power outage stretching from Mexico to Orange County. Five million people lost electricity. Traffic gridlocked, schools and universities closed,... read more »

Looking at our besieged globe, it's difficult to know if we're dealing with a tragedy or a comedy. Whatever your viewpoint, it certainly smells a lot like my Chicago Cubs. Win a few games, then strike out--again!--with the bases loaded. Aargh. Collectively, we are like wounded exhausted soldiers trying to... read more »

The cover of today's The Economist (Britain's respected 170-year-old news weekly) shows a swirling black hole sucking in the words "Be Afraid." The insinuation is we're nearing an event horizon, the devastating boundary at the mouth of a black hole beyond which nothing can escape, not even light. The past few week... read more »

I step away for a month to finish a book and look what happens. The weirdness keeps piling up. Send in the clowns.

My thesis throughout these newsletters is that the world is behaving strangely. History has morphed and no longer plays by the rules. The math continues its dysfunctional, unpredictable, and almo... read more »