This is finally the “Bretton Woods III” talk, and it’s interesting what sorts of things have developed, among them, the apparent “new world order” that people have been talking about for so long. It will probably take a little while to sort through everything that happened, but it’s clear that money is going to behave differently in the middle-term future…

RTFA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbU_Po4sfnw

‘New world order is emerging’ 2:13 British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says a new era of international cooperation has resolved.

RTFA: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/your-money/08inv…

Byron Wien, chief investment strategist at Pequot Capital Management, says he is an optimist. Yet he advises small investors to buy gold and corporate bonds, not equities, which, he said, may be too risky right now.

Barton M. Biggs, managing partner at Traxis Partners, a hedge fund, places himself in the optimists’ camp, too. Yet he advises well-to-do investors to arm themselves – with shotguns, if need be – against the possibility of a deepening downturn and accompanying “social unrest.”

Damn, a hedge fund manager is advising clients to arm themselves with shotguns?!

RTFA: http://ostatic.com/blog/vmware-saw-the-threat-rele…

The VMware View Open Client allows businesses to host virtualized desktops in the data center, and users can access their desktops from any device. Going with an open source solution like this was VMware’s only choice, especially as Microsoft includes Hyper-V virtualization in Windows Server. I’m sure Maritz was very focused on the Microsoft threat, because he used to be behind similar threats. VMware can grab market share with this move, stave off Microsoft dominance, and offer support and services around its open source offering. The company will also get substantial good PR from the decision.

You can get VMware View Open Client here, licensed under the Lesser GPL. It’s essentially a bet that customized user desktops are hosted in data centers, and that businesses will take to the idea that they can save money by centralizing custom solutions in data centers for desktop users to take advantage of through virtualization.

I’ve seen several charts that attempt to digest the nature of this financial conundrum. So you know, watch out for charts that represent a value in terms of the diameter of a circle (i.e. the width of a circle), because our natural tendency is to interpret that circle in terms of its area, not its diameter. Here is an example of a terrible, scare-mongering graphic that makes this misleading error:

On the other hand, the Guardian has put together a really decent infographic that breaks the problem down, and they do not torture their charts to make the point. It is scary enough, as is.

RTFA: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/dan-roberts-on-…

Global recession – where did all the money go?

RTFA: http://ebenpagan.wordpress.com/2009/01/03/how-to-become-wealthy-right-now/

In our modern culture and society, we’re making a mistake that is costing us… well… everything.

In the past, wealth was about things like land, gold, food, and money.

Today, wealth is about education, enjoyment of life, quality of time and relationships with friends, cultural experience, personal development, fulfillment, contribution… and is COMPLETELY intangible and unmeasurable (in the traditional sense).

But the bizarre and almost mystical thing about these new forms of wealth – that makes them COMPLETELY different from monetary or “physical” wealth – is this:

When you give these new forms of wealth away, you still have them.

Think about that for a minute.

Let me say it again:

When you give them away, you STILL HAVE THEM.

You can give them away all day long, and not lose anything.

But that’s just the beginning…

The next question is: “How do we GET MORE ‘New Wealth’ – and truly become wealthy?”

The answer is so simple, and so counter-intuitive that almost every single person misses it almost completely.

The answer is to GIVE these new forms of wealth to as many others as possible.

Not only do you not LOSE these new forms of wealth when you give them away, you actually get more of them by giving them away.

This is a really thoughtful meditation on the value of things, and while I’m convinced by the presentation of this idea, I think it is also supported by the dollar-amount cost of items like education and health care. Year over year, education and health care (which I’ll call “real value”) outpace inflation, as measured by the cost of a “standard basket.” On this basis, real value becomes increasingly unattainable by those earning the minimum wage.