Dear Friends,
A lot has happened over these last few weeks in politics around the world. That said, it has been relatively serene for me in the Pacific Northwest.
Switching gears, it is interesting to see the push-back against the AI hype in various reports. I suppose we have reached that part of the cycle.
I hope everyone had a great 4th of July, including my British friends!
Today's Contents:
Good Reads: Sensible Investing
Americana
Song of the Week: Kate Kelly
Good Reads: Sensible Investing
The Wild Tale of the Man who Founded Rainforest Cafe. Fun article.
Opportunity Knocks. H1 2024 Macro Economic Report from KKR. They believe we are early in another economic cycle and that private equity will outperform public equities.
They are bullish on:
Portfolio diversification: Greater conviction in our thesis around owning more non-correlated assets.
Skill retraining: We think the opportunity set for worker retraining may be as large as it has ever been, in part because there will be a lot of pressure to bring unemployed workers from low-skilled sectors (where we expect more of a labor glut in some cases) into high-skilled jobs left open by COVID-era retirements.
Retirement Security will be a major theme in the coming years: While we believe productivity is in the early stages of an upcycle, we also remain cautious that productivity growth will not be enough to offset the negative impact of a rapidly aging global labor force. Recall that the dependency ratio, or the ratio of the 65+ population relative to the working-age population, rose from 18% in 1990 to 30% in 2020 and is expected to rise to 37% by the end of the decade.
AI & Universities: Will Masters of Learning be Able to Master New Learning? Mary Meeker's article on AI and the need for education to change was a nice read. Many of these points have been true for a long time, but few, if any, have been able to crack the system change required to manifest the new future into reality.
GenAI: Too Much Spend, Too Little Benefit? Goldman Sachs report that has been making the rounds.
Americana
The 100 Best American-Made Products. I’m a proud owner of five of the items listed. H/T [SIC] Weekly, a high-quality newsletter I highly recommend!
Patriot. TV Show. I’ve recommended it before and do so again. Follows the complicated life of intelligence officer John Tavner, whose latest assignment--to prevent Iran from going nuclear--requires him to forgo all safety nets and assume a perilous, non-official cover.
Song of the Week: Kate Kelly
Video on YouTube.
I first played this song ten years ago, but it popped up again on my radar this week while listening to an old playlist. It’s a beautiful song about Kate Kelly, the sister of an infamous Australian bushranger, Ned Kelly. After he was captured and killed, Kate fell into alcoholism and disarray. The song does justice to the past and gives one empathy for her complicated life. She was a strong frontier woman.
“Kate Kelly” by The Whitlams
Close your eyes Kate
And I'll sing you to sleep
Close your eyes, your dreams will be sweet
Kate Kelly, Kate Kelly
I'm gonna sing you to sleep
Selfie of the Week
I spent some of the long weekends on Orcas Island, part of the San Juan chain in the Pacific Northwest. This is on the top of Turtleback Mountain Reserve, looking south at the other islands. Orcas Island is obscenely beautiful, and, if you can spend a long weekend there, it’s well worth the hike.
Thanks for reading, friends. Please always be in touch.
As always,
Katelyn
Thanks for the shout out to [SIC], Katelyn! That's a good list.. .