$7.13 Trillion Invested in Green Economy

source: Earthday.org

Last week on Earth Day, I heard some impressive news from my friends at Ethical Markets. According to Ethical Markets' Green Transition Scoreboard, $7.13 trillion has been invested in a green economy.

The Green Transition Scoreboard tracks investments in Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, Life Systems, Green Construction and Corporate Green R&D with the following totals as of 2016:

In a press release announcing these figures and the 2016 GTS report, "Ending Externalities: full-Spectrum Accounting Clarifies Transition Management", Hazel Henderson, founder of Ethical Markets, futurist, evolutionary economist and author - including of The Power of Yin (Cosimo Books) is quoted as follows:

“The upward trend in investments since 2007 aligns with our recommendation to invest at least 10% of institutional portfolios directly in companies driving the global Green Transition,” says Henderson. Updating strategic asset allocation models serves both as opportunities and as risk mitigation. Excluding government investments to the extent possible, the $7.13 trillion in private investments and commitments as of 2015 puts private investors on track to reach $10 trillion in green sector investments by 2020."

This is great news for the green economy and for the future of a healthy and sustainable planet.

The Panama Papers Explained with Piggy Banks

In Vox, a media website that explains the news and the world around us, published an interesting article 9 questions you were too embarrassed to ask about the Panama Papers   explaining the context of the Panama Papers and the meaning of tax havens. Also, instructive is another article in Vox:  The Panama Papers leak, explained with an adorable comic about piggy bank (click on above video.)

Although both articles are enlightening and instructive, they don't offer the full picture: yes, illegal tax avoidance should be punished, but what about tax planning for multinational companies, and also for private individuals, which is often allowed in nearly every developed economy? At what point is the use of tax planning and the ensuing legal tax structures unethical, and who determines that something is unethical?

Gyrovagues and Why People Vote for Trump

The media in the US, but also here in Holland where I currently am, have generally been very dismissive about the Donald Trump campaign: initially they ignored Trump, then they underestimated him and now it seems they don't want to understand the reasons voters are attracted by his message. Too little has been written about why he has been able to defy the odds and is close to becoming the Republican Presidential nominee or else causing the implosion of the Republican party. At a later date, I plan to come up with my own analysis of the Trump phenomenon, but for now want to share with you a fascinating piece, How to Legally Own Another Person, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of bestseller, The Black Swan. The below excerpt will be a bit longer than usual, but I believe important enough to do so - with thanks to Mr. Taleb's work.

In this article, Mr. Taleb starts describing the Gyrovagues, who, in the early Middle Ages, were " gyrating and roaming monks without any affiliation to any institution.....The gyrovagues were unpopular with the church, banned by the council of Chalcedon in the Fifth Century, then again by the second council of Nicaea about three hundred years later..................Why were they banned?

The End of the Chinese Miracle?

The mainstream forecasts for the Chinese economy have been bullish for years till the Chinese stock market hit a wall last year: since then Wall Street and other analysts seem to be gyrating between bearish and bullish.

Maybe rather than forecasting what could happen, let's look at the reality on the ground, such as the China Containerized Freight Index (CCFI), an index that tracks contractual and spot-market rates for shipping containers from major ports in China to 14 regions around the world.

According to Wolf Street, "....the China Containerized Freight Index has.....

Johan Cruyff: Dutch Legend Dies

Johan Cruyff in 1974 World Cup Final/ Bundesarchiv, Bild

Johan Cruyff, the Dutch football legend, died March 24, 2016, aged 68, after losing a battle with lung cancer. He had been diagnosed in October 2015 with this illness, even though he had given up heavy smoking in 1991 after a by-pass surgery. A great loss for the world of football, and obviously for Dutch football and cultural history, a history I have experienced from the days of the 1974 World Cup in West-Germany to Cruyff's days as a player and coach in Barcelona till recently when he was an advisor to Ajax and kept offering his opinions in his column in the Dutch daily De Telegraaf.

One of the best football players
Johan Cruyff was one of the best football players of the last 50 years, if not the best. He experienced his greatest successes when playing for Ajax in Amsterdam and for Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, and also for the Dutch national team, when the Dutch reached the finals of the 1974 World Cup in and against Western-Germany........

Johan Cruyff: legende overleden

Nederland-West-Duitsland, 1974 (Bundesarchiv, Bild)

Johan Cruyff, de Nederlandse voetballegende is dood. Voor mij als Cruyff fan van het eerste uur, is met hem niet alleen een groot voetballer en coach overleden, maar ook een stuk voetbal-, Nederlandse- en cultuurgeschiedenis afgesloten, een geschiedenis die ik van nabij meegemakt heb, als kleine jongen kijkend naar de verloren WK finale in West-Duitsland tot de afgelopen jaren het volgen van de wekelijkse Cruyff column in de Telegraaf  -. Voor de voetbalfans, maar ook vele anderen, kon je er niet omheen: Cruyff was de afgelopen decennia altijd aanwezig, als een ster aan de hemel. Eerst als voetballer, later als trainer, en tot voor kort als Ajax adviseur, voetbalguru, en Telegraaf columnist. Afgelopen october werd door de artsen longkanker bij Cruyff vastgesteld, en hoewel hij de hoop op overleven tot de laatste weken had behouden, bezweek hij, uiteindelijk onverwacht op 24 maart.

Een van de beste voetballers ooit
Johan Cruyff was een van de beste voetballers van de afgelopen vijftig jaar, zoniet de beste. Zijn grootste successen bereikte hij bij Ajax en Barcelona en natuurlijk ook bij het Nederlands elftal tijdens de WK van 1974 in West-Duitsland. Het was toen dat hij de grondslagen legde van "totaal voetbal", zoals dat wereldwijd bekend werd en de naam en faam van het Nederlandse voetbal verspreide.

Een van de meest innovatieve voetbaltrainers
Cruyff was een van de meest innovatieve voetbaltrainers, zoniet de meest innovatieve. Hij was trainer van Barcelona van einde jaren '80 tot in de Jaren '90, waar hij in navolging van "totaal voetbal"...

Trump's Breakthrough with black Pastor Darrell Scott's Support?

source:Wikimedia Commons/Spartan7W

Whether you like Trump or not, watch his following appearance last Saturday March 12, 2016 at this Cleveland, Ohio rally with over 29,000 people in attendance: very telling is the introduction by black Pastor Darrell Scott of New Spirit Revival Center Ministries, which is a more impressive introduction than many other candidates would receive. Is this introduction symbolizing a break through for Trump in getting middle class, black, minority and religious support?

As Pastor Scott states: ".....This campaign is history making....Donald Trump is not a divider, he is an unifier. Today we have here American Sikhs for Trump, American Muslims for Trump, National Black Republicans for Trump, we have all kinds of ethnic groups today.

He is not a divider, he is an unifier. No other candidate would get this many people show up at a meeting from all different walks of life.............