Jason - macro / offshore / investing

leaving serbia i was treated to a final foreign policy lecture by my taxi driver, who explained that there's a conspiracy afoot to replace serbs with sri lankans

I've never owned any RMB assets but increasingly considering it. Looking at Big 4 Chinese banks which trade at low P/E and pay ~5% dividends (10% WHT for most). 1) In Feb 2026, Xi said he wanted RMB to be a 'strong currency' that is 'widely used in international trade, investment and FX markets' and holds 'global reserve currency status'. This signals China may allow RMB to gradually appreciate - or at the least not artificially depreciate it. 2) Seems increasingly viable that after the Iran war is settled, GFC countries will in some ways pivot more towards China / hedge their bets.

The disadvantage of mass literacy. Commentary was of higher quality in the pre-modern period because most were illiterate. So public discourse was limited to the elites. The quality of modern day commentary reflects the quality of the median content consumer.

Short tourism Short Airbnbs

Swedish pension funds invest in American funds that fly to Stockholm to lead rounds in Swedish startups The round-trips (business or first class, ofc) fees alone could fund an early company Our pension capital, managed in Boston, taking 2-and-20, to back Spotifys next competitor Meanwhile top Swedish funds are sitting right here, with better founder networks, better sector knowledge, and better European exit infrastructure I get it. The Napa Valley LP meeting is nice. But that’s not a capital allocation strategy Sweden produces more tech unicorns per capita than almost anywhere on earth. Our funds can lead most of those rounds. They’ve been doing it for 20 years Is this actually about returns, or is it about someone on an investment committee wanting a reason to fly to the West Coast?

This is because Kazakhs don't pretend to be Japanese, but Czech prestige chasers use "Central Europe" to imply a closer affinity to Germans

There are many theories about how modern Russia may cease to exist in its imperial form. However, experts agree that whatever the scenario, collapse is inevitable. 🧵 1/13