Field Notes Premium Edition

And, so, the inevitable continues marching in its inevitable direction… The dollar I am talking about, here, and its incredible shrinking importance in the world, according to data from the International Monetary Fund. You can see what the source of today’s missive is in this chart: Since 1999, the year the euro emerged, the dollar [Read More] …

Welcome to your Weekly Digest!   This edition comes to you from the blissful surroundings of Letna Park in my adopted hometown of Prague.   It’s a favorite writing spot of mine at this time of year, for obvious reasons. Spring has now officially arrived in the Czech capital after a very wet, cold, snowy winter, and the park has come alive with color. It’s about as relaxing a place to write [Read More] …

Would you consider FedEx a big company? It’s an inane question, but I have a point to make. With a stock market value of roughly $75 billion, the overnight delivery giant ranks 105 on the list of S&P 500 companies. So, basically, I’m answering my own question to say that, yes, FedEx is big. Huge, [Read More] …

Having visited Mexico many times, one thing that constantly amazes me about our southern neighbor is the sheer scale of the country. At three times the size of Texas, Mexico is a vast land with diverse climates, cultures, and peoples. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to sample a lot of this diversity firsthand. I’ve [Read More] …

Several years back, while visiting Portugal, I used a service called BlaBlaCar to hitch a ride from the capital, Lisbon, to the country’s second-biggest city, Porto. You’ve likely never heard of BlaBlaCar since it doesn’t currently operate in the U.S., but it’s basically like Uber for long-distance travel. The key difference: Instead of paying for [Read More] …