Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as more market chaos, moron risk premium reigns, the KGB spy family, extreme day trips, the 2025 Global Debt report, tax rates and trade wars, long Covid, learn online and earn certificates for free, world food atlas, best new hotels and the most stunning beaches, the latest updates on Thailand, the best photography links and of course always all of the most important developments in the crazy world of frequent flyer miles and points at the lower half of the post. Happy Easter.

TBB Blog Mission: To Educate. Entertain. Inspire. In That Order!

Support TBB by applying for CREDIT CARDS or Buy Me a Coffee or click on LINKS

You like my blog? Send a link to someone please!

No clickbait. No sponsors. No AI. No tariffs.

Follow me on Instagram and Subscribe to my YouTube channel

 

This blog started way back in 2012 focusing on my crazy hobby addiction of traveling with frequent flyer miles, hotel and bank points. It has since evolved to curated posts featuring the best web content along with my commentary.

This is a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts. This is George curating for you the best of the web trying to educate, entertain and sometimes inspire, great to have you here.

 

BLOG HOUSEKEEPING

Blogging is not easy. Especially with all the insanity going on around us. This “venture” employs no algorithms, no AI, no clickbait, no sponsors, no ads. And now no tariffs too.

Support what you value. Without such support it is not possible to continue to exist. Prevent enshittification and resist!

I moved the Liberation Day/Tariffs section below the Personal Finance section. And took “Liberation Day” out of it. And starting with next Friday’s post, depending on developments, it may not be back. Or, who the hell knows? This blog keeps evolving trying to make a credit card or coffee sale to keep the lights on lol.

 

NEW:  Huge 100,000 point offer on the card all four of us in my household have and keep from my favorite bank – literally the offer of the year in my opinion, even better than the 75k Capital One Venture X!

TAKE ME TO THIS OFFER

 

 

PERSONAL FINANCE

Jason Zweig at the Wall Street Journal still brings it: Four Questions You Should Ask to Combat the Market Chaos.

U.S. stocks have averaged a return of 10.3% annually over the past century. In just two days, April 3 and 4, the S&P 500 lost 10.5%. Then, on April 9, it gained 9.5%—only to dive again the next day. Days have become years. [If anyone told you they predicted and profited from trading this, RUN away fast].

What do you own and why do you own it?

Why do you own stocks?

What has changed?

If you didn’t already own this asset, would you buy it at this price?

If you can’t answer the four questions, you have no business taking drastic actions.

Good explanation how tax rates work: Why Your Top Tax Rate Isn’t What You Actually Pay.

Very interesting juicy facts in the 2025 Global Debt Report. Can you be financially independent if you have debt? Ok, just dropped that to trigger some people lol. All I can say is having zero debt is liberating and no client ever regretted paying off their mortgage to be debt free. Also, every country in the world should get its act together to make sure its debt does not get out of control. Remember Greece. Don’t get me started about the long list of countries that have defaulted in the past and will continue to do so. Also, I can’t help myself, I am so glad Fed Chair Jerome Powell is still in his post keeping us intact #prayhestays.

 

TARIFFS

So many things happening every day so some of these may already be dated ok?

Excellent analysis: What the World Learned from Donald Trump’s Tariff Week. The danger behind the President’s posturing is that, by so emphatically insisting on America’s indispensability, he may be undermining it. The key two sentences of this article below. Imagine you are a company CEO and trying to make long term plans not knowing what tariffs will apply in 30 or 90 days or tomorrow at 11 am.

The White House’s theory seems to be that high tariffs will eventually incentivize manufacturers to relocate, say, auto plants and aluminum smelters to the U.S. But businesses need stability to make the kinds of major capital investments that building new factories in this country requires, not a climate defined by ninety-day pauses and abrupt reversals.

Fantastic podcast with Peter R. Orszag at The Ezra Klein show: Trump’s Tariffs, Market Panic and What Comes Next. Ok, I understand. Both of these guys are far deep in one side of the debate. It is still a great educational discussion trying to make sense of what the hell is going on out there. You can skip it. It is a free country. Well, kind of lately. Anyway, I think we can all agree on at least this one thing:

What markets hate is uncertainty

I am typing this paragraph on Wednesday morning. And I am so confused by all the messaging. Started with the US Treasury Secretary saying that there will be clarity soon and we won’t need to wait for 90 days. Over at the WSJ, they are talking about how the US administration intends to isolate the Chinese negotiating with every country that is now tarrifed at the very minimum 10%. Yeah, even the penguins over at remote islands no one had even heard of before. But wait, exemptions to not hurt Apple and our own obsession with all istuff we keep buying. Wait, new exemptions for the car manufacturers too. Maybe. Oh, and later this morning Trump signaled to Xi to call him up to make a deal. Wait, I thought the plan all along was to isolate China and pissing off our friends in Europe and even the Canadians is the way to go about this? WTF! By Thursday, now even Fed chair Powell is blamed. I mean, this is so exhausting and, oh wait, this was the plan all along and the art of the deal apparently smh. Enter a bunch of f words next smh. Sorry, I can’t help myself.

April 9 memo by Howard Marks: Nobody Knows (Yet Again). Which is actually one of my favorite expressions, the “Nobody Knows” part that is. Maybe Howard reads my blog? Ok, that was a joke.

There’s absolutely no place for certainty in the world of investing, and that’s particularly true at turning points and during upheavals.

I consider the tariff developments thus far to be what soccer fans call an “own goal” – a goal scored for the other side when a player accidentally puts the ball into his own team’s net. In this way, they’re highly analogous to Brexit, and we know how that turned out. Brexit cost the British mightily in terms of GDP, morale, and alliances, and it harmed their reputation for governance and stability. All of this damage was self-inflicted…Just a couple of months ago, the U.S. economy was performing well, the outlook was positive, the stock market was at an all-time high, and there was much talk about American exceptionalism. Now, if Trump’s tariffs are put into effect, the U.S. economy is likely to experience a recession sooner than otherwise would have been the case, higher inflation, and extensive dislocation. Even if the tariffs are reversed entirely, it’s unlikely the other nations will dismiss this incident and conclude that they have nothing to worry about in terms of relations with the U.S.

The Detroit Free Press business writer Susan Tompor called it perfectly imho in this article: US bond market, Brexit could foreshadow trouble for your 401(k).

Experts warn that more 401(k) pain could be ahead, thanks to market bears, bond vigilantes and what some financial experts call the “moron premium.” Never heard of it? The “moron premium” or “moron risk premium” is a term that hit the charts three years ago during a British budget crisis.

 

 

SCAMS/CRYPTO/AI/TECH

This YouTube channel makes AI videos. And here is one with the recently tariffed penguins fighting back lol: Democratic Penguins Republic: Trade War. Hilarious and, wow, actually well made?

Most are in the US by the way: The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2025.

I didn’t think an article about Elon Musk will shock me. But this one sure did, wow: The Tactics Elon Musk Uses to Manage His ‘Legion’ of Babies—and Their Mothers. The world’s richest man juggles more than a dozen children and ‘harem drama’ along with running his companies and advising Trump. He recently took a paternity test in a battle with one woman over money and privacy. I can’t believe this guy has fans, what is wrong with you? Warning: I suggest you sit down if you decide to read this and I highly suggest you keep breakable things away from you, you are welcome. Just a short excerpt, you have been warned!

Musk has had at least 14 children with four women… Multiple sources close to the tech entrepreneur said they believe the true number of Musk’s children is much higher than publicly known. Musk offered St. Clair $15 million and $100,000 a month in support in exchange for her silence about the child, whom they named Romulus. Similar agreements had been negotiated with other mothers of Musk’s children…Musk refers to his offspring as a “legion,” a reference to the ancient military units that could contain thousands of soldiers and were key to extending the reach of the Roman Empire…While she was pregnant, Musk had urged her to deliver the baby via caesarean section and told her he didn’t want the child to be circumcised. (Musk has posted on X that vaginal births limit brain size and that C-sections allow for larger brains.) [I had a really hard time controlling myself while reading this…I need to do better controlling myself lol]

 

You like my blog? Send a link to someone please!

 

George