Howard Marks sent a memo; Ray Dalio explained the last 500 years as they related to empires and reserve currencies; we learned a new word, “shoshin”; and scanned a lot of charts about U.S. advertising revenue trends.

Howard Marks Memo – The anatomy of a rally

Howard Marks unpacks the current market environment in his latest memo.

“The world is combatting the greatest pandemic in a century and the worst economic contraction of the last 80+ years. And yet the stock market—supposedly a gauge of current conditions and a barometer regarding the future—was able to compile a record advance and nearly recapture an all-time high that had been achieved at a time when the economy was humming, the outlook was rosy, and the risk of a pandemic hadn’t registered. How could that be?”

Ray Dalio – The big cycles over the last 500 years

Investor and entrepreneur, Ray Dalio, wrote a (long) LinkedIn post summarizing key elements from his new book, The Changing World Order, about the economic rise and fall of major empires and their reserve currencies.

Aeon – How to foster ‘shoshin’

Have you heard of shoshin? We hadn’t either. But we are firm believers in its concept of “cultivating a beginner’s mind.”

Benedict Evans – News by the ton: 75 years of U.S. advertising

A look at the shifts in advertising revenue for newspapers—and U.S. media advertising more broadly—from the 1930s until now.

(If you are a chart enthusiast, you’ll appreciate this article.)