Financial and technology organizations in Chicago have had a busy first quarter of events. This issue links to stories on alignment and community building in cryptoasset, wealth tech, and payments markets.

Can Chicago Become a Crypto Capital?

I am sharing my newly published article that explicitly examines the contribution of the US military to strategic objectives in Latin America through security assistance and security sector assistance, as part of whole-of-government efforts to build relationships and strengthen governance in the region. 

It’s like preparing and serving a seven-course meal that your biggest customer ordered only to have the entire menu change between the salad and the main course. That’s what it must feel like for hospitals and doctors dealing with the ever-changing value-based reimbursement programs from Medicare.

That thought came to mind when reading the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission’s latest annual March report to Congress. The 531-page tome makes all kinds of recommendations to the federal legislative branch on how to improve the government’s health insurance program for seniors.

Donald Trump demonstrated the power and broad appeal of attacking immigrants in 2016, with special emphasis on non-white immigrants. He did it again in last year’s midterm elections, when his passionate followers seemingly were unmoved by the cruelty of separating young children from their mothers at the border, or by Trump’s audacious claim of presidential powers to nullify the constitutional right to birthright citizenship. Race-baiting is usually an integral part of right-wing-populist politics, and of the President’s broader personal brand of nationalism.

Please check out FMI's analysis of this morning’s very upbeat February Existing Home Sales report. Also this morning, wholesale book-value inventories jumped +1.2% in January; the consensus had expected only a modest gain. However, international data was more worrisome with Germany’s Markit PMI falling further into the red, down -3 points to 44 in March (50 is break-even).
 

From February 19 through 27, I traveled to Georgetown, Guyana, to speak with individuals in the government and the private sector about the nation’s security challenges and internal dynamics. The country is in a potentially explosive political crisis with at least some similarities to the polarized situation in Washington, DC. In the midst of legal battles with consequences for who controls the country, intelligent, sincere people are convinced that the taking of or continuation in power by their political opponents will be destructive for the nation and their own interests.

Another amazing week.  As politics got murkier however, markets surged higher.  In terms of what will be remembered decades from now, the event that shocked nearly everyone was the abrupt ending of the US-North Korea Summit.  As the next set of leadership-level meetings loom this month, surely the Chinese must be reevaluating their strategy vis-à-vis President Donald Trump. What these negotiations have in common is that in both cases the US is asking Kim Jun-un and Xi Jinping for structural changes that for different reasons each might have trouble delivering.

The Healthcare Affordability Index shows how the rising costs of healthcare insurance, both for companies and employees, stagnate wages.

As the crisis in Venezuela has deepened over the past week, a mysterious transformation has occurred. What started out as U.S. diplomatic support for the new, constitutionally legitimate government of Juan Guaidó has come to be treated in the international media as a possible U.S. military intervention.

The biggest economic conference of the season, the World Economic Forum, has just wrapped up in Davos. Most of the sessions are now available as they happen, and with the snow piled high here in Chicago, watching them online almost seemed like being there. I’ve included links to some of the best discussions and interviews you might enjoy on this even colder weekend.