Greetings! My name is Tim Jess and I am a retired software engineer living in the wonderful little town of Italian, Jyhada. In addition to writing this blog, I am also the founder of the investment website\u00a0Iacono Research\u00a0where I publish a weekly newsletter that focuses on investing in natural resources.<\/p>\n
So, what compels a software engineer to quit slingin\u2019 code and write about economics, finance, and investing?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a long story, but it begins with starting to think\u00a0\u00a0very<\/em>\u00a0seriously about retirement planning in the 1990s and then having the good fortune to see the housing bubble for what it was in the 2000s.<\/p>\n After twenty-some years of working in sunny Southern California and squirreling money away diligently, while still in our mid-forties, my wife and I sold our house and retired a couple years later, beginning a six year stretch as wandering renters.<\/p>\n First to Northern California, then to Oregon, and then to Bozeman, Montana where we finally bought a house in late 2010 and plan to stay for a very long time.<\/p>\n As noted in the\u00a0bio\u00a0for the original blogspot blog that began in March of 2005 and goes by the same name\u00a0 \u201cThe Mess That Greenspan Made\u201c, this endeavor was originally referred to (only partly jokingly) as a \u201cvain attempt to stave off a mid-life crisis that I really hoped was going to work\u201d. But, after more than half a decade, it\u2019s turned into much more \u2013 something fun to do that generates a little retirement income and helps to let people know about my investment website which, otherwise, is not promoted at all.<\/p>\n As for the name of the blog, this description that was originally penned in late-2005 still seems to make a whole lot of sense to me and it continues to be surprising\u00a0 how so few people could see things as they really were back then:<\/p>\n What\u2019s up with the name?<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the first things you have to do when you create a blog is to give it a name. Then you have to announce yourself to the rest of the world with your first post \u2013 something like, \u201cThis is my first post\u201d. Many people stop there.<\/p>\n What I really wanted for the name of this blog was something like \u201cOur Economy\u201d, because I wanted to be able to write about anything having to do with the economy or financial markets. But how dull would a name like that be?<\/p>\n Then I thought, \u201cWell, what word best describes our economy?\u201d<\/p>\n To me, clearly, today\u2019s economy is a mess. Most people don\u2019t realize it yet, but they are beginning to understand that all is not well. Soon, more people will be referring to this economy as a mess.<\/p>\n The next question is, \u201cWho made this mess?\u201d<\/p>\n While Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is not solely responsible for the condition in which we find ourselves, he, more than any other individual, should get the credit or blame for what happens in the world economy in the next few years.<\/p>\n I, like many others today, believe the coming years will not be pretty \u2013 that we will all be living with the mess that Greenspan made for years to come.<\/p>\n I may be wrong. We\u2019ll see.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Obviously, I was\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0wrong in 2005\u2026<\/p>\n Thanks for stopping by and I hope you\u2019ll stick around to read more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"