Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 10033 “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates E very year, I develop four scenarios for the future designed to assist Solari sub- scribers in their strategic and investment allocation planning for the coming year. During 2016, we produced a Solari Report with Eric Best: Scenario Thinking, to help subscribers learn more about the use of sce- narios. The future is invented, not predicted. Preparing for a variety of environments and future risks and opportunities and identifying the deepest trends and variables will help us “rock and roll!” The high probability scenario in past years anticipated that the economy in the developed world would continue to “slow burn.” Indeed, that is what happened. This year will be different. My scenarios for 2017 have changed significantly from what our subscribers have read and heard in the past. The slow burn is accelerating – and institu- tional changes are accelerating with it. The US and G-7 leadership intend to keep the slow burn going. However, if you look at the speed of change resulting from the end of the debt growth model – from new technology and the global “productivity” backlash – the number of people protected economically is likely to diminish…potentially by a lot. Central banks and governments have used a great deal of their capacity to intervene and to subsidize. Pension funds, financial institutions and companies are engaging in liabilities destruction or in what I call “controlled demolitions.” Governments are re-engineering their budgets, operations, and policies. For many people around the globe, changes in multiple areas will impact us all at once. In part, this explains the G-7 “war on cash” discussed in our News Trends & Stories pre- sentation. The leadership wants to control more cash flows and related financial data so that they can guide the flow into government taxes, large financial institutions and intelli- gence agencies. The struggle between forced centralization and the powerful economics of decentralization has moved to a new level of intensity. “The future is in- vented, not predicted. Preparing for a variety of environments and future risks and op- portunities and iden- tifying the deepest trends and variables will help us “rock and roll!” ”