133 “If you love someone, set them free” –STING My goal in 2017 was to live a “free and inspired life” and to help you to do the same. I celebrated the 2017 New Year in the snow- storms of Montana while launching the Solari Report publication of our 2016 Annual Wrap Up – The Global Harvest and What It Means to Investors. The developed world has been blessed with plentiful food. We are generally not aware of the geopolitics and investment implications of agriculture and food. This is changing. The de- basement of our soil and seeds threatens our food supply and growing population, and the conver- gence of Asian incomes with the Western world increases competition for land, resources, animal and fishing stocks. An unexpected Trump victory and a new Re- publican administration brought change with the January inauguration, creating greater insecurity in the US political leadership. To help you follow what was happening, we published our 1st Quarter Wrap Up – The Clash of Civilizations on the peo- ple and policies of the new administration. The important question we asked was whether a new administration could create prosperity without war. By the time we published in April the answer was clear – a resounding “no” as more bombs were dropped on Syria and US military budgets and arms sales exploded. In March, I attended the Prospectors & Devel- opers Association International Convention in Toronto. I stayed with Rob Kirby, who hosted a “Lunch with Catherine” in his complex, which in- cluded some of his colleagues from BMG Bullion. Rob joined me for an excellent Solari Report on the Exchange Stabilization Fund. The month of May began with a trip to California to give a speech and to host a “Lunch with Cath- erine” for subscribers at the restaurant at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena California. Leaving California, I flew to Kentucky. One of the projects that inspired me during 2016 was the preparation and launch of the Dr. Joseph P. Farrell Virtual Pipe Organ Crowd Fund. Our small team – Dr. Farrell, Chuck McCorkle, Kathy Churay, and I – were able to complete Phase I and Phase II funding by spring 2017. We gathered for lunch in Louisville on May 13 to celebrate with many of the generous contributors who made Solari’s first crowdfund a grand success. Dr. Farrell treated the assembly to a brilliant talk “On Culture, Politics, and Organ Music” which is posted on the crowdfund web page at Solari. Phase III funding was completed in August 2017. We have been eagerly anticipating delivery ever since – now expected in Spring 2018. It was the very next Monday, May 15th that one of the most remarkable events of the year oc- curred – although I did not know it at the time. I received an email from Dr. Mark Skidmore, a professor at Michigan State University. Impressed with his comments, I called him. The result was a decision by Dr. Skidmore to work with his students to survey the DOD and HUD financials. This effort produced a report in September after Dr. Skidmore and his team found and docu- mented a significantly greater amount of undocu- mentable adjustments – bringing the total of the missing money to $21 trillion, or $1 trillion more than the outstanding debt of the United States. In May we also launched the Food for the Soul column written by a talented colleague with a strong education and résumé in the cultural arts, “Your Culture Scout.” Our goal was to deepen our coverage of theatre, art, museum and movies. Food for the Soul publishes twice a month. It is one of my favorites! In late May, I headed to Australia, spending sever- al weeks in Sydney in cahoots with Jason Bawden- Smith, with side trips to Byron Bay and the Melbourne area. We decided to offer an excursion for Solari subscribers in Uluru in the Australian Outback in May 2018. Two groups of twenty will soon join Richard Dolan, Jason, and me to tour the Australian Outback and learn more about the ancient aliens as told by both Richard and the Aboriginal Australians. From Australia, I flew to Hong Kong in June for a week in one of the world’s most dynamic cities, Jason and Richard Dolen will be joining me in May for the Uluru Outback Tour. The 2016 Annual Wrap Up