Wealth-creation Stories

On a 10 weeks sea trial in 1761, J.Harrison's chronometer was in error by less than 5 seconds. In 1758, Dr E.Darwin replaced the ancient front axle design with two stub axles, pivoting near the wheel; now a feature of all vehicles. F.G. Koenig used his steam driven press, to print an edition of The Times newspaper, in 1814. The Rocket locomotive won the 1829 Rainhill Trials with a top speed of 30 miles per hour. A steamship, from New York City took 115 days to reach to San Francisco in 1848. In 1851, all telegraph stations in the USA were connected and by 1940 there were 40 telegraph lines across the Atlantic. Corrugated paper was invented in 1856, to stiffen tall hats and, in 1874, Oliver Long inventing corrugated board. In 1861, waterwheel powered air compressors and pneumatic drills, cut construction time by 16 years for a tunnel in Switzerland. Fritz Haber's discovered a process to make ammonia fertilizer in 1914. In 1887, Nicola Tesla invented the first AC motor. In 1903, an automatic machine was able to make 2,500 bottles an hour. WHO THE HELL ARE WE? is a series of short books and videos describing the evolution of civilization. Almost everyone on the planet is five times wealthier than their ancestors only 50 years ago. This astonishing phenomenon has also improved health, education, and longevity. The cause; an explosive growth in ideas and productivity. It began when we learned to control fire, evolved articulate speech and stumbled onto the way to create infinite wealth; free trade. The discovery of agriculture made us richer but we also learned how to destroy wealth. Great civilization grew up but then disappeared leaving only incredible ruins and ideas. Later books detail some of the ideas and developments that increased the average life span from about 40 years to more than 80 and the average world income from less than $3 to more than $33 per person per day (and to $140 per day in some countries).

Almost everyone on the planet is five times wealthier than their ancestors only 50 years ago. This astonishing phenomenon has also improved health, education, and longevity. The average life span increased from about 40 years to more than 80 and the average world income from less than $3 to more than $33 per person per day (and to $140 per day in some countries). The cause; an explosive growth in ideas and productivity. Of all work in 1850, 80% no longer exists. Think of electricity, railways, automobiles, aircraft, satellites, radio, telephones, cell (mobile) phones, TV, computers, the Internet and nuclear power. Today, each farmer in the USA feeds 300 people whereas 200 years ago 4 out of 5 Americans worked in agriculture. In 1900 farm workers were still 40% of the work force; while in 2016 they were less than 2%. Bill Gates and Paul Allen started the Microsoft Corporation in 1975 thereby creating three billionaires and about 12,000 millionaires among Microsoft employees. $1000 worth of Microsoft (MSFT) shares in 1986 were worth $2,800,000 in 2025. In 2016, shares of Nvidia (NVDA) were $1.32 adjusted for stock splits. In 2025 one share could be sold for $170. A $1000 investment in 2016 would have returned about $129,000 in 2025. Okay, so how do you start GETTING RICH? It is very simple. Few of us have the talent or tenacity to start a new business, but now it is easy to buy publicly traded shares of businesses that grow steadily and create wealth in the process. You might as well buy a small share and watch it grow. Get rich slowly by investing a regular amount of your income in a diverse range of companies and re-investing all interest, dividends and capital gains and holding for many years. You will first need to choose an on-line stock broker and set up an account. They all operate much like banks as they are legally required to know their clients and must report to government tax collectors on any income to your account.