DANIEL BROCKMAN has Mathematics and Finance degrees and lifelong interest in history and economics. He worked in statistical analysis and software development in investment companies and banks for 30 years. 

Dan swims, hikes and rides his bicycle near his home in the state of Washington, USA.

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I have Mathematics and Finance degrees and lifelong interest in history and economics. When I moved to San Francisco, I got a job in the actuarial department of an insurance company, mainly because I had a mathematics degree and good test scores. I wrote software. I took a couple of courses in financial accounting. I wrote cash management software for a big aluminum company. I did financial modeling for oil wells, real estate, coal mines and geothermal wells. I worked for Wells Fargo Investment Advisors writing software for bond portfolio management and research. I designed a database for options and thinly traded securities. At Bank of America, I wrote software to value investments held in the trust department, wrote software reconciling trust accounts between two systems, wrote the bank’s first online payments system for small businesses, designed automation of their letter-of-credit system, managed systems to monitor trading desk financial positions. I managed systems operations for Total Entertainment Network (online gaming). I got a degree in finance. I consulted on computer systems at Charles Schwab, Southwestern Bell, Providian Bank, NASA, and Mellon Capital Management. At Mellon, I wrote software for investment trading and research. I designed search software enhancements for large merchant customer websites at Amazon. I consulted on systems for electronic payments operations, foreign exchange trading, and anti-money laundering at Wells Fargo. I performed statistical analysis of residential mortgages at Union Bank. In parallel, for about 45 years, I’ve studied the history of money, stock trading, economics, financial bubbles and crashes, investment strategies, portfolio selections, and market predictions. I advise a few friends on their investments. I live near Puget Sound with my loved companion of the last 24 years. My book, The Tale of Capitalism, wasn’t among the top ten on the New York Times bestseller list for the last six months. While English is my native language, I have nearly fluent command of accented French. I read Spanish and write and speak limited grammatically incorrect Spanish.