This podcast is supported by betterment.
First came the wheel, then came the steam engine, and then came automated investing.
Since the dawn of time, people have used technology to make their lives better.
And better is what betterment is all about.
While we may not be as famous as the wheel, we did pioneer a better way to invest, because betterment knows that being invested in better is pretty much the best investment you can make.
Betterment be invested.
Investing involves risk, performance not guaranteed.
My name is Rachel Corbett, and I'm a contributor to the New York Times magazine.
This story is about a private city.
What is a private city, you ask?
It's just like a regular city.
People live and work there, make decisions about how they want to pursue their dreams.
Except the city is owned by a corporation.
It has all of the features of a government, but for a price, almost everything is privatized, private school, private security, private infrastructure, and they're often built in semi autonomous zones with their own laws.
That kind of freedom is especially appealing to foreign investors looking to circumvent certain regulations or taxes.
Historically, places like this already exist, like Shenzhen, Singapore, or Hong Kong.
But private cities are a growing movement.
About 30 have sprung up all over the world, sometimes in conflict with the very countries that host them.
My story from the magazine is about one private city being built by a us corporation on an island off the coast of Honduras.
And it's backed by a few Silicon Valley billionaires like Peter Thiel and Sam Altman.