In Honor Of The TollParts 1, 2, 3

Jan BakIn Honor Of The Toll

LIFE + BUSINESS

3

11

19

28

34

39

46

54

58

66

73

Inflation

What People Think It Means

What It Means To Me

Flyover Country

What People Think It Means

What It Means To Me

Meritocracy

What People Think It Means

What It Means To Me

Recession

What People Think It Means

What It Means To Me

Best Price

What People Think It Means

What It Means To Me

Salary

What People Think It Means

What It Means To Me

Sup Y’all

What People Think It Means

What It Means To Me

Views From The U.S.

BAK

EducationEconomy Employment

The U.S. market is pretty, pretty huge

0

5

10

15

$20 Trill

United States

$17.4

China

$10.4

Japan

$4.8

$3.8

France

$2.9 $2.8

Germany United

Kingdom

GDP - $Trillions

Economy Views From The U.S.

BAK

Lots of good schools in the U.S. too

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

United States

46

United

Kingdom

106

Australia

5 5

Germany

Japan

Number of

Times Higher Ed

100 Universities -

Reputation Rankings

Education Views From The U.S.

BAK

You’ve probably heard of a few

# University Country

1 Harvard University United States

2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) United States

3 Stanford University United States

4 University of Cambridge United Kingdom

5 University of Oxford United Kingdom

6 University of California, Berkeley United States

7 Princeton University United States

8 Yale University United States

9 California Institute of Technology (Caltech) United States

10 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) United States

11 The University of Tokyo Japan

12 Columbia University United States

13 Imperial College London United Kingdom

14 University of Chicago United States

15 University of Michigan United States

16 ETH Zürich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich Switzerland

17 Cornell University United States

18 Johns Hopkins University United States

19 Kyoto University Japan

20 University of Toronto Canada

Education Views From The U.S.

BAK

The companies are a big deal

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

United States

32

China

15

Germany

10

France

8

Japan

7Number of Global

Fortune 100 Companies

- Headquarters

Employment Views From The U.S.

BAK

It all ‘works’ quite well…get it?

0

20

40

60

80

United States

63

Europe

31

Asia

3

Number of LinkedIn

World's 100 Most

InDemand Employers

Employment Views From The U.S.

BAK

Special Thanks

Every Day

Views From The U.S.

BAK

People keep telling me that I should buy Bitcoins or even understand what the hell that is. Seems completely criminal if you ask me. I’m allfor trying new technology and being “on the forefront” of things but it really doesn’t appear any different from how the

U.S. monetary system creates “new money” electronically, just instead of reputable citizens doing it, it is some backwards weirdos.

If I can convince myself that Bitcoins are something more than just nerds doing nerd things then maybe I’ll give that whole concept some more thought.

Until then, I’ll stick to accumulating wealth using means that won’t get me in trouble with FBI agents.

Better a Rolex on the wrist, then cuffs around the fist.

COFFEE BREAK CONTEMPLATION #1

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STARBUCKS IMPACT ON THE ECONOMY

BLACK FUEL

Reinvention of the coffee shop atmosphere

Revitalization of the city street

Real development of the18-24 age group

BLACK FUEL

CULTURE

Beverage spend*($4.30 per customer)

Proliferation of channel development ($1.5 billion)

Coffeehouse food offerings**($3.75 per ‘food-included’ sale)

COMMERCECOMMERCE

BLACK FUEL

*company-operated stores **U.S. stores, food included in 1/3 of transactions

Store design & accessibility (21,000+ appealing retail outlets)

Elite endorsement Digital payment leadership(15% of transactions on mobile*)

CURRENCYCURRENCY

BLACK FUEL

*paradigm primarily in U.S.

COFFEE BREAK CONTEMPLATION #2

What is Shen Yun exactly? I get asked if I want a pamphlet every time I’m in a mall or something of that nature.

With all these bright lights, huge signs, and supremely confident solicitors competing for my attention, I sometimes feel wrong when I actively avoid interacting with people who want to sell me something.

It’s okay though, once my friend from New York told me that if you don’t learn to sidestep those kinds of situations, then you’ll never get to where you are going on time.

Or even worse, you might have to listen to some dude rap to you.

JAN STANISLAW BAK

Jan Stanislaw Bak

Hint: Sarcasm

According to German superstition, not looking a person into the eyes when you toast brings

7 years of bad sex

According to Polish culture, not taking a nap during a party

is bad luck for the night

According to American tradition, not treating a Chicagoan with

respect leads to a lifetimeof bad karma

I HEARD YOU MAKE MONEY.....I GET MINE LIKE THIS

I’mOut

For Presidents To Represent Me

DR

Dreams Of Freedom

Dreams Of Freedom

Dreams Of Freedom

Dreams Of Freedom

Dreams Of Freedom

Dreams Of Freedom

DR

Dreams Of Freedom

3 Things You Need To Know

About A Few Of ‘The States’

J Stanislaw Bak

State By State

SUNSHINE

RELAXATION

ENTERTAINMENT

State By State

CHICAGO

FLATNESS

YELLOW

MACHINES

State By State

NYC

UPSTATE NEW YORK

NIAGRA

FALLS

State By State

LEBRON JAMES

OHIO STATE

INDUSTRIALIZATION

State By State

HISTORY

AMISH

PITTSBURGH

& PHILADELPHIA

State By State

OIL IMPERIALISM

GEORGE BUSH

FOOTBALL &

BASKETBALL

State By State

LIBERAL BUSINESS

GREEN COUNTRY

COFFEE

State By State

GasAn Abstraction

$2.17

€

£

¥

A

GasAn Abstraction

$1,000,012.83 B

GasAn Abstraction

C

GasAn Abstraction

JAN STANISLAW BAKOld

News

I want to says that’s a newspaper

but why would anyone waste paper

when you can go online and save

trees?

Millennial…what is this?

OldNews

No idea.

OldNews

Millennial…what is this?

OldNews

Millennial…what is this?

Looks like some sort of holographic

Frisbee.

Obviously! That’s an old fashioned

computer! I used to use that in

school!

OldNews

Millennial…what is this?

The coupon collection of some

really old people.

OldNews

Millennial…what is this?

I haven’t seen too many of those

since I graduated college. I go

online to ask for student loan

payment deferments.

OldNews

Millennial…what is this?

COFFEE BREAK CONTEMPLATION #3

I remember when a Black Card was like the epitome of luxury and success. Now there’s a few mail offers for some type of Black Card each month.

Not that I need another credit card, but it sure is difficult to not continuously be sucked into using more and more.

It’s good that they got rid of some of those really bad terms they used to have, everything from ‘universal default’to all that other crazy shit. Funny how today we think “OMG that’s so ridiculously unfair I can’t believe it actually used to happen”

yet pre-financial crisis days such things were considered completely normal….and the cycle of business and life keeps turning.

I’ve been asked ‘what’s the point’ of business and life many times.

And my response is “Yeah”

The

Toll

00

5

80

88

94

Time

An Estimation Of History

Time

8000 BC 1800 AD 2015 AD

5 MILLION1 BILLION

7.3 BILLION

TOTAL HUMAN BIRTHS – 108 BILLION PEOPLE

A

Time

30,000 BC 1950 AD 2015 AD

35 YEARS47 YEARS

71 YEARS

TOTAL HUMAN DEATHS – 100.7 BILLION PEOPLE

B

Time

1 AD 1700 AD 2015 AD

$445 $615

$13,400

TOTAL GOLD MINED – 170 MILLION KILOGRAMS

C

Time

Numbers don’t lie, still they hide the truth

Learn to look deep inside

Free your mind

Time

Hope

“I ain’t even know the strength you had to have to march”

Letter to The King

1 – Enough Said2 – In A Chicago Second

3 – When In Hell4 – No Extra Points

5 – Paid In Folk6 – Never Scared

7 – Mass Jurisdiction8 – Networking

9 – Mental Relaxation10 – The Toll, Part 211 – When In Heaven

HE ISN’T SURE WHAT TO DO AND I SAY

“WHAT’S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN?”

HE SAYS “AIDS”

I PLAY IT OFF COOL KNOWING DEEP DOWN MY LIFE AS I

KNOW IT HAS COME TO AN END, AND SHE SLOWLY

PROCEEDS TO SAY…

“I MISSED MY PERIOD”

I WAS IN GERMANY, TO BE SPECIFIC, WHEN ALL OF A SUDDEN IT BECOMES

FACEBOOK OFFICIAL (TO ME) THAT I‘M CURRENTLY IN PARIS ON MY

HONEYMOON WITH A FEMALE, WHICH REALLY TOOK ME BY SURPRISE,

YOU KNOW, BECAUSE I ASKED MYSELF “HOW CAN I BE IN 2 PLACES AT THE

SAME TIME?”, AND NO ANSWER CAME TO ME. DAMN.

MY FRIEND WAS LIKE “I KNEW YOU TWO HAD SOMETHING GOING ON!

SO WHEN’S THE WEDDING”

Some people like to say Out of the Frying Pan, Into The Fire

I like to say Escaped From Hell, Trapped In Purgatory

The Evolution Of Football

I figured out why the Mayans calculated the date of the end of the world

All of a sudden football doesn’t seem so violent

They had this thing called the

Mayan Ballgame that they cut

your head off if you played like a

little turd

The Native Americans played with spears

In 5th grade Social Studies class I did this project on the Native Americans and my baller teacher reacted very strongly to it, which means you can put faith

in the things I say

You’re telling me that the violence embedded in our modern American culture does not stem from the

violent ways of the original Americans?!

Teddy Roosevelt told his son it was better to die playing

football than to be a punk

[sn]itch

They commemorated the teddy bear after such a man

’98 was the year

Rex Grossman?

A German in Germany got really excited when the

conversation turned to the ’07 Super Bowl (somehow), but when I mentioned Rex

Grossman, he got confused.

I remember late nights playing Madden in Ann Arbor

Randy Moss in real life was the only player to play like a

Madden character

Michael Vick in the game was ridiculous

The Richard Sherman effect

Yet another football player gets shot outside a strip/night club

And they say rappers are the scum of society, pfff!

Still though – None of that matters for the final gameday experience

Paid In FolkJAN BAK

LATE 90 SOMETHING, EARLY 2000s

BACK IN THE DAY, YOU NEEDED TO BRING $5 TO HAVE A PARTY

The party was at McDonald's on Irving Park & Central;

4 friends, chillin, each person only taking away from the

table no more than they brought to it

Things That Happened Once

1

Someone stole my Charizard, but we went to the perpetrator’s house and got it back within 10 minutes

The homies in school thought a Nelly CD would impress the girls, until the girls laughed in their face when they tried to rap

Lending people my football meant I’d never see it again, which is why I never lost my football

Things That Happened More Than Once

>1

A fool never learned that celebrating and encouraging mediocrity was not the road to success, which means that poverty is not an

economic disease, but rather a disease of the mind

In Other Words….

>11LESS IS MORE

ONE TIME!

Let’s Roll

The People Of Alabama don’t need a school to teach them that – They already got it

Starbucks fell on Alabama: State gets its own mug, at last

Using the logic of one silly man who shall remain nameless, that

means Alabama is half as pretentious as Michigan

Mass JurisdictionJan Bak

There are some things in this world that you just can’t Shake Off

Example: Child Support Payments

Source:

$113 Billion in unpaid child support in the United States

(as of Thanksgiving 2015)

Example: The Affordable Care Act

Source:

Queue the

Hillary Clinton Antagonizers

(she masterminded the thing)

Maybe you could shake those things if you were Taylor Swift

In other news, these things are no joke

Sophisticated Gold Diggers

With all the admiration given to athletes

and entertainers in our society, perhaps

we should start giving that same respect

to hard working femme fatales?

Chicago Cubs Loyalists

How many rich people in the legal,

medical, and insurance professions can

say they made the same social impact as

Sammy Sosa?

Long Live Forever Bulls, Cubs, & Every Beast!

BOLThe Advisory Group

a) Food is the natural icebreaker

b) On most working days in the corporate world, the only fun moments come during lunch

c) When people start eyeing your pizza because they are not full from their salad, you have job leverage

d) Those late night dinners with a big group in a nice restaurant are the only chance to see your boss wearing a less intense mask

a) Joking about the craftiness of mechanics is a classic bonding moment

b) Presence of numerous cars reflects that everyone is doing fine for themselves

c) The Seinfeld episode where George Costanza goes crazy at the car dealership is the funniest because it is the most realistic

a) Travel location creates easy conversation starter

b) Multitudes of people makes it rude to not people watch, but be courteous and considerate

c) An opportunity to look at gold diggers and sugar daddies without being judged

d) I enjoy conversations about hotel rankings and consultant points because it puts me right to sleep after a long week

a) Intellectual atmosphere inspires sophisticated discussions

b) Cream and sugar station connects strangers

c) Even if you are stuck in Peoria, there is a nice coffee shop nearby where they will gladly take your hard-earned money

a) High profile geographic terrain makes communication unavoidable

b) Drivers and pedestrians must look out for each other, making status differences irrelevant

c) Ever thought someone was patient until you saw them spaz when a driver violates their right-of-way?

d) Ever been skeptical about a client’s trustworthiness and have it confirmed by the fact that they blow stop signs like it ain’t nothing?

a) My best friend from the country came to the city once and he was disappointed with the lack of promiscuously dressed ladies

b) Alcohol, money and passion mix together into unlimited combinations

c) This Italian guy walked into the spot I was chillin’ and tried to call me out for being Polish, I was like “Unfortunately”…unfortunately for the people who can only drink a little bit

I need to

find a new

job…

These dorks

are hurting

my bonus.I love my

coworkers!

Shutterstock Plug

BOL Advisory Group

That guy’s soft.

Look in his face.

F**k that!

I’m about leading

America into the

future, not falling

back into 19th

Century thinking Thanks, Hollywood…

Despite the progress of science and technology,

how much has life in Chicago truly changed since 1906?

Yuppie Voice: Um, there’s a lot more Whole Foods

Hipster Voice: It’s pretentious

Exactly.

Thank God my parents came to the U.S.

Living In 3DBOL Advisory Group

For all the talk about political agendas, it really just boils

down to one thing

The U.S. Home Ownership Rate

63.8%

F**k If I Care About The

Agenda Of A Bureaucratic Institution

I Got To Make Sure I’m Not A

Statistic

I Was Riding Down I-294 When ISaw Two Billboards Next To Each Other:

The First Was For A College Program, The Second Was For A Strip Club

Clearly one needs the “incredible earning power of a college diploma”

to afford the “most elite of sophisticated gentleman’s clubs”

Living In The United States Today, That’s The Way The Game Goes

The Easy Way To Attain Affection Is To Take

The Road Often Traveled By

It’s The Truth

Chill, Lady –I Only Look

Dumb

Cut That Bull Off The Speakers And

Put On Some Southern Rap!

This music is terrible

Let It Be Known

Big Man, What Now?BOL ADVISORY GROUP

Excuse Me, Stop Making Excuses

Boys Want A Million…Can’t Even Handle A Thousand

Only Strong Men Can

Handle Their Liquor

Spoiled Adults Call Me Crazy, But Their Marriages Is Proof They Think Just Like Me

She’s So Hot

She’s So Hot

…She’s So Hot

She’s An Angel

She’s Special

I Love The Woman! She

Has No Flaws In My Eyes

Drake Used To Be Good – Now Though, I Don’t See How Kids Can Want To Be Like Him

I’m On One Hotline Bling

If You Are Paying More Than 30% In Taxes

YOU’RE NOT MAKING ENOUGH MONEY

Picture Here

Globalization 3.0It was just one of

those days I felt like listening to E-40

Canada comes through

There’s some Great Ones

One of the few to not

jump on the Drake

bandwagon

Photo probably taken in Virginia, plastic and paper probably made somewhere

in Asia

Only took a year and a half to get this technology

Somehow the caterpillar-butterfly

thing has a lot of cultural staying power

Best Buy, please don’t go the way

of Circuit City

Do you respect wood?

Additional Overcharge

JAN BAK

I would have never taken that check if I knew I was dealing with a predatory lender – Damn

Peru, IL

Okemos, MI

Troy, WI

Durant, IA

Prosperity, SC

I ain’t with that exploited employee business –Still a cold world but at least now it’s hella paid

The Person Who Did All The Work

61%

The Lazy Investor

21%

The Guy Who Showed Up Once

10%

The Guy Who Didn't Do Sh*t

8%

HOW THE DOUGH IS SPLIT

American Productive Muscle

That’s What’s Up

Catch me on the beach working on my Polish Farmer’s Tan

That’s my own way of carrying

on tradition

Respect This GrindBak

Jan

When law enforcement

comes…You’re gonnafind out who

your friends are

“Know these beats is more than music, whenever I talk to it”JAY Z at 26

The Rap Spectrum

Sounds Best…On A Plane Leaving

Germany

Sounds Best…In Anytown, USA

Sounds Best…Flying Down The

Interstate

MINTSJan Bak

DON’T PLAY WITH ME

Play With Words

The United States Mint at Philadelphia

Mints

The United States Mint at Denver

Mints

Mints

Behind every great man is a great woman

Getting shaded under a money tree

Wine &

DineBOL Advisory Group

It’s not what you think, she’s putting

her money into MY pocket!

She better wine and dine me before she thinks she

can take me home

No, I don’t want to cook a complicated breakfast the next morning

with eggs, waffles and

stuff like that

I want to grab an

orange and hit the

road. Eating fancy food

is what Starbucks

breakfast is for!

Seriously, you booked our anniversary dinner at a bourgeois

restaurant??

I’d rather eat KFC and

then watch Netflix for a

whole weekend

My father is rolling over in

his bed thinking about all

the money I spent on gym

fees and personal trainers

to look good for you, girl?!

Where he’s from if you try too

hard to look good for the

basement party, they’ll make

fun of you until your self-

esteem is gone

I went out for a date in Ann

Arbor one time, and when I told her I don’t like

sushi, she almost broke up

with me right there

Now I actually like

sushi, but I don’t

like her. Go figure

We’re gonna have to tighten our belts from now on, honey

I could have got us a dinner

for two, a movie, a bottle of wine, and prophylactics all for under

$19.95…

Can’t believe I let you

talk me into going to

that fancy place and

letting you spend $20 on

the appetizers alone!

Shhh! I’m checking my bank account.

Don’t tell him I make more money than him

The following is a scorecard with no ‘correct’ answer, rather it’s a tool to discuss

and compare answers with your friends, family, and general acquaintances

OMG it’s like so good

Put on some Drake

Tidal sucks

Who is Rihanna?

A

B

C

D

Whoa!

What about run-flat tires…

Stop asking me stupid questions

This test is a complete waste of time

A

B

C

D

That’s lame

The 2016 presidential race deserves criticism

Beijing now has more billionaires than New York City

You mean people from other countries have emotions?

A

B

C

D

An open mind is a terrible thing to waste

Get off my property, liberal

All I do is watch football and yell at my spouse

If I write you a little check, will you shut the hell up?

A

B

C

D

Say that one more time, please?

No

I’m my own boss, I work for NO ONE!

I’m calling the cops

A

B

C

D

I’m in search of true wealth

I bust my ass at my job for 25 years, and my kids like Chief Keef more than they like me

We used to have all that money, remember how I even helped you?!

A

B

C

D

I make $75,000 a year, but I live like I’m a millionaire

Even the scientific method does not have a satisfying response to the intrigue of ‘social mobility’

Results

Before After

Fantasies Realities Cash & Assets

Social Mobility is no more a tangible

concept than The American Dream or

American Exceptionalism, yet it nonetheless

has a powerful pull on our hearts and minds

Many of us at one time or another are guilty

of espousing strong rhetoric about ‘changing

the world’, ‘helping people’ or ‘making an

impact’, when in actuality our goals can often

be boiled down to either stacking up enough

money to buy a house in a ‘better

neighborhood’ or accumulating enough

social status in order to join ‘the cool kids’

that we long aspired to join

Example: I love U-M, but I’m going to

a school in Chicago for my MBA

Perhaps conservative folks despise hip-hop

culture so much because deep down the

motto of ‘get money, f*** b*****s’ holds up a

mirror that reveals the truth about their own

simple yet hidden ambitions

Kendrick Lamar (who is a media

darling and just won 5 Grammys) is

admired for being a smart rapper with

a new sound, and he opens his latest

album with the thought-provoking line:

“When I get signed, homie,

I’mma act a fool”

Get yourself together and gather some

assets

Develop strong relationships with people

from all walks of life

Stay healthy, stay motivated, stay determined…

forget about silly parties and cheap

entertainment

Accumulate the ends of your success and use that to build the next phase of your

life, whether that is a new marriage to a loving partner or a new marriage to a

different game