A commenter writes Yeah, but the rapid fall here bugs me. We went from a moon shot to mass rape in the town square within 50 years. I thought we should have had at least a couple hundred years of coasting. Hmmm…the weird thing is that while America has evidence of social decay, economic and… Continue reading The Moral Decay Conundrum
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Does the Nation Make the Genius?
From Social Matter (Identity And Civilization: Why Humanity Depends On Ethnoculture): … nationalism becomes an enemy of civilization when it believes that Shakespeare is great because he was English, rather than that England is great because it produced Shakespeare. But the HBD argument is that genes produce geniuses, not nations. Maybe it so happen that… Continue reading Does the Nation Make the Genius?
Better or Worse?
Two contrasting viewpoints: Pessimistic: The Truly New Year Optimistic: Financial Fridays: The Stock Market is Bullshit New inventions and technologies would outpace the demand for those commodities so that as we needed their functionality more, the prices would fall. Think about computers: your price per speed and functionality in your computer has gone down every… Continue reading Better or Worse?
Soros: It’s the 2008 crisis all over again
Soros: It’s the 2008 crisis all over again George Soros is just another liberal who wants the economy to fail, for personal profit and to foment ‘revolution’ and class warfare, similar to past leftist upheavals such as the October Revolution, French Revolution, The Great Depression, and, to a lesser extent, the financial problem of 2008,… Continue reading Soros: It’s the 2008 crisis all over again
The Millennial Backlash Against The Baby Boomers
In addition to the post-2013 rise of nerd culture and the post-2013 decline of the SJW narrative, I’m also observing a post-2013 backlash by millennials against boomers, who are perceived as being blissful, naive spendthrifts who had five decades of post-ww2 prosperity dropped on their laps, who have the audacity to lecture millennials about getting… Continue reading The Millennial Backlash Against The Baby Boomers
Active Management Continues to Lag Indexes
After a really bad 2014, 2015 proved little better, with the majority of hedge funds, managers, and mutual funds failing to beat the S&P 500. Carl Icahn, Warren Buffett, and Bill Ackman – all of whom are billionaires – lagged the market substantially. Buffett lagged by 13% in 2015 Bill Ackman by 20%. It looks… Continue reading Active Management Continues to Lag Indexes
Re: Wealth Inequality
Paul Graham’s wealth inequality essay is generating considerable discussion. Seth Bannon rebuts, How Paul Graham gets it wrong in “Economic Inequality, arguing that Graham is attacking a straw man; however, Seth Bannon fails to actually make a substantive case that wealth inequality is bad for the economy. In the essay, his overarching point seems to… Continue reading Re: Wealth Inequality
The China Shop in the Bull
This story of the market falling 450 points is going viral on Reddit, which is unusual because finance-related stories typically don’t make it on the front page. The fact the market fell a lot on the first day of the new year is meaningless. If one mines data long enough they will find all sorts… Continue reading The China Shop in the Bull
In Defense of Smart People
It may be fashionable in certain circles to hate on smart people, who are perhaps perceived as being too enamored or ensconced in their thoughts and machinations to care about society and the world around them, perhaps appearing aloof, conceited, or disconnected. Maybe the economy is to blame, too, in bestowing too much prosperity upon… Continue reading In Defense of Smart People
Paul Graham: Economic Inequality and The Refragmentation
Tech VC heavyweight and hugely influential blogger Paul Graham posted two new essays: “Economic Inequality” “The Refragmentation” These essays are almost the same in that they deal with trends and paradigm shifts affecting post-2008 America, specifically about society, capitalism, start-ups, and wealth inequality. The meta-discussion is almost as interesting as the topic itself. These essay… Continue reading Paul Graham: Economic Inequality and The Refragmentation