after Bitcoin, crypto, and NFTs, Web 3.0 has become the new new thing to talk about. It’s what 2022 will be all about. No more centralization, here comes decentralization (again) … or does it?

Two great pieces, both sharing same ideas, one a bit longer, and the shorter also referencing the longer article. But both ultimately providing a much needed skeptical look at Web 3.

My first impressions of web3

Nobody Cares About Decentralization - They Just Want To Get Rich

my two main takeaways are:

1. ease of use wins over privacy and security (at least from a user preference point)
2. crypto is just another ponzi scheme

-Steve Keen Says Economists Get Everything Wrong (Especially About Climate Change) — extremely intriguing conversation. Will have to do some more reading of Keen’s thoughts.

-Simon Schama on America’s history wars, race and the flag — like Goebbels and many other successful autocrats and fascists, today’s Republican Party led by Trump tries to steer “patriotism” by whitewashing history. While in the short term this can be helpful in dumbing down the MAGA crowd, in the long run truth wins out. This is a great piece looking at the issues with the myths that make America.

history is neither in the business of self-congratulation nor self-flagellation. History is in the truth business. And if the truth should be hard to nail down in simplicities, then the least history can do is to disabuse its readers of outright falsehoods.

The organic relationship between history and freedom lies precisely in the willingness of free states to accept a record of their pasts, stained with disaster and wickedness as much as heroism and achievement. Distorting the record so that it becomes an exercise in the genealogy of present glory is to corrupt its integrity. Best leave that to the dictators.

-The Downtown Office District Was Vulnerable. Even Before Covid. — the problem of mono cultures. Diversity is beneficial in pretty much all complex systems.

-The Latest Green Bitcoin Plan Uses, Er, Coal — another day another Bitcoin story

Stronghold aims to mine coal that was already mined in order to mine Bitcoin and thereby make it green.

-This Shipping Dashboard Shows Why You Should Christmas Shop Early … a truly interesting write up of most of the challenges the shipping industry faces right now.

It’s not just bad off the coast of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California. Ships waiting to offload are parked outside ports from Singapore to Savannah, Georgia, and big European gateways for trade like Hamburg, Liverpool and Rotterdam are dealing with bottlenecks and delays, too. Dozens of ships are queued up around Yantian and, by one estimate, more than 400,000 20-foot containers were brought to a standstill.

-Bitcoin myths: immutability, decentralisation, and the cult of “21 million” … yes, call me a Bitcoin skeptic.

Bitcoin is not about the technology. It’s never been about the technology. Bitcoin is about the psychology of getting rich for free.

-Robinhood and iAddiction

My concern with Robinhood — i.e., I believe these guys are mendacious fucks — is more fundamental. The company’s mission to “democratize finance for all,” is similar to Pablo Escobar saying his mission was to “democratize cocaine.”

-Covid outbreak at Chinese port exacerbates global supply chain delays —what is the saying, when it rains it pours? I guess that is how the global supply chains must feel these days.

-Nassim Taleb, Erstwhile Bitcoin Admirer, Publishes Paper Trashing It— how do you value something that has no value?

-Covid Rebounds in U.S. South, With Many Shunning Vaccines — if we have to shut down businesses again, we should send the bill to all those that didn’t get vaccinated.

-The World’s Financial Centers Struggle Back to the Office— there is a level of arrogance in all those financial services CEOs proclaiming everyone should be back in the office NOW (but would we be really surprised by that arrogance?)

-America’s Trumpiest Attorney General Isn’t Letting a Little Staff Revolt Stop Him — it is amazing to see the level of corruption at all levels of Trump’s orbit.

-The Trucking Episode: Why the Industry Is Such a Mess — not a read, but great podcast episode. The data point that stood out to me was that trucking is the #1 job in 21 states in the US … all of them red states. Anyone investing in autonomous vehicles should be aware of that.

-Opinion: Why so many Republicans talk about nonsense — the key danger posed by Republicans is not so much their policies (which are hard to come by these days and overall I disagree with) but their lack of willingness to govern.

(Photo, a street scene from downtown LA – I thought it would connect well to the first of the two dialy reads)

-When Graphs Are a Matter of Life and Death – sounds like an interesting book.

-What Do Conservatives Fear About Critical Race Theory? – listening to conservatives talk about this, there is so much ignorance driven by even more just plain misrepresentation and lying (but then what is new, you can’t really expect anything else from Fox News, Rogan, or the MAGA crowd).

Starting today’s daily reads with a photo related to one of the stories (photo is from somewhere west of McAllen, TX)

-Illegal Immigration: The Trump Effect — not a surprise. Walls don’t address the root causes of immigration.

-Bring Back the Weekly Newspaper — a slow news movement

paying attention to negative, alarming information is natural and can even be useful if one was in an immediate threat environment—like, say, the savanna during the Pleistocene era when our attention systems were evolving. It just doesn’t work to our advantage, though, in a mediated environment where the incentives are structured differently. I’d almost want a newspaper that reported last week’s news, and only that. Whatever didn’t survive as news probably isn’t worth reading about anyway.

-The Brutal Truth About Bitcoin — a really good write up. Flaws of Bitcoin as currency, but also highlighting potentials of underlying blockchain technology.

-Does Tech Need a New Narrative? — a challenge is that innovation and technology has become a bit of religion with the leaders of the companies being treated as semi-gods.

-especially conservatives have highlighted all the shortcomings of California over the last couple of years, and especially the last 12 months. Now I have questioned the whole “exodus” narrative for a while just based on CA housing price data (one would assume that all the empty houses left behind would have a negative impact on housing), but even beyond housing things look pretty good in CA: California Defies Doom With No. 1 U.S. Economy

… By adding 1.3 million people to its non-farm payrolls since April last year – equal to the entire workforce of Nevada – California easily surpassed also-rans Texas and New York. At the same time, California household income increased $164 billion, almost as much as Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania combined, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. No wonder California’s operating budget surplus, fueled by its surging economy and capital gains taxes, swelled to a record $75 billion. … The state’s gross domestic product increased 21% during the past five years, dwarfing No. 2 New York (14%) and No. 3 Texas (12%), according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The gains added $530 billion to the Golden State, 30% more than the increase for New York and Texas combined and equivalent to the entire economy of Sweden. Among the five largest economies, California outperforms the U.S., Japan and Germany with a growth rate exceeded only by China. … California reigns supreme with the  GDP-equivalent of $40.2 billion derived from agriculture, forest and hunting in 2020. That’s greater than the output from the next five largest states – Iowa, Washington, Illinois, Texas and Nebraska.

-Good Podcast conversation on how important it is to get everyone vaccinated: As Variants Become Increasingly Prevalent, How Eschewing a Vaccine Can Put Other Lives at Risk — anyone not vaccinated is truly putting us all at risk … and with that causing future shut downs and more economic hardship.

-Coronavirus infections dropping where people are vaccinated, rising where they are not, Post analysis finds — and in addition, some data that shows that vaccines work

-Authers’ Indicators: Here’s When to Worry About Inflation — since I assume the inflation story will be with us for a while, this is a great resource to keep tabs on key indicators

-Beige Book — and in addition to those indicators, the Fed’s Beige Book is another great resource to track in order to understand the economy

-These 25 rainbow flag-waving corporations donated more than $10 million to anti-gay politicians in the last two years — at the end of the day companies are greedy and selfish. A moral compass comes from the leadership, but isn’t part of a company’s DNA.

-El Salvador’s Bitcoin plan: take your USD and turn them into worthless tethers — it would be interesting to see Bukele’s investments and how he will profit from this scheme

-Jeff Bezos is Leaving Amazon for Adventures in Space — Life must be boring at the top

-Disintermediating your friends: How Online Dating in the United States displaces other ways of meeting — finishing today with a research study

-How Palm Beach Balances Mansion Politics Against Climate Change — considering the value and the risk, I do hope that insurance prices will go up to reflect the risk, and that the federal government stops bailing out people who take on this risk knowingly.

Waterfront real estate prices are rising across the U.S. in a frenzied pandemic-tinged market. During the first quarter of this year homes at high risk of flooding sold for a record 13.6% premium over less risky homes, according to brokerage Redfin.

-Inside London’s Docklands: 40 years of ambition, politics and financial wrangling — interesting brief history of the development of the Docklands

-The Post-Heroic Legacy of Angela Merkel — very good write up of what 16 years of Merkel mean.

-What Hackers Can Learn About You From Your Social-Media Profile — as with most things these days, people don’t care about their privacy, until it’s too late.

-How the FBI’s Trojan Shield operation exposed a criminal underworld — super interesting story. It will be interesting to see how this will impact overall tech usage by criminal groups, because now they need to fear the possibility that governments are in anything they use.

-What 16th-Century Venice Teaches Us About Crypto — an interesting comparison.

the modern state can be remarkably tolerant of people winning and losing fortunes, so long as it gets some benefit. That can come in the form of a cut of the takings; a measure of control over otherwise chaotic risk-taking; or even the capital allocation functions provided by financial markets. Where those benefits are absent, however, governments grow impatient with the turmoil of unrestricted speculation, and crack down hard.

Though more importantly I thought was the part at the end of the piece about how fragile bitcoins future can be, as it completely relies on being connected to fiat currencies to work.

The moment governments decide the nuisance and destabilization caused by digital currencies is too great, they will ban financial institutions from exchanging them for fiat currencies as vigorously as the U.S. enforces sanctions on its geopolitical enemies. That possibility, once remote, seems more and more likely in an era when America’s fuel supplies can be held hostage for $5 million in crypto.

-Reality Rebellion — a fairly depressing piece, but a warning we should all heed:

The attempted coup of January 6 destroyed two cardinal principles of American politics. The first says that we choose who holds power not through violence but through elections. The second says that when one party wins an election, the other accepts the result and forms a “loyal opposition” while it awaits its chance to win the next time. Today we have in office a restorationist administration that behaves as if proving that “government works” will somehow restore these two principles. It will not.

And the piece makes and excellent case for why we needed a Jan 6th commission:

In the case of the Capitol coup we have thus far ignored the truth. The coup was a crime against the state, and because it unfolded live on television as a grand public spectacle, Americans believe they know the truth about it. But we do not. We do not know what kind of planning preceded the assault and who was involved. We do not know why Pentagon officials for several hours refused to send troops to the Capitol. We do not know what the president was doing as the violence he unleashed was unfolding on Americans’ television screens. And much more. We do not know because there has been no thorough public investigation of what happened. Supporters of the former president within the political system have thus far worked hard to block such an investigation.

End of weekend long read catch up -The Death of Hahnemann Hospital — there are so many things wrong with the US healthcare system, just one example.

-The Pied Piper of SPACs — by glorifying financial success society is too often assuming that those individuals can replicate that success in many other areas … ignoring the luck involved, ignoring the lack of competency in those new areas … and making those individuals believe they are actually competent beyond their core area of expertise.

-Mexican Modern: the design revolution rooted in history — some beautiful pieces from a beautiful country

-AMC is an options market puppet — this post has two parts, the first one about AMC and the impact options have on meme stocks. But the second story on impact of investors on housing market is why I am sharing this one:

Striking numbers: in Phoenix, New York, Austin, Tampa and Las Vegas, about a third of the market is investors!

-COVID-19 hospitalization rates in adolescents went up during March and April — even with overall numbers going down it is way too early to declare victory.

-What We Leave Behind — really good reflection on last 12 months and looking at what truly matters.

There is so much that’s jarring about American exceptionalism. An enduring American image of the pandemic is a makeshift morgue in a refrigerated tractor-trailer in Queens. Worse? We idolize the founder of Tesla, who’s added the GDP of Hungary to his wealth (all tax-free/deferred) during this crisis, even as we discover 25% of New Yorkers are at risk for becoming food insecure. This isn’t a United States, it’s The Hunger Games.

-How to Negotiate with Ransomware Hackers — in light of recent, and ongoing ransomware attacks an interesting read.

-The Premonition: A Pandemic Story — new book by Michael Lewis. I already posted about it some time ago, but after finishing it thought I should put the book on the list. As usual, Lewis finds the people that that are not talked about, but are the heros of the overall story.

-The Tyranny Of Time — and lastly, just something for reflection …

-The unseen covid-19 risk for unvaccinated people — seeing the crowds all across the country I wouldn’t be surprised if numbers go up again, soon.

-Does It Matter If There Was A Lab Leak? — The main answer is no. Will it be good to know where the virus comes from eventually, yes. But that can take years if not decades. What matters more is how good are we in dealing with the situation. And the US failed that test.

-What a work-from-home revolution means for commercial property — from all I can see talking to companies, employees in offices will be lower going forward, that means office space needs will be lower. It will be interesting when that will be reflected in office cost.

Globally, more than 103m square feet of office space has already been vacated since the pandemic began, according to Cushman and Wakefield, a brokerage. That is 18% more lost floor space than during the financial crisis of 2007-09. Vacancy rates rose steeply over the past year, reaching 18% in the spring in America (see chart 1). The forecasts are gloomy. Roughly one in five offices in America will be empty in 2022, according to Moody’s Analytics, a consultancy. Rents in America are projected to fall 7.5% this year; those in San Francisco, by 15%.

-How Swiss asset managers opened their doors to Lex Greensill — a story that gives on giving. People talk about smart and dumb money. But this story doesn’t only show the greed in the system, the challenge of there being too much money searching for returns, it also shows that smart money can be pretty dumb.

-July 1 — Today’s Heather Cox’s column is a must read (though that goes for most days). I think people don’t realize how close the US is for its democracy to being dissolved by right wing crazies.

-Americans Are Done With 5-Days a Week in the Office. Here’s What That Means for the Economy — there are still too many companies, CEOs, and managers who are having their heads stuck in the sand.

-Summer Camps Reopen to a Stampede of Stressed-Out U.S. Parents — the summer between i finished high school and started the mandatory military service I was a camp counselor in a Summer Camp in Ohio. I wouldn’t want to miss this experience, I still tap into things I learned back then, today.

-I Wrote James Bond Movies. The Amazon-MGM Deal Gives Me Chills — I have very low expectations for this partnership, and as usual it is the smaller partner (MGM in this case) that will lose out. While I can’t really say how innovative MGM has been, but a tie up with Amazon that will want to use it to make Prime more sticky will only lead to kill off any innovation left, and will drive up more sequels and copies.

-L.A. Is a City State — If it was up to me I would be living in LA (don’t ask), i love the city, and I love to read about it.

-The Sudden Rise of the Coronavirus Lab-Leak Theory — a good write up and analysis. But finding the answer might take a while, all the while there is little to no new evidence on either side. And to me, still the key question should be why the US response was so horrible?

The original animal source of the sars pandemic (bats) was not pinpointed until 2017, fifteen years after the global outbreak. (Incidentally, the discovery was made at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.) The likely source of H.I.V., which spilled over from chimpanzees, perhaps as early as the late eighteen-hundreds, was not located until 1999. … there were two possible explanations for SARS-CoV2: either it came from a zoonotic spillover or a lab. The lab-leak theory had gained enthusiasm largely because the zoonotic-spillover hypothesis lacked crucial evidence. But both of them also recognized that there wasn’t direct evidence for a lab leak, either. David Relman, a prominent microbiologist at Stanford who had helped organize the letter in Science, told me, “It’s all circumstantial.”

-Estimation of total mortality due to COVID-19 — crazy to see this level of under reporting.

-Scientology’s secrets spill into open in Danny Masterson rape case — have been interested in Scientology ever since I had friends who tried to get out of the “church” and seeing their harassment first hand, followed by reading Hubbard’s book about martians and UFOs which makes for a horrible sci-fi novel, but seems to be ok as the foundation for a cult.

-Lifetime Earnings in the United States over Six Decades

The lifetime earnings of the median male worker declined by at least 10 percent from the 1967 cohort to the 1983 cohort. Further, more than three-quarters of the distribution of men experienced no rise in their lifetime earnings across these cohorts.

-Why You Should Wait Out the Wild Housing Market — crazy prices, but maybe not a bubble. Some interesting points in here.

-ending with something on the lighter side: How to Make Sense of Scents — this is in a way the companion piece to the story about perfumes I posted the other day.

-The Covid-19 Lab Leak Theory Is a Tale of Weaponized Uncertainty — it will be interesting to see what they find, thought I am dubious the story will change.

-We have bigger problems than COVID-19’s origins — and even more importantly, I agree with this piece. Why did the US fuck this up? That is the much bigger question? More than 500,000 Americans died. Pre-pandemic, the US was seen as the country best positioned to deal with a pandemic. Heck, it wrote THE book on how to deal with something like COVID. Why did the country and its key institutions utterly fail us? Based on the GOP response regarding a Jan 6th investigation I doubt there will be a COVID investigation … which can only mean that next time even more Magicians will likely die … and that means all Republicans will have blood on their hands.

-A rebounding economy won’t mean a return to the status quo — last year I wrote a piece about how I think people really need to think about change rather than wait for pre Covid to come back.

A bit FT heavy today … sorry, I think a lot of these will be behind their pay wall

-US democracy is still in the danger zone

Like all myths, the stolen election is immune to evidence. Nor can it be dismissed, as it sometimes is, as purely the result of sore loser syndrome. Republican-governed states such as Arizona and Georgia are passing laws to seize control over their electoral college returns. They are motivated as much by what they want to happen in 2024 as by an effort to placate Trump. These are forward-looking power grabs from independent election officials. Some such provisions would embarrass Viktor Orban’s Hungary — the original “illiberal democracy”. The pattern is to deprive Democratic cities such as Houston of voting outlets while making it easier to vote in conservative rural areas. 

-2 interesting ways Seb Gorka, a Nazi, is collecting your ad dollars — two things from this piece. 1. The GOP and Fox Nation are today’s Nazi party (undemocratic, fascist, racist) 2. The in and outs of online advertising are truly interesting.

-and lastly something light, to get ready for the weekend Why we should all learn to love Campari — and how to drink it — I am looking forward to giving the Big Easy a try.

-Let me start with a daily watch, rather than read … I have to admit I would not make for a good politician. I can’t believe how people like Newsom don’t get angrier than this. The important point he makes is that events like yesterday in San Jose, which happen in the US on a regular basis don’t happen in other places. And I doubt Americans are more violent or have more people with mental illnesses than other countries … which leaves the only logical conclusion, and that is that the more guns you have, easily accessible, the more murders you will get. But this simple logic seems to be too complicated to understand for all the second amendment fanatics.

-ok, so less political … Positive Marijuana Tests Are Up Among U.S. Workers — reminds me of a conversation I had with an executive a couple of years ago about why NY was loosing IT talent to states like WA and CO, and he said the reason were legal marijuana laws there.

-Income inequality, financial intermediation, and small firms — long, but interesting read

-The billionaire boom: how the super-rich soaked up Covid cash — honestly, Biden should use the graphic (below) from this story as the one and only evidence to justify increasing taxes on the rich.

-U.S. New-Home Sales Fall by More Than Forecast as Prices Surge — to me the key piece of info in this piece is in the subtitle: “Median home price jumps from pandemic low by most since 1988” … insanity

-and lastly some light read: A sceptic’s journey into the world of men’s scent — I will admit I love perfumes

Today a bunch more links, I did some catching up on some older pieces last night …

-Are Vaccinated Americans Powering the Economy? Not Yet, Data Show — it just looks like some people are more responsible and less self-centered.

-Contagious Unemployment — interesting data and analysis on speed of job market recovery.

-There are reasons to worry about US inflation — more inflation related thoughts, the title I guess says it all.

-America’s urban crime wave threatens Biden — I agree, crime should be priority for Biden. Though also interesting to read the comments, lots of idiots out there.

-Real-Estate Frenzy Overwhelms Small-Town America: ‘I Came Home Crying’ — I am not a real estate expert, but reading this and looking at the prices and sales in my neighborhood I would say this does look like bubble territory. Now good news is that there doesn’t seem to be much stupid lending going on.

-Cryptocurrency Has Yet to Make the World a Better Place — it is not only about making the world better, more importantly it is about delivering on the promises it set out to deliver:

“…an innovation that was supposed to displace the dollar as a medium of exchange has proved largely useless for buying legal things yet frighteningly effective at facilitating extortion. … Cryptocurrencies are supposed to be a hedge against inflation because issuance is usually restricted. But that’s only true of an individual currency. As an asset class, cryptocurrency inflation is rampant: There are now more than 5,000 coins. Gold never faced competition from dozens of new precious metals hitting the market each month. Gold became a store of value because through most of history it was also a medium of exchange: Coins were once minted from it, and paper money was long backed by it. If crypto never finds acceptance as a medium of exchange, its usefulness as a store of value is also in doubt.”

-Why Is This Geopolitical Fight Different From All Other Fights? — to me a country can’t be defined by a religion. If a country defines itself by a single religion, it is by default a religiously racist state, since religion is a personal believe. And separating country from religion allows to criticize Israel without being anti Semitic (something that should be possible, since no government, no country is without fault).

-CNA Financial Paid $40 Million in Ransom After March Cyberattack — this will mean ransom attacks will become quite normal

-Unhedged: bitcoin is equity, not money — I couldn’t agree more with this piece. In the past I have posted about how I don’t view Bitcoin as a currency and I think talking about it as such is a mistake. The challenge with Bitcoin is that it’s close to impossible to allocate value to it. It’s all about predicting future hype. People will say, but isn’t that the same with the dollar, but I would disagree since there are many factors underlying dollar value for example (gdp, debt, foreign policy …) This statement I think summarizes it well:

Bitcoin is best thought of as equity in a company whose only asset is a promising but unproven technology — this is not strictly true, but it is the right metaphor.

-Some Vaccines Help Nations Exit The Pandemic Faster Than Others — interesting story about how mRNA vaccines are providing higher protection against spreading the virus.

-weekend listen: How the World’s Companies Wound Up in a Deepening Supply Chain Nightmare — great podcast episode about ins and outs of global shipping.

-weekend long read 1:In a Small Town, a Battle for Racial Justice Confronts a Bloody Past and an Uncertain Future — a couple of years ago Chief Justice Roberts said we live in a post racial America, I couldn’t disagree more with that view

-weekend long read 2:https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/10/t-magazine/fragrance-perfume-orientalism.html— ending on a lighter note …

-Shipments Delayed: Ocean Carrier Shipping Times Surge in Supply-Chain Crunch — more strain on supply chains and cost.

Only about 40% of container ships globally were on time arriving at ports in March … The cost of moving a 40-foot sea container from China to U.S. West Coast ports was quoted this week at $5,650, according to the Freightos Baltic Index, up 34.5% since the start of the year and 228% higher than the same period last year.

-How a New York City Restaurant Loses Money on a $14 Sandwich — extremely interesting to see the beak down and the super thin margins.

-Katie Porter goes megaviral with MUST-SEE takedown during hearing — not a read, but the first 2 min are great.

-Novelty Means Severity: The Key To the Pandemic — overall one of the most informative blogs out there, this one in particular is interesting. What a difference one word makes, and how important vaccination is.

-A perilous new era — the right always complaints about activist judges, but the most activist are those judges from the right. They hide their mission behind the idea of so called “originalism” … which is just BS. If originalism was possible then Supreme Court judges should have a history and or linguistic background and wouldn’t need a legal background.

-and lastly Map of Africa’s borders if divided by Languages ​​and Ethnicities, from the ever interesting EV’s charts of the week

-From Bitcoin to Dogecoin: What’s Driving Cryptocurrencies’ Rise and the Challenges Ahead — mostly known issues, but I overall agree with them.

-Bias Is a Big Problem. But So Is ‘Noise.’ — a new book by Kahneman is a bit like a new book by Michael Lewis … looking forward to it.

-A New Look at a Wicked Emperor — truly interesting. Will be interesting to see how this story will develop.

-Mexico City Could Sink Up to 65 Feet — global warming and water are the challenges for the next 100 years.

• Why The Vaccines are a Home Run Despite the Yankees’ Outbreak — i agree that the changes to mask guidelines were a bit abrupt and could have been based on clearer, better communicated science. My first thought was that it was designed to target those that have not been vaccinated yet, but that should not be a base for ,ask guidelines.

• Australia Beat COVID. Why Couldn’t The U.S.? — it is though interesting to see that countries that did well or very well during the first phase of Covid all have been less stellar during the vaccination phase. Though I will admit I would rather have seen the US adopt the Australian approach … and have a population that is less self-centered and more focused on the communal part of the society they live in.

• Can a building be sexist? Meet the feminist architects who challenged gender stereotypes

-U.S. has entered unprecedented climate territory, EPA warns — the other day I listened to a GOP pollster who argued that the left should frame global warming as a national security issue in order to get conservatives to care … little does he seem to know that the DoD has warned about Global Warming for more than a decade now.

-Consumer Prices Jumped as Economic Recovery Picked Up — the hot topic of the day. There is a lot going on, obviously republicans are already huffing and puffing about money printing and too much spending, but as usual things are probably a bit more complicated. Key paragraph here is

Compared with two years ago, overall prices rose a more muted 2.2% in April, on an annualized basis.

And used car prices went up 10% so that makes a big dent in overall numbers.

-Bitcoin Isn’t Behaving as an Inflation Hedge. Its Move Still Makes Sense — to be transparent, the main gold ETF also went down.

Another weekend read. This one from today’s Bloomberg columnist John Auther’s column Covid Pitted Life Against Liberty and Vanquished Both which is and outstanding piece on where does an individual’s liberty impact another person’s pursuit of happiness? Across the last twelve months there have been many people screaming that their freedoms had been taken away from them. Most (all those people screeming in stores) clearly have no idea about law and the constituion. But in general these complaints were usually about how their own freedoms were impacted, not taking into account how they were impacting other people’s freedoms. Auther does a great job in summarizing the various concepts of freedom and liberty, the various types – negative liberty (freedom from interference, the freedom to be left alone) and positive liberty (the freedom to do what one wants).

But to me one of the critical quotes comes fairly early on in the piece, it is by John Locke and I think it addresses a key part, more or less the golden rule, which is too often forgotten by those screaming freedom: Locke believed in natural rights to life, liberty and property. But for men to be free, he saw that they must allow others to be free. Thus, in his formulation, freedom did not include a right to “harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions” and included an obligation to “preserve the rest of mankind.”

Auther keeps on going through various thinkers, economics, philosophers (oh and also Ayn Rand who in my view is not a philosopher but should really be considered just a third rate auther) and how they interpreted the limits of liberty and freedom, especially when it comes to when those freedoms impact other people’s freedom or pursuit of happiness.

My view is very much that ones rights, as well as freedomes can’t interfer with another person’s rights and liberties and the last paragraphy by Auther makes this point much better than I could:

Locke believed in natural rights to life, liberty and property. But for men to be free, he saw that they must allow others to be free. Thus, in his formulation, freedom did not include a right to “harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions” and included an obligation to “preserve the rest of mankind.”

• From Dutch Tulips to Internet Stocks, How to Spot a Financial Bubble – reminds me of a conversation I had earlier this year with a guy who cut my hair and started talking about bitcoin. when I asked him how he compared bitcoin to tulips he had no idea about tulip mania.
• Listen and this should really be called Pre-Listen since this podcast interview with Michael Lewis about his new book might soon end up in the Longread section since I started reading right after listening to this podcast: Michael Lewis on White House Pandemic Planning
• Semi Longread: Past Due - Report and Recommendations of the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office Civic Memory Working Group – a really interesting, historic view of LA
• Longread: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business – this Neil Postman book, written in 1984 could not be more current.

Story to keep on the radar: Cyber-Attack Shuts Down Biggest Gasoline Pipeline in U.S.