What are you worth?

Most religions will answer you with metaphysical concepts.

In this respect, the new woke religion also has an answer. The answer is that it depends – it depends on where you fit in their victimization hierachy.

When I see the crazed rhetoric of political leaders today, this quote by John Maynard Keynes comes to mind:

“Madmen in authority are just distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back.”

Political actors, in other words, are not independent thinkers with independent thoughts – they are slaves to frameworks that someone else – an academic – dreamt up years prior.

The #1 Billboard song today is Rich Men North of Richmond.

The song is an elegiac ode to the working class sung by Oliver Anthony, a laid off paper mill employee (see here). Oliver recorded the song on an iPhone with no vocal training and no grand ambitions of becoming famous – he just wanted to speak his truth.

When later offered an $8 million dollar recording contracts, Oliver turned it down and stuck to that truth – “I don’t want to be in the spotlight. I wrote because I was suffering with mental health and depression.”

While the world was busy locking itself down during the spring of 2020, the US government publicly released UFO footage. The footage showed what appear to be flying objects zipping around in front of an airplane and defying the laws of physics.

60 Minutes did a story on it. Joe Rogan interviewed the pilot (see here). It stayed in the news cycle for a while and then eventually went away.

The way this story peaked and crashed always struck me as odd.

To really understand how the economy is going to change, you have to understand – Jerry and Jose.

Jerry is the stereotypical “skilled” laborer. He grew up in an upper middle-class neighborhood and graduated from college. He has bounced around tech firms working in product and then in human resources. He has no discernible skills but makes between $120 to $150k a year.

In 2015, El Salvador was the most dangerous country in the world with 103 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.

In 2023, that number is down to 2.5.

Ten years ago, I went to go work for a secretive Swiss commodity trading firm.

This particular firm played a vital role in the global economy and had minted several billionaires among its small work force.

Within a relatively short stint living in Switzerland, I was sent packing back to America to look for a new job.

So what happened?

Henry Paget was born in 1768 in pre-industrial London. The UK at the time had just begun its overseas empire. Henry would enter the military and become one of the most decorated officers of the Napoleonic era, leading a famous winning charge at the Battle of Waterloo.

Through his military heroics, Henry was elevated to the noble rank of Marquess and would establish the Marquess of Anglesey for his descendants with its seat at Plas Newydd, an estate in Wales.

You’re supposed to like the WNBA.

You’re supposed to be outraged that the number one WNBA draft pick makes 1/150th her NBA counterpart.

You are supposed to believe that the only reason no one watches the WNBA is because no one is telling them to.

The WNBA is a thing and if you don’t recognize it as such, well you are sexist (see here).

This past weekend, my cousin asked his close friends to play golf with him before his wedding.

Now, I hate golf with the same intensity that a jihadist hates the idea of “the West”. But I love my cousin and it was an obligation. So, we played the front nine.

Instagram makes everyone miserable. Human beings were not meant to compare themselves to each other four times a day. But it is addictive misery and let’s face it, you are probably stuck on it.

So let the following be a helpful guide to how to master it.

What would happen if you created a teen drama set in high school with actors in their mid to late 20s playing teenagers but instead of giving all the kids eating disorders and drug addictions, you based each character on a famous tech billionaire. It was a weird thought I had the other night while trying to get into Season 2 of Euphoria.

Here is how I imagine the character arcs going…

The inflationary asset bubble didn’t just support high stock prices and Crystal girl becoming a millionaire, it supported our whole transition from being practical to being full of abstracted, though passionately-held principles. That may sound good but it could spell our collective doom.

To understand what I mean – let me first explain what practical thinking looks like.

Several years ago, I shared a long Uber ride in South Beach with an attractive girl in her early 20s who was into crystals – not crystal meth – but healing crystals. She believed crystals had unique vibrational qualities that cured your illnesses. She ended the ride by offering to sell me some.

I didn’t make much of the conversation - the attractive, minimally educated female who is grifting through life is a common encounter in Miami, but it did make me think – where does a girl with a crystal hustle end up?

Earlier this month, State Street allegedly instituted a new hiring policy that would preclude consideration of heterosexual white males, until all other identity groups had been considered. This past week, Major League Soccer announced something similar – two candidates from an underrepresented group had to be considered for the final round interview of any organizational job position and one of them had to be black.

Progressives like AOC will often complain about Republican obstructionism.

If Republicans couldn’t oppose our agenda, we could implement the changes needed to make America more equitable and prosperous etc.

The reality is that we don’t have to wait until the Democrats have a filibuster proof Senate Majority to know what their progressive dream actually looks like – for that, we can just look at the great state of California.

California has a Democratic governor and a super majority Democratic legislature coupled with a whole slew of billionaires from Hollywood to Silicon Valley who keep the state bluer than blue with their political donations. California in other words is what happens when you wipe out Republican opposition and replace it with the benign rule of progressive plutocrats.

So, how did all that turn out?

Twenty years ago, we thought Islamic terrorists were going to take down America. We spent several trillion dollars fighting that threat. Over the next twenty years, we will likely focus our attention on China.

But if America is to fall, it won’t be because of suicide bombers or Chinese cruise missiles, it will be because of Zach.

So, who is Zach?

The last few years much of our cultural and political discussions have been driven by short video clips taken on iPhones that get posted on Twitter and feed us some outraged narrative.

You always wonder when you see these videos – is there more context?

There once was an annual event that brought together all Americans. The event was a two-hour made for TV spectacle in which women with transcendent physical beauty stalked a catwalk for two hours selling expensive lingerie.

In its own silly way, this event – the Victoria Secret Fashion show - was the crowning marriage of Western capitalism and fashion – driving almost $7.7 billion in annual sales at its peak in 2015.

In June of 1998, one hundred and twenty thousand young people came to RFK Stadium to watch the biggest bands in the world play songs and call out the Chinese Communist Party. The event was called Free Tibet and it was about bringing attention to the genocide there.

Today, you rarely hear about Tibet (the last Free Tibet rock concert was held in 2003).

The reason is not because Tibet became free. The genocide of the Tibetans continues unabated, perhaps accelerated even.