29 Comments
Feb 1, 2021Liked by Noah Smith

I liked Reaganland. I also really liked the new HBO documentary about the Reagans. I didn't know he was literally using his wife, who was being advised by a psychic, to advise him on policy.

Another relevant book I just finished is "Break It Up" by Kreitner. I don't think there could be a more relevant book considering our times! It was an absolutely fantastic read.

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Feb 1, 2021Liked by Noah Smith

affect*

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One thing (with a few sub-things):

- I too was caught up in the fury to take down hedge funds. Like most millennials, I saw my horizon trimmed (although less than most) as a consequence of the '08 financial crises. The chance to inflict pain on a system that transferred their risk and payment onto the public seemed pretty great, although more recent events have proven this to not be so. I still do wonder a few things though:

To what extent is this fury widespread? Is it just me and bunch of college educated dudes or

is this 'populist' anger, in fact, a larger anger?

Was this event illuminating, if not for the public at large, for a large section? Who knew about

'front-running' before this? How many people knew who Steve Cohen is or that his previous

hedge fund was taken down for insider trading before this?

As with many things political, might this, in a non-linear way, make regulation and/or taxes

more likely? I'd like to see more talk about utility of financial transaction tax or a capital gains

tax increase.

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I sort of dig it when the left and right populists get together. I think thats a great prediction for the next decade. I really just want to lead a boring life. Oh... and tax the rich. A lot.

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Feb 1, 2021Liked by Noah Smith

Gerrr-rate stuff!!! Really. All the prognostications cast in future stones? I'll bet cash money on 75%

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Feb 1, 2021Liked by Noah Smith

I'd feel more confident that you're right about the 20s if the so many Reps weren't making nice with Trump and his idiot followers. In the 70s, there was no major support for nonsense; there is now.

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Besides Max Hastings, your Bloomberg colleagues Denning and He have a great article out this morning as well.

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BTW, you should have promoted another article by your fellow columnist Max Hastings on why we should study war (because it's important if we want people in the world to live a good life): {NSN QNSJO3DWRGG6<GO>}

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It seems that 90% of movements ultimately dissolve in to farce. But I don't believe we are out of the woods yet. Like Imperial Japanese soldiers holed up in a cave in a jungle until the '60's, we'll probably see more conspiracy-fueled violence (as well as insanity and complete retardedness) all through the '20's.

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The effect of how things are amplified by the internet, from a tweet from Elon Musk to the chat groups inside Signal, must be considered as we look to history for patterns. What are the possibilities that you might be wrong?

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You wrote, " the big . . . wave . . . ain’t coming back." Please, grammar! It's "ain't comin' back."

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Between The Age of Malaise and an Age of Unrest, are there good times, or was the era Between Iraq War I and the Housing Collapse something of a blip?

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Couple of thoughts on the Bloomberg piece on immigration:

1. Might this take the relative current political stability of Mexico for granted?

2. Might Biden changes in the aslyum process, not path to citizenship, shift incentives in Central America?

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The decade of malaise was followed by a pendulum swing with Reagan. What could that look like for us now?

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Yeah, look at all those suckers who took reporters at their word when they were describing GameStop as Occupy Wall-Street 2.0. Don't they know the only thing less reliable than political journalism is finance journalism?

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The GameStop saga is capable of uniting those who believe that capitalism can make them rich and those who want to eat the rich.

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