Every so often, things fall apart.
In the words of those who lived it, here are the vibes and the semantic signatures of the twentieth century’s most devastating social collapses.
From the meaning in their words, wisdom for our future emerges.
Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrative campaign.
Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrative campaign.
The cure for the cancer of gun culture and police culture is not to be found in reform laws around guns and police, but in reform ideas around culture, ideas that create a new dimension of American society that rejects LARPing and LARPers alike.
Inflation
What made Bitcoin special is nearly lost, and what remains is a false and constructed Narrative that exists in service to Wall Street and Washington rather than in resistance.
The Bitcoin narrative must be renewed. And that will change everything.
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Crypto
Recent Notes
In the News | Week of 2.4.2019
In which we see a week full of insurance earnings, continued trade concerns, ‘warming to nuclear’ and a humble request to stop naming things “Exelon.”
Arbitrary Power
There is a paradox – only it isn’t really a paradox – in that to act boldly on and hold loosely to our beliefs requires us to design processes which are subject to an almost opposite standard.
The Zeitgeist | 2.1.2019
Amazon ‘buts’, all sorts of January 1987 comparisons, a grab bag of central banking and politics, and a notable omission from your Brexit Bunker.
Speak Now
We no longer have real discussions about critical civic issues in part because we’ve stopped calling things by their proper name. Our lack of nuance causes those conversations to degrade into predictable, exhausting patterns. Let’s figure this out before it’s too late.
The Zeitgeist | 1.31.2019
A big day for the Green New Deal, tax policy old and new, a solution for morale problems at Palantir and a solution for god only knows at Davos.
Uttin’ On the Itz!
Watching Jay Powell’s press conference today, it hit me – THIS HAS ALL HAPPENED BEFORE.
Back in September, 2013 to be precise, when Ben Bernanke told us that QE was not going to roll off as expected, that “data dependent” meant “market dependent”, and the Fed was a prisoner of the White House and Wall Street.
You are here. Again.
The Zeitgeist | 1.30.2019
Today’s Zeitgeist has a bit of private markets, Boeing and Apple, conspiracies and tax avoidance.
Kobayashi Maru
When facing a no-win scenario, sometimes the only rational choice is for our advisers and managers to change the conditions of the test. That doesn’t mean we have to buy what they’re selling.
The Zeitgeist | 1.29.2019
Food and retailing are top of mind (and…bullish?), trade continues to dominate content and commentary, and a hero rides in to protect the Lu Ann Platter.
The Road to Tannu Tuva, Pt. 2
The next stops in our discovery of the process of discovery? A town of 1,282 people and the mind of a German physicist named Arnold Sommerfeld.
You and Me (But Mostly Me)
Like it or not, the 2020 election season has begun. But I’ve got good news for you: someone has The Answer for the political center, and he’d very much like to discuss it with you.
In the News | Week of 1.28.2019
Tech, telecom, pharma and defense report. Plus some…er…highlights, from Davos.
The Zeitgeist | 1.28.2019
Oil falls, gas bounces, banks are buoyed. It’s apparently a weird gravity metaphor grab-bag on a Monday Zeitgeist.
Pricing Power (Pt. 1)
When an inflation regime shifts, the only question that really matters for your investments and your business model is this: do you have pricing power?
Pt. 1 of a three-fer Brief series … why the worst place to be in any services industry is on the product side.
The Zeitgeist | 1.25.2019
Billionaire penthouses, vertical integration in cannabis, non-musical music power, and a shifting tone in tech.
Mailbag!
Time to resurrect an old Epsilon Theory feature and make it a regular thing. Because the ET pack has a voice that’s worth hearing.
The Zeitgeist | 1.24.2019
An American mutual fund gatekeeper does PR for China, DNC gunning for Wall Street, multiple missionaries live from the pulpit in Davos.
The Zeitgeist | 1.23.2019
Talking ourselves into a recession, trusting our employers, and a fine example of government shutdown Fiat News.
The Zeitgeist | 1.22.2019
Welcome back, folks. Today, it’s all about cloud and blockchain, but no cannabis. Also: tech earnings, Trump can’t make a deal, and corporate debt.
In the Trenches: As Good As It Gets
A generation of investors has Paul Volcker to thank for almost 40-years of slowly falling rates. He handed countless baby-boomers a free 100 points of investing IQ, for which most never thanked him. It was as good as it gets.