The Digest #206

The Trust Deficit, EU Regulations, Medicare Advantage scams, Munger soldiered on, The cult of Silicon Valley, Self-esteem and outer scorecards, MMT's founder is worried about deficits, and more ...

Jul 10, 2024

“Not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe, that while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it.”

— George Washington’s Farewell Address

The Rational Walk

I would like to welcome over 1,500 new subscribers who have signed up since the end of June. I am not quite sure what caused this sudden influx of interest. The Rational Walk now has over 15,300 newsletter subscribers. Welcome aboard!

I published the following articles over the past week on my website:

The Trust Deficit, July 4, 2024. My thoughts on the severe deficit of trust facing the United States on its 248th birthday and the urgent need to correct course.
The Limits of the 25th Amendment, July 6, 2024. The 25th Amendment has stringent limits when it comes to removing a President who resists leaving office.
The Great Books. This is not a new article but a compilation of the content I have published about my Great Books reading project so far. I am currently working on a new article about Herodotus which should be ready to post later this week.

In addition to mentioning all new articles in The Digest, I also provide a RSS Feed containing all articles and links to new articles are posted on my X/Twitter feed.

Articles

The Conspiracy of Silence to Protect Joe Biden by Olivia Nuzzi, July 4, 2024. The President’s severe physical and cognitive decline has long been an open secret in political circles, and this reality was also apparent to the mainstream news media. This is a well-written article, but it would have been far more valuable if the author had been brave enough to publish her findings months ago when Democratic primary voters could have potentially selected a different nominee. (New York Magazine)

The E.U. Goes Too Far by Ben Thompson, July 8, 2024. This is a brutal but well-deserved criticism of the sclerotic European Union’s attitude toward technology and regulation: “Here’s the problem with leading the world in regulation: you can only regulate what is built, and the E.U. doesn’t build anything pertinent to technology.” (Stratechery)

Insurers Pocketed $50 Billion From Medicare for Diseases No Doctor Treated by Christopher Weaver et al., July 8, 2024. Congress repeatedly passes legislation that goes terribly wrong because members are either bribed by those they regulate or are ignorant of the superpower of perverse incentives. “Medicare Advantage has cost the government an extra $591 billion over the past 18 years, compared with what Medicare would have cost without the help of the private plans, according to a March report …” (WSJ)

Soldiering Through Life by

Kingswell

, July 9, 2024. Charlie Munger’s century was marked by enormous financial success, but he also faced terrible personal setbacks that would have utterly broken most men. How did he survive and thrive? He refused to view himself as a victim and insisted on soldiering on through it all. (Kingswell)

Soldier On, December 4, 2023. (The Rational Walk)

Looking Different by Jonathan Clements, July 6, 2024. Facing a cancer diagnosis, a longtime financial journalist describes how his views of money have changed and, equally important, what has not changed. Jonathan’s willingness to write about his situation is an excellent example of “soldiering on” through adversity. (Humble Dollar)

How Did Silicon Valley Turn into a Creepy Cult? by

Ted Gioia

, July 3, 2024. This is a rather dystopian view of the technology scene in Silicon Valley, but it is hard to deny many of the author’s conclusions, especially since he is quite familiar with both the former and current culture. We have come a long way from the days when idealistic founders chose mottos such as “don’t be evil” for their startups. (The Honest Broker)

The cult of 5am: is rising at dawn the secret of health and happiness? by Anita Chaudhuri, July 8, 2024. As a very early riser, it is tempting to buy into the many vapid theories about how rising before dawn is some secret “unlock” to success, but the reality is that it is only sustainable to be awake sixteen hours per day in the long run and people should determine when to be awake based on their own preferences. Waking up early is no guarantee of success or happiness. (The Guardian)

Podcasts and Videos

Self-Esteem Requires External Validation, July 6, 2024. 1 hour, 24 minutes.

Johnathan Bi

interviews Fred Neuhouser about Rousseau's amour-propre, a French term that refers to an individual’s feeling of self-worth or self-esteem. I found this discussion fascinating because it seems related to Warren Buffett’s concept of an “inner scorecard” which I think has often been misunderstood. (YouTube)

The Limits of an Inner Scorecard, July 11, 2023. Warren Buffett advocates an inner scorecard when it comes to investing. But when he says that your life will be a disaster if no one thinks well of you when you reach old age, he is implicitly acknowledging the importance of an outer scorecard in life. (The Rational Walk)

The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, July 5, 2024. 32 minutes.

Erik Rostad

provides an overview of a book claiming that social media has been responsible for an increase in mental illness in recent years, especially among children who should not be exposed to intellectual toxins. This is a good analogy: “My hope is that 20 years from now, we look back at social media like we look at smoking now.” (Books of Titans)

MMT’s Godfather Says the US Government is Spending Like a Drunken Sailor, July 8, 2024. I was unconvinced when I read Stephanie Kelton’s book, The Deficit Myth, which advocated for “modern monetary theory.” Kelton was influenced by Warren Mosler who is interviewed in this podcast. Kelton and Mosler have long advocated money printing to fund government spending, so it is interesting to know that even MMT advocates believe current massive deficits are a problem. (Odd Lots)

Investing in The Era of Climate Change, July 7, 2024. 1 hour, 40 minutes. Whether or not you believe that climate change is an “existential threat” to humanity, the reality is that governments are injecting trillions of dollars into the economy in an attempt to avert its effects. This creates risks and opportunities which is the subject of this discussion between William Green and Bruce Usher. (Richer, Wiser, Happier)

What Being “Post-Diabetic” Means, July 4, 2024. 1 hour, 1 minute. This podcast is published by a company selling services related to continuous glucose monitoring, so perhaps it is not totally unbiased. However, the point that diabetes is a reversible condition is very important. Doctors who claim that diabetes is an irreversible, lifelong condition can lead patients to give up on improving their health. (Levels)

Deep Dive Into Zone 2 Training, March 28, 2022. 3 hours, 15 minutes. While many of the technical aspects of this discussion are far beyond my comprehension, at least without doing more research, I find the topic of moderate Zone 2 training very compelling, if for no other reason than that nearly anyone can do it. However, it is sometimes counterintuitive to “go slow” for most workouts. (Peter Attia MD)

In the Zone, May 3, 2024. My own (non-technical) take on incorporating Zone 2 workouts into my routine and some of the psychological hurdles involved when a competitive person works out far below peak capacity. (The Rational Walk)

George Washington Resigning His Commission

“This painting depicts the scene on December 23, 1783, in the Maryland State House in Annapolis when George Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. The action was significant for establishing civilian authority over the military, a fundamental principle of American democracy.”
— Architect of the Capitol

George Washington Resigns His Commission by John Trumbull (1824)

George Washington was fifty-one years old when he resigned his military commission in 1783 and he intended to spend the remainder of his life in retirement. Washington agreed to serve as President when he was the nearly unanimous choice after the Constitutional Convention, and his intention was to serve a single term. He ended up serving two terms before voluntarily leaving office in 1797. Washington died less than three years later, on December 14, 1799, at the age of sixty-seven.

Washington’s example of a two term limit was voluntarily adhered to by all Presidents until Franklin Roosevelt ran for and won a third term in 1940. He subsequently ran for and won a fourth term in 1944 when his physical condition was in obvious decline to all around him. Roosevelt died less than three months into his fourth term. The 22nd amendment, which went into effect in 1951, now limits Presidents to two terms.

The Constitution wisely sets the minimum age for the Presidency to thirty-five. Perhaps we need an amendment setting a maximum age.

It would be far better to rely on the self-restraint of politicians to do what is best for the country, but sadly we no longer have many politicians capable of looking beyond their own narrow political self-interest and the mainstream media has proven to be incapable of providing the reporting needed for the citizenry to make informed choices, at least when it comes to leaders from their favored political party.

Once it is lost, trust is very difficult to restore.

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