One of the best ways to understand this phenomenon among the Satoshi's Witnesses is to replace Bitcoin in your head with gold. Goldbugs, the hardcore ones that we (rightly) regard as missing a few screws, exhibit many of the same behaviors. The crazy uncle with a safe filled with gold coins who believes the financial apocalypse is near? Your grandma who refuses to keep any money in the bank and is increasingly annoying when she asks to pay people in gold coins or, only when rejected, regular cash? The televangelist or now social media influencer who is assuring you that the age of man is over and now is the age of gold? The monetary crank conspiracy theorist who keeps asking "what happened in 1971" without also being able to explain what happened in the 1930s? These are the same person as a Satoshi's Witness. It's the same belief system. It's the kind of person who believes that gold coins in a metal box is a better place for your money than the modern banking system. However, they also aren't willing to go all the way to the logical conclusion that if you're down to gold coins (or magic internet money) in the box (wallet), actually you really wanted guns, ammunition, canned food, and water, not fucking shiny physical or digital rocks. In that sense, I have more respect for the true apocalyptic preppers, as they are at least honest about the outcomes. Reminder: the guy with the guns can take the gold coins or bitcoin, or at least, he can prevent you from doing anything with them (by killing you with the guns). All of this has happened before. There's actually nothing truly unique about bitcoin here. Like Nic, I own bitcoin and think it's a very cool invention. But I do not think it is the holy single form of money, nor that it's the only useful blockchain, nor that it's the only useful store of value. That is religious, not economic, thinking.

Joe is right here, and Brad looks like he is a paid promoter of sports betting? Follow the money. One lesson is that index fund providers could do a much better job of narrative storytelling and likely make a LOT more money and have more satisfied customers.

We continue to have blowups in the "RWA" market. So let me ask the peanut gallery a question: do you know anyone doing a good job rating these effectively? Is there any source where people can get a good read before buying one?

Everyone taking victory laps or predicting doom for SpaceX is insane. The "seven seconds or less" attention span of modern media is the problem here. SpaceX is a multi-month story of unlocks and earnings ladders. It's inning two. Sit back down and be patient! It's a long game.

The author of this @axios piece should have to read Finnegan’s Wake with no guides or reference material, then get tested on it for a complete understanding of the text and its meaning. If they fail? Lifetime ban on writing. Alternately, don’t shame people for learning.

This is nuts. The whole thing about a housing crisis is that you don't have enough houses for all the people doing the jobs. I joke sometimes that people who cheer job growth but boo housing additions apparently assume that people who work prefer to not sleep in houses. Expediting the jobs part of California Forever while cutting out the housing part is like turning my bad joke into policy.

Austin on why the ethics standoff over the crypto bill looks unbridgeable "How far apart are we on the ethics language? Very, very far. The minimum acceptable bid for Democrats is that Trump has to have his family divest all of their crypto projects and not re-enter, and that there's no sunset language on this" "I don't think the Trump admin is willing to divest" "So I don't see any overlap in that Venn diagram"

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This is all correct and neither side is really walking the walk. The first American political party to cut the bullshit and deliver on bread and butter issues instead of thinking unemployed screaming Redditors are the electorate will have a multi-generational run.

This exact sort of response is what is so terribly wrong with government these days and why there is so much division. Here is my proposal: politicians should be paid $1 per year and ineligible for re-election if they cannot pass an up/down poll annually with over 60% approval from the people they govern. The government exists to serve all people in America: rich, middle class, and poor. We should be laser focused on making life better for everyone, not stoking fights between them. Do your job or get out.

Reading the commentary, it is impressive (and sad) to me that hatred and/or love of Trump has so deeply corrupted the thinking of most people they cannot reason effectively about this situation. Iran has been badly damaged. The US will not achieve many goals. Both can be true!

Fix this would turn down political heat in a good way. Let the people who don't want to be here move; when you tax the hell out of them even if they move, they stay here and fight you instead! Every politician should be for this if they don't want to be attacked.

A lot of us have left the party, bud. You keep supporting folks from the DSA and trash humans like Platner. I'm a free agent and happy to vote R if they give me the better candidate. Good luck with the election.

A key stat that every environmentalist who is serious about solving climate change should know: The US Navy has put into operation over 400 nuclear reactors without a single failure that resulted in any radioactive release. That is equivalent to the entire total number of civilian reactors deployed worldwide, but the Navy’s reactors are literally deployed in BOATS IN THE WATER, that continually move, rock, get shot at, etc. There are non-trivial engineering challenges, but the core reality is that safe, clean, abundant nuclear is a matter of political will, intelligence, and organizational culture.

Biden ran as a moderate, but then pulled a bait-and-switch and governed from the far left, alienated a ton of people, got Trump elected, and so naturally, what we should do is go... further left to ensure we get more Trump? What are we doing here?

Some free management advice, which is not something I normally give: If you don't have a way to keep good ICs in IC roles, especially for millennials and younger, expect to hemorrhage talent over time. Many do not want to manage. You will need separate IC vs. management paths.

IT'S TIME TO START TALKING ABOUT MMT AGAIN In the newsletter, I wrote about how in our time of persistently high inflation, a high cost of living, and ongoing strain on industrial capacity, MMT wisdom (once again!) shines a light towards a policy path that may be helpful.