For their last show of 2023, Ron and Ed cleaned out their stacks of (business and economic related) stuff. It was a fast-paced conversation that makes it hard to listen on double speed!
Use these show notes to follow along with the audio:
Segment one
We didn’t mean to start off on a bummer but it is worth noting that Gadi Haggai is believed to have passed as an Israeli American hostage being held by Hamas https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-hamas-gaza-hostage-dead-gadi-haggai
“One in five young Americans thinks the Holocaust is a myth” https://www.economist.com/united-states/2023/12/07/one-in-five-young-americans-thinks-the-holocaust-is-a-myth
Ed mentioned that one of the things he likes about X/Twitter is the community notes feature. This allows others to publicly comment and rate the veracity of claims. More here: https://help.twitter.com/en/using-x/community-notes
From Jim Geraghty in the National Review: It appears a significant portion of the college students chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” have no idea which river and which sea they're chanting about. https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/the-antisemites-are-out-and-the-masks-are-off/#:~:text=It%20appears%20a%20significant%20portion,sea%20they're%20chanting%20about
The effective AirBnB ban in Manhattan had the exact intended effect…benefitting the hotel industry https://www.travelandleisure.com/airbnb-nyc-brian-chesky-8346923
Segment two
“Judge Orders Giuliani to Pay $148 Million Damage Award Immediately” https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/20/us/politics/judge-giuliani-pay-damages.html
“Jimmy Lai’s show trial is how liberty dies” https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/2023/12/21/jimmy-lais-show-trial-is-how-freedom-dies/
Here is the Michael Munger podcast episode that addresses Huawei during a conversation with John Nelson https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-5g-revolution-huawei-controversy-and-global/id1687215430?i=1000639070906 @mungowitz
“The Answer to China’s Totalitarianism Is Trusted Tech” https://nationalinterest.org/feature/answer-china%E2%80%99s-totalitarianism-trusted-tech-200598
Wage gaps are shrinking and The Economist has a great article about this: “A new age of the worker will overturn conventional thinking” https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/11/30/a-new-age-of-the-worker-will-overturn-conventional-thinking
Segment three
Costco membership fees and operating profits were approximately the same 10 years ago. Now their operating profit is twice the size of their membership fee. https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/personal-finance/articles/you-wont-believe-how-much-money-costco-just-made-on-membership-fees/
From the Economist: “Homeland Economics” is a protectionist, high-subsidy, intervention-heavy ideology administered by an ambitious state https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/10/05/are-free-markets-history
The COP28 climate change conference just ended in Dubai and Ron is really impressed with what 128 countries committed to for their carbon reduction efforts. Ha! I’m completely kidding. Ron’s comments today in segment three of the show are worth listening to for their…..LOGIC.
What used to be done via brain surgery can now be done with a helmet, as an OUTPATIENT. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4265964/
Sleep is a bit of an evolutionary mystery and now we have chin strap penguins that sleep thousands of times a day for only seconds at a time. https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2023/11/30/why-chinstrap-penguins-sleep-thousands-of-times-a-day
Segment four
Quietly passed in 2021, the NY state legislature passed a bill and now “automated work speed zone monitoring” is being rolled out. Speed cameras. https://wpdh.com/automated-speeding-tickets-begin-for-i-84-and-i-87-in-new-york/
From Gale Pooley: “Knowledge is what transforms atoms into resources. While the number of atoms on our planet may be finite, undiscovered knowledge is infinite. This is why resources can be infinite.” @gpooley
“Supervisors vote against reactivating historic Nevada County gold mine” https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/historic-nevada-county-gold-mine-return-controversy-over-vested-rights/
We are re-running our interview with Tony Gill next week and will be live again on Friday, January 5th. https://www.thesoulofenterprise.com/417
Bonus Content is Available As Well
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