fellow econtalk/cumtown (well more red scare) listener here..
The latest feed refresh used to make me feel "Wow how will I have time to listen to all of these!" whereas now its "God do I really want to listen to any of these."
I guess previously we were all starved of interesting long form conversations (or socialist edgelords) but now we're reasonably satiated and like anything else it has to be good to hold our attention.
I still find a good econtalk pod is one of my greatest pleasures - russ & munger episodes particularly.
I just got back from shenzhen where I purchased a handheld ultrasound probe with built-in screen about the size of a really chunky smartphone for $1800 with wifi & connection to ios/android
Off-topic - but currently in India and the uber experience is absolutely amazing.
The handful of times we have used taxi drivers, none of them can find the place where we are staying even with written directions in english and in hindi or even with a hindi speaking person instructing them via the phone. There is always some niggle over pricing and whatever you pay them they claim you are shortchanging them.
With uber they go to the right place EVERY TIME, there is no haggling at all, they dont try to angle for tips but are very grateful if they get tipped. It is a complete gamechanger for travel in these areas.
Take land - demand for it changes over time, the exact same amount is in circulation as there was 200 years ago, the value goes up as population increases and it becomes more scarce, why can't money be the same?
Efficient market theory is based on the fact that when you leave people to their own devices, they tend to do a far better job and be better off than if you try to help them. Basically everyone agrees on that.
So why do we accept efficient market theory for basically everything, yet when it comes to currency someone has decided that we need elaborate schemes of variable government decreed micromanagement in order for things to work?
In terms of keeping things simple and letting the market decide, the perfect currency would be global, unable to be printed or manipulated, of a fixed amount, so that external interference is impossible, and people knew exactly what they were dealing with at all times. The closest we have is gold (and maybe bitcoin).
Wait - but quantitative easing usually involves buying back government bonds (in recent times it has also involved buying riskier instruments like collateralized debt obligations (eg. bundled mortages from freddy mac/fannie mae))
But government bonds are issued by the government as a form of govt debt to finance the federal government deficit.
So doesn't that mean that money IS being printed to finance government deficit? It's just that it goes through a slightly convoluted path to get there?
Total vaporware.. consumers vastly overestimate the value of their own attention and assume it can fund expensive things like this. If it can be ad supported why do you need to pay $10 for the "app" via kickstarter?
Has anyone considered the grameen model of peer pressure lending in P2p marketplaces?
You signup with your facebook account, it records all the details of your facebook friends, and if you go into default on your loan for more than 3 payments then it starts contacting your facebook friends automatically and stating that unfortunately you were unable to keep up with your debts and could your friends chip in some money to help cover things??
the threat of losing face would probably decrease default rates significantly, therefore allowing a decreased interest rate to be charged.
So amazon's market cap of 144b is theoretical because they don't have profits? And bezos should be paid enough salary to survive but not so much that he is no longer "hungry"?
Because the founders have created the business and have created several million dollars of value (based on the VC's own valuation). Why should they not be able to cash out for a lifetime of financial security?
Congrats. You guys have a great product and deserve your success.
Tomorrow Youtube or Twitch could expand their offerings to include your business model and you may find yourself irrelevant within 6 months.
I had a liquidity event last year in which I had the opportunity to sell either none, a part, or all of a holding in a product I strongly believed in for $6 million. I cashed out $2 million, kept 2/3rds equity. Since then, despite my belief in the product, it has lost most of it's value. I am very relieved (as is my girlfriend!) that I took (some) money and ran.
When you are young you can feel a sense that success is inevitable and you want to keep doubling down, but there are a truckload of people in their late 30s and 40s and 50s for whom things just never quite worked out who would give anything for the security that a couple of million dollars provides.
Just out of interest, is there a company which provides covert early exits for founders? For example I meet with a founder, they sign a contract saying secretly that they will give me a share of their equity in 2 year's time or whenever a major liquidity event occurs, and in return I pay them an amount based on current valuation?
Not to be overly emotive, but honestly, fuck Sam Altman on this one.
If a person founds or cofounds a company worth >5million, they should become a millionaire and have lifetime financial security. The VC already in all likelihood already has lifetime financial security.
VC's bank on an 80-95% failure rate, so they are basically sacrificing lifetime financial security for 9/10 of their founders in order to increase the likelihood that 1/10 will be a bit more miserable and therefore work harder to increase the chance of a big exit.
The latest feed refresh used to make me feel "Wow how will I have time to listen to all of these!" whereas now its "God do I really want to listen to any of these."
I guess previously we were all starved of interesting long form conversations (or socialist edgelords) but now we're reasonably satiated and like anything else it has to be good to hold our attention.
I still find a good econtalk pod is one of my greatest pleasures - russ & munger episodes particularly.