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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: September 14th, 2023

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  • One major factor: women entered the workforce. Labor supply doubled, and two incomes per household became normalized. Our current economic system fails to account for the work of raising children which was implicitely built into the “traditional family” model.

    That’s a double whammy for workers. The value of labor is halved. Both partners are expected to work to achieve a similar standard of living. And, without one partner doing household and child-rearing labor, those costs are borne by the workers.







  • Hot take: it was a valiant effort by people with tremendous power and influence to do the right thing with the wrong tools. Blackrock et al. tested the hypothesis that companies can generate greater returns by doing good. In doing so they risked their reputation and relationships with their investors.

    We all learned together that their hypothesis is wrong. One cannot add a constraint (ESG etc) without compromising returns, and the big money piles operate with mandates to maximize risk-adjusted returns.





  • Agreed! That convenience is called a negative externally. It is a cost that accumulates to everyone that is not captured in the manufacturing process. Implementing a carbon tax (which can start small, and increment predictably over a period of years) would re-align purchasing decisions to true costs.

    All change is hard, but it is the best solution because it appropriately distributes costs with minimal complexity and no loopholes. And it sure beats doing nothing IMHO.