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Thoughts on Journalistic Business Models
Recently the Economist has removed all of its free podcasts from being publicly available and made them part of a premium podcast subscription. This has made me think about the different business models that journalistic outlets have to potentially fund themselves. They can rely on advertising (no longer viable on the digital era when advertisers get a better ROI on social media ads), they can do the subscription premium model and lock their content away from the public, or they can rely on donations. Do you think that journalism needs to find a new business model that's better adapted for the digital era? Or do you think one of the existing business models they use can be tweaked for it?
Why do we care about GDP growth?
Why do policymakers focus on GDP growth as the holy grail of policy outcomes? It's entirely possible for a country to have annual GDP growth, and simultaneously have a deteriorating quality of life for its citizens. Conversely, the EU has a stagnant GDP, but their quality of life is much higher. I don't intend this to be one of those "why can't we.be like Europe?" questions. My point is, why if there such a focus on GDP growth in US politics when it can be so clearly divorced from the material quality of life experienced by American citizens?
Bibi, Trump, and the Rubicon
In my opinion, comparisons between modern US society and the fall of the Roman Republic are interesting, but oversold. One detail has been on my mind over the recent months/years, though. While listening to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History, I learned that Caesar crossed the Rubicon in part because he was likely to be prosecuted by his enemies after his term as consul ended. Donald Trump's indictments could be described similarly: win political office or see your wealth and power decimated. Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be facing a comparable situation with the corruption charges he faced prior to Oct 7, his failure to keep Israelis safe on that day, and possibly for how his administration is responding. In each of these cases, the leaders in question felt compelled to use the power of their office to protect their personal fortunes at the expense of the nations they served. Marshall and Saagar, do y'all have any insights into the risk/reward for using criminal prosecution to punish political adversaries? How important do you think this dynamic is when considering current events in Palestine and in the coming US presidential election?
Ripple Effects of Recent Tech Layoffs
Hey Marshall, I'm curious what you think about a growing trend that I've noticed. I work in tech and I'm based in Austin and it seems like every week I get an email discussing some local tech company doing layoffs. From friends across the country as well as staying up-to-date on tech news, it seems like the layoffs are happening everywhere (although maybe not to the level here). This feels like a potential culture change brewing that isn't getting a lot of attention - I think about Frank DiStefano's "Smart America" persona and I think "Smart America" is having their equivalent of the 2008 great recession. It's possible that the tech explosion was being propped up by financial tricks (aka ZIRP) and now there could be a big number of people who were settling into a lifestyle around high salaried big tech jobs that may or may not come back. Do you think this is as big of a deal as I do? If yes, what do you think will be the societal ripple effects of yet another uncertain career period for older millennials? If not, where do you think these laid off folks are going to go work now that tech is going through a big slow down? WIll we see older millennials join non-tech industries and replace the retiring boomers? Or do you think AI becomes the savior and the great valuation reset in tech just becomes the launch pad for the AI era and everyone goes to work building AI companies?